One of the formative influences on modern cruising, Jimmy Cornell has been uncharacteristically quiet since his attempt on the Northwest Passage a few years ago. Now the founder of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers is all fired up again about yet another circumnavigation and, yes, ...read more
If you Google the name Patrick Le Quément you’ll come up with some 194,000 hits, most attesting to the Frenchman’s long and successful career designing automobiles. Ford’s iconic (in Britain) Sierra? That’s one of his—at first nicknamed “the jellymold” by detractors, it went on ...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
It was the last week of May and the hurricane season was fast approaching. My wife, Carla, and I made plans to take our Lagoon 40, Ocean Fox, west from Grenada to the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao—better known as the ABC Islands. The first leg from St. ...read more
I have been a sailor my whole life and knew the moment I accepted a job in Zanzibar that I would need to find my way onto a sailboat and into the sailing community there. This led me to Google, where I started searching for anything sailing-related in the area. Once I made it ...read more
In our January issue, we announced that among our 2020 Best Boats winners was the F101 full-foiling trimaran, which took the prize in the “Performance Boat under 30ft” category. The reason our judges gave the zippy little 17-footer the nod was because of the fact it’s an ...read more
They say you can learn a lot about a sailor just by looking at the type of boat he or she owns. However, I’m not sure our boat, Spirit, reflects the personalities of my wife, Claudia, and me as we try to live a quiet and simple life, taking each day as it comes. Spirit very much ...read more
Once upon a time conquering your dream of sailing off into the sunset was enough, but these days it seems like you have to be popular on social media too. Balancing the stresses of sailing around the world while keeping a successful—not to mention financially lucrative—social ...read more
Sailing at 19 knots in 15 knots of breeze is not an earth-shattering experience anymore. I was thinking about that on a perfect late summer day in Narragansett Bay while we were slicing along on the most technologically advanced cruising catamaran I’ve ever seen—the Eagle Class ...read more
With new catamaran brands springing up like mushrooms, France’s Fountaine Pajot is something of an oak tree in the market, with a story that goes back to its founding in 1976. It is also one of the largest cat builders out there, sending some 600 boats down the ways in 2018. The ...read more
There has been a long tradition, both in the United States and abroad, of sturdy trailerable cruisers carrying their crews hither and yon in search of adventure. In fact, so celebrated are the accomplishments of these little tough-as-nails boats—think the West Wight Potter, ...read more
Dragonfly 32 Evolution Denmark’s Quorning Boats has been systematically upgrading its line of folding, performance-cruiser trimarans in recent years as part of a long-term effort to incorporate the latest developments in yacht design, with the latest to receive this treatment ...read more
Coming fast on the heels of its predecessor, the Bali 4.0, the Bali 4.1 adds a number of improvements, many of them inspired by feedback from owners and charterers. She’s an evolution of a concept that has already proven popular and very many benefits from its builder’s ...read more
Many multihull aficionados are familiar with the sad tale of Donald Crowhurst, the ill-starred Englishman who took part in the 1967-68 Golden Globe round-the-world race on a trimaran. The story was told in an excellent book by a pair of British journalists called The Strange ...read more
Two separate racing fleets were streaming into the docks and a party was in full swing at the head of Marseille’s inner harbor. A group of bearded musicians cranked out lively jazz tunes while throngs of sailors jostled around the drinks and snack tables. Sipping a rather good ...read more
Prego! Weeks after returning from our Italian flotilla trip last summer, I was still feeling the relaxed atmosphere of the Amalfi Coast. It’s a Mediterranean paradise, with crystal-clear waters, charming hillside towns and cliffside villages, plenty of delicious food and wine, ...read more
When I asked Fountaine Pajot’s Laurent Fabre if the new Astrea 42 was replacing Fountaine Pajot’s earlier Helia 44, his response was a firm “Non!” The reason, he said, is the Astrea isn’t just a shortened or tweaked design, but rather an all-new design for this LOA that borrows ...read more
It was after midnight when I realized my daysail with Tony Bullimore aboard his giant record-breaking catamaran, Team Legato, was not going to plan. The big cat was en route for a December dash from England across the Bay of Biscay to Barcelona and the start of a drag race ...read more
It’s easy to get a big head sailing around on a boat like the Seawind 1260, if for no other reason than the fact you’re not only going faster than pretty much every other boat around, but you’re doing so in exceptional comfort. Add to that the fact the boat also happens to be ...read more
As our boat was readied for our Tongan adventure, we sat at Mango, the waterfront restaurant at the Sunsail base. We were relishing the free Wi-Fi when the checkout manager, Raymond, came by our table, stuck his hand out to the nearest graybeard and said, “You must be the ...read more
The memories are vivid. Dolphins and diesel fumes. A blood-orange moon rising to starboard as engine trouble loomed to port. A spinnaker like a taut, glowing veil before a sun that shone down later on its wet, shredded remains. We were 30 days at sea, a virgin ocean-crossing crew ...read more
Vraiment Incroyable! It’s official, we have now truly entered a “Brave New World” of sailing; either that or the world has truly lost its mind. This past fall, SAIL magazine first covered the Brest Ultime Challenge, a singlehanded nonstop round-the-world event set to take place ...read more
A quartet of Morrelli & Melvin-designed Gunboats hits the racecourse in Antigua. Photo by Billy Black With the right mix of bleeding-edge technology and cheeky attitude, Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin have spent more than two decades creating a cult of personality. Starting with ...read more
Five Farangs in Thailand A motley crew explores Thailand’s fabled Andaman Sea on a charter catamaran Read Paul Gelder's full story HERE. ...read more
