daysailer sailboats

Yachting World

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Dream daysailers: 13 of the best boats for a great day out on the water

• Toby Hodges
• July 16, 2020

Toby Hodges looks at the best daysailer yachts on the market, from ultra-modern cruisers to classically-styled masterpieces

Modern daysailers

1. saffier se 33 ud.

Saffier Yachts now has eight designs between 21ft and 37ft. The investment and knowhow the Hennevanger brothers have put into the production facility really shows too – the vacuum-infused builds and finish quality are top class.

Saffier builds seaworthy designs , tests all new models thoroughly in the North Sea and ensures its yachts can be sailed easily single-handedly.

Launched in 2014, the Saffier Se 33 is a sporty design but with a practical self-draining cockpit and optional solid sprayhood, which help it handle most weather conditions. It has a fast underwater shape, a generous sailplan and a fixed carbon bowsprit. The extra-large cockpit features 2m benches and a folding transom and there is space enough for four to sleep below.

Saffier’s brand new Se 27 also looks like a seriously fun design and has been averaging speeds in the mid-teens with the kite up, clocking over 20 knots in its early trials this spring.

Prices for the Se 33 start at €114,500 (ex. VAT).

2. Domani S30

The S30, launched in 2018, is Belgian company Domani’s first model – a trailable sportsboat designed to be comfortable, fast and beautiful, says founder Michael Goddaert.

Inspired by Riva’s Aquarama motor boat , it has a large minimalist cockpit, spacious aft sunbed and a classy-looking compact interior. The narrow-beamed S30 weighs only 1,700kg, is offered with a long, two-part carbon rig, and has an electric drive as standard. A Lounge version is being developed which is similar to the Tofinou 9.7 in terms of deck layout.

Price ex. VAT: €88,000.

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3. Black Pepper Code 0.1

Those lucky enough to have sailed at Les Voiles de St Tropez may have seen these neo-classic daysailers from chic brand Black Pepper.

As well as this range of Code-branded daysailers/weekenders, the yard has just launched a new Sam Manuard-designed, scow-bowed IMOCA 60 for Armel Tripon’s Vendée Globe campaign.

The original Code 0, by Marc Lombard, is a high-performance dayboat with a distinctive squared coachroof, which is built light in carbon and epoxy with half its displacement in the keel bulb.

A new Code 0.1 version (pictured) launched last year, and is available in Open and Spirit (performance/regatta) versions.

Price ex. VAT: £148,000.

4. A-Yachts A27 / A33

A-Yachts founder. Michael Gilhofer helped to develop the original B30 (pictured below) and was distributor for B-Yachts in Germany for 17 years. He commissioned the in-demand Lorenzo Argento, who formerly worked with Luca Brenta, to design a new range of luxury daysailers built in Slovenia and finished in Austria.

The first two A-Yachts models (the A27 is pictured above) are focused on performance daysailing, whereas B-Yachts has gone for more cruising comfort below. An exciting new model, the A39, is due for launch in 2021.

Prices ex. VAT: A27 €98,500, A33 €215,000.

5. B-Yachts B30 / B34

The Brenta B30 is the iconic Italian daysailer. A real looker to keep berthed at your Portofino residence, it has a lightweight carbon/epoxy build and a high ballast ratio, for tantalising light airs sailing. B-Yachts is the brand that took the daysailing concept to the limit with the fiendishly indulgent (and very white) B60, which we tested, open-mouthed, back in 2008.

Although stagnant for some years, the company was acquired by Luca Brenta’s cousin Alberto Castiglioni in late 2018. Brenta, along with designer Alessia Lee, has worked up the design for a new B34 model due to launch this year, and they are now working on a B40.

The B30 (above) is now a modern classic, with more than 40 built, but the refreshed company has made some upgrades including a new rudder profile, fixed bowsprit, revised deck gear, a more functional interior and the option for an electric engine. But it’s still got those killer lines.

Prices ex. VAT: B30 €118,000, B34 €190,000.

6. Esse 330

This is the sixth model from Josef Schuchter’s yard on Lake Zurich, which builds fast, stiff and sporty designs. The new 330 is the first Esse that offers the ability for weekend/overnight sailing. Schuchter told us it is designed more for pleasure sailing than racing but has the same performance as the yard’s 990, using a 1m shorter mast and with greater stability and comfort.

Umberto Felci designed the 330 with a self-tacking jib, a carbon deck-stepped mast with no backstay and a high ballast ratio to help ensure it can easily be sailed short-handed. A lifting keel reduces draught to 1.55m and an electric drive is offered.

Price ex. VAT: €134,000.

A plumb stem and square coachroof give an alluring pilot classic style to this Judel/Vrolijk design, but it is the materials from which it is crafted that are most intriguing. Built by Bremen-based Greenboats, the flax (plant) or linen (fibre) is vacuum-infused with bio epoxy and can be given a clearcoat finish to help show off the fibres.

The focus is on weight-saving for this performance daysailer, using recycled PET as the core material. The deck is made from cork, the ropes are made entirely from recycled plastic bottles and the sails are recyclable.

Price ex. VAT, ready to sail: €126,000.

Modern-classic daysailers

8. eagle 38.

The Boersma brothers founded Leonardo Yachts in the northern part of the Netherlands to build top quality gentleman’s daysailers and weekenders.

Its range of gorgeous designs are inspired by the timeless lines and overhangs of the J Class , but with modern appendages.

The new Hoek-designed Eagle 38 is the smallest of a range that now extends to 70ft. It is devised for easy handling, with jib winches in reach of the helmsman/tiller, in a deep self-draining cockpit that can seat six in comfort.

The varnished mahogany interior can sleep three and includes cooking facilities and a neatly hidden toilet.

Price ex. VAT: €177,500.

9. Wally Nano MkII

Wally stunned us with the unveiling of its incomparable Nano in 2009. The Andre Hoek-designed masterpiece certainly elevated the standard of extravagance (and price) for a daysailer. This Wally Nano MkII model released eight years later is a refined version of the achingly cool design, which marries Italian styling with Dutch workmanship and ingenuity.

A pilot cutter-influenced plumb bow, bowsprit and low, squared coachroof set off a retro style, finished by an elegantly overhanging counter. These classic lