Any sailor looking for a solid and seaworthy boat around the 30ft size is likely to put some of the best Scandinavian boats on their shortlist. Leading manufacturers such as…
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Best cruising boats under 30 feet: Is this the ideal size for a yacht?
Cruising boats of around 30ft can often become a ‘boat for life’. Having graduated from dinghies to small cruisers, many sailors decide that something around 30ft will give them enough…
What is a lugger? And why they make great trailer-sailers – answered!
Compulsive boat owner Clive Marsh explains why little luggers make perfect trailer-sailers
Fairey Swordsman 30: A crowd-pleasing jet boat with James Bond connections
Willie Bewes, retired director of Transworld Yachts, had a successful career selling large numbers of Swedish Hallberg-Rassy cruising yachts to the British market. But despite this commercial success his boating…
Freestanding masts: Why more cruisers should go wireless
You see a yacht with a mast, or masts held up with no rigging and think: ‘What’s going on? Why does it not fall over? This must be wrong –…
Parker 660 Pilothouse review: Impressive performer is surprisingly versatile
Before the introduction of its range of sports fishing boats and fast cruisers in the early 2000s, Parker Poland had been one of the leading suppliers of RIBs since the…
Best Hallberg-Rassy sailboats: The evolution of a Swedish sailing icon
Hallberg-Rassy has been in the same family ownership since Christoph Rassy bought Harry Hallberg’s boatbuilding business in 1972 and formed Hallberg-Rassy. And 49 years later it’s still going strong and…
Cal 40: The 1960s US classic that deserves restoration
The traditional styling of this boat, with its counter stern and raked bow, might lead onlookers to assume it’s a typical heavy long keeler from the early 1960s. However, it’s…
Catalina 27 cruising sailboat: Refusing to follow fashion
Part of Catalina’s long-lasting success is based on a refusal to follow passing fashions. Instead models have a very long production life and are constantly refined to improve finish and…
C&C 27: A roomy cruising boat that is ahead of its time
Shortly after the Viking 28 was launched C&C became established as boatbuilders in their own right and went on to produce a huge range of successful racing and cruising designs.…
Half a million Sunfish dinghies sold: What is the secret to its success?
Today Britain is the world’s largest producer of sailing dinghies, but the story was different 50 to 60 years ago, when many countries produced huge numbers of small boats as…
Catalina 22: The most successful cruising yacht ever designed
When he launched this modest ballasted centreboarder in 1969 Frank Butler is reputed to have said he would consider it a success if he built 100 boats. Six years later…
C&C Viking 28: A bargain 1960s fin-keel yacht
This Cuthbertson & Cassian-designed 28-footer was built by Ontario Yachts in Canada from 1968 onwards. At that time the C&C Viking 28 still represented a radical concept, with a short…
J/24: Sailing one of the world’s most popular boats
The 1970s saw plenty of innovation on the USA’s north-eastern coasts. The wide-beam almost flush deck 24-footer Ragtime that Rod Johnston built in his garage over the winter of 1975/76…
Island Packet 350: A boat that delivers you in style
This Florida-based yard has produced a range of distinctive long keel serious cruising designs for more than 40 years. These are quality yachts, with a high level of standard equipment…
Convert a 54ft fishing trawler into a blue-water motor-sailer
When my partner, Dave, has a mad idea, he normally finds a way to make it happen. “I’d like to sail across the Atlantic,” he declared one day. “Uh-oh!” I…
Katie McCabe: “How I restored a wooden yacht at the age of 13”
My name is Katie, but I prefer to be called Sade (pronounced Sayd). I am 13 years old and over the winter and spring (2019-2020), through the pandemic, I restored…
J/105: The asymmetric fleet racer turned offshore fast cruiser
While no subsequent J-boat has matched the J/24 in sales, the brand nevertheless became hugely successful across the globe. The company went on to lead the world in adopting asymmetric…
Legend 356 sailboat: Big in Britain but born in the USA
Hunter Marine became a major force in boatbuilding from the 1980s through to the financial crisis of 2008, with the boats sold in the UK under the Legend brand to…
Becoming an Old Gaffer – How I found my ideal boat
I don’t own Wendy May, she owns me. I’m just the custodian. She was built for an army officer in 1936 by Williams & Parkinson in North Wales. Their brief…