BWS’s Annual Fall Boat Show Preview
New Cruising Boats: monohulls and multihulls (published September 2018) Every year as we prepare our annual boat show preview of new cruising boats we are remined of two important changes that have taken place in the U.S. sailboat market in the last decade: fewer and fewer new boats are being
The Rebirth of Island Packet
(published April 2018) Over the weekend of March 16 and 17, something happened that many sailing industry veterans had hoped for but never quite believed would occur: Island Packet Yachts had a large, friendly IPY Owners’ Rendezvous at the factory in Largo, Florida. More than 60 owners representing 33 boats
2018 Miami Sailboat Show Preview
For the last decade or more, the sailboat section of the big Miami boat show, called Strictly Sail Miami, has been held at Bayside at Miamarina near downtown Miami. The powerboat section of the show moved to Virginia Key, next to Key Biscayne, two years ago and has settled in
Moody Deck Saloon 54
The new Bill Dixon design is a proper yacht that a couple could easily sail around the world (published March 2018) It was a beautiful autumn morning when I met up with the new owners of the Moody 54 that had been in the just finished Annapolis Sailboat Show. The
Elan GT5
Built in Slovenia, this new 40-foot Rob Humphries design brings the real meaning of “Gran Tourismo” to the yachting world (published January/February 2018) It was a lovely, light air morning on the Chesapeake Bay the day after last fall’s Annapolis sailboat show when we got a chance to give the
X Yachts X4 from Denmark
This thoroughly modern new design is a perfect dual-purpose boat for families who love to both race and cruise (published August 2017) The term racer-cruiser has always given me pause primarily because it seems this moniker represents too many tradeoffs for a boat to do both well. The concept has
Beneteau Oceanis 51.1
The new Berret-Racoupeau design is a dream to sail—fast, handy, seaworthy and very comfortable (published January 2018) From the first day that I saw the drawings and renderings of the new Beneteau Oceanis 51.1, I had been looking forward to taking this fairly radical new design out for a test
Meet the Innovative Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440
The eighth generation of the Sun Odyssey line kicks off a new era for Jeanneau with a boat that is brimming with innovations based on 60 years of boat building experience (published November/December 2017) It was a gray, sultry morning right after the Annapolis sailboat show last October when we
Small Boats, Big Dreams
It is not the size of your boat that matters, it is the size of your dreams (published June/July 2017) Back in the Seventies, I had the good luck to be invited to join my old friend John Kiley aboard his Tahiti ketch Josepha for a cruise from Jamaica to
Dragonfly 28 “Touring”
The Danish designed and built trimaran combines comfortable cruising accommodations with exciting sailing performance (published fall 2017) In early June, we had the opportunity to cruise on a Dragonfly 28 “Touring” in Denmark’s “South Sea”. After a full week of sailing with the entire family over hundreds of miles, varied
