long keel yachts

What are the pros and cons of different keels?

We all sail for different reasons, in different cruising grounds and use our yachts differently, so it makes sense that there is no one-size-fits-all keel design. At Sirius, however, we like to make the perfect yacht for each individual owner. One of the ways we serve our customers is our choice of keels – at least six different options for each model. It’s one of the ways we stand out – or should that be stand up?

We offer three styles of keel: fin, twin and lifting swing keel. All of our keels excel in many ways, but every design does have drawbacks – this is not unique to Sirius, but the keel affects the way you use the boat, so it’s important to choose the right one for you.

These are the keels we currently offer:

Standard Fin (310 DS, 35 DS, 40 DS) Performance Fin (310 DS, 35 DS, 40 DS) Medium Fin (310 DS, 35 DS, 40 DS) Shallow Fin (310 DS) Shallow Twin (310 DS, 35 DS, 40 DS) Performance Twin (35 DS, 40 DS) Lifting Swing Keel (310 DS, 35 DS, 40 DS)

Does the choice of keel compromise ocean capability?

For Sirius yachts, absolutely not. It’s important to realise that choosing one keel style over the other does not affect the yacht’s righting moment or compromise its ocean-going capabilities at all!

Whichever keel you choose, deep or shallow, twin or fin, they all have the same stability. This is achieved by putting more weight in the bulbs of the shallower keels as the shorter lever can be balanced with higher weight. Most of the blue water cruising and circumnavigations in Sirius Yachts have been made with twin-keel or reduced/shallow fin keel yachts.

Does keel choice affect performance?

As our shallow keels are heavier the weight dampens the yachts’ motion at sea, but as a downside, you have more weight to move with sails or engine. Once you’re moving there isn’t a difference but when tacking or gybing, or when not steered well, you will lose a bit in sailing performance. The shallower draught yachts also lose a few degrees to windward compared to their deeper keeled sisters, but they are still good all-round performers. Our customers with racing backgrounds always try to go for a keel as deep and light as their sailing area permits, either with a single or twin keel.

Pros and cons of fin keels

The standard keel on our yachts is a fin keel. Most sailing boats today use a fin keel because it gives a good all-round performance on all points of sail. By keeping the ballast lower it gives the most comfortable motion. The main downsides are that the draught (the depth of water required to stay afloat) is the greatest, and it’s very important to avoid running aground on a falling tide. Fin keel boats cannot dry out without additional support, either from a harbour wall or by fitting a pair of beaching legs. Some fin keel yachts are not built strongly enough to stand on their keels when out of the water, so they can’t dry out alongside a harbour wall and they need to be kept in a special cradle when stored ashore to avoid the risk of the hull deforming under its own weight. By contrast, all Sirius yachts can stand on their keels for any length of time with no problem at all.

We offer four types of fin keel. The standard fin is available on the 310 DS, 35 DS and 40 DS and is fully cast-iron. It offers the best value, good performance, and excellent responsiveness. It is the deepest of our fixed-keel options, so if you want less draught you may want to look at our other fin keels.

We also offer a performance fin keel for all our models. This uses a cast iron fin with a lead bulb at the tip (bottom). The structural strength of cast iron means the fin is the slimmest profile, but lead is denser than iron so the same volume of lead will weigh around 1.4 times more than cast iron, giving more righting moment. The heavier, softer lead down low has less volume in the bulb so achieves a slimmer profile with less drag and therefore better performance.

A lead bulb is also safer if it hits something. Lead can absorb 60% of the energy in flexing and deformation so that only 40% of the force will be transferred to the laminated structure of the keel reinforcement. A lead bulb is very forgiving and easy to reshape and will not start to rust where the coating is damaged. We can use less volume of lead than iron, and achieve better stability than a wholly cast-iron keel. We can also reduce the depth of the keel and retain excellent stability. However, lead is more expensive than cast iron and the bulb must be attached very securely to the iron fin, so this option does cost more.

If you want less draught, we also offer a medium fin. This reduces the draught of the 310 DS and 35 DS by around 40cm/1ft 4in and 55cm/1ft 9in on the 40 DS. Like the performance fin, it uses a cast iron fin with a lead bulb. To retain the keel’s grip in the water it has to have a longer chord (the distance from fore to aft). While this gives the boat better directional stability, it does make her a little less responsive and a little slower to manoeuvre.

On our 310 DS, we offer a shallow fin option – a special version for very shallow cruising grounds. This fin keel offers the least draught of any of our fixed keel options at 1.15m/3ft 9in and draws 10cm/4in less than the twin keel version. The keel has a significantly longer chord (2.24m/7ft 4in compared to 0.7m/2ft 3in of the standard keel) so she has the reassuring directional stability of a long-keeled yacht but with better manoeuvrability.

Pros and cons of twin keels

Our twin keels are the most popular option. About 70-80% of all Sirius Yachts are delivered with them – and on the 40 DS it’s 90%. Some folk still believe there is a big performance penalty with twin keels. In the past this used to be true but it’s no longer the case with modern twin keel designs, from Sirius at least. We have conducted many two-boat comparison tests, often battling for hours, by ourselves, with owners, and for sailing magazines and we have found that there may only be one or two boat lengths of difference at the end of a long windward leg, if at all. At the end of many of these comparison tests, the crews could not point out which of the boats had the twin keel.

If you cruise tidal areas, twin keels will reward you time and time again. Not only do they give you a shallower draught than the typical fin keel, they also give you the ability to dry the yacht out, whether that’s for a motion-free night’s sleep, to explore cruising grounds others cannot reach, or just for cheaper mooring and maintenance costs.

We offer two styles of twin keels; performance and shallow draught. Both options have a cast iron fin with a lead bulb. The performance keels have a deeper draught and a thinner chord so they act and feel a bit livelier when sailing and manoeuvring. The shorter keels have a longer chord, but give you the ability to navigate shallower areas. Like all keel designs, twin keels do have some downsides. They are more expensive than fin keels, and when you’re sailing fast in choppy seas at a steep angle of heel, you can occasionally get a slapping sound when an air pocket is caught and pressed out under the windward fin. Lastly, we’ve yet to meet an owner who enjoys antifouling between the keels. Thankfully it only has to be done once a year and with twin keels you might get away with doing it less frequently. A twin keel yacht can be kept on a drying mooring, where fouling is reduced because the hull spends more time out of the water. And when you’re off cruising it’s easy to give the bottom a quick scrub while the yacht is dried out.

Our yachts will happily sit on their keels on a hard surface, like a drying grid, or for winter storage but on softer surfaces we use the rudder for additional support. The rudders on our twin keel yachts are specially reinforced for this: we use a Delrin sheave to take the weight of the hull and the tip of the rudder has a wide, foil-like foot to spread the weight.

A lifting swing keel

We are one of a few manufacturers to offer a lifting swing keel. There’s a lot of confusion with the term ‘lifting keel’, it seems to encompass all yachts that have centreboards, variable draught, lift-keels or swing keels. To us, a lifting keel boat should have all the ballasted weight of the boat in the keel, and that keel needs to be retracted into the hull.

Technically, a lifting keel is a keel that can be lifted or lowered and gives the boat the ability to dry out when the tide goes out. A lift-keel is a ballasted keel that raises and lowers vertically. A swing keel has a ballasted fin that has a single pivot point and the keel swings up into the boat. There are other variants of design, for example some have a lifting keel to reduce the draught of the vessel but they cannot dry out on it, others have a ballasted keel and ballasted grounding plate. All these examples have a keel that does two things: keep the boat upright and stop her sliding sideways. Our swing keel is designed with a NACA profile to give the most efficient performance.

Centreboard yachts have a centreplate to provide grip in the water and reduce leeway. The plate may carry only 15-20% of the ballast but the rest of the yacht’s ballast is within the hull and/or in the grounding plate. This is called an “integral keel” and is more common as it’s less complicated to build. The lower a yacht’s ballast is located, the better her stability, the more comfortable her motion and the better she stands up to her sail area. The most efficient place for the ballast is as low down on the deepest keel possible – this is why race boats have deep skinny keels with large torpedo-shaped bulbs on the bottom, but they don’t make practical cruising sailboats.

Our keel designs have more weight in the tip (bottom) – using a bulb on the fin and twin keel design and flaring the lower sections on our lifting swing keel yachts. You don’t have this with centreboard and integral keel yachts.

It might be surprising, but a lot of owners come to us thinking that a lifting swing keel is the best option for them. Sometimes it is, but about 98% of customers who approach us because we offer swing keels end up sailing away on a twin-keel Sirius.

The downsides of a lifting keel

A lifting swing keel does give you more cruising options. It will lift should you run into something and, of course, it gives you the shallowest draught. But that difference is only 40-50cm (1ft 4in to 1ft 8in) less draught than our shallow twin keel option. The lifting keel increases the complexity of the build and the final cost of the yacht; it also sometimes limits the internal layout and engine drive options, and you need to have twin rudders too. Twin rudders make the boat less manoeuvrable in a marina – you can opt for a third central rudder which does improve the handling, but again comes at an extra cost.

On the lifting swing keel, 40 and 310 owners are restricted to the use of a shaft drive, which is less efficient and you have to accept a bit more noise and vibration. When drying out, the drive is more vulnerable to damage, whereas it’s totally clear when taking the ground on twin keels. With twin keels, you also do not have to worry about something sticking out of the beach or stones lying around because the hull is high above the ground. With the hull up high, you do not have to dig a hole in the sand and slide down on your stomach to check or change your anodes as you would on a swing keel.

Sailors who are attracted to the idea of a lifting swing keel should carefully consider the pros and cons to compromise the least. When owners understand the repercussions of choosing a lifting keel yacht, many of them feel it restricts their options too much. They could have a lifting keel or they can sail with twin keels, dry out, have better close-quarters handling and save money in the process. Unless you need the shallowest possible draught – 0.75m (2ft 5in) on the 310 DS, 0.9m (2ft 11in) on the 35 DS or 0.95m (3ft 1in) on the 40 DS – a twin keel might well be a better option.

How are the keels attached?

The design of the keel is important but the way they are attached is just as important, if not more so. All of our fixed keels are through-bolted. Every keel has a wide flange at the root (top) of the keel and the flange sits into a reinforced recess in the hull. The flange and the recess work together to spread the loads of the keel/s into the yacht’s hull. The keels are bonded and bolted to the hull. We use up to twelve 20mm and 24mm bolts (per keel) and these go through rolled stainless steel backing plates inside the hull to spread the bolt loads evenly into the fully laminated keel grid which goes all the way up to the chainplates and also carries the mast support.

For our lifting swing keel, we laminate a substantial keel box as part of the hull to accept the keel and the hydraulic mechanism needed to retract the keel into the hull. Unlike most other boatbuilders we don’t use a grounding plate to take the weight of the yacht, our yachts sit on the length of the leading edge of the keel. Integral keels with the majority of the ballast in the grounding plates move the ballast (weight) from low down in the keel to inside the hull. This negatively affects the stability as the more weight you have lower down, the better.

We also don’t like grounding plates because they bring the hull in contact with the ground. By leaving 10-15 cm (4-6in) of the keel out of the hull when it’s retracted, most of the time the hull is kept clear of the beach and anything that could damage it.

The problem with too much form stability

With only 15-12% of their ballast in the centreboard, most lifting-keel yachts cannot rely on keel weight for stability so their hulls need to be designed with extra form stability instead. This means the hull sections have to be much wider and flatter. A flat-bottomed hull is not what you want for a comfortable ocean cruising yacht; it isn’t sea-kindly or easy to steer in waves and gusty winds conditions. We don’t make that compromise at Sirius. With all the ballast in the swinging part of our swing keel design, we can use the same seaworthy, ocean-capable hull shape designed for our yachts with fixed keels.

If you don’t know which keel would be best for your Sirius, contact us to discuss the type of sailing you intend to do, where you want to sail and what your cruising aspirations are.

General Manager – Torsten Schmidt SIRIUS-WERFT GmbH Ascheberger Straße 68 24306 Plön/Holstein

Fax: 0049 – 4522 – 744 61-29

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• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

43 of the best bluewater sailboat designs of all time

• January 5, 2022

How do you choose the right yacht for you? We highlight the very best bluewater sailboat designs for every type of cruising

Which yacht is the best for bluewater boating? This question generates even more debate among sailors than questions about what’s the coolest yacht , or the best for racing. Whereas racing designs are measured against each other, cruising sailors get very limited opportunities to experience different yachts in real oceangoing conditions, so what is the best bluewater sailboat?

Here, we bring you our top choices from decades of designs and launches. Over the years, the Yachting World team has sailed these boats, tested them or judged them for European Yacht of the Year awards, and we have sifted through the many to curate a selection that we believe should be on your wishlist.

Making the right choice may come down to how you foresee your yacht being used after it has crossed an ocean or completed a passage: will you be living at anchor or cruising along the coast? If so, your guiding requirements will be space, cabin size, ease of launching a tender and anchoring closer to shore, and whether it can comfortably accommodate non-expert-sailor guests.

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All of these considerations have generated the inexorable rise of the bluewater catamaran – monohulls can’t easily compete on these points. We have a full separate feature on the best bluewater multihulls of all time and here we mostly focus on monohulls. The only exceptions to that rule are two multihulls which made it into our best bluewater sailboats of 2022 list.

As so much of making the right choice is selecting the right boat for the venture in mind, we have separated out our edit into categories: best for comfort; for families; for performance; and for expedition or high latitudes sailing .

