The Excess 14 was in high demand for test sails following the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October. It was easy to see why as the boat swung by my pickup point at the end of the South Annapolis Yacht Ce

The breeze started to build as we powered out of Simpson Bay’s IGY Marina on our way to catch the 10:30 bridge opening. Hank Schmitt, the skipper of the Swan 48 Avocation, and the rest of the crew r

The completely redesigned X43 sails off Newport, Rhode Island.Billy Black photo When a boatbuilding company takes on the task of redesigning its most popular model, it probably has a good idea of what

The fleet leaves Tenants Harbor.Hinckley boats have plied the waters off Southwest Harbor, Maine, for almost a century. The Pilot 35 was one of the popular early designs, first crafted in wood and lat

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

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

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

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

Sailors shopping for a new cruising catamaran should start their search at the Miami International Boat Show, where all the latest models are on display. Making its U.S. debut in 2020 was the 52-foot

"I need assistance. I am sinking. This is not a joke. MAYDAY.”That was the last message Kevin Escoffier was able to send from his foiling IMOCA 60 PRB before it sank in the  South Atlant

Onne van der Wal photoWhen Bob Naylor visited a yacht club on the East Coast and presented his yacht club card that features a cactus on its burgee he was met with a quizzical look. “Is this real?��

The beefy integral bowsprit features stainless fittings and a Selden roller furling unit.Catalina owners are an enthusiastic bunch, and when they said they were yearning for a big offshore cruiser,

Dawn Riley, center, made the decision to quarantine the staff during the coronavirus pandemic.In early March, when news of the coronavirus pandemic became increasingly alarming, Dawn Riley didn’t wa

It was a mile-long trek in 90-degree heat from the front gate of the Miami International Boat Show past countless fishing gear booths and outboard powerboats to the far southeast corner of the docks w

In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Beneteau First cruiser-racers were winning regattas across the world. The popularity of multipurpose boats waned over the decades, with racing and cruising

The enticing part of sailing is that every time you go to sea you learn something new. And because sailors aren’t typically people who like to sit idly by on their vacations, combining the two, by l

The drop-down transom reveals a large swim platform with an integral telescoping swim ladder, a dedicated life raft locker, grill and sink. The capricious winds of Chesapeake Bay got the best of

Beneteau has long had the ability to put the go-fast into sailboats, with many of the boats in its First line winning offshore and inshore races. It even launched the foiling Figaro 3. Cushy comforts