Boat Reviews

Annapolis may be the sailing capital of America, but if you looked around the United States Sailboat Show last fall, you would have no choice but to conclude most sailboats are now built in Europe. The Dufour 470 is a good example of a modern French performance cruiser. DESIGN & ...read more

Although they don’t generally make it into print, there’s often a backstory to the boat tests we do at SAIL: case in point my sail trial of the J/9, winner in the “daysailer” category of SAIL’s 2022 Best Boats” awards. Checking the forecast before setting out from Boston for ...read more

As a former dinghy racer, I can be hard to please when it comes to “bigger boats.” And while the 27ft Saffier SE 27 Leisure is hardly “big,” I’m always skeptical the freedom and performance that made me fall in love with sailing will still be there in any boat that weighs more ...read more

Aluminum cruising boats from French builders like Garcia, Boréal and Alubat have been gaining traction in the United States over the past several years. These heavy-duty so-called “adventure cruisers” are versatile and, of necessity, conservatively rigged, with centerboards that ...read more

The Xquisite X5 Plus is a major update of the boat that SAIL awarded Best Large Multihull and Best Systems titles in 2017. The changes were not just cosmetic, but genuine improvements to an already fine boat, making it lighter, faster and less dependent on fuel. The builder’s ...read more

Elan’s first sporty “Grand Turismo” yacht, the 43ft GT5, launched in 2017, and was actually a bit of a mash-up. It combined an existing go-fast hull from Elan’s sexy E5 racer with a new deck and interior optimized for cruising comfort, and a somewhat detuned rig to create a ...read more

I’m sure many readers have heard of the dinghy test, in which it’s considered important you be able to admire your own boat as you’re dinghying ashore. Taking things up a notch, I’d say there’s also a kind of vanity test underway, whereby it ain’t half bad finding yourself ...read more

Imagine a sailboat under 60ft with private en suite accommodations for five couples plus professional crew. Add to that enough space to allow those same lucky guests their own private lounging areas outside. That’s a lot of room. That’s the Fountaine Pajot Samana 59. DESIGN & ...read more

The new MiniCat 460 Elite is the largest of the four MiniCat models, and it’s a souped up version of 460 Esprit. We had a chance to test it on the Gunpowder River on the Chesapeake, and the consensus was that this is one smart boat that’s also a kick in the pants to sail. ...read more

I’ve often written in boat reviews over the years that pretty much any boat sails well in 15 knots of breeze (typically as a word of explanation as to why sail trials done in drifting conditions are as relevant as those done in a small gale). However, it recently occurred to me ...read more

Dufour Yachts seems to have shifted its strategy with the introduction of the new 530. Previously, the French builder maintained two lines: Performance and Grand Large, with the latter targeted at the cruising crowd. With the Dufour 530, however, Dufour decided to combine the ...read more

The new Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 54 shares a lot of DNA with the company’s First Yacht 53, introduced last year and reviewed by SAIL in its May 2020 issue. The Oceanis Yacht 54, however, is both more luxurious and carries a slightly different rig for sailors who lean more toward ...read more

I’m not sure what I expected from my daysail on the Happy Cat Hurricane. One thing I do know is that the day didn’t go as planned. The SAIL staff was invited by Alex Caslow from Redbeard Sailing to Gunpowder State Park on Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. We were to test several ...read more

I’ve long believed that while they may not be as much fun, the best sail trials are the ones that take place in drifters since it’s then that a boat’s performance—or lack thereof—really becomes evident. Pretty much any boat is fun to sail in 15 knots of wind. That said, there’s ...read more

Groupe Beneteau, builder of Lagoon Catamarans, debuted its new Excess multihull line at the Dusseldorf boat show in Germany in 2018. At the time they held a press conference where I may have been a bit of a pain as I asked what I thought were appropriate questions about the ...read more

Lagoon 55 “Our experience tells us that people ignore a design that ignores people. That’s why we wanted to draw a beautiful boat that would be immediately identifiable as being a Lagoon,” says designer Patrick le Quément. And indeed, the new Lagoon 55 is a boat with an ...read more

It is possible to cross an ocean in almost anything that will float, just as you could cross the United States on anything with wheels. But to voyage safely, swiftly and comfortably calls for a good deal more than the minimum. That’s where bluewater specialist Amel comes into ...read more

Sticking with its proven design formula, but also cherry-picking popular features from its recent models, Leopard Catamarans has launched a “best of” package with this new boat that sold nearly 30 units before hull #1 even touched water. Like a greatest hits album, the Leopard ...read more

Catalina has long been the largest All-American family cruiser company, building what sailors might call “standard” boats. Moving up from the popular 30ft to 45ft sizes puts the company into “yacht” territory, and the new Catalina 545, winner of the SAIL magazine 2020 Best Boats ...read more

The hull slices easily through the warm summer Chesapeake Bay under the power of full working sail, almost burying the lee rail when a 20-knot puff hits. Somebody mentions reefing, but I’m still steering with only two fingers, so we don’t. The boat is the new Beneteau Oceanis ...read more

A few years ago, Jeanneau set about the business of revolutionizing its storied Sun Odyssey line when it introduced its SO 490 and 440 models, designed by Phillipe Briand. Building on that momentum, the French builder has since passed the baton to a new designer, Marc Lombard, ...read more

When developing its new 46-footer, Lagoon had two issues to contend with. First, the immense popularity of its recently introduced groundbreaking 50 set high expectations for the smaller design. The question, therefore, became how to pack all of the 50’s innovative features onto ...read more

Sportscar builders say, “Speed costs, how fast do you want to go?” This is also true of boats. And if you can foot the bill, Hudson Yacht & Marine will be more than happy to provide you with all the speed, luxurious accommodations and outstanding construction you could ever want ...read more

Granted, to call the new Excess 11 catamaran “small” is nuts. At 37ft long and nearly 22ft wide, she’s anything but petite. Nonetheless, as the entry point into Beneteau’s new Excess (or XCS) line, which also includes the Excess 12 and 15, she’s the baby of a bunch. More to the ...read more

Often referenced and sometimes misquoted, the idea of a finished product being more than just the sum of its parts was first introduced nearly 2,400 years ago by Aristotle. The poor guy likely had no idea how his thinking would be applied centuries down the road. But since it ...read more

The Danish builder X-Yachts does not simply stick taller or shorter rigs and keels on the same hulls to create boats for both cruisers and racers, as some mass-production builders do. Nor is it content to build two distinct lines of cruisers and racers. Instead, the company has ...read more

Seawind Catamarans introduced its 52ft 1600 model in Europe last year, where the boat promptly started winning awards. The more jaded among us may look askance at such things, especially when it comes to a bluewater-rated catamaran billed as a providing a combination of ...read more

Luxury performance-cruising isn’t entirely new. You can go fast and still be comfortable. You can even race if you make the right tradeoffs—or so says Beneteau, which recently launched its First Yacht 53, in the process also reinventing the company’s “First” brand. Design & ...read more

When first introduced nearly a decade ago, Neel trimarans seemed little more than an oddity, an intriguing variation in an ever-burgeoning menu of cruising multihulls. Since then these unique, fixed-ama tris, with their immense solid bridgedecks reminiscent of the first plywood ...read more

When you have a successful product, you don’t completely change its design. You tweak it. The Dufour 360 is a well-tweaked version of the Dufour 350, and the changes are quite worthwhile. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION Dufour has always been a step above many standard production boats in ...read more

Though best known for its cruising boats, Jeanneau has long kept a hand in competitive racing with its Sun Fast line. The newest of these French-built speedsters is the Sun Fast 3300, which takes the place of the long-lived 3200. Design & Construction A collaboration between ...read more

The history of sailing is replete with examples of boats being repurposed after their initial launch—think of the famed yacht America also doing service as a blockade runner in the Civil War. Rarely, though, has an updated design done half so well as the Hinckley Bermuda 50’s ...read more

In the few years since the Bali brand appeared as an offshoot of the Catana line of catamarans, it has grown rapidly. The original models are popular bareboat charter vessels in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and the new Bali 5.4, the largest of the line, moves the company ...read more

A boat is a set of tradeoffs, and a perfect boat doesn’t exist. That said, if you’re searching for a proven bluewater multihull that can be sailed shorthanded, has all the comforts of a luxury home and is wicked fast without beating up your wallet, you owe yourself a test sail ...read more

Groupe Beneteau, builder of Lagoon catamarans, has introduced a new multihull line called Excess. The first of the boats to reach U.S. shores at the Annapolis boat show was the Excess 12, a 38ft 6in design based on the popular Lagoon 40. The thought process behind this new boat ...read more