Best bluewater sailboats of 2022

The new flagship Allures 51.9, for example, is a no-nonsense adventure cruising design built and finished to a high standard. It retains Allures’ niche of using aluminium hulls with glassfibre decks and superstructures, which, the yard maintains, gives the optimum combination of least maintenance and less weight higher up. Priorities for this design were a full beam aft cabin and a spacious, long cockpit. Both are excellent, with the latter, at 6m long, offering formidable social, sailing and aft deck zones.

It likes some breeze to come to life on the wheel, but I appreciate that it’s designed to take up to five tonnes payload. And I like the ease with which you can change gears using the furling headsails and the positioning of the powerful Andersen winches inboard. The arch is standard and comes with a textile sprayhood or hard bimini.

Below decks you’ll find abundant headroom and natural light, a deep U-shape galley and cavernous stowage. For those who like the layout of the Amel 50 but would prefer aluminium or shoal draught, look no further.

Allures 51.9 price: €766,000

The Ovni 370 is another cunning new aluminum centreboard offering, a true deck saloon cruiser for two. The designers say the biggest challenge was to create a Category A ocean going yacht at this size with a lifting keel, hence the hull had to be very stable.

Enjoyable to helm, it has a practical, deep cockpit behind a large sprayhood, which can link to the bimini on the arch. Many of its most appealing features lie in the bright, light, contemporary, clever, voluminous interior, which has good stowage and tankage allocation. There’s also a practical navstation, a large workroom and a vast separate shower. I particularly like the convertible saloom, which can double as a large secure daybed or pilot berth.

Potentially the least expensive Category A lift keel boat available, the Ovni will get you dreaming of remote places again.

Ovni 370 price: €282,080

There’s no shortage of spirit in the Windelo 50. We gave this a sustainability award after it’s founders spent two years researching environmentally-friendly composite materials, developing an eco-composite of basalt fibre and recycled PET foam so it could build boats that halve the environmental impact of standard glassfibre yachts.

The Windelo 50 is an intriguing package – from the styling, modular interior and novel layout to the solar field on the roof and the standard electric propulsion, it is completely fresh.

Windelo 50 price: €795,000

Best bluewater sailboat of 2022 – Outremer 55

I would argue that this is the most successful new production yacht on the market. Well over 50 have already sold (an equipped model typically costs €1.6m) – and I can understand why. After all, were money no object, I had this design earmarked as the new yacht I would most likely choose for a world trip.

Indeed 55 number one Sanya, was fully equipped for a family’s world cruise, and left during our stay for the Grand Large Odyssey tour. Whereas we sailed Magic Kili, which was tricked up with performance options, including foam-cored deckheads and supports, carbon crossbeam and bulkheads, and synthetic rigging.

At rest, these are enticing space ships. Taking one out to sea is another matter though. These are speed machines with the size, scale and loads to be rightly weary of. Last month Nikki Henderson wrote a feature for us about how to manage a new breed of performance cruising cats just like this and how she coaches new owners. I could not think of wiser money spent for those who do not have ample multihull sailing experience.

Under sail, the most fun was obviously reserved for the reaching leg under asymmetric, where we clocked between 11-16 knots in 15-16 knots wind. But it was the stability and of those sustained low teen speeds which really hit home  – passagemaking where you really cover miles.

Key features include the swing helms, which give you views from outboard, over the coachroof or from a protected position in the cockpit through the coachroof windows, and the vast island in the galley, which is key to an open plan main living area. It helps provide cavernous stowage and acts as the heart of the entertaining space as it would in a modern home. As Danish judge Morten Brandt-Rasmussen comments: “Apart from being the TGV of ocean passages the boat offers the most spacious, open and best integration of the cockpit and salon areas in the market.”

Outremer has done a top job in packing in the creature comforts, stowage space and payload capacity, while keeping it light enough to eat miles. Although a lot to absorb and handle, the 55 offers a formidable blend of speed and luxury cruising.

Outremer 55 price: €1.35m

Best bluewater sailboats for comfort

This is the successor to the legendary Super Maramu, a ketch design that for several decades defined easy downwind handling and fostered a cult following for the French yard. Nearly a decade old, the Amel 55 is the bridge between those world-girdling stalwarts and Amel’s more recent and totally re-imagined sloop designs, the Amel 50 and 60.

The 55 boasts all the serious features Amel aficionados loved and valued: a skeg-hung rudder, solidly built hull, watertight bulkheads, solid guardrails and rampart bulwarks. And, most noticeable, the solid doghouse in which the helmsman sits in perfect shelter at the wheel.

This is a design to live on comfortably for long periods and the list of standard features just goes on and on: passarelle; proper sea berths with lee cloths; electric furling main and genoa; and a multitude of practical items that go right down to a dishwasher and crockery.

There’s no getting around the fact these designs do look rather dated now, and through the development of easier sail handling systems the ketch rig has fallen out of fashion, but the Amel is nothing short of a phenomenon, and if you’ve never even peeked on board one, you really have missed a treat.

Photo: Sander van der Borch

Contest 50CS

A centre cockpit cruiser with true longevity, the Contest 50CS was launched by Conyplex back in 2003 and is still being built by the family-owned Dutch company, now in updated and restyled form.

With a fully balanced rudder, large wheel and modern underwater sections, the Contest 50CS is a surprisingly good performer for a boat that has a dry weight of 17.5 tonnes. Many were fitted with in-mast furling, which clearly curtails that performance, but even without, this boat is set up for a small crew.

Electric winches and mainsheet traveller are all easy to reach from the helm. On our test of the Contest 50CS, we saw for ourselves how two people can gybe downwind under spinnaker without undue drama. Upwind, a 105% genoa is so easy to tack it flatters even the weediest crewmember.

Down below, the finish level of the joinery work is up there among the best and the interior is full of clever touches, again updated and modernised since the early models. Never the cheapest bluewater sailing yacht around, the Contest 50CS has remained in demand as a brokerage buy. She is a reassuringly sure-footed, easily handled, very well built yacht that for all those reasons has stood the test of time.

This is a yacht that would be well capable of helping you extend your cruising grounds, almost without realising it.

Read more about the Contest 50CS and the new Contest 49CS

Photo: Rick Tomlinson

Hallberg-Rassy 48 Mk II

For many, the Swedish Hallberg-Rassy yard makes the quintessential bluewater cruiser for couples. With their distinctive blue cove line, these designs are famous for their seakindly behaviour, solid-as-a-rock build and beautifully finished, traditional interiors.

To some eyes, Hallberg-Rassys aren’t quite cool enough, but it’s been company owner Magnus Rassy’s confidence in the formula and belief in incremental ‘step-by-step’ evolution that has been such an exceptional guarantor of reliable quality, reputation and resale value.

The centre cockpit Hallberg-Rassy 48 epitomises the concept of comfort at sea and, like all the Frers-designed Hallberg-Rassys since the 1990s, is surprisingly fleet upwind as well as steady downwind. The 48 is perfectly able to be handled by a couple (as we found a few years back in the Pacific), and could with no great effort crack out 200-mile days.

The Hallberg-Rassy 48 was launched nearly a decade ago, but the Mk II from 2014 is our pick, updated with a more modern profile, larger windows and hull portlights that flood the saloon and aft cabin with light. With a large chart table, secure linear galley, heaps of stowage and space for bluewater extras such as machinery and gear, this yacht pretty much ticks all the boxes.

Discovery 55

First launched in 2000, the Discovery 55 has stood the test of time. Designed by Ron Holland, it hit a sweet spot in size that appealed to couples and families with world girdling plans.

Elegantly styled and well balanced, the 55 is also a practical design, with a deep and secure cockpit, comfortable seating, a self-tacking jib, dedicated stowage for the liferaft , a decent sugar scoop transom that’s useful for swimming or dinghy access, and very comfortable accommodation below. In short, it is a design that has been well thought out by those who’ve been there, got the bruises, stubbed their toes and vowed to change things in the future if they ever got the chance.

Throughout the accommodation there are plenty of examples of good detailing, from the proliferation of handholds and grabrails, to deep sinks in the galley offering immediate stowage when under way and the stand up/sit down showers. Stowage is good, too, with plenty of sensibly sized lockers in easily accessible positions.

The Discovery 55 has practical ideas and nifty details aplenty. She’s not, and never was, a breakthrough in modern luxury cruising but she is pretty, comfortable to sail and live on, and well mannered.

Photo: Latitudes Picture Library

You can’t get much more Cornish than a Rustler. The hulls of this Stephen Jones design are hand-moulded and fitted out in Falmouth – and few are more ruggedly built than this traditional, up-for-anything offshore cruiser.

She boasts an encapsulated lead keel, eliminating keel bolts and creating a sump for generous fuel and water tankage, while a chunky skeg protects the rudder. She is designed for good directional stability and load carrying ability. These are all features that lend this yacht confidence as it shoulders aside the rough stuff.

Most of those built have had a cutter rig, a flexible arrangement that makes sense for long passages in all sea and weather conditions. Down below, the galley and saloon berths are comfortable and sensible for living in port and at sea, with joinery that Rustler’s builders are rightly proud of.

As modern yachts have got wider, higher and fatter, the Rustler 42 is an exception. This is an exceptionally well-mannered seagoing yacht in the traditional vein, with elegant lines and pleasing overhangs, yet also surprisingly powerful. And although now over 20 years old, timeless looks and qualities mean this design makes her look ever more like a perennial, a modern classic.

The definitive crossover size, the point at which a yacht can be handled by a couple but is just large enough to have a professional skipper and be chartered, sits at around the 60ft mark. At 58ft 8in, the Oyster 575 fitted perfectly into this growing market when launched in 2010. It went on to be one of the most popular models from the yard, and is only now being superseded by the newer Rob Humphreys-designed Oyster 565 (just launched this spring).

Built in various configurations with either a deep keel, shoal draught keel or centreboard with twin rudders, owners could trade off better performance against easy access to shallower coves and anchorages. The deep-bodied hull, also by Rob Humphreys, is known for its easy motion at sea.

Some of the Oyster 575’s best features include its hallmark coachroof windows style and centre cockpit – almost everyone will know at first glance this is an Oyster – and superb interior finish. If she has a flaw, it is arguably the high cockpit, but the flip side is the galley headroom and passageway berth to the large aft stateroom.

This design also has a host of practical features for long-distance cruising, such as high guardrails, dedicated liferaft stowage, a vast lazarette for swallowing sails, tender, fenders etc, and a penthouse engine room.

Privilege Serie 5

A true luxury catamaran which, fully fitted out, will top €1m, this deserves to be seen alongside the likes of the Oyster 575, Gunfleet 58 and Hallberg-Rassy 55. It boasts a large cockpit and living area, and a light and spacious saloon with an emphasis on indoor-outdoor living, masses of refrigeration and a big galley.

Standout features are finish quality and solid build in a yacht designed to take a high payload, a secure walkaround deck and all-round views from the helm station. The new Privilege 510 that will replace this launches in February 2020.

Gunfleet 43

It was with this Tony Castro design that Richard Matthews, founder of Oyster Yachts, launched a brand new rival brand in 2012, the smallest of a range stretching to the flagship Gunfleet 74. The combination of short overhangs and centre cockpit at this size do make the Gunfleet 43 look modern if a little boxy, but time and subsequent design trends have been kind to her lines, and the build quality is excellent. The saloon, galley and aft cabin space is exceptional on a yacht of this size.

Photo: David Harding

Conceived as a belt-and-braces cruiser, the Kraken 50 launched last year. Its unique points lie underwater in the guise of a full skeg-hung rudder and so-called ‘Zero Keel’, an encapsulated long keel with lead ballast.

Kraken Yachts is the brainchild of British businessman and highly experienced cruiser Dick Beaumont, who is adamant that safety should be foremost in cruising yacht design and build. “There is no such thing as ‘one yacht for all purposes’… You cannot have the best of all worlds, whatever the salesman tells you,” he says.

Read our full review of the Kraken 50 .

Wauquiez Centurion 57

Few yachts can claim to be both an exciting Med-style design and a serious and practical northern European offshore cruiser, but the Wauquiez Centurion 57 tries to blend both. She slightly misses if you judge solely by either criterion, but is pretty and practical enough to suit her purpose.

A very pleasant, well-considered yacht, she is impressively built and finished with a warm and comfortable interior. More versatile than radical, she could be used for sailing across the Atlantic in comfort and raced with equal enjoyment at Antigua Sailing Week .

A modern classic if ever there was one. A medium to heavy displacement yacht, stiff and easily capable of standing up to her canvas. Pretty, traditional lines and layout below.

Photo: Voyage of Swell

Well-proven US legacy design dating back to the mid-1960s that once conquered the Transpac Race . Still admired as pretty, with slight spoon bow and overhanging transom.

Capable medium displacement cruiser, ideal size and good accommodation for couples or family cruising, and much less costly than similar luxury brands.

Photo: Peter Szamer

Swedish-built aft cockpit cruiser, smaller than many here, but a well-built and finished, super-durable pocket ocean cruiser.

Tartan 3700

Designed as a performance cruiser there are nimbler alternatives now, but this is still an extremely pretty yacht.

