Boat Reviews

In addition to introducing and expanding its new Sense line of family cruisers over the past two years, Beneteau has also revitalized its ever-popular Oceanis line.

I saw 19.9 knots on my handheld GPS, and I know we went faster than that, but at the time I wasn’t paying close attention to any GPS readout. The breeze was gusting into the 20s, and we were joking about whether or not the Marina del Rey harbor police would nail us for speeding.

Today’s performance-cruisers are faster than ever. But are they going to take care of you in heavy weather in the same way as those pre-IOR boats many of us grew up admiring? Fortunately, there are still builders and designers out there who are willing and able to combine the best of both old and the new in boats like the raised-saloon Tartan 4700.

The aesthetic differences between American and European boats are nowhere more pronounced than in the daysailer niche. The average modern U.S. daysailer has a refined, gentlemanly air; it’s a boat your granddad would have been proud to own.

You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Moody Yachts: it takes some guts to build two 45-foot cruising boats that occupy opposite ends of the design spectrum. Yet it’s easy to see the logic behind such a strategy

As his two boys cavorted around its decks, I asked David, a potential buyer, why he was considering the 560 for a world cruise. “It’s the biggest boat my family and I can sail without a professional crew,” he said.

This stunning cat is the latest debutante from a French company known for its fast, sweet-sailing offshore boats. Designed by Van Peteghem Lauriot Prevost (also responsible for the AC45 catamarans), the boat displaces just 15 tons in cruising trim.

After Matrix Yachts’ president, Peter Wehrley, retired from his job as a structural engineer to operate charter boats in the Caribbean with his wife, Fiona, they soon saw the potential for a large catamaran in the charter trade. Peter’s son, Mark, also captains boats in the charter trade and has now joined the family firm. The Wehrleys’ extensive sailing experience is readily apparent in the Vision 450’s systems, layout and style.

This 43-foot offering doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as its big sister, the new Sense 50, but it does demonstrate that the Sense design concept can translate successfully into a significantly smaller hull.