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

 It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what drew me to a catboat, and specifically a Marshall 22. Perhaps it was some romantic notion conjured from gazing at an Edward Hopper or Winslow Homer painting,

This great looking boat is a Judel/Vrolijk design built by Dehler Yachts. The vertical stem and transom give the boat a very strong look. Of course we see this in almost all the new boats but with 46

 It’s a testament to the progressive design of the original J/97 that the new boat, the J/97 Evolution, required only modest design upgrades to make it stylistically competitive with the brand-

If you’ve ever imagined steering a rocketship but had your dreams dampened because you’re not a NASA astronaut, I have good news for you. The new C&C 30 one-design race boat provides fast acceleration, light-air performance and so much exhilaration you’ll be convinced this is exactly how it feels to hurtle through space as the hull planes across the water. And it doesn’t take long to grow accustomed to leaving slower boats in your wake.

 The Beneteau Oceanis 35 designed by Finot-Conq appears to be a very versatile design aimed at hitting a wide segment of the market. There is a daysailer model, a weekender model and a cruiser mo

This new model from Bavaria was designed by the Farr office in partnership with Design Unlimited. I’m not exactly sure who designed what but I think it’s safe to assume that the hull, appendages a

It’s said that the Dutch invented daysailing, and Didden Jachtbouw’s Koopmans 28 SQ daysailer shows that the Dutch still know how to enjoy a day on the water.  A good daysailer need only sa

Judel/Vrolijk is the design name behind this new Varianta model, built as an entry boat for the Hanse line. It’s a clean-looking boat with modest styling, and it is a little more conventional lookin

This new Elan model was designed by Rob Humphreys in the UK with an interior design by Gigo Design. I’ve been a Humphreys fan for many years. His designs always appeal to my eye, and he has a very g

I like the look of this new Marlow-Hunter. To my eye, the look combines European-styling elements with U.S.-style proportions. I find it a good look and well done considering the volume they were

Sailors who cruise in regions that experience summer calms will love Island Packet’s SP Cruiser Mk 2. The SP is a motorsailer designed as a cross between a trawler and sailboat; a boat equally at ho

In my perfect world it’s always 9:30 Sunday morning, about 65 degrees and a little sunny. I am finishing washing my big, dark Mercedes, while listening to Bach’s “Matthew Passion” on CBC2’s

Here’s a boat designed by my old friend Mark Mills that has a lot of people talking. The first boat is sailing and so far there have been big smiles all around. This new boat enters a tough niche in

The RM890 is a very interesting Marc Lombard design built by RM Yachts of France. One of the most interesting features of this boat is that it is built with plywood and epoxy using a multichine hull f