Broker ’ s choice

Discovery 55 Brizo

This yacht has already circumnavigated the globe and is ‘prepared for her next adventure,’ says broker Berthon. Price: £535,000 + VAT

Oyster 575 Ayesha

‘Stunning, and perfectly equipped for bluewater cruising,’ says broker Ancasta International. Price: £845,000 (tax not paid)

Oyster 575 Pearls of Nautilus

Nearly new and with a high spec, this Oyster Brokerage yacht features American white oak joinery and white leather upholstery and has a shoal draught keel. Price: $1.49m

Best bluewater yachts for performance

The Frers-designed Swan 54 may not be the newest hull shape but heralded Swan’s latest generation of displacement bluewater cruisers when launched four years ago. With raked stem, deep V hull form, lower freeboard and slight curve to the topsides she has a more timeless aesthetic than many modern slab-sided high volume yachts, and with that a seakindly motion in waves. If you plan to cover many miles to weather, this is probably the yacht you want to be on.

Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Besides Swan’s superlative build quality, the 54 brings many true bluewater features, including a dedicated sail locker. There’s also a cockpit locker that functions as a utility cabin, with potential to hold your generator and washing machine, or be a workshop space.

The sloping transom opens out to reveal a 2.5m bathing platform, and although the cabins are not huge there is copious stowage space. Down below the top-notch oak joinery is well thought through with deep fiddles, and there is a substantial nav station. But the Swan 54 wins for handling above all, with well laid-out sail controls that can be easily managed between a couple, while offering real sailing enjoyment to the helmsman.

Photo: Graham Snook

The Performance Cruiser winner at the 2019 European Yacht of the Year awards, the Arcona 435 is all about the sailing experience. She has genuine potential as a cruiser-racer, but her strengths are as an enjoyable cruiser rather than a full-blown liveaboard bluewater boat.

Build quality is excellent, there is the option of a carbon hull and deck, and elegant lines and a plumb bow give the Arcona 435 good looks as well as excellent performance in light airs. Besides slick sail handling systems, there are well thought-out features for cruising, such as ample built-in rope bins and an optional semi-closed stern with stowage and swim platform.

Outremer 51

If you want the space and stability of a cat but still prioritise sailing performance, Outremer has built a reputation on building catamarans with true bluewater characteristics that have cruised the planet for the past 30 years.

Lighter and slimmer-hulled than most cruising cats, the Outremer 51 is all about sailing at faster speeds, more easily. The lower volume hulls and higher bridgedeck make for a better motion in waves, while owners report that being able to maintain a decent pace even under reduced canvas makes for stress-free passages. Deep daggerboards also give good upwind performance.

With bucket seats and tiller steering options, the Outremer 51 rewards sailors who want to spend time steering, while they’re famously well set up for handling with one person on deck. The compromise comes with the interior space – even with a relatively minimalist style, there is less cabin space and stowage volume than on the bulkier cats, but the Outremer 51 still packs in plenty of practical features.

The Xc45 was the first cruising yacht X-Yachts ever built, and designed to give the same X-Yachts sailing experience for sailors who’d spent years racing 30/40-footer X- and IMX designs, but in a cruising package.

Launched over 10 years ago, the Xc45 has been revisited a few times to increase the stowage and modernise some of the styling, but the key features remain the same, including substantial tanks set low for a low centre of gravity, and X-Yachts’ trademark steel keel grid structure. She has fairly traditional styling and layout, matched with solid build quality.

A soft bilge and V-shaped hull gives a kindly motion in waves, and the cockpit is secure, if narrow by modern standards.

A three or four cabin catamaran that’s fleet of foot with high bridgedeck clearance for comfortable motion at sea. With tall daggerboards and carbon construction in some high load areas, Catana cats are light and quick to accelerate.

Sweden Yachts 45

An established bluewater design that also features in plenty of offshore races. Some examples are specced with carbon rig and retractable bowsprits. All have a self-tacking jib for ease. Expect sweeping areas of teak above decks and a traditionally wooded interior with hanging wet locker.

A vintage performer, first launched in 1981, the 51 was the first Frers-designed Swan and marked a new era of iconic cruiser-racers. Some 36 of the Swan 51 were built, many still actively racing and cruising nearly 40 years on. Classic lines and a split cockpit make this a boat for helming, not sunbathing.

Photo: Julien Girardot / EYOTY

The JPK 45 comes from a French racing stable, combining race-winning design heritage with cruising amenities. What you see is what you get – there are no superfluous headliners or floorboards, but there are plenty of ocean sailing details, like inboard winches for safe trimming. The JPK 45 also has a brilliantly designed cockpit with an optional doghouse creating all-weather shelter, twin wheels and superb clutch and rope bin arrangement.

Photo: Andreas Lindlahr

For sailors who don’t mind exchanging a few creature comforts for downwind planing performance, the Pogo 50 offers double-digit surfing speeds for exhilarating tradewind sailing. There’s an open transom, tiller steering and no backstay or runners. The Pogo 50 also has a swing keel, to nose into shallow anchorages.

Seawind 1600

Seawinds are relatively unknown in Europe, but these bluewater cats are very popular in Australia. As would be expected from a Reichel-Pugh design, this 52-footer combines striking good looks and high performance, with fine entry bows and comparatively low freeboard. Rudders are foam cored lifting designs in cassettes, which offer straightforward access in case of repairs, while daggerboards are housed under the deck.

Best bluewater sailboats for families

It’s unsurprising that, for many families, it’s a catamaran that meets their requirements best of increased space – both living space and separate cabins for privacy-seeking teenagers, additional crew or visiting family – as well as stable and predictable handling.

Photo: Nicholas Claris

Undoubtedly one of the biggest success stories has been the Lagoon 450, which, together with boats like the Fountaine Pajot 44, helped drive up the popularity of catamaran cruising by making it affordable and accessible. They have sold in huge numbers – over 1,000 Lagoon 450s have been built since its launch in 2010.

The VPLP-designed 450 was originally launched with a flybridge with a near central helming position and upper level lounging areas (450F). The later ‘sport top’ option (450S) offered a starboard helm station and lower boom (and hence lower centre of gravity for reduced pitching). The 450S also gained a hull chine to create additional volume above the waterline. The Lagoon features forward lounging and aft cockpit areas for additional outdoor living space.

Besides being a big hit among charter operators, Lagoons have proven themselves over thousands of bluewater miles – there were seven Lagoon 450s in last year’s ARC alone. In what remains a competitive sector of the market, Lagoon has recently launched a new 46, with a larger self-tacking jib and mast moved aft, and more lounging areas.

Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget

Fountaine Pajot Helia 44

The FP Helia 44 is lighter, lower volume, and has a lower freeboard than the Lagoon, weighing in at 10.8 tonnes unloaded (compared to 15 for the 450). The helm station is on a mezzanine level two steps up from the bridgedeck, with a bench seat behind. A later ‘Evolution’ version was designed for liveaboard cruisers, featuring beefed up dinghy davits and an improved saloon space.

Available in three or four cabin layouts, the Helia 44 was also popular with charter owners as well as families. The new 45 promises additional volume, and an optional hydraulically lowered ‘beach club’ swim platform.

Photo: Arnaud De Buyzer / graphikup.com

The French RM 1370 might be less well known than the big brand names, but offers something a little bit different for anyone who wants a relatively voluminous cruising yacht. Designed by Marc Lombard, and beautifully built from plywood/epoxy, the RM is stiff and responsive, and sails superbly.

The RM yachts have a more individual look – in part down to the painted finish, which encourages many owners to personalise their yachts, but also thanks to their distinctive lines with reverse sheer and dreadnought bow. The cockpit is well laid out with the primary winches inboard for a secure trimming position. The interior is light, airy and modern, although the open transom won’t appeal to everyone.

For those wanting a monohull, the Hanse 575 hits a similar sweet spot to the popular multis, maximising accommodation for a realistic price, yet with responsive performance.

The Hanse offers a vast amount of living space thanks to the ‘loft design’ concept of having all the living areas on a single level, which gives a real feeling of spaciousness with no raised saloon or steps to accommodation. The trade-off for such lofty head height is a substantial freeboard – it towers above the pontoon, while, below, a stepladder is provided to reach some hatches.

Galley options include drawer fridge-freezers, microwave and coffee machine, and the full size nav station can double up as an office or study space.

But while the Hanse 575 is a seriously large boat, its popularity is also down to the fact that it is genuinely able to be handled by a couple. It was innovative in its deck layout: with a self-tacking jib and mainsheet winches immediately to hand next to the helm, one person could both steer and trim.

Direct steering gives a feeling of control and some tangible sailing fun, while the waterline length makes for rapid passage times. In 2016 the German yard launched the newer Hanse 588 model, having already sold 175 of the 575s in just four years.

Photo: Bertel Kolthof

Jeanneau 54

Jeanneau leads the way among production builders for versatile all-rounder yachts that balance sail performance and handling, ergonomics, liveaboard functionality and good looks. The Jeanneau 54 , part of the range designed by Philippe Briand with interior by Andrew Winch, melds the best of the larger and smaller models and is available in a vast array of layout options from two cabins/two heads right up to five cabins and three heads.

We’ve tested the Jeanneau 54 in a gale and very light winds, and it acquitted itself handsomely in both extremes. The primary and mainsheet winches are to hand next to the wheel, and the cockpit is spacious, protected and child-friendly. An electric folding swim and sun deck makes for quick fun in the water.

Nautitech Open 46

This was the first Nautitech catamaran to be built under the ownership of Bavaria, designed with an open-plan bridgedeck and cockpit for free-flowing living space. But with good pace for eating up bluewater miles, and aft twin helms rather than a flybridge, the Nautitech Open 46 also appeals to monohull sailors who prefer a more direct sailing experience.

Made by Robertson and Caine, who produce catamarans under a dual identity as both Leopard and the Sunsail/Moorings charter cats, the Leopard 45 is set to be another big seller. Reflecting its charter DNA, the Leopard 45 is voluminous, with stepped hulls for reduced waterline, and a separate forward cockpit.

Built in South Africa, they are robustly tested off the Cape and constructed ruggedly enough to handle heavy weather sailing as well as the demands of chartering.

Photo: Olivier Blanchet

If space is king then three hulls might be even better than two. The Neel 51 is rare as a cruising trimaran with enough space for proper liveaboard sailing. The galley and saloon are in the large central hull, together with an owner’s cabin on one level for a unique sensation of living above the water. Guest or family cabins lie in the outer hulls for privacy and there is a cavernous full height engine room under the cabin sole.

Performance is notably higher than an equivalent cruising cat, particularly in light winds, with a single rudder giving a truly direct feel in the helm, although manoeuvring a 50ft trimaran may daunt many sailors.

Beneteau Oceanis 46.1

A brilliant new model from Beneteau, this Finot Conq design has a modern stepped hull, which offers exhilarating and confidence-inspiring handling in big breezes, and slippery performance in lighter winds.

The Beneteau Oceanis 46.1 was the standout performer at this year’s European Yacht of the Year awards, and, in replacing the popular Oceanis 45, looks set to be another bestseller. Interior space is well used with a double island berth in the forepeak. An additional inboard unit creates a secure galley area, but tank capacity is moderate for long periods aboard.

Beneteau Oceanis 473

A popular model that offers beam and height in a functional layout, although, as with many boats of this age (she was launched in 2002), the mainsheet is not within reach of the helmsman.

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49

The Philippe Briand-designed Sun Odyssey range has a solid reputation as family production cruisers. Like the 473, the Sun Odyssey 49 was popular for charter so there are plenty of four-cabin models on the market.

Nautitech 441

The hull design dates back to 1995, but was relaunched in 2012. Though the saloon interior has dated, the 441 has solid practical features, such as a rainwater run-off collection gutter around the coachroof.

Atlantic 42

Chris White-designed cats feature a pilothouse and forward waist-high working cockpit with helm position, as well as an inside wheel at the nav station. The Atlantic 42 offers limited accommodation by modern cat standards but a very different sailing experience.

Best bluewater sailing yachts for expeditions

Bestevaer 56.

All of the yachts in our ‘expedition’ category are aluminium-hulled designs suitable for high latitude sailing, and all are exceptional yachts. But the Bestevaer 56 is a spectacular amount of boat to take on a true adventure. Each Bestevaer is a near-custom build with plenty of bespoke options for owners to customise the layout and where they fall on the scale of rugged off-grid adventurer to 4×4-style luxury fit out.

The Bestevaer range began when renowned naval architect Gerard Dijkstra chose to design his own personal yacht for liveaboard adventure cruising, a 53-footer. The concept drew plenty of interest from bluewater sailors wanting to make longer expeditions and Bestevaers are now available in a range of sizes, with the 56-footer proving a popular mid-range length.

The well-known Bestevaer 56 Tranquilo  (pictured above) has a deep, secure cockpit, voluminous tanks (700lt water and over 1,100lt fuel) and a lifting keel plus water ballast, with classically styled teak clad decks and pilot house. Other owners have opted for functional bare aluminium hull and deck, some choose a doghouse and others a pilothouse.

Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

The Boreal 52 also offers Land Rover-esque practicality, with utilitarian bare aluminium hulls and a distinctive double-level doghouse/coachroof arrangement for added protection in all weathers. The cockpit is clean and uncluttered, thanks to the mainsheet position on top of the doghouse, although for visibility in close manoeuvring the helmsman will want to step up onto the aft deck.

Twin daggerboards, a lifting centreboard and long skeg on which she can settle make this a true go-anywhere expedition yacht. The metres of chain required for adventurous anchoring is stowed in a special locker by the mast to keep the weight central. Down below has been thought through with equally practical touches, including plenty of bracing points and lighting that switches on to red light first to protect your night vision.

Photo: Morris Adant / Garcia Yachts

Garcia Exploration 45

The Garcia Exploration 45 comes with real experience behind her – she was created in association with Jimmy Cornell, based on his many hundreds of thousands of miles of bluewater cruising, to go anywhere from high latitudes to the tropics.

