Nautor says, “The first Swan 51 represented a landmark in the inspirational evolution of the Nautor Swan brand.  Launched in 1981, the model marked the first collaboration between Swan and the

It will be fun to see what happens when we compare two catamarans with similar L/Ds using both hulls, and similar L/Ds using each hull individually, while reducing LOA by 9.62 feet.  The 48 Open

The Catana Group is launching its 14th Bali catamaran model, the 5.8, in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the line. The promo blurb says “always bigger,” and I’m not going to argue with

I first met Tim Kernan about 20 years ago when he was attending The Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design in Maine, taking its yacht design course. The students are required to complete an in

Dufour is a French builder that has been around as long or longer than I have been designing. Its Arpege model was hugely successful and began life as a half-tonner. This new Dufour is aimed at the cr

The Hunter Vision 32 has been described as a lazy sailor’s boat because it’s so effortless to sail. Key characteristics aboard this sloop mirror those found on earlier Freedom Yachts boats design

The newest design in the Elan series of cruising boats is this Rob Humphreys-designed Elan Impression 43, which marks 20 years of Humphreys designs for Elan. The deck is designed by the Pininfarina st

Regular readers probably know that years ago Mark Mills was an intern in my office. He was fun to have around and really knew sailing. I would listen to him talking to my clients on the phone with his

Now for that contrast I mentioned earlier: The Rapido 40 designed by Morrelli & Melvin in southern California, is a high-performance, high-tech, folding trimaran built by Triac Composites in Ho Ch

We have two very contrasting designs to review this month. The first is this very special design that I’ll call a “weekender” although there’s nothing to stop it from sailing out for a mo

It was a brisk autumn day, which also meant there was wind. That isn’t always the case on the Chesapeake Bay, and I was looking forward to sailing in the best conditions I’d seen all week. The day

When Yves-Marie, Chuck and I left Dick Carter’s tower in Nahant, Massachusetts, to try it on our own I don’t think either of us knew where the future would take us in the world of yacht design. We

It’s hard to find interesting designs for review these days. So this month I thought we’d try a little different approach. In early 1973 I quit my design job in Seattle, loaded my Peugeot wagon an

The Beneteau First series has a long history and proud pedigree. Launched in the late 1970s, Beneteau First designs have collected wins all over the globe. Over time, the design ethos wavered a bit, b

This month we are going to look at a revamp of the X4.9. I’m not very familiar with the 4.9 but the promotional material I have does a good job of highlighting the changes and there are many. X-Yach

Holy cow! We have a 40-foot folding trimaran to review. This will be fun. My buddy Doug, who lived on the next beach, had one. It wasn’t a Dragonfly but it was similar and not as nice as the Dragonf

The Annapolis Sailboat Show is the place to catch all the newest models making their debuts, but there’s always one boat that creates a bigger buzz than the rest. Last October the Jeanneau Yachts 55

The Excess 14 was in high demand for test sails following the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October. It was easy to see why as the boat swung by my pickup point at the end of the South Annapolis Yacht Ce