Oh boy! I’ve been looking forward to reviewing this new Swan 55. Why? German Frers is my favorite designer. He has an eye for subtle beauty, never “over designing” and he sure knows how to desig

This month we have two handsome European designs in the contemporary style. The two boats are 7 feet 8 inches apart in LOA, but if you compare the profiles they are very close to identical. Seems like

Now let’s look at the Arcona 50 and see what having another 7 feet 8 inches of LOA buys you. But first and I do think this is a first in the history of my design reviews: try as she might, Greta, my

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

We can have some fun this month comparing two new European production boats that have almost the same LOA. As you would expect, both boats are in the “contemporary” style. I’m inclined to use th

Here is a new design from Italian designer Maurizio Cossutti and the Italia Yachts design team. This boat is 2 feet longer on deck than the Dehler. The Italia group provided me with an extensive set o

My client writes: “I’ve admired Bob Perry’s designs for years and in 2010 we were fortunate enough to have our own Valiant 42 built (sadly the last hull laid up). She has taken care of us for th

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

At first glance at the 2D sailplan this 44-foot catamaran appears to be a stubby and kind of awkward looking cat. But don’t be fooled. Add the third dimension, the depth and the complex geometry of

This new Beneteau First model was designed by a team led by Kristian Hajnsek. Samuel Manuard, known for his Class 40 and IMOCA 60 class racers did the basic design. Structural design came from Pure De

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

I was cruising around on Facebook one day and I saw a boat that jumped out at me. It was a great looking boat and very nicely drawn. Clearly the designer had some well honed skills and a good eye

Here’s an elegant design from the Hoek design office in Holland for Performance Classic Yachts in the United Kingdom. The company has built a series of Hoek designs in Turkey that have proven quite

I understand that it is difficult to sell boats from two-dimensional working drawings for a new design. Many sailors have trouble reading 2D drawings and need 3D renderings to understand the new

I don’t know if many of you have heard the story of how I got my job as “technical editor” of SAILING but I’ll tell it again. It’s a funny story.It was late in 1974 and SAILING Editor M

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

When Canadian-born naval architect Rob Ball talks about favorites among the dozens of boats he designed for C&C Yachts, he lists the C&C 34+ racer-cruiser as one his best. During an October 20

Holy cow! My editor has given me two new French boats to review this month, the Oceanis 34.1 by Beneteau and the Sun Odyssey 380 by Jeanneau. I had to study these two boats carefully to even tell them