George Nissan designed the new Contest 42CS for Dutch builder Contest Yachts. I’m inclined to call this boat the Option 42. There are multiple interior options and multiple cockpit options. You are going to be hard pressed to find a reason not to like this boat.

This design combines the efforts of the V. Ahlen design office with the Sirius Design Team. The overall design is highly unusual and I’m not sure I have ever seen so many features combined in a boat this size. Keep in mind that these boats are semicustom, so the layout and finish details are up to the owner working with the yard’s design team. I have drawings for six layouts, but the company built 14 different layouts on its previous 31-foot model. I think we can expect a lot more variations on the new 40.

The Oceanis 60 is the flagship of the Beneteau fleet, designed by Berret Racoupeau with help on the interior by Nauta Design. This is a very good-looking boat in the European modern style punctuated by a mainsheet arch over the cockpit.

From the bird's eye view, the Dufour 350 looks like a race boat, with the beam carried far aft. That trickle-down feature from racers to cruisers has been a boon to sailboat designers because it increases the interior volume, allowing for more cruising gear and features inside the boat and more space in the cockpit. Dufour's designer, Felci Yacht Design, made full use of the extra space in the 350, a 34-foot, 9/10th fractionally rigged cruiser. This boat is loaded. 

I have been fortunate to sail most models in the J/Boat family and I confess, I like them all. The new J/88 is an ideal blend of what makes the J/Boat brand so enduring. 

Most of us have looked across the harbor at an incoming boat at some time and said, "Yup, must be Hinckley." The signs were hard to mistake. There were beautifully sculpted teak toerails and magnificent, big stainless steel bow fittings lapping down the stem. And there was the hull defined by graceful overhangs that gave the boat an ageless beauty, what I think of as the epitome of the American yacht. 

Alain Mortain and Yannis Mavrikos designed this new 44- foot model, produced by Privilege Marine, and I liked this design the moment I saw it. I find all the proportions pleasing to my eye. The aim of the design is a fast cruising boat with a nice balance of speed and comfort. 

I  live in the Pacific Northwest, and do everything in the rain, and  it does not bother me. The sun bothers me. When I saw this  new design from my buddy Paul Waring and his partner Robert  Stephens I thought, "Perfect! I can get out of the sun." 

One of the fun things about reviewing a Mark Mills design is that I get to Skype Mark and chat with him for an hour. Mark was not shy about explaining the details of his latest work to me. In this case, it's his exciting new 38-foot 9-inch IRC racer now being built in Turkey at the Gurit yard.

My Danish friend Tom came up with the "bloated tennis shoe" description for some kinds of yacht styling. He recently described a boat to me as looking like "the box the boat came in." 

Sweden's Arcona Yachts built its reputation with durable, no-nonsense boats. The Arcona 380 is a 37-foot, nine-tenths fractional rig, bluewater boat designed as a successor to the venerable Arcona 400.

It’s nice to get real designer drawings from Kevin Dibley. The drawings are expertly produced and a clear sign that Kevin loves his work. Kevin calls this sailboat a performance voyager. 

I have been a fan of the Rustler series for years. They are so English. The company’s style is in contrast to what my buddy Tom calls the “Euro bloated tennis shoe” look. 

There is a laundry list of things that make a sail-training boat great and most of them are based on compromises. It needs to be big enough to be comfortable for an instructor and at least a few stude

The most fun reviews I do are of the boats I would like to own myself. I sure like this catboat. It would be the perfect boat for me to introduce my grandchildren to sailing. 

 If you had to choose a modern manufacturer and a designer with a timeless sense of style, the combination of German Frers and Swan would be at the top of the list. Swans are expensive boats beca

Some boats are meant for a lot of daysailing, a little bit of cruising and maybe one longer cruise a year in nearby waters. That’s where a boat like the Cal 33 comes in.  The