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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
Boat Test
2020 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
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
Boat Test
2019 May 1 - 12:00 am

Beauty and brawn

The latest French-designed, American-built cruiser has plenty of power in a stylish package

By Greta Schanen
Beneteau has long had the ability to put the go-fast into sailboats, with many of the boats in its First line winning offshore and inshore races. It even launched the foiling Figaro 3. Cushy comforts
Boat Test
2019 March 1 - 12:00 am

Packing a big punch

The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 319 is a new entry-level cruiser that packs all the best of a big cruiser in an affordable package

By Greta Schanen
The test boat came with the standard stainless steel bow roller, but the 319 is available with an optional sprit to fly an asymmetrical spinnaker or code zero. The new Sun Odyssey 319 sails into
Boat Test
2019 January 1 - 12:00 am

Made for the sea

The Hylas 48 is a robust offshore passagemaker tricked out with creature comforts, sophisticated systems and a seakindly nature

By Greta Schanen
It’s not every day that you sail with a Boston terrier as a bo’sun, which made it a nice surprise when Bikini peeked her head out of the cockpit as I boarded the brand-new Hylas 48 at Mears Marina
Boat Test
2018 September 1 - 12:00 am

A sailor’s cat

With indoor-outdoor living spaces, the new Seawind 1260 is a cruising cat that offers speed and seaworthiness

By Greta Schanen
Afresh trade breeze was gusting across Florida’s Biscayne Bay and we unfurled the screecher to make the most of it. The sail filled and the Seawind 1260 picked up the pace as we headed toward Miami.
Features
2018 June 1 - 12:00 am

Going old school

The Golden Globe Race is taking solo sailors nonstop around the world using the same technology that was available when Robin Knox-Johnston sailed the first one in 1968

By Greta Schanen
Just as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet nears the finish line July 1, having zoomed around the world aboard high-tech 65-footers at speeds often exceeding 30 knots, sending high-tech drone video updates of every thrilling moment, 19 solo sailors will leave Les Sables d’Olonne, France, for a nonstop circumnavigation race aboard 30-footers retro-outfitted, meaning no GPS, satellite weather, watermakers, AIS, radars, chartplotters, instruments, autopilots, digital watches or even iPods. These hardy skippers in the Golden Globe Race are going old school on the 50th anniversary of the inaugural race in 1968.
12 Next »

Perry on Design

  • Falken

    Bob Perry gives the interior of a 1998 Farr-designed racer a makeover for offshore sail training

  • M.A.T. 12.2

    This next gen racer-cruiser is elegantly fast

  • Beneteau Oceanis 37.1

    A comfy cruiser with loads of interior space has options to suit many

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