Size is often an overrated feature in a boat. Bigger can be better in some instances but, to my mind, the old adage that the fun derived from a boat…
monohull
Oddity the yacht designed by a legendary yachtsman
Designing my own boats has resulted in a series of different craft, ranging from small, high-performance multihulls through to a sea kayak, a Cornish lugger, a huge futuristic catamaran and…
Westerly Konsort review: a re-purchase 40 years on
When fellow sailing instructor Liz Le Mare invited me aboard her recently acquired boat, I didn’t need much persuading. She’d recently married a fiercely competitive dinghy sailor, Richard, and their…
Parker 325 review: a plethora of benefits at low cost
Sometimes you find sailors who seem so well suited to their boat that it’s hard to imagine them owning anything else. Take Barry and Orla Tiernan with Sulito, their Parker…
First look: Allures 51.9
Grand Large Yachting, the company that owns Allures, specialises in rugged, go-anywhere cruisers with a strongly practical streak, from the plywood RM yachts, to Garcia’s all-aluminium ultra-tough expedition yachts. So…
First look: Jeanneau Yachts 55
A few years ago, Jeanneau jumped into the large luxury yacht market with its Jeanneau Yachts line, distinguished from their Sun Odyssey cruisers and Sun Fast race boats. The 60…
Scanmar 40 review – Scandinavian appeal
All too often it’s easy to think of today’s mainstream production cruisers as being designed for mass appeal and built to a strict (or sometimes restrictive) budget. While such commercial…
First look: Pointer 25
The Pointer 25 has also been around since 2015, but has proved perennially popular for the Dutch builder Jachtweerf Heeg, particularly on the sheltered waters of the Netherlands. As with…
First look: Tide 25
The Tide 25, built by MFH in north Germany – began its life as a Dehler SQ25, but the mould was sold off when that company hit hard times. Plumb…
Dehler 46SQ review: improvements all round
Powering to windward in one of the breeziest starts to a winter I can remember, it was hard to tell what was rain and what was spray. Sunshine and a…