I’ve known Tom Wylie for a long time. I once owned a boat he designed, a Wylie Wabbit—24 feet of thrills and spills. Tom has always been an original thinker. When just about every designer was doi

I received a very nice design package from Gerry Douglas, head designer at Catalina Yachts. I think I may have reviewed more Catalina models than any other manufacturer in the many years I have b

Now let’s look at what German Frers does with a very similar design challenge. Sitting side by side at the dock the two boats would be nearly identical except for some subtle styling differences. LO

This month we are going to look at two large cruising boats: the Hylas 60 and the Oyster 565. They share a target market and a general  approach to styling and hull shape. The numbers are so clos

The drop-down transom reveals a large swim platform with an integral telescoping swim ladder, a dedicated life raft locker, grill and sink. The capricious winds of Chesapeake Bay got the best of

Ilike this quote from the promotional material that came with this Tim Jackett-designed Tartan 245. “Although there may be no such thing as the perfect daysailer, that’s not our decision to make,

There are lots of ways we can enjoy sailing. I think there is a boat for just about everybody. My neighbor bought a John Welsford Scamp this summer. It’s a 12-foot pram with a lug rig. This is his f

When Morris Yachts launched the Chuck Paine-designed Annie 29 in 1980, it attracted plenty of attention in the sailing community. Its look was in sharp contrast to Paine’s double-ended designs, the

The Pegasus 50 is built in Slovenia and designed by Marine Designs. This is not a new yard. It has produced many yachts and has recently started to build in carbon fiber. I can’t find any mention in

Here’s a new 40-footer from our friends at X-Yachts in Denmark. The design is from the in-house X-Yachts Design Team. Given the X-Yachts tradition of fast boats, I think it’s safe to assume this w

Here’s a new boat for Beneteau’s First series. The hull design is by Biscontini Yacht Design and the layout and deck design is by Lorenzo Argento.  Like the Mark Mills 68, the design target i

For my money, some of the most exciting designs being produced today come from the office of my old friend Mark Mills working in County Wicklow, Ireland.  Mark produces high-performance racing y

The seaworthy Downeaster 32 was designed by Bob Poole, who founded Down East Yachts in Santa Ana, California, during the fiberglass boatbuilding heyday of the 1970s. Poole was an East Coast native and

We can talk about this boat later. First I want to talk about Bruce Roberts. There are several ways you can be a yacht designer, Bruce chose his own way. Born in Victoria, Australia, Bruce opened his

The new Hallberg-Rassy models designed by German Frers are always fun to review. I get a wry smile when I look at the new designs considering what HRs looked like 45 years ago when my Valiant 40 was i

The Pacific Seacraft Orion 27 has been called many things, from an overbuilt floating apartment to the sort of boat an adventurous sailor might choose to sail around the world. During production in th

When you first look at the profiles of the new Gunfleet 43 and the Allures 40.9 you might peg them as very similar boats. The profiles look very similar and LODs are within a foot. But they are really

This month we have two very similarly sized and styled European production boats and one very unusual training dinghy to review. The Allures 40.9 is a Berret-Racoupeau design. It’s a handsome boat i