What the numbers can tell you about boat performance, comfort, and stability Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 Yacht designers make many calculations in their work that help define the final shape and performa...
A modern racer-cruiser with two helms Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 This 2013 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 379 was less than 10 years old at the time of my review, providing a great opportunity to look at some of ...
A bluewater cruiser in a small package Issue 152: Nov/Dec 2023 I was singlehanding on our Islander Bahama 30 on a spectacular fall afternoon, whitecaps dancing on the blue waters of Plumper Sound in t...
A pert little catboat for daysailing and napping Issue 153: Nov/Dec 2023 Bob Ryan, 75, handed me his business card at Dock on the Bay Marina on Longboat Key, Florida. Below his name was his occupation...
A fast and comfortable racer-cruiser that has stood the test of time Issue 154: Jan/Feb 2024 While on vacation in Mexico, Debbie Bulk dreamed of a better way to see local village life away from the re...
The little boat that could Issue 155: March/April 2024 In an era of increasingly bigger boats, sometimes it’s the smaller vessels that steal the show — like our beloved Fatty Knees 8 dinghy. Despite i...
A Sleek Racer/Cruiser From the Mid-’80s Issue 155: March/April 2024 Jan Bednarski was introduced to the world of water sports by his father near the prairie city of Edmonton, Alberta. Over the y...
A stout double-ender for cruising I’ve heard that New England sailors have seawater running through their veins and after meeting Margaret Pesaturo, I would say it’s true. Her grandparents were boatbu...
A Head-Turning Shoal-Draft Cruiser. Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Lake Mendota, just north of Madison, Wisconsin, is my home water; it’s also where the late, great Buddy Melges sailed. Wide and deep, it’s a...
A Canadian Classic with a Racing Pedigree Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 As I walked down the dock at the Ludington Yacht Club, racers milled about, flags snapped in the breeze, and halyards clanged ...
A well-planned economy cruiser Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 Rich and Carolyn Sutorius of St. Charles, Missouri, sailed a Seafarer 26, Manana, for more than 30 years. We reviewed the boat in the July/August...
A Solid CCA-Style Centerboard Racer/Cruiser Issue 143: March/April 2022 John Geraci may not have known Pearson Yachts’ history when he learned how to sail in 1969 on a Pearson Commander, but he ...
A solid though somewhat stately cruiser Pearson Yachts set off in a new direction in the 1970s. After the company’s founders, Clint and Everett Pearson, left in the mid-1960s, Bill Shaw took over as g...
…and Two More Performance Cruisers. Issue 138: May/June 2021 I assumed the Passport 42 would be a Bob Perry design, an assumption further reinforced when I saw she had a Valiant 40-style canoe s...
Checking All the Boxes Issue 138: May/June 2021 After only a few dates, Scott Voltz and Connie Bunyer knew two things: They liked each other, and they liked sailing. Well…Scott knew he loved sailing; ...
A trio of Pearson 36-1 owners compares notes on their boats, refits, and wide-ranging sailing. Issue 137: March/April 2021 In 1972, Pearson Yachts began producing the P36-1, designed by William Shaw. ...
…and Two More CCA-Onspired Classics Issue 137: March/April 2021 Carl Alberg developed a design aesthetic based on the Cruising Club of America (CCA) yachts of the 1950s and ’60s, and he never re...
A Classic Full-Keel Beauty Issue 137: March/April 2021 Laurie Knight’s lifelong dream has been to own and sail her own boat, something she hopes all women will realize isn’t as hard as it looks and is...
This 1970s family cruiser offers a fair turn of speed Pearson Yachts was one of the most respected builders during its long run from 1956 to 1988 or thereabouts (under ownership by an investment firm,...
…and Two More Lift-Keel Performers Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Everyone knows that deep draft improves sailing performance but restricts cruising options. The ability to reduce draft would certainly...
…and Two More Freestanding-Rigged, Solid Sailers. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 Looking for boats to compare to the Nonsuch 36, the obvious commonality has to be the freestanding rig. That cer...
A fast, Big Catboat Whose Watchword is Simplicity. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 Wendy and Frank Glanznig were beating up Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay in a CS30 sloop, tacking hard upwind with rails un...
A variety of factors contributed to the end of yacht design’s golden age. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 I recently finished reading Dick Carter’s autobiography, Dick Carter: Yacht Designer in the Gol...
… and Two More Performance-Influenced Cruisers Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 In the late 1960s and early ’70s, boats designated as “cruising yachts” tended to follow the Colin Archer/William Atkin model of...
An inspired, tough, seakindly cruiser Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 In the mid-1970s, naval architect William “Bill” Ion Belton Crealock entered a sailboat magazine’s boat design contest. Though already a ...
…and Two More Bright, Solid Cruising Performers Issue 131: March/April 2020 The late powerboat designer Tom Fexas once published a provocative article entitled “Sailing Is Silly” in which...
A Raised-Saloon Cruiser for Two Issue 131: March/April 2020 For 14 years, Rosie and Carl Anderson sailed their Bombay Clipper 31 throughout the coastal waters of western Florida. But after an e...
Freestanding rigs offer an intriguing comparison to traditional, stayed masts. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 In 1985, when I joined the office of Mark Ellis Design, Mark took me sailing aboard a Nonsuch 30...
A Traditional Masterpiece Issue 129: Nov/Dec 2019 Styled by builder Cecil Lang after William Atkin’s classic Tally Ho Major, the Cape George 38 is a traditional cutter with a counter transom, fairly f...
Affordable and innovative, these five boats were multihull game-changers. Issue 129: Nov/Dec 2019 Anyone who’s read this magazine for a while can appreciate how deep and broad the roots of monohull sa...
