The restoration of an iconic racer, one that was so ground-breaking it helped create a whole genre of yachts, is no small undertaking. But that’s exactly what inadvertent owner Tina…
Extraordinary boats
How a blind sailor raced this unique rudderless catamaran around the Isle of Wight
Local dinghy classes tend to evolve to suit the particular conditions of the waters they sail in, and the Patí Català catamarans are unique to their Barcelona birthplace. The catamaran…
MODX: An electric 70ft catamaran with inflatable wingsails!
Every now and again something really different comes along, and this was one of those concepts you don’t think will come to reality. I say that, having spoken to the…
Extraordinary Boats: JV43 Red 2 – a full-throated racer with an adventurous cruising side
Compared with the multihulls and centre cockpit cruising yachts dwarfing them in Las Palmas, Mathias and Katharina Müller von Blumencron’s yacht Red 2 really is extraordinary. The JV43 is compact…
How this boatbuilder and Youtuber restored the 1910 £1 wreck ‘Tally Ho’
On a Saturday morning in mid-August, there is a light breeze blowing in the Solent. A fleet of yachts is slowly working against the tide, waiting for their start gun.…
Extraordinary Boats: The Three Quarter Tonner ‘Impeccable’
As a trained fine furniture maker and lifelong sailor, Ben Gray’s search criteria for a restoration project to which he could bring his woodworking skills to bear would seem, on…
Extraordinary boats: The Mini Globe Race Globe 5.80
“Go small, go cheap, go now,” famously said Lin and Larry Pardy, who sailed for decades aboard small engineless yachts they built themselves. For Don McIntyre, the restless mind behind…
The design secrets of Charlie Dalin’s Vendée Globe winning IMOCA revealed
Charlie Dalin approached the 2024 Vendée Globe with a unique perspective. Dalin’s previous boat, Apivia (now Clarisse Cremer’s L’Occitane en Provence) was one of the benchmark IMOCAs of its generation.…
Extraordinary boats: The Cayman 28 ‘a gentleman’s skiff’
Zipping through the herd of mainly production family cruisers enjoying the sunshine on a picture postcard Sound of Mull at Scotland’s ever popular West Highland Week, the Cayman 28 Rooster…
Jaro: Sailing this unique new upwind weapon
If you could own any boat, what would it be? And just one? Does it exist, or would you have to create your own? What follows is no ordinary review,…
Extraordinary boats: Cape Cod 767 is 25ft of fresh thinking
Granted, it’s a novel-looking shape, but why all the fuss I wondered as a crowd formed around the transom of the Cape Cod 767 in La Rochelle? And then as…
Extraordinary boats: Baruna – stunning seven-year restoration
Designed by Olin Stephens in 1938, at 72ft LOA Baruna was at the top of the size limit permitted by the Cruising Club of America (CCA) to race offshore. The…
Extraordinary boats: Maluka – restoration of a 1932 classic
One thing you should do is take your watch off. If you start looking at your watch you’re going to do your head in!” said Sean Langman, owner and skipper…
Extraordinary boats: Trimaran Trinity
Californian sailor Terri Nelson likes nice things. One of her pet peeves, she tells me from her home in San Diego, is that even when checking into luxe hotels, as…
World’s fastest monohull: Malizia-Seaexplorer IMOCA 60
Followers of the IMOCA 60 fleet will know that two names have dominated the class over the past two generations when it comes to design: VPLP and Verdier. So, it’s no…
Extraordinary boats: Infiniti 52 – an incredible story and boat
When it comes to displacement, racing yachts today cover the widest spectrum – from fully flying AC75s to the heavyweight J Class. In between lie light displacement and planing boats,…
Falken restoration: Round the World racer turned perfect cruiser
“Wait, you bought that boat?!” That was 59º North’s bosun Adam Browne’s reaction when I showed him the Farr ‘Millennium’ 65 on the hard in Lymington, which we’d just closed…
Extraordinary boats: Sailing the sustainable Ecoracer 25
This heartening story involves a crew of Italian sailing friends, who fostered a desire to do something different, to make a change. The fact that this Ecoracer ‘garage project’ has…
Extraordinary boats: The Sam Manuard foiling mini 6.50
The past few years have seen an explosion of activity in the Mini 6.50 class, with qualifying races for the iconic Mini Transat race oversubscribed by up to 100% and…
The story of Cass: a yacht that was 20 years in the making
I used to do a lot of skydiving,” Simon Mitchell told me. “While you’re still in the aircraft you have options but, once you leave the door, gravity takes over…