Arguably less of a looker than the Bestevaer, the Garcia Exploration 45 features a rounded aluminium hull, centreboard with deep skeg and twin daggerboards. The considerable anchor chain weight has again been brought aft, this time via a special conduit to a watertight locker in front of the centreboard.

This is a yacht designed to be lived on for extended periods with ample storage, and panoramic portlights to give a near 360° view of whichever extraordinary landscape you are exploring. Safety features include a watertight companionway door to keep extreme weather out and through-hull fittings placed above the waterline. When former Vendée Globe skipper Pete Goss went cruising , this was the boat he chose to do it in.

Photo: svnaima.com

A truly well-proven expedition design, some 1,500 Ovnis have been built and many sailed to some of the most far-flung corners of the world. (Jimmy Cornell sailed his Aventura some 30,000 miles, including two Drake Passage crossings, one in 50 knots of wind).

Futuna Exploration 54

Another aluminium design with a swinging centreboard and a solid enclosed pilothouse with protected cockpit area. There’s a chunky bowsprit and substantial transom arch to house all manner of electronics and power generation.

Previous boats have been spec’d for North West Passage crossings with additional heating and engine power, although there’s a carbon rig option for those that want a touch of the black stuff. The tanks are capacious, with 1,000lt capability for both fresh water and fuel.

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Practical Boat Owner

• Digital edition

Keel types and how they affect performance

• Peter Poland
• June 19, 2023

Peter Poland looks at the history of keel design and how the different types affect performance

The Twister is a well-proven example of a generation of production yachts with ‘cutaway’ full keels and keel-hung rudders. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Having been a boatbuilder for around 30 years until the very early ‘noughties’, I’ve already witnessed – and even taken part in – a lot of changes in the world of yacht design and building.

Yacht design originally evolved as traditional workboats developed into leisure craft.

In his History of Yachting , Douglas Phillips-Birt writes that the Dutch, who gave the name ‘yacht’ to the world, were probably the first to use commercial craft for pleasure in the 16th century.

They created the first yacht harbour in Amsterdam in the 17th century.

When the schooner America visited the UK in 1851 and raced around the Isle of Wight, this led to the America’s Cup and the resulting merry-go-round of race-yacht design that continues to this day.

The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35 offers three different fin keel configurations with different draughts plus a lifting keel version with a centreplate housed in a shallow winged keel stub. Credit: David Harding

The creation of what is now the Royal Yachting Association ( RYA ) in 1875 led to the introduction of handicap rules, establishing the sport in Britain.

These rating rules – and their numerous successors down the ages – have helped determine the evolution of yacht design and keel shapes.

Many early yachts were closely based on workboats, commercial cargo carriers or even privateers and naval vessels.

Initially, the ballast was carried in a long keel and the bilges .

New racing rules of the day taught designers to seek and tweak performance-enhancing features.

Maybe racing did not always improve the breed, but it certainly kept it moving ahead.

Artwork inspired by Ted Brewer’s illustration of keel types (excluding centreplate or lifting keels)

The late, great designer David Thomas believed that fishing boats, pilot cutters and oyster smacks had a large influence on the sport of sailing.

Each type of workboat was built to fulfil a specific purpose. And many had to be sailed short-handed while carrying heavy cargoes.

So they needed to combine form and function, sail well and be able to cope with heavy weather.

Proof of the versatility of working boat designs was provided by Peter Pye and his wife, Anne.

They bought a 30ft Polperro gaff-rigged fishing boat (built by Ferris of Looe in 1896) for £25 in the 1930s.

Having converted her to a sea-going cutter, and renamed her Moonraker of Fowey , they sailed the world for 20 years.

It proves how the simplest working boat design can cross oceans and fulfil dreams.

Racing influence on keel types and design

Most early yacht designs were schooners, but during the latter half of the 19th century the gaff cutter rig started to dominate the scene.

Many notable yachts were built at that time and the most important racing design was probably the yawl Jullanar (1875).

Designed and built by the agricultural engineer EH Bentall, she had, in his own words, “the longest waterline, the smallest frictional surface, and the shortest keel”.

She proved to be extremely fast and in her first season won every race she entered. Jullanar became the forerunner of such famous designs as GL Watson’s Thistle (1887), Britannia (1893), and Valkyrie II and Valkyrie III , both of which challenged for the America’s Cup during the 1890s.

Compare the She 36’s graceful overhangs with the vertical stems and sterns of most modern cruiser/racers

In the USA, Nat Herreshoff experimented with hull forms for racing yachts and produced the ground-breaking Gloriana in 1890.

She was a small boat for the times, with a waterline length of 46ft. Her hull form was very different to anything yet seen in the USA.

With long overhangs at bow and stern, her forefoot was so cut away that the entry at the bow produced a near-straight line from the stem to the keel.

It was a revolutionary design, and nothing at the time could touch her on the racecourse.

Many French models, such as this Beneteau, have opted for substantial pivoting keels. Credit: Peter Poland

Herreshoff wrote: “Above the waterline everything on Gloriana was pared down in size and weight… and every ounce of this saving in weight was put into the outside lead.”

Early English rating rules produced the ‘plank-on-edge’ yacht, where the beam became narrower and the draught got deeper.

New rating rules were then adopted to discourage this extreme type and eventually the Universal Rule was introduced in the USA and the International Rule – which produced the International Metre Classes – took over in Europe.

Yet again, racing rules proved to be a major influence on design development.

By the start of the 20th century the big, long-keeled racing yachts like the J Class attracted a lot of public attention, but after World War II everything changed. Yachts built to the Universal Rule fell from favour.

The age of the racing dinghy arrived and the ocean racer became the performance yacht of the future.

To new extremes

A 300-mile race from New York to Marblehead saw the start of offshore racing and the first Bermuda race was run in 1906.

The British were slower to compete offshore, but in 1925 seven yachts took up the challenge to race round the Fastnet Rock, starting from the Isle of Wight and finishing at Plymouth.

EG Martin’s French gaff-rigged pilot cutter Jolie Brise won the race and the Ocean Racing Club was formed.

In 1931 this became the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), which remains the governing body of offshore racing in Britain.

The ‘cutaway’ modified full keel was famously used by Olin Stevens on his mighty Dorade. Credit: Christopher Ison/Alamy

The early competitors in RORC races were long-keeled cruising boats, many of them gaff rigged and designed for comfort and speed.

But everything changed in 1931 when the young American Olin Stephens designed and then sailed his family’s 52ft yawl Dorade across the Atlantic to compete in that year’s Fastnet race.

She won with ease. Then she did it again in 1933, having first won the Transatlantic ‘feeder’ race.

At 52ft LOA, with sharp ends and 10ft 3in beam, some said Dorade looked like an overgrown yawl rigged 6-metre. But her triple-spreader main mast was revolutionary. As were her cutaway forefoot, lightweight construction, deep ballast and 7ft 7in draught.

Dorade took the long keel format to new extremes.

In the USA, the Cruising Club of America (CCA), founded in 1922, played much the same role as the RORC did in Britain.

It introduced its own rating rule which influenced the evolution of yacht design in the USA.

The Elan 333. Both the deep (1.9m) and shallow (1.5m) draught models feature an elegantly faired bulb keel and spade rudder. Credit: Peter Poland

Beam was treated more leniently under the CCA rule, so wider American designs later offered more space for accommodation and a bit more inherent form stability than RORC-rule inspired yachts.

Many famous designers of long-keel racing yachts at this time developed their skills at the yachtbuilding firms they ran, such as William Fife II (1821–1902), his son William III (1857–1944), Charles E Nicholson (1868–1954) of Camper & Nicholsons and Nat Herreshoff of Bristol, Rhode Island.

Around the same time several British yacht designers made their names, including George L Watson (1851–1904) who set up one of the earliest Design Offices and Alfred Mylne (1872–1951), who designed several successful International Metre Class yachts.

Norwegian designers Colin Archer (1832–1921) and Johan Anker (1871–1940) also joined the party.

Continues below…

Boat hull design: how it impacts performance

Peter Poland explains how boat hull design has evolved over the years and how it affects boat handling and accommodation

Sail boat rigs: the pros and cons of each popular design

Peter Poland looks at the history of popular rig designs and how the different types affect boat performance

Improve performance by understanding boat design

Øyvind Bordal explains how form stability, LOA, LWL, speed tables and polar diagrams can help you choose the right boat…

Coming of age: the 1970s yacht designs that have stood the test of time

Sailing in the 1970s was characterised by innovation, enthusiasm, mass participation and home boatbuilding. Rupert Holmes reports

In 1873 Archer designed the first long keel Norwegian yacht, but his real interest was work boats – pilot boats, fishing craft, and sailing lifeboats – some of which were later converted into cruising yachts.

Erling Tambs’s Teddy was a classic Colin Archer long keel canoe-stern design in which he wandered the globe with his young wife and family.

He proved the seaworthiness of Archer’s yachts, as well as their speed, by winning the 1932 Trans-Tasman yacht race.

Fellow Norwegian Johan Anker – a one-time pupil of Nat Herreshoff – became equally famous, thanks to his Dragon-class design that still races today.

As a new generation of designers arrived on the scene in the 1930s, hull tank testing became more sophisticated.

Long keel designs became as much a science as an art.

The leader of this new wave of designers, Olin J Stephens, had been a junior assistant to Starling Burgess who designed race-winning J Class yachts, including the iconic Ranger .

Tank testing was then in its infancy but the USA was ahead of the game and Stephens stored away everything that he learned. He enjoyed a head start over his contemporaries.

Keel types: Fin keels

Between the 1930s and the 1980s more fin keel designs began to arrive on the scene and his firm Sparkman & Stephens produced many of the world’s top ocean racers.

He also designed America’s Cup 12-Metres that defended the cup up to 1983 until Ben Lexcen’s winged keel shook the sailing world.

Many S&S fin keel and skeg production boats – such as the Swan 36 (1967), 37, 40, 43, 48, 53 and 65, She 31 (1969) and 36 and S&S 34 (1968) – still win yacht races and are much sought after as classics.

The S&S 34 has several circumnavigations to its name. Stephens, of course, had his rivals.

Among these was the Englishman Jack Laurent Giles, whose light displacement race-winner Myth of Malham had one of the shortest ‘long keels’ of all time.

(L-R) A Sigma 38 designed by David Thomas and Gulvain (1949) by Jack Giles as a development of his Fastnet-winning Myth of Malham have very different keel types. Credit: Peter Poland

The Dutchman EG Van de Stadt designed the Pioneer 9 (1959) which was one of the first GRP fin keel and spade rudder racers.

Towards the end of his career, Olin Stephens also came up against Dick Carter, Doug Peterson, German Frers and the Kiwis Ron Holland and Bruce Farr.

The development of new shaped keels went hand in hand with this rapid evolution in yacht design.

The full keel, as still found on motor-sailers such as the Fisher range, gave way to the ‘cutaway’ modified full keel as famously used by Olin Stephens on his mighty Dorade , designed back in the late 1920s.

She still wins ‘classic’ yacht races in the USA. American designer Ted Brewer wrote in ‘ GoodOldBoat ’ that Dorade’s offshore racing successes proved that the full keel is not essential for seaworthiness.

The Nicholson 32’s modified ‘cutaway’ long keel results in excellent performance and handling. Credit: Genevieve Leaper

As a result of its improved performance and handling, the modified ‘cutaway’ long keel caught on quickly and became the standard for around 35 years.

This keel type is found on numerous popular designs such as the Nicholson 32 , 26 and 36, Twister 28 and many Nordic Folkboat derivations.

The modified full keel format had a cutaway profile, giving good handling and directional stability while having less wetted surface than the full keel designs.

These yachts can perform well in all conditions and have a comfortable motion.

Even though they are generally of heavier displacement than fin keelers, they are not much slower in light airs , despite their added wetted surface area.

Their main drawback is a wide turning circle ahead and reluctance to steer astern when under motor.

Keel types: Increased stability

The modified full keel was subsequently cut away more and more for bluewater and inshore racers in an attempt to reduce wetted area until, finally, some designers took it to extremes.

As a result, much-reduced directional stability produced craft that were difficult to steer in breezy conditions, broaching regularly.

Whereupon the fin keel and skeg-hung rudder took over, reinstating increased directional stability, improving windward ability, reducing drag and restoring – when under power – control astern and on slow turns.

This fin and skeg format was later followed by the NACA sectioned fin keel with a separate spade rudder .

Soon, many performance cruisers followed this race-boat trend.

The Hanse 430 has a spade rudder and bulbed keel (draught 2.16m or 1.79m shoal draught. Credit: Peter Poland

Many builders now also offer shoal draught fin keel options and shallower twin rudders.

Some, such as Hanse, incorporate L- or even T-shaped bulbs on some Hanses and Dehlers at the base of finely shaped cast iron fins.

A new international competition had encouraged the initial development of modern fin keel yacht designs.

The revamped One Ton Cup was launched in 1965 for yachts on fixed handicap ratings (typically around 37ft long).

This spawned later fixed-rating championships for Quarter Tonners (around 24ft), Half Tonners (around 30 ft), Three-Quarter Tonners (around 33ft), and finally Mini-Tonners (around 21ft).

All these yachts were eventually handicapped under the International Offshore Rule (IOR) that replaced the old RORC and CCA rules.

The revamped One Ton Cup helped encourage the developed of modern fin keel designs. Credit: Getty

Countless production fin keel cruisers designed and built in the 1970’s to 1990’s boom years were loosely based on successful IOR racers that shone in the ‘Ton Cup’ classes.

