Boat Reviews

Transit 380

by Bill Springer, Posted August 22, 2006

It’s easy to see why the Optimist is the boat of choice for the youngest sailors, but what’s not so clear is where those still-young sailors go when they’ve outgrown the Opti. Designer Jim Taylor and Precision Boatworks have addressed the need for a transition boat between the Opti and larger, more powerful boats like the Laser or the 420 with the new Transit 380. It’s a stable

Nautitech 40

by Bill Springer, Posted August 22, 2006

At first glance the Nautitech 40 seems to have solved the conundrum all large cruising-cat designers face—how to draw a boat that’s spacious on the inside and sleek and sexy on the outside. Nautitech’s answer is to unify the topsides by seamlessly blending the coachroof into the hard cockpit roof. As with all designs, a compromise was required. Instead of having a single helm station on the back

J/92

by Bill Springer, Posted August 22, 2006

Ever since Rod Johnstone built Ragtime, which ended up being the J/24 prototype in 1974, J Boats has produced boats that are fun to race as well as comfortable and manageable enough for family cruising. The new 30-foot J/92s fits that design brief perfectly. The J/92 has been very successful on racecourses in Europe and the U.S., and the J/92s is intended to be a more stable,

Esse 850

by Bill Springer, Posted August 22, 2006

The idea behind the new 28-foot Esse 850 is what many sportboat builders strive for: Build a fast, easy-to-handle, trailerable, one-design racer/daysailer that can be sailed shorthanded. And make sure it’s drop-dead gorgeous.After a successful launch in Europe, where the Umberto Felci design was named one of the European Yachts of the Year, it appears the 850 turns the

Beneteau 523

by Bill Springer, Posted August 23, 2006

Groupe Beneteau is the largest sailboat manufacturer in the world. It comprises four separate companies—Beneteau, Jeanneau, Lagoon, and CNB—that operate independently but share economies of scale. At first glance, Beneteau and Jeanneau may appear to be competing for the same buyers, but in reality each line is designed to fill wide (and separate) swaths in the marketplace. Jeanneau has had great

Elan 384

by Tom Dove, Posted September 5, 2006

Sometimes a boat catches your imagination immediately. Sometimes you have to sail the boat to appreciate it. I didn’t find anything revolutionary during my dockside inspection of the new Elan 384. The open transom made it easy to board. The deck was user-friendly, with good walkways and cabintop access. The optional teak decks made a secure nonskid surface, and grabrails fell to hand easily when

Najad 380

by Tom Dove, Posted September 5, 2006

I finally figured out what Swedes do on those dark northern-winter days. They have contests. Varnishing contests. Woodworking contests. Bolt-tightening contests. At least, that’s what I thought after a close examination of the new center-cockpit Najad 380 from Sweden. On deckThe in-mast furling mainsail was beautifully made by UK-Syverson. Thanks to its vertical battens, and

Hunter 49

by Bill Springer, Posted September 5, 2006

A 49-foot cruiser with lots of bells and whistlesBy Bill SpringerHead designer Glenn Henderson has redesigned the entire Hunter line since he arrived in 1998, and now, starting with the new Hunter 49, he’s in the process of refining his redesigns. I jumped aboard hull #1 with Hunter’s chief tester, Steve Pettingill, on a 180-mile passage from St. Augustine,

Dehler 44

by Bill Springer, Posted September 6, 2006

The new Dehler 44 is one of the first two of five new Simonis Voogd–designed Dehlers on the drawing board to be launched between 2006 and 2009. It’s designed to be a performance cruiser with the focus on performance. Production got under way this summer only after extensive computer modeling was used to determine the optimum shape of the hull and appendages. It appears that the designers gave the

Freydis Open 50

by Bill Springer, Posted September 6, 2006

The French are all about building and sailing fast multihulls, so when advance billing of the new Freydis Open 50 from Tournier Marine arrived at SAIL introducing a new ocean-racing catamaran for “professionals, semi-professionals, and even amateurs,” I could almost hear French builder Philippe Tournier’s accent as I read. This is not the first multihull designed to be gloves-off fast, but its