My post-Annapolis test-sailing dance card had a great mix of boats on it this year. At the total opposite end of the spectrum from the simple and diminutive Paine 14, I found this high-end sweetheart. Like many of you, I've been reading about Gunboats for years and have walked through a few tied to docks,...
The Nonsuch 30 was the first and most successful of the Nonsuch line of una-rigged cruising catboats built by Hinterhoeller Yachts of Ontario, Canada, from 1978 to 1994. Designed by Mark Ellis at the instigation of Gordon Fisher, a famous Canadian racing sailor who wanted a fast, easy-to-handle cruising boat for his retirement, this boat...
This French-built cruiser-racer, designed by Holman & Pye, a British firm, first appeared on the market in 1979, just as the IOR rule was peaking in popularity. The Pretorien 35 thus exhibits features common to many boats of this era: it is beamy amidships with somewhat pinched ends and has a smallish high-aspect mainsail and...
This is another of the boats I sailed after the Annapolis show that I've been meaning to hold forth on here. You'll recall about a year ago I mentioned its predecessor, the award-winning Catalina 445, and raved about that boat's very versatile aft cabin. This new 355, intended to be a scaled down version of...
I made it up to St. Augustine and met Steve Pettengill, Director of Destructive Testing for Hunter Marine, at his R&D shed at 7:30 sharp yesterday morning. He had a brand new Hunter 18 fresh off the production line and we at once set about commissioning it for a test sail. The forecast was for...
This stylish little pocket yacht is both the first and smallest boat ever produced by Sabre Yachts, a quality production boatbuilder based in southern Maine. Designed by the company’s founder, Roger Hewson, and introduced in 1971, the Sabre 28 was the only boat produced by Sabre until 1977. Production did not cease until 1986, by...
With its classic long overhangs, perfectly pitched sheer line, wide side-decks, graceful cabin profile, and distinctive near-vertical transom, the Bermuda 40 has inspired severe lust in the heart of many a cruising sailor. Designed by Bill Tripp, Jr., it is without doubt one of the most attractive production sailboats ever conceived. The B-40, as it...
Boats produced by the French builder Chantiers Amel occupy a very unique niche in the cruising sailboat market. The company founder, Henri Toncet, who changed his name to Henri Amel while serving with the French resistance during World War II, became a pioneer of fiberglass boatbuilding in Europe after studying floating pontoons built of polyester-impregnated...
The Tayana 37 is the most successful of the many Taiwan-built double-ended full-keel cruisers that were conceived in the mid-1970s in the wake of the great success of the Westsail 32. Designed by Bob Perry and originally marketed as the CT 37 when first introduced in 1976, over 600 Tayana 37s have since been built....
The Tartan 27 is sometimes hailed as the first fiberglass boat ever to be designed by Sparkman & Stephens. This, however, is not quite accurate, as a few years prior to its creation S&S designed a similar, but slightly smaller glass boat, the 25-foot New Horizons, for Ray Greene. The introduction of the Tartan 27...