The IOR handicap system’s major drawback was its Centre of Gravity Factor (CGF) that discouraged stiff yachts.

Once the international IRC rule replaced the IOR, more thought was given to increasing stability by putting extra weight in a bulb at the base of the keel.

GRP production boats followed suit. The keel foil’s chord needed to be wide enough to give good lateral resistance (to stop leeway), yet not be so wide as to add unnecessary drag.

Exaggeratedly thin foils are not suited to cruising yachts because they can be tricky upwind.

Tracking is not their forte and they can stall out. A bonus was an easier ride downwind thanks to wider sterns.

Keel Types: Lead or iron?

And then there is lead. Almost every production cruiser has a cast iron keel for one simple reason; it is much cheaper than lead. But it’s not as good.

Not only does it rust; it is ‘bigger’ for the same given weight. A cubic metre of iron weighs around 7,000kg, while the same cubic metre of lead weighs around 11,300kg.

An iron keel displaces far more water (so has more drag) than the same lead weight. We had always put iron keels under our Hunters – as did our competitors.

But when we came to build the Van de Stadt HB31 cruiser-racer, designer Cees van Tongeren said “No. We use lead.” “Why?” I asked. Cees replied: “If we use iron, the keel displaces more, so the boat sails worse.”

Rustler 36 long keel’s cutaway forefoot delivers responsiveness and manoeuvrability – a reason the design is so popular in the Golden Globe Race. Credit: Beniot Stichelbaut/GGR/PPL

Which explains why top-flight race boats have lead keels – or at the very least composite keels with a lead bulb or base bolted to an iron upper foil, thus lowering the centre of gravity (CG).

Some modern production cruiser-racers offer high-performance lead or lead/iron composite keels – but at a price.

Many Danish X-Yacht and Elan race-boat models, for example, have a lead bulb on the base of an iron NACA section fin.

Rob Humphreys, current designer of the popular Elan and Oyster ranges, said: “The T-keel is good if you have sufficient draught available. If not, the fin element has too short a span to do its job. This is because the T-bulb doesn’t contribute as usefully to side force as a ‘filleted L-bulb.’

“I developed and tested this shape (a blended-in projection off the back of the main fin) for the maxi race boat Rothmans in 1988/9, and have since used it on the Oysters and Elan Impressions. The ‘filleted’ keel we tested for Rothmans had slightly more drag dead downwind (more wetted area) but was significantly better when any side-force occurred; and side-force goes hand-in-hand with heel angle – which is most of the time! When the model spec allows for reasonable draught, the keel option with the lowest centre of gravity will invariably be a T-keel, with a longer bulb giving the greatest scope for a slender ballast package. An L-keel is a compromise and doesn’t suffer from the risk of snagging lines, mooring warps, and nets. [many modern production cruisers have 100% cast iron L- or T-shaped keels]. A lead bulb is preferable to a cast iron keel in terms of volume and density, but it costs more. However, a lead T-keel in a production environment will almost certainly use a cast iron or SG Iron fin, which may rust.”

The Mystery 35, designed by Stephen Jones and built by Cornish Crabbers, has a lead fin keel. Photo: Michael Austen/Alamy

Rustler Yachts also uses lead instead of iron for their keels.

The Rustler 36 long keel (designed by Holman and Pye and winner of the 2018 Golden Globe Race) has a cutaway forefoot to improve responsiveness and manoeuvrability.

The long keel creates more drag but, as with the Rustler 24, the cutaway forefoot makes the 36 more nimble than a full long keel boat, which are more difficult to manoeuvre in reverse under power.

The rest of Rustler’s offshore range – the Rustler 37, 42, 44 and 57 – designed by Stephen Jones – have lead fin keels.

As does his Mystery 35 built by Cornish Crabbers.

These offer an excellent combination of directional stability, performance and lateral stability. The yachts track well, are comfortable in choppy seas, and have good manoeuvrability, all without the flightiness of shorter chord fin keels found on many production family cruisers.

A digital future

Influential designer David Thomas said: “When I started designing, I integrated sharp leading edges to the keel; until someone told me a radius was better. Then we were all taught that an elliptical shape was better still. With the advent of computers, designers could better visualise the end-product; and clever ‘faring programs’ speeded this up.”

So where next? A combination of lighter and stronger materials, rapidly developing computer programs, a desire for maximum interior volume and low costs has led us to today’s production yacht.

Twin rudders improve the handling of broad-sterned yachts when heeled.

The IRC rating rule permits low CG keels, wider beam and near-vertical bows and sterns.

And designers now have an array of new computer tools at their disposal. But maybe there’s still that element of black magic?

As David Thomas so succinctly said: “You can design a yacht 95% right, but the last 5% can be down to luck.”

Keel types : the pros and cons

Full length keel

The Fisher 31 and many motor-sailers have long keels. Credit: Peter Poland

Pros: Directional stability. Heavy displacement leading to comfort at sea.

Cons: Poor windward performance. Large wetted surface leads to drag. When under power at low speeds, the turning circle is wide unless fitted with thrusters. The same applies to manoeuvring astern.

Cutaway modified long keel form with keel-hung rudder

Pros: Reduced wetted surface area leading to increased boat speed. Better windward performance and handling than full length keel. Rudder on the aft end of the keel improves self-steering ability on some designs.

Cons: Under engine, this keel form has a large turning circle ahead and poor control astern. Since the rudder is not ‘balanced’, the helm on some designs can feel quite heavy.

Fin keel with skeg-hung rudder

The skeg gives protection to the rudder. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Pros: The further reduction in wetted surface area leads to more boat speed. Directional stability and close-windedness are also improved. If full depth, the skeg can protect the rudder against collision damage.

Cons: When combined with a narrow stern, this keel format can induce rolling when sailing dead downwind in heavy winds.

Fin keel with separate spade rudder

Fin keel with spade: Low wetted surface and aerofoil shapes enhance performance. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Pros: The fin and spade rudder mix reduces wetted surface and gives a more sensitive helm – especially if the blade has ‘balance’ incorporated in its leading edge. Handling under power in astern is precise and the turning circle is small.

Cons: The rudder is fully exposed to collisions. There are no fittings connecting the rudder to a keel or skeg, so the rudder stock and bearings need to be very robust.

Shallow stub keel with internal centreplate.

Pros: When lowered, the plate gives good windward performance. The plate can act as an echo sounder in protected shallow water. There is normally no internal centreplate box to disrupt accommodation. With the plate raised, off-wind performance is good.

Cons: The plate lifting wire needs regular inspection and occasional replacement. Windward performance with the plate raised is poor.

Lifting or swing keel

Boats with lifting keels tend to surf earlier downwind. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Pros: Shallowest draught so more cruising options; can also be moored on cheaper moorings. Surfs early downwind. Small wetted surface so can be fast.

Cons: Reduced living space due to internal keel box. With a raised keel, poor directional control. Susceptible to hull damage if grounding on hard material.

Twin or bilge keel

Bilge- or twin-keelers can take the ground on the level. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Pros: Can take the ground in a level position. Modern twin-keel designs with around 15º splay, around 2º toe-in and bulbed bases perform well upwind. Good directional stability due to the fins. Modern twin keels with bulbed bases lower the centre of gravity.

Cons: Older designs do not point upwind well. Slapping sound under windward keel when at a steep angle of heel on older designs. Antifouling between the keels can be tricky. Can be more expensive than fin keels.

Wing keel: A low centre of gravity gives a good righting moment. Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Pros: Low centre of gravity means good righting moment. Shallow draught. Sharper windward performance.

Cons: Larger surface area means it is more likely to pick up fishing gear, like lobster pots. Difficult to move once it is grounded. And difficult to scrub keel base when dried out alongside a wall.

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5 Surprising Advantages of a Full Keel Sailboat

Modern keel designs favor fin keels, with the high-performance boats using bulbs with narrow chord sections and deep drafts. Very few full keel designs are being built today, but there is a huge secondary market of used boats with full keels. Many ocean sailors swear by them and love their full keeled boats. There are reasons they love them.

While fin and bulb keels outperform full keels in straight speed and performance, the full keel is not without benefits you can appreciate. Here are five distinct advantages of a full keel you may not know about.

• Full keels provide better tracking
• Full keels are integral to the hull construction
• Better rudder and propeller protection
• Full keels are more comfortable
• They have less draft than fin keels

There are a lot of great cruising boats with full keel designs . Before you let someone talk you out of that sweet beauty because of her keel, look at some things that you might like about that full-figured boat.

On this page:

1. full keels provide better tracking, 2. full keels are integral to the hull construction, 3. better rudder & propeller protection, 4. full keels are more comfortable, 5. less draft as other designs (but as stable), other keel designs to consider.

A boat with a full keel keeps sailing in the direction you point it. That big keel is a little harder to turn, and while that can make backing into a slip a bit of trouble, it helps to set up balanced boat trim.

With correct sail trim on any boat, sailing can be a two finger affair and only need a light touch to keep the boat on the wind, on course and fast. Constant steering and adjustment of a boat's course slows you, as the rudder acts like a brake every time you turn it.

A full keel helps, because of the boat's inherent ability to keep going straight. Setting up the rig and sails to get the boat to track like it’s on rails is a lot easier, and many full-keeled boats will sail themselves in moderate conditions with proper trim. Fin and bulb keels keels are more likely to spin out a little and require more correction.

How does this help? At least three ways:

• Fewer touches on the wheel is more boat speed . Yes, a full keel boat is slower that a fin because of the drag caused by the large wetted surface area of the keel, but keeping the boat sailing in the groove is much easier when the boat wants to keep going where you pointed it.
• It's easier on autopilots and wind-vane steering . The less you work your autopilot the better. From saving wear and tear on the machinery to avoiding overloads and over steering, the stability of the full keel helps. And wind-vane steering is a natural fit for most full keel boats, as their inherent course stability makes this a smart pairing.
• Heaving to . Stopping your boat is an important capability, whether it's to get some sleep or a shower when shorthanded, to make a repair, or to ride out a storm. Most full-keeled boats heave to easily, whereas some fin and bulb keels struggle and take more practice and still don't stop as well.

The keel and the boat are one. Well, not always one piece, but a full keel runs the length of the boat and is almost always integral to the hull construction. A grounding which rips a fin off a lighter boat may be just an inconvenience with a full keel.

Full keels run over 50% of the length of the hull and are often integral to the hull construction, with ballast inside the keel. External keels have a much smaller attachment surface and rely on high tensile keel bolts and toughened structures to suspend the keel from the hull.

Striking a rock or the bottom with a fin or bulb puts the shearing force from the collision on a smaller, more leveraged point on the hull, whereas a full keel disperses the force over most of the hull. While other keels are as strong and quite safe, the full keel is more resistant to these shearing and twisting forces because it spreads out the load.

Grounded vessels with full keels will take less damage as the boat lies on its side waiting for the tide. Again it comes down to dispersing the load - putting the load of the grounded boat over a broader area reduces point loading and stress on any one component of the boat. Most full-keeled boats will just lie on their sides, waiting for the tide to come back in instead of tipping or rocking with swells and waves.

Also, grounding may be easier or softer with a full keel. Most full keels keep running on a slope matching the curve of the hull - the transition from hull to keel is gradual, not sudden. If you hit the bottom, you aren't hitting it at a ninety-degree angle with your boat, you're hitting a ramp. The sudden stop will be more of a slide up than a slam, and this equals better protection in a grounding.

It's virtually impossible to catch your rudder on kelp or lobster pots when it's attached to the full trailing edge of the keel. And a propeller in an aperture is well protected from passing snags. If you're not motoring, it's very unlikely anything will get sucked into that space and wrapped on your prop.

It's not just protection from tangling and snags, either. Groundings can damage exposed spade and skeg rudders behind fin keels. Your full keel throws an enormous shadow for the more delicate parts of your underwater gear to hide behind, so they won't get damaged if you find the bottom.

Coupled with the tracking a full keel gives you is improved lateral stability - you roll less. While any ballast below water stops rolling by adding leverage and righting moment, the full keel uses more than just weight to slow your roll. The shape of the keel - a broad surface in the water - inherently resists rolling forces.

Righting Moment refers to a boat's tendency to come back up to upright when it's tipped or heeled. It's a combination of the movement of the center of buoyancy and the center of gravity of the boat as it tilts. More righting moment gives less heel angle.

Offshore, this gives you a better feel, more sea comfort. And sea comfort not only makes your passages easier, but in rough conditions is a safety feature. Lighter boats with fins and bulbs will get tossed and rolled in chop and waves, and that motion is exhausting. Not only do you have to constantly adjust your stance, grip and seating to handle the motion, sleeping, eating and cooking is that much more difficult.

Hours of sitting in the cockpit watching the autopilot in rough conditions can make your entire body feel you've been working out. You're always holding, bracing, and clenching something. A boat which makes the motions less violent and more natural will take that edge off. You won't have to hold and brace so much, and that keeps you from tiring as fast on watch.

The other place you'll love the stability is at anchor

The ideal anchorage is flat, calm and beautiful. But everyone likes that anchorage, and boat traffic and wakes aren't uncommon. Weather and wind shifts can make a calm anchorage uncomfortable as fetch carries over the water and makes chop. And sometimes, you just have to stay in an anchorage that just isn't that comfortable because it's the only one there is and it has chop or roll. (Academy Bay, I'm talking to you!)

