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Boat Test
2025 April 1 - 12:00 am

Excess 14

This performance cruising catamaran takes aim at monohull sailors with its simple elegance and sprightly performance

By Greta Schanen
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
Boat Test
2025 March 1 - 12:00 am

Beneteau First 53

Beneteau brings back its First line of racer-cruisers with the launch of the powerful and beautiful flagship

By Greta Schanen
In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Beneteau First cruiser-racers were winning regattas across the world. The popularity of multipurpose boats waned over the decades, with racing and cruising
Splashes
2024 July 17 - 12:00 am

A ‘textbook perfect’ rescue

By Greta Schanen
Great Lakes sailors love a fast Mac. This year’s Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac was so fast it broke the elapsed time record when the Andrews 80 Maverick crossed the finish line Sunday afternoo
Boat Test
2024 June 1 - 12:00 am

Solaris 44

This powerful performance cruiser exudes Italian style above and below deck

By Greta Schanen
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
Boat Test
2024 March 1 - 12:00 am

Jeanneau Yachts 55

Jeanneau keeps pushing the boat design envelope with its breakthrough open-air deck saloon cruiser

By Greta Schanen
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
Features
2023 June 1 - 12:00 am

Racing on Island Time

There’s plenty of ways to get sailing and get in on the serious fun at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

By Greta Schanen
The breeze started to build as we powered out of Simpson Bay’s IGY Marina on our way to catch the 10:30 bridge opening. Hank Schmitt, the skipper of the Swan 48 Avocation, and the rest of the crew r
Boat Test
2023 March 1 - 12:00 am

X 4.3 Pure Performance

The redesign of X-Boat’s most popular performance cruiser has speed for fast passages in a sleek, modern package

By Greta Schanen
The completely redesigned X43 sails off Newport, Rhode Island.Billy Black photo When a boatbuilding company takes on the task of redesigning its most popular model, it probably has a good idea of what
Splashes
2022 November 1 - 12:00 am

A pilot's homecoming

By Greta Schanen
The fleet leaves Tenants Harbor.Hinckley boats have plied the waters off Southwest Harbor, Maine, for almost a century. The Pilot 35 was one of the popular early designs, first crafted in wood and lat
Boat Test
2022 September 1 - 12:00 am

Beneteau Oceanis 40.1

Beneteau’s latest family cruiser offers all the bells and whistles for fast and comfortable sailing

By Greta Schanen
Bert Jabin’s Yacht Yard in Annapolis, Maryland’s Back Creek, was abuzz as I walked down the docks to get my first ride aboard the new Beneteau Oceanis 40.1. The week following the U.S. Sailboat Sh
Boat Test
2022 June 1 - 12:00 am

Sun Odyssey 380

The latest midsized cruiser from Jeanneau packs in great performance, cruising comforts and the latest innovations that make sailing easier

By Greta Schanen
Tradition has it that a cruising boat should be heavy and slow to keep sailors safe and comfortable. But with advances in technology and design, boatbuilders have discovered that lightweight equals li
Boat Test
2022 March 1 - 12:00 am

Hylas 57

This powerful offshore cruiser has all the bells and whistles that allow shorthanded sailing in comfort

By Greta Schanen
The new Bill Dixon-designed Hylas 57 has been making waves since its debut at the 2021 fall boat shows with its good looks and innovative shorthanded sailing systems. The 57 is a departure from the mo
Boat Test
2022 January 1 - 12:00 am

Kinetic 54

An elegant and powerful bluewater cruising catamaran with high-tech systems that make it comfortable for doublehanded sailing

By Greta Schanen
When Bob Hayward, a successful American real estate developer, film studio co-founder and farmer, couldn’t find the perfect cruising catamaran, he had one built at Phil Harvey’s South African boat
Boat Test
2021 January 1 - 12:00 am

Seawind 1600

This bluewater cruising catamaran can take you on fast passages in style and comfort

By Greta Schanen
Sailors shopping for a new cruising catamaran should start their search at the Miami International Boat Show, where all the latest models are on display. Making its U.S. debut in 2020 was the 52-foot
Splashes
2020 December 5 - 12:00 am

Mayday

In the dark of the night in the far south Atlantic, Jean Le Cam, right, rescued fellow solo skipper, Kevin Escoffier, left, after his boat broke in two and sank in the Vendée Globe Race

By Greta Schanen
"I need assistance. I am sinking. This is not a joke. MAYDAY.”That was the last message Kevin Escoffier was able to send from his foiling IMOCA 60 PRB before it sank in the  South Atlant
Features
2020 July 1 - 12:00 am

The Cactus Club

For more than 60 years, an avid group of sailors from the Arizona Yacht Club has been sailing in the Sonoran Desert

By Greta Schanen
Onne van der Wal photoWhen Bob Naylor visited a yacht club on the East Coast and presented his yacht club card that features a cactus on its burgee he was met with a quizzical look. “Is this real?��
Boat Test
2020 June 1 - 12:00 am

Catalina 545

Ingenuity and craftsmanship come together to give Catalina’s flagship the ability to cross oceans in comfort

By Greta Schanen
The beefy integral bowsprit features stainless fittings and a Selden roller furling unit.Catalina owners are an enthusiastic bunch, and when they said they were yearning for a big offshore cruiser,
Splashes
2020 May 14 - 12:00 am

Sailing inside the bubble

By Greta Schanen
Dawn Riley, center, made the decision to quarantine the staff during the coronavirus pandemic.In early March, when news of the coronavirus pandemic became increasingly alarming, Dawn Riley didn’t wa
Boat Test
2020 May 1 - 12:00 am

X4.0

The new ‘baby’ of the X-Yachts fleet is a 40-footer that is a real looker and a great performer

By Greta Schanen
It was a mile-long trek in 90-degree heat from the front gate of the Miami International Boat Show past countless fishing gear booths and outboard powerboats to the far southeast corner of the docks w
Features
2020 February 1 - 12:00 am

It's all about the fun

Instead of lazing around a pool, sailors are packing their seabags and heading for learn-to-sail vacations in tropical locations

By Greta Schanen
The enticing part of sailing is that every time you go to sea you learn something new. And because sailors aren’t typically people who like to sit idly by on their vacations, combining the two, by l
Boat Test
2020 January 1 - 12:00 am

Dufour 390 Grand Large

This latest midsize cruiser from France packs big boat features in an easy-to-handle and stylish package

By Greta Schanen
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
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