Here is a high-performance cruising boat from the Farr office in Annapolis. As the promotional material says, “We are entering the age of foil-assisted sailing.”  

Here is a very interesting boat from the French builder Boréal. It’s 44 feet on deck and 47 feet 9 inches overall. What makes this boat unusual is the fact that it’s built in aluminum using a multichine hull form. On top of that it has a centerboard that reduces draft from 8 feet 3 inches to a beachable 3 feet 4 inches.

This month we have three very interesting multihulls to review—two cats and a trimaran. First is the Morrelli and Melvin-designed Rapido 50. You’ve heard me talk about my buddy Doug on the next beach with the Farrier tri. He’s thinking about a new tri with more comfort than his 27-footer and when I saw the Rapido I thought it would be a great fit for him. That way I could go for a sail on the new boat. I’m always looking out for my friends.

The new Balance 620 catamaran is built in South Africa at the Nexus Yachts boatyard. The design is by Anton DuToit. The target for this design is a “stretched, ultra high-speed version of the Balance 526 design.” Performance claims for the new cat are speed from “12 to 14 knots and often exceeding 20 knots.” That sounds good. The yard also offers custom interiors if one of its three standard layouts does not work for you. You can have either a three-, four- or even five-stateroom layout. Three would be plenty, thank you, and that’s the layout I have the drawing for, so that’s what I will focus on.

I think it’s accurate to say that the Gunboat fleet of very fast cruising cats opened up a new market for catamaran lovers. Now it’s not just about square footage but also comfort and speed.

Here’s a slick looking new cat from HH Catamarans for those of you who like to sail flat.  HH cats are built in Xiamen, China, by Hudson Marine. I’ve been to Xiamen a few times. There are som

I’m familiar with the company C-Yacht and I am familiar with the designer of this clean-looking, Dutch-built design from the Gerard Dykstra design office. Dykstra is responsible for some very beauti

Over the years the Amel series of boats have achieved cultlike status as offshore cruising boats. I respect the attention to detail and unique approaches to various areas of design but I have never been much of a fan. It came down to styling. I thought they were bland and uninteresting boats to look at. The new Amel 50 changes that. While there is no mention of a designer in the material I have, it’s clear that this Amel was designed by someone with a good eye for aesthetics and a good understanding for what the cruising market is after today.

Oyster has made a name for itself as the premier builder of large semicustom cruising yachts. The designs produced in conjunction with Rob Humphreys are always superb and fit and finish is always top notch. The Oyster style has slowly evolved to keep the look of the boats very current. In short, these are ultimate boats in the world of semicustom.

The headline on the press release for the new custom Tartan 37-foot model states, “Imagine a different cruising experience.” I think you have to. This is a very different kind of boat. It’s a bit of a hermaphrodite—half powerboat and half sailboat. Generally this is the kiss of death, but designer Tim Jackett appears to have come up with a design that can avoid that fate.

I like this new Island Packet designed by Bob Johnson. I particularly like the profile of the cabintrunk. It reminds me of the Aldens and Albergs of the early 1960s. While there is a well-established Euro (call it modern) look to many of today’s production boats, I still think there are a lot of sailors in the United States who appreciate the classic American aesthetic to yacht styling and proportions. I like to think that. 

For some odd reason these days I seem to be attracted to “grandpa boats.”  This new Chuck Paine designed 18-footer looks like just the ticket for me to have some fun with my grandkids, Violet and Drake. In fact it’s perfect in every way.

I am not sure where to start telling you about my friend Steve’s skills. He has so many. I’ll just say Steve is a craftsman who can build anything. He built his own plane, he’s a commercial pilot, then designed his own floats and retractable landing gear to turn the plane into an amphibian. He inherited an aluminum 34-footer that he modified significantly after teaching himself to weld aluminum. So when Steve said he was going to design a new boat for his next project I was not surprised. The surprise was this is a boat I could own with pride.

Now for some contrast. For me, yacht design has always been an art and a science. You pick a target for the objective elements like boat speed and handling characteristics. Maybe you throw in some obj

The new Arcona 465 is built in Sweden and designed by Arcona’s head designer Stefan Quiberg. I like pretty much everything about this boat. The target was a high-performance racer/cruiser optimized

Owning this beauty is possible. Some people might have to buy a lottery ticket but you might just win. In which case your venerable Catalina 27 might begin to look a little on the small side. Don’t fret. Baltic has the answer for you in this impressive Judel/Vrolijk designed 67-footer.

At rare times certain designers can be considered dominant in their genre. Think Doug Peterson in the early IOR days and Bruce Farr in later IOR days. This dominance seldom went outside that genre. You could argue that in Bruce Farr’s case. But when it comes to trailerable, folding trimarans for the past 25 years, maybe longer, Ian Farrier has totally dominated the scene. You think folding tri and you think Ian Farrier. It’s automatic. This has given Ian many years to slowly evolve a near-perfect product. I say “near perfect” because I’m sure Ian has more tricks to come and I don’t want to sound like I’m limiting his creativity. Are these good boats? Numbers don’t lie, not in this case. If that’s not enough for you I have sailed my buddy’s turbo F-27 several times and I can assure you that it is a most enjoyable and at times exciting ride. If you want to sail flat and fast you can’t beat one of Ian’s trimarans.

I think I’ll just quote from the Reichel-Pugh press release here: “A high-performance design for inshore and offshore racing. The briefing to the Reichel-Pugh team was to develop a flat-out racer that delivers the thrill of a high-performance design as well as the ability to capture podium positions.”