That full keel stops a lot of roll and motion in the anchorage . Small fin-keeled boats thrash and roll violently when a big wake hits an anchorage, only the bigger, heavier boats are spared. But with a full keel you'll roll like a boat twice your size, spill a lot fewer drinks, and sleep better.

The size of a full keel gives some stability; with added internal ballast you can get good stiffness and stability to the boat. Other keels don't have that same size and have to take alternative approaches to get the same stability.

A fin or bulb keel is a lever against the forces above the waterline from the rig and sails trying to tip the boat. You counteract those forces with weight - ballast. With a lever, you can increase the righting force two ways - add more weight, or make the lever longer.

A longer lever equals a deeper keel.

Deeper draft equates to better sail performance and righting moment, but you can get the needed stability on a full-keeled boat with less draft . Fin and bulb keels are deeper to get the extra righting forces they can't get from the longer, full keel.

Trends in modern keel design have led to deeper and deeper drafts, which close off some waters to some boats and make navigation trickier. Two or three feet of extra draft can close you out of a lot of anchorages and gunkholes.

There are dozens of keel types out there and all serve a different purpose and excel under different conditions. To understand which keel type is best for your situation , I recommend you read our Illustrated Guide to Sailboat Keel Types , which contains the fundamentals of keel design and an overview for each keel type's characteristics (including diagrams). It will help you understand which keel designs to consider in ten minutes or less.

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Keel design – options to consider when choosing a yacht

by Simon Jollands | Boat Maintenance , Yacht ownership

Keel design is constantly evolving and nowhere is this more apparent than in modern racing yachts such as the Imoca Open 60 class. These fast offshore monohulls use highly sophisticated canting keels to help them stay upright when sailing upwind. The boats are designed to be as light as possible while at the same time being solid enough to cope with ocean racing.

While cruising yachts are not designed to win ocean races, there are several options of keel design available. Traditional yachts tend to have long deep keels which are an integral part of the hull, which make them heavier than modern designs, but stable and seaworthy.

Many modern yachts have fin shaped keel designs, which are bolted beneath the hull. This produces lighter, faster and and more manouevrable yachts than deep keel designs.

Below is a summary of all the common keel designs found on types of sailing yachts on the market today.

Long keel design

Long, deep keels are common on traditional yachts. They form part of the hull structure as opposed to being bolted on to the hull. They provide plenty of strength and stability but are less efficient than modern designs.

Fin keel design

A fin keel is bolted on to the underside of the hull. Fin keels vary from shallow fin to deep fin. Cruising yachts tend to have shallow, wide fin keels, sometimes with heavy bulbs at the foot to minimise the yacht’s draught. Racing yachts tend to have thin and deep keels with heavy bulbs to improve performance.

Bilge keel design

Twin, or bilge keels enable a yacht to remain upright when dried out at low tide. They have a shallower draught than fin keels, making them suited to cruising in shallow, coastal waters. They do not perform to windward as well as a fin keel and are used for cruising as opposed to racing yachts.

Lifting keel design

A lifting keel enables a yacht to stay afloat in very shallow water. Lifting keels work in a similar way to a sailing dinghy’s centreboard. They are an alternative solution to bilge keels, with the advantage that when lowered they perform as well as a fixed fin keel. Their design is ideal for trailer sailers.

Canting keel design

Canting keels are used on high performance racing yachts. They have a deep fin with a bulb. They can be tilted or “canted” out sideways to counter the heeling forces. These advanced designs are used with daggerboards and foils to further improve performance. Boats with canting keels are pricey.

When making a choice, consideration should be given to the shape of the hull as well as the keel design. The shape of the bow and stern are the most noticeable aspects of hull shape as they are above the waterline.

Modern designs favour vertical bows but in the past raked bows were more common.

On modern yachts, the scooped stern is popular as it allows for a swim platform and easy access on and off the boat from the water. In the past canoe shaped sterns and flat  transoms were popular and while pleasing to the eye, were not quite as practical as today’s designs.

When choosing a yacht, there are many design variations and shapes that will influence your choice. It is worth spending some time exploring the options and weighing up the pros and cons to ensure that the boat you buy will suit the type of sailing you have in mind.

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Sadler 26: the little boat with big attitude

• Rachael Sprot
• September 8, 2022

Is the Sadler 26 the ultimate small yacht or just an overgrown dinghy? Rachael Sprot steps aboard to find out

Most of the Sadler 26s built had twin keels, although deep and shallow fins were also available. Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images Credit: Richard Langdon

Product Overview

Manufacturer:.

I’ve always been a fan of small yachts. They’re exponentially cheaper to buy and maintain, the loads are lower, making them safer for new crew, and the shove ‘n’ go boat handling saves a lot of hassle in marinas .

But even by pocket-cruiser standards, 26ft is tiny. And although extraordinary voyages are made on tiny boats, I’ve always thought you’d need an MBA (Masters in Bunk Arrangement) to cope in such confined quarters.

Would the Sadler 26 change my mind?

I joined John Dickson on his Sadler 26, Ella , to find out. John sails Ella on the south coast and English Channel with his wife, Nao, and children, Ollie, 13, and Georgina, 10.

The cockpit is deep and comfortable, with coaming lockers on each side and good leg bracing. Credit: Richard Langdon

He seizes every chance to head out, sometimes just with cockerpoo, Maggie, for company. The first thing I noticed when I stepped aboard Ella in the river Hamble, was that she didn’t baulk at my weight, as I was expecting.

She may only be 26ft long, but with over 9ft of beam there’s plenty of form stability. The real secret behind her feeling of buoyancy, however, is that her double-skinned hull is filled with foam.

John Dickson sails his Sadler 26, Ella with his wife, Nao, and children Ollie and Georgina. A professional jazz musician, John also sails Ella solo from the river Hamble on the UK’s south coast. Credit: Richard Langdon

Scarred by the terrible loss of life of the 1979 Fastnet Race when several yachts sank, Martin Sadler, David Sadler’s son, designed the 26 and 29 to withstand significant water ingress.

Although their unsinkability was never officially established, in one test the 26 was sailed through overfalls under full sail in a Force 5 with the seacocks open and half full of water, which sounds pretty conclusive to me.

Folkboat DNA in the Sadler 26

Like all successful species, the Sadler 26 is the product of evolution. Deep in her ancestry you’ll find the Folkboat, but you’ll have to go via the Sadler 25 and Sadler-designed Contessa 26 to find it.

There’s still a hint of her Nordic origins in the high bow and swoosh of sheer, although the full stern looks somewhat truncated. The underwater profile is sea-kindly and a transom-hung rudder has a full-depth skeg providing protection and directional stability.

The helm is light and responsive, and the cockpit is well set up for singlehanded sailing. Credit: Richard Langdon

There were several keel options. Most were built with twin keels , but there are also deep and shallow-fin keels and lifting keels. The twin keels are relatively fine and deep in order to preserve sailing performance to windward.

Aloft, there’s a masthead rig with large overlapping genoa and respectable ballast ratio of 41%.

The construction technique is quite different to modern balsa or foam-cored hulls. The outer skin is full strength and the inner skin is a moulded lining.

The 9ft 4in beam gives the Sadler 26 a wide deck, with enough room to stand by the shrouds. Credit: Richard Langdon

Apparently the foam wasn’t originally considered essential for strength but it does play an important role in this regard, providing extra stiffness.

The strategically placed pockets of polyurethane foam don’t just provide buoyancy, they also insulate the hull, reducing condensation and noise.

Around fittings such as keel bolts there’s no foam: the two skins meet to form a solid layer of GRP .

The major downside of this construction method is that it could be expensive and complicated to repair if water seeps into the foam, which may become increasingly likely as these boats age.

A pre-purchase survey will be important to identify any problems.

Well-considered cockpit

On deck, the coachroof remains in proportion to the rest of the yacht, the curved top softening the outline.

Two pairs of rounded portlights, one small and one large, are easy on the eye.

A teak handrail accentuates her lines and breaks up the otherwise large expanse of gelcoat. The teak rubbing strake is another attractive detail which also covers the hull-to-deck join, which is bolted and glued together.

The Sadler 26 came with a masthead rig, supported by a forestay, backstay and in-line caps and lowers. The foretriangle is larger than the mainsail. Credit: Richard Langdon

The moulded toerail gives a secure foothold, but the scarcity of scuppers means that water collects on the sidedecks, especially if you’ve slightly altered the trim by adding too much weight in the bow or stern, which is easy to do on a small boat.

The stanchions drop into sockets in the toerail, which seems like a neat solution, but means that if you have any abrupt encounters with the dock you not only bend a stanchion, but might damage the deck-moulding too.

Some boats, including Ella , have fitted bolt-on stanchion bases instead. The sidedecks are wider than you might expect thanks to her beam, with room to stand by the shrouds when coming alongside.

The anchor well is sealed off from the vee-berth. Credit: Richard Langdon

There’s a proper anchor well to keep muddy chain sealed off from the vee-berth. Look closely enough at the cockpit though, and you start to have a sense of where Sadler’s priorities lie. It may look unremarkable, but it’s an excellent working area when sailing, both comfortable and functional.

The square shape of the cut-off transom is a compromise worth making, allowing room for three adults or a few more little people. The benches are the perfect width to brace across when heeling, even for those of us with short legs.

It’s still small enough to reach all the controls when singlehanded though, with halyards and reefing lines led back along the coachroof.

Bolt-on stanchion bases replace the original moulded ones in the toerail. Credit: Richard Langdon

The transom-hung rudder positions the tiller well aft, so that it doesn’t dominate the space.

Standing with the tiller in hand, there’s a clear line of vision forwards even with the sprayhood up. The deep coamings make a comfortable backrest.

The recessed storage cubbies are a useful feature often missing on larger yachts.

When beating to windward, the coachroof gives shelter from a full bombardment of green water.

The only drawback is that the traveller position is directly in front of the companionway hatch. Owing to the small mainsail though, it’s relatively easy to manage.

A good use of space

The starboard-side cockpit locker swallows up gear and houses a stainless-steel fuel tank. Ella had a large removable panel to give better access to the back of the engine , gearbox and stern gland, which is a very practical modification.

A 90-litre flexible water tank lives under the cockpit sole, making good use of otherwise redundant space. Slide back the companionway hatch and you reveal a bright, compact interior.

Immediately to starboard of the companionway is the galley with a small sink, coolbox and boat cooker . The previous owner had dispensed with the full-sized oven and put extra stowage beneath the hob.

Mounting navigation equipment by the companionway makes it easier for John to sail singlehanded. Credit: Richard Langdon

Locker space is minimal here, but if you’re not too ambitious about what you cook, the space is perfectly adequate. The top of the engine box provides additional work surface for food prep.

A spacious quarterberth runs under the port side of the cockpit and a cleverly designed nav table pulls out above it on older models.

John has mounted navigation equipment here which made it easy to reach from the cockpit, a useful feature when singlehanded sailing .

The hanging locker is useful for storing lifejackets and foulies. Credit: Richard Langdon

In a neat metamorphosis, the saloon table drops down to create a double bunk. The starboard-side bench is too short to be a full-sized bunk, unless you push through into the hanging locker forwards as some owners have done.

Beyond the main bulkhead is the heads compartment with wet locker opposite.

The vee-berth gains a feeling of additional space from the raised coachroof and large foredeck hatch above. It’s not a plush interior, but the inner mouldings have aged well and provide plenty of storage beneath.

The transom-hung rudder is supported on a full-length skeg and gives the Sadler 26 good manoeuvrability. Credit: Richard Langdon

The foam insulates each stowage compartment, meaning that items stored under bunks suffer less condensation and mildew.

The major drawback of the interior is headroom. John is 5ft 6in and can stand up in the cabin, but if you’re much taller you’ll be spending most of your time stooped over – many people would find the maximum headroom of 5ft 10in restrictive.

Without totally destroying the proportions, it would be hard to achieve more headroom on a boat of this size and for those with longer legs, the similarly constructed Sadler 29 is worth considering.

Impressive handling

The original engines were 10hp Bukhs and then 9hp Volvo Pentas. Ella had a more recent 20hp Beta Marine.

It’s a tight fit in the engine compartment, but the enlarged access panel in the cockpit locker allows most jobs to be conducted in situ. It gave an impressive 6 knots through the water at 2,000 RPM.

‘I’m really glad of the extra power,’ said John. ‘When the kids have had enough and you’re fighting the tide and you just want to get home, she can do it.’

The 5ft 10in max headroom in the saloon can feel restrictive. Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

She was pretty nifty when it came to tight turns in the river Hamble, employing all the leverage of her transom-hung rudder. Although Sadler is renowned for producing yachts that sail well, I confess I was a little dubious about the 26.

There’s a lot of yacht crammed into 26 feet and with the twin keels too, I wondered what had been sacrificed in the quest for interior volume and a moderate draught.

But after hoisting the main and unfurling the 140% genoa on Southampton Water, she set off impressively.

There’s a good view from the cockpit when helming, even with the sprayhood up. Credit: Richard Langdon

Despite only having 7-8 knots of true wind, she made 4 knots with ease and the helm was feather-light.

In fact, she was so well balanced that we gave up helming entirely and just tweaked the sails to adjust the course.

She made 35°AWA when the wind held, slipping off to 40°AWA when it decreased.

It was a slack tide and the chartplotter showed crisp, right-angled tacks. She was a pleasure to sail.

Compact but clever

Tacking a boat with a big foretriangle is harder work than modern, fractional rigs, but she’s small enough that most of the genoa sheet can be pulled in by hand.

Downwind there wasn’t enough breeze to put her through her paces, but she ghosted along at 3 knots in only 5-6 knots of wind. It’s a fairly modest sail area, but she still felt responsive and moved with a sense of purpose.

For singlehanders and families alike, you don’t want too much power anyway.

Interior mouldings have aged well, including in the galley, where the engine box provides an extra food preparing area. Credit: Richard Langdon

Underpinning all of that, there’s a feeling of seaworthiness and the design is well-proven. Sadler 25s and 26s have been used successfully in short-handed events such as the AZAB and OSTAR .

One of the pleasures of small boat sailing is that you’re more likely to sail the boat to its full potential. It’s much less arduous to play with the control lines so you can experiment with twist and car position without breaking into a sweat. But the boat needs to be responsive to sail in the first place.

On the Sadler 26, performance has been preserved to the right level: she’ll reward an ambitious sailor and take care of a novice.

In the summer, John and the family use the boat for hybrid sailing holidays. He’ll deliver her to the West Country or Channel Islands alone or with friends, and then they’ll join him for a week of cruising, perhaps taking a holiday cottage for a few days to give themselves a bit more space.

Continues below…

Sailing a Westerly Griffon from Folkestone

Former builder Pat Boon 
has been fascinated by boats since childhood. He welcomes Bob Aylott aboard his 26ft Westerly Griffon,…

25 of the best small sailing boat designs

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Sadler Starlight 35: a solid 35-footer

Duncan Kent examines the enduring appeal of the Sadler Starlight 35 and discovers a yacht that is a delight to…

Sadler 290: A powerful & roomy twin-keeler

When she was launched in 2003, the Sadler 290 was probably the roomiest and most powerful 29ft twin-keeler ever built…

As the children grow up they might consider upsizing, but John is pragmatic about the fact that they may not share his passion for sailing. If not, he’ll continue to enjoy the solitude of solo sailing without the stress of handling a larger yacht.

The compression of space on a small yacht means that every centimetre matters and each element of the design has to be carefully weighed.

I was impressed by how little was missing from the Sadler 26. Things work harder by multi-tasking and ingenious transformations turn chart tables into sleeping areas and bunks become dinner tables. So you can have it all on a 26 foot boat, just not at the same time.

There’s a can-do attitude to the Sadler 26. It’s a boat that can be sailed solo or with a family. The inherent buoyancy inspires confidence for those venturing further afield, or you can creek crawl and escape the marina scene locally.

The large forepeak hatch makes the vee-berth feel spacious. Credit: Richard Langdon

She has all the facilities of a bigger yacht, albeit not simultaneously. The accommodation is well-laid-out and will just about allow for the routines of normal life. I wouldn’t attempt a Sunday roast on board but knowing the kind of people who sail these boats, it’s probably been done.

For all her merits though, it’s the sailing performance that stands out for me.

How many boats out there can accommodate a family of four and offer safety and seaworthiness at only 26ft? Not many. And how many of those will be fun to sail? Even fewer.

Overgrown dinghy? Absolutely, in the best possible way.

Expert opinion on the Sadler 26

Ben Sutcliffe-Davies, Marine Surveyor and full member of the Yacht Brokers Designers & Surveyors Association (YDSA) www.bensutcliffemarine.co.uk

Back in the day I used to own a Sadler 25, and my friend’s dad ordered one of the 26s off-plan and was certainly not disappointed with the level of fitout. Whilst many have stood the test of time, there are some niggles you need to be aware of.

In my view, and the view of many other surveyors, the infill foam is actually an essential part of construction, bonding the outer hull moulding to the internal moulding.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges with the 26 today is where the foam has absorbed water. This causes softening of the structure, both externally and internally, and should not be ignored.

Like the Sadler 29, the Sadler 26 is double-skinned, with polyurethane foam between the outer hull and interior moulding boosting buoyancy even when flooded. Credit: Richard Langdon

This is common with twin-keel versions that have taken the ground regularly, which will result in softening around the keel root externally and movement of the internal framing near the keel fastenings.

I’d strongly recommend seeing the craft lifted and tip tests undertaken on the keels to see what deflections are occurring, both inside and outside.

Other issues include moisture in the deck pad due to the wiring of deck instruments, rotten ply where the chain plates have been fitted internally, seriously worn fastening points on the stem cap for the forestay, and the overloading of the rudder skeg on the twin-keel versions, where there has been repetitive grounding.

Alternatives to the Sadler 26

Contessa 26.

The Mini Cooper of the sailing world, there were almost 800 of these little yachts built over a period of almost 30 years and they’ve gained a cult following.

A mould was exported to Canada where several hundred more were built as the Taylor 26, after a trademark dispute.

Remarkably, the lines were never drawn as such, but a mould was made from a Folkboat hull and a few adaptations made to give a higher freeboard and slightly more internal volume.

A deep forefoot makes motion smooth on the Contessa 26. Credit: Rupert Holmes

Unlike the Folkboat, the Contessa 26 has a masthead rig and large overlapping genoa. The cockpit is small, even for a boat of this size, but having the mainsheet at the aft end of it makes the space there more usable.

Sail area-to-displacement ratio is low but a lot of that weight is in the keel. They aren’t renowned for their light airs performance, but the wetted surface area is less than you might imagine, thanks to the short waterline length and narrow beam.

In fact, the Contessa 26 often features in podium positions for Round the Island Race and has won a few too.

The encapsulated long keel and transom-hung rudder are attractive features, and the solid deck eliminates the problem of a soggy core.

The price you pay for an attractive boat that sails well is accommodation. There’s only 5ft of headroom except directly under the raised companionway moulding.

The sheets are in easy reach of the helm, making the Contessa 26 good for singlehanding. Credit: Graham Snook

There were three original layouts, A, B and C. All had two 6ft 6in saloon berths and 6ft 3in vee-berths.

The main differences were that there was no heads compartment in layout A; the loo was positioned between the vee-berth. This brought the vee-berth aft and created space for a proper anchor locker. On B and C configurations, a starboard heads compartment pushed the vee-berth right forward. A and C have the galley amidships; it is aft by the companionway on layout B. There’s no room for a saloon table and it’s minimalist-style living.

The Contessa 26 is incontestably pretty and has proven to be a bulletproof offshore cruiser boasting many high-profile circumnavigations.

They command a premium because of their deserved reputation, but won’t suit everyone.

Very much of their time, they’re nonetheless sought-after for 21st century adventures.

Trapper 300

Until recently, I’d never heard of Trapper, but when my sister bought a Trapper 500 a few years ago, I wondered why they weren’t better known.

They produced several pokey performance-cruisers in the 70s and 80s with nice lines and a good turn of speed. The 300 was designed by Bruce Kirby, who also drew the Laser dinghy (enough said), and based on a successful Quarter-Tonner, but they were aimed at the cruising market.

The 300 is a fin-keeled, masthead sloop with a semi-balanced spade rudder. The bow is razor-sharp and there’s a neatly tapered stern.

The saucer-shaped hull profile is much wider at deck level than it is at the waterline, creating space on deck and increasing buoyancy when heeled, but with minimal wetted surface area in light airs. The cockpit is compact but deep and safe.

A deep cockpit on the Trapper 300 provides security. Credit: David Harding

The traveller location right in front of the companionway hatch might be frustrating on long passages if you’re often going in and out, though it’s less of an issue when coast-hopping.

The internal layout varies between the Mk 1 or Mk 2 but both have comfortable saloon seating and a saloon table.

On the Mk 1 version the galley is by the companionway, on the Mk 2 it occupies the port side of the saloon.

There’s a standard heads and hanging locker arrangement forwards of the mast and full-length vee-berth. Largely composed of interior mouldings, the insides of many remain in good condition.

If you want something that’s rewarding to sail, looks pretty and has enough space for minimalist cruising, they’re a really good option, and often better value than higher- profile designs.

Westerly Griffon

The Griffon is unmistakably Westerly , with a high coachroof and square-cut transom utilising every inch of boat length.

She was the first Westerly designed by Ed Dubois, and has a more streamlined look than the older Laurent Giles models.

Although she’s still a bit boxy to the eye, the rewards are reaped below where there are two-and-a-half double bunks and 5ft 9in headroom all the way forward.

There’s the usual vee-berth arrangement, generous saloon with pull-out seating that converts to a double, and an almost double bunk in the port quarterberth.

High topsides on the Westerly Griffon and a chunky coachroof offers ample headroom down below. Credit: Bob Aylott

The Mk 1 version had a fold-down saloon table and sapele joinery. The Mk 2 had a sturdy fixed table with folding leaves and teak woodwork.

The galley occupies the starboard side as you come down the companionway and beneath the starboard side of the cockpit there’s a large locker. On deck, the cockpit is larger than average with the mainsheet position aft.

It will comfortably accommodate four for sailing, and six for cockpit drinks with the tiller up. Halyards and reefing lines lead to the cockpit, making her suitable for singlehanded sailing .

Most of them were bilge-keelers but a few had fin keels. They are reported to perform well for this keel configuration and have plenty of sail area, but pointing probably won’t be their forte.

If creek crawling and getting away from it all is more your thing than haring round the cans, and you’re looking for a boat with a nice temperament that’s comfortable for longer periods of time and gentle on the crew, here she is.

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> > Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. 06-04-2024, 02:25   Boat: BUILT!!! Roberts Mauritius 43ft out for the first time on our own. Everything went well but we had problems maneuvering into the pen. We tried to bow first but decided she wanted to stern first. (Fortunately there was no audience) I know long keel/heavy yachts are difficult to dock so I will follow this thread later this evening. I priced a bow thruster but at $2000+ it is out of the question. I am now looking at a detachable bow thruster maybe using a (or surfboard motor) Has anyone already constructed their own? 06-04-2024, 02:34   Boat: Murray 33-Chouette & Pape Steelmaid-44-Safara-both steel cutters I asked the first owner “If you had one piece of what would it be?” “Stay out of .” It has prove to he sage . 06-04-2024, 03:09   Boat: Cape George 31 to use spring lines. Just keep practising. 06-04-2024, 03:21   Boat: BUILT!!! Roberts Mauritius 43ft and they were docked bow first. I mentioned that to my Son and he pointed across to Marina Finger C where almost all the had docked stern first If everyone does their own thing should I dock bow first or stern first? Which would be easier? (or both difficult?) 06-04-2024, 03:46   , prop wash directed over , and prop walk. Heavy sailboats often have small engines with small props. You must learn to manage the tools you have, though there is no magic button. Some boats are just hard to dock. I used to teach close quarter maneuvering and a fellow with a 32 foot Dreadnaught equipped with a puny Lister thet was no match for the long bow sprit. I chuckled at Hpeer's "stay out of marinas" comment. Not all problems are solvable, but understanding the tools you have can certainly make a situation as good as possible. bow first will be easier. Backing a difficult to maneuver into a slip is extremely difficult. Finally, I'll make the case for a bow thruster. Many people are dissuaded from using their boats due to knowing when they return in the afternoon, winds will complicate so they just don't go out. A bow thruster can easily reduce or eliminate that angst so the gets used more. Given a boat in a slip often carries annual costs in excess of $15k, being able to use your boat 10% more is a decent return on a $5k cost. Plus it enhances resale value. to follow along 06-04-2024, 04:05   Boat: plastic production boat, suitable for deep blue water ;) or not. Just getting the length of that line right and the right cleat on the dock, and...... have some fenders in the right place. My previous boat had a long , and I could dock that handedly with a springline, and 2 fenders. I am sure that are good you-tube videos on this, let me check.... here are some links: Hmm, in the above link, the "balance point" is a bit overrated, and most boats can be docked with a spring from a midship cleat. Even using a bow cleat can . Just make sure you add at least 2 fenders. 06-04-2024, 04:40   Boat: Finnsailer 38 "Go small, Go simple, Go now" 06-04-2024, 04:41   Boat: 58' Sedan Bridge out for the first time on our own. Everything went well but we had problems maneuvering into the pen. We tried to dock bow first but decided she wanted to dock stern first. (Fortunately there was no audience) I know long keel/heavy displacement yachts are difficult to dock so I will follow this thread later this evening. I priced a bow thruster but at $2000+ it is out of the question. I am now looking at a detachable bow thruster maybe using a (or surfboard motor) Has anyone already constructed their own? 06-04-2024, 05:06   Boat: Volkscruiser outboards mounted on the transom. It worked really well kicking the transom in the direction needed. Some boats are just hard to manage in tight spaces. Recently on a full keel 32 footer we zig zagged down the marina until finally the bow swung towards open . That owner had the yacht for 10 years and new all the tricks. But still she was hard to handle. The new owner had a so the handling issue didn't matter. Cheers   06-04-2024, 05:17   Boat: Morgan OI 413 1973 - Aythya and currents over time. There's no fun in repeating all these moves every time your out, but repeat a few on occasion. Just like in the marina, the greatest challenge will be bringing your long keel boat to the float at the stern. The best skill to develop will be the ability to turn your vessel 360* in little more than your . If your has the typical right hand prop rotation and prop wash turn to port in reverse; then, from a stationary position, turn your full to starboard and alternate your gearshift position from forward to reverse. At each position "goose" the throttle a bit and note the pivot of your vessel turning to starboard at the forward thrust and to port at the reverse thrust (turning clockwise from a view above). If you were to use this turn after positioning your bow at the entrance to your slip; complete the 360* turn until your stern is a little less than aligned with your slip; then your prop wash with backing into your slip will complete your ideal alignment. Your experience with the crab and lobster pots will give you the skills to moderate this maneuver with different wind and conditions. 06-04-2024, 05:25   Boat: BUILT!!! Roberts Mauritius 43ft   06-04-2024, 05:39   Boat: Chris Craft 381 Catalina on a calm day and see what works and what doesn't. Go over to a more empty area with enough room to play around and just see what you can get the boat to do. With reverse, for example, some boats really want to be in neutral to have good , so you get it moving and then go to neutral. Others need to be sped up slowly as a big burst of throttle walks the stern so far sideways that you can't recover from it. The heavy displacement is likely an advantage, as the boat will be less reactive to wind gusts, etc. and will have more momentum. So everything can be done a bit more slowly and methodically (which is good when needing to work around the long keel handling quirks). 06-04-2024, 06:09   Boat: BUILT!!! Roberts Mauritius 43ft . If your engine has the typical right hand prop rotation and prop wash turn to port in reverse; then, from a stationary position, turn your full to starboard and alternate your gearshift position from forward to reverse. At each position "goose" the throttle a bit and note the pivot of your vessel turning to starboard at the forward thrust and to port at the reverse thrust (turning clockwise from a view above). If you were to use this turn after positioning your bow at the entrance to your slip; complete the 360* turn until your stern is a little less than aligned with your slip; then your prop wash with backing into your slip will complete your ideal alignment. Your experience with the crab and lobster pots will give you the skills to moderate this maneuver with different wind and conditions. 06-04-2024, 06:23   Boat: Chris Craft 381 Catalina in her pen with her bow half way across the floating marina finger. She sits alongside with two fenders. (I can only tie up on the Port side.) 06-04-2024, 06:36   Boat: Finnsailer 38 This is Helen in her pen with her bow half way across the floating marina finger. She sits alongside with two fenders. (I can only tie up on the Port side.) , , , , , Thread Tools Rate This Thread : Posting Rules post new threads post replies post attachments edit your posts is are code is are are are Similar Threads Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post Abrain Seamanship & Boat Handling 125 12-04-2024 07:55 artisguru Multihull Sailboats 61 08-12-2023 05:45 Arthurgifford Monohull Sailboats 69 22-02-2023 19:07 samson General Sailing Forum 11 20-03-2011 13:05 - - - - - - - Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time. The most fabulous yachts to charter this summer There are an estimated 6,000 superyachts — vessels that are more than 100 feet long — at sea in 2024 As summer reaches its peak across the Northern Hemisphere, it’s hard to imagine a better way of spending a vacation than channeling your inner ship captain and sailing across the ocean. In recent years, yacht companies have reported a boom in sales — far from the decline that many in the industry feared, due to both the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic realities of the Russia-Ukraine War. “I spent my days [in 2020] doing worst-case scenarios and drawing up the budgets to go with them,” Giovanna Vitelli, chairwoman of Azimut|Benetti, the world’s largest yacht manufacturer, told the Economist in 2023. Instead, her company reported a 23% growth in production value in 2023 —a reality that is not unique to just one yacht manufacturer. The luxury yacht market is expected to grow in value from $7.67 billion in 2023 to $17.33 billion by 2032, according to a recent report from Fortune Business Insights . Analysts attribute the ships’ rise in popularity to the increasing number of extremely wealthy individuals . Yachts have long been considered a status symbol — a reality that has only increased as wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of a small group of high status individuals . There are an estimated 6,000 superyachts —vessels that are more than 100 feet long — at sea as of this year. This is nearly quadruple the number of yachts seen in the ocean just three decades ago, according to Bloomberg . Aside from an increase in popularity, the yacht industry has seen other changes in recent years. Increasingly, those in the market for a luxury ship are turning to alternate means of powering their vessels, as critics point to the excess emissions traditional yachts produce simply for recreational use. In their 2024 report, Fortune Business Insights highlighted the growing trend of electrification as a significant area of growth in the coming years. “A tough regulatory environment for traditional yachts and rising fuel prices will pave the way for the solid growth of electric yachts in the future,” the report reads. “Huge investments from various manufacturers and government support measures will accelerate the demand for electric yachts.” Read on to learn more about the most luxurious yachts available for chartering in 2024. Carinthia VII Originally constructed in 2002, the award-winning Carinthia VII was recently remodeled and reimagined specifically for private charters. The 319-foot ship spans six decks and can accommodate up to 12 guests in eight staterooms. Among the ship’s amenities are two bars, a fully equipped gym and an outdoor projection screen that allows for an “immersive cinematic experience like no other.” The cost of chartering the Carinthia VII is $1,525,700 during both the winter and summer seasons. The Lady S yacht boasts a number of exciting water toys, including jet skis, water skis, wakeboards and kayaks for athletic guests on the 305-foot ship. For those who prefer more indoor-oriented activities, however, you can also catch a film on the ship’s IMAX Dolby cinema — the first of its kind on any yacht in the world. Accommodating 12 guests, in seven cabins, the cost of chartering the Lady S begins at $1,743,328 a week. The interior of the Ahpo yacht seems more reminiscent of a luxury hotel than a simple ship. Accommodating 16 guests and 36 crew members, the vessel features a full-size gym, a winter garden and a spa complete with a Himalayan salt sauna. The 378-foot long yacht was first manufactured in 2021 by the German shipyard Lürssen. Excited sailors can charter the Ahpo from superyacht broker Edmiston, beginning at $2,833,376 a week. 500EXP Para Bellum This 154-foot-long yacht can accommodate up to 12 travelers in its six cabins, along with up to 10 crew members. The ship was specially designed to enable “guests a 360-degree experience and relationship with the sea” through its unique stern and sundeck that allow travelers to safely stand “almost at sea level,” according to its Italian manufacturer San Lorenzo . Interested travelers can rent the ship for $359,609 a week. The Renaissance The Renaissance lives up to its grandiose name by going beyond traditional private yachts and bridging the gap between a personal vehicle and a full-on cruise ship. The 367-foot long ship features five decks and can accommodate 36 guests in 19 cabins. The Renaissance’s amenities include a 19-seat movie theater, a sushi-bar, and a full spa deck featuring a wellness area, plunge pools and a hair salon. The cost of chartering the ship from Burgess Yachts ranges from $3,269,280 to $3,814,160 a week. Post comment or continue as guest Location City:    Orlovo, Moskovskaya, Russian Federation (Russia) Near (Alt.): Rus' ICAO: Details Type: Heliport Latitude: 55�32'58"N (55.549444) Longitude: 37�51'52"E (37.864444) Variation: 12.04�E (WMM2020 magnetic declination) 0.14� annual change Related Locations Nearby: Farthest: Find:    beyond   but within    Copyright © 2004-2024 . All rights reserved. The Great Circle Mapper name and logo are trademarks of the . All other trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. Please see for attributions and further copyright information.       362 COMMENTS 13 Popular Full Keel Sailboats Worth Considering Here are 13 good full keel sailboats that are worth considering: Nicholson 32. Island Packet 380. Folkboat 25. Cape Dory 36. Vancouver 32. Freya 39. Wylo 2. Tradewind 33. 10 best long keel yachts While most long-keel yachts have relatively limited accommodation relative to their overall length, this John Rock design that was built from the mid-1980s to late 1990s is one of a number of exceptions. The boat is a development of the earlier Tradewind 33, ... The pros and cons of different keel designs The keel has a significantly longer chord (2.24m/7ft 4in compared to .7m/2ft 3in of the standard keel) so she has the reassuring directional stability of a long-keeled yacht but with better manoeuvrability. 43 of the best bluewater sailboat designs of all time Its unique points lie underwater in the guise of a full skeg-hung rudder and so-called 'Zero Keel', an encapsulated long keel with lead ballast. Kraken Yachts is the brainchild of British ... Keel construction and design explained The Hull is then moulded onto the keel The traditional long keel. Our Rustler 36 is a classic design with a traditional long keel and a keel-hung rudder, which is still much favoured by short-handed offshore sailors for its rock-solid reliability and because it gives the yacht a comfortable, easy motion in rough seas. Sailboat Keel Types Compared: Pros and Cons of 13 Types There are various keel designs, each with specific advantages and disadvantages. For instance, full keels provide better stability and tracking, making them a popular choice for long-distance cruisers. On the other hand, fin keels enable sharper turns and quicker reactions, which appeal to racers and those seeking a more nimble experience. Sailboat Keel Types: Illustrated Guide (Bilge, Fin, Full) The most common sailboat keel types are full-length keels, fin keels, bulb keels, wing keels, bilge keels, and lifting keels. Full keels are popular among cruisers, while fin keels are generally used for racing. Bilge keels and lifting keels are typically used in tidal waters, on small fishing boats for example. Keel types and how they affect performance The long keel creates more drag but, as with the Rustler 24, the cutaway forefoot makes the 36 more nimble than a full long keel boat, which are more difficult to manoeuvre in reverse under power. The rest of Rustler's offshore range - the Rustler 37, 42, 44 and 57 - designed by Stephen Jones - have lead fin keels. 5 Top Affordable Bluewater Cruising Sailboats With these considerations in mind, here are my picks—five top choices for affordable bluewater cruising sailboats (in alphabetical order). Caliber 40 LRC. The Caliber 40 design appeared in 1991 and through its evolution into the 40 LRC, remains a very attractive cutter. It has a fully encapsulated, elongated fin keel, and the ballast to ... Sail Cruiser boats for sale Find Sail Cruiser boats for sale in your area & across the world on YachtWorld. Offering the best selection of boats to choose from. ... For shallow waters, bilge keeled or lifting keeled cruisers will allow you to navigate shallow waters, while a long keel or fin keel is better suited to deeper waters, will enable the boat to sail more ... J/80 is the world's most popular 26 ft one-design keelboat If you would like to expand your sailing horizons with a modern sportboat outside protected harbors and lakes, there's only one choice: the J/80. Numbers highlight the reason: Thanks to its 1,400 lb. fixed lead keel (48% ballast ratio) J/80 has big-boat feel and requires less experienced crew. The boom is high for safety and good visibility. How keel type affects performance How keel type affects performance. James Jermain has tested hundreds of yachts in his 30 years as Yachting Monthly's chief boat tester. The performance and handling of a yacht depends on many things, but perhaps the most important single feature is the shape of the hull and the profile of the keel. Over the years hulls have become shallower ... 8 of the best bilge-keel sailing yachts GT35. Since the heyday of bilge-keel boatbuilding in the 1970s and 1980s new boats have, on average, become larger. At the same time design has continued to progress, with the result that the bilge-keel version of the GT35, a new British built high-quality cruiser, is likely to be one of the fastest twin-keel boats you'll ever come across. 5 great lifting keel cruising yachts The Southerly 42 RST offers 2.72 metres' draught with the keel down enabling plenty of sail area and good overall performance. A step change came at the end of the 1990s, with introduction of the Rob Humphreys designed Southerly 110. This had a softer, more rounded pilot house design, but the most important changes were below the waterline. 5 Surprising Advantages of a Full Keel Sailboat Modern keel designs favor fin keels, with the high-performance boats using bulbs with narrow chord sections and deep drafts. Very few full keel designs are being built today, but there is a huge secondary market of used boats with full keels. Many ocean sailors swear by them and love their full keeled boats. There are reasons they love them. Keel design Many modern yachts have fin shaped keel designs, which are bolted beneath the hull. This produces lighter, faster and and more manouevrable yachts than deep keel designs. Below is a summary of all the common keel designs found on types of sailing yachts on the market today. Long keel design. Long, deep keels are common on traditional yachts. Grand Soleil 42LC review: a serious boat for serious cruisers Twin wheels link to a single deep rudder abaft a deep L-shaped keel, and this boat had the standard 2.25m keel (a slightly heavier 1.9m 'shoal' keel is an option). Although we couldn't get everything loaded up in the light airs, the helm felt light and taut, and the boat answered the wheel quickly, even at slow speeds. ... The Long Cruise ... Sadler 26: the little boat with big attitude The encapsulated long keel and transom-hung rudder are attractive features, and the solid deck eliminates the problem of a soggy core. The price you pay for an attractive boat that sails well is accommodation. There's only 5ft of headroom except directly under the raised companionway moulding. Rustler 24 A beautiful classic, long-keel trailerable dayboat. Inspired by some of the Classic designs from the last century, the Rustler 24 offers the dayboat sector a new dimension by combining traditional long keel sea-keeping and handling qualities, with the practicality of modern materials and systems. In matters of sea keeping, stability, sure ... Docking long keel/heavy displacement yachts. Images: 1. Re: Docking long keel/heavy displacement yachts. I would suggest that you develop your docking skills away from the marina slips. You might best hone your skills by maneuvering next to a crab or lobster float. Begin by positioning your bow at a stop pointed at the float from the north, east, west and south. The most luxurious yachts to rent The 378-foot long yacht was first manufactured in 2021 by the German shipyard Lürssen. Excited sailors can charter the Ahpo from superyacht broker Edmiston, beginning at $2,833,376 a week. Two luxury hotel companies begin work on yachts: Travel Weekly Rendering of Aman's 50-suite luxury yacht, which is expected to begin sailing in 2027. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sinot Yacht, Architecture & Design ... held its keel-laying on Tuesday with ... Kapotnya District A residential and industrial region in the south-east of Mocsow. It was founded on the spot of two villages: Chagino (what is now the Moscow Oil Refinery) and Ryazantsevo (demolished in 1979). in 1960 the town was incorporated into the City of Moscow as a district. Population - 45,000 people (2002). The district is one of the most polluted residential areas in Moscow, due to the Moscow Oil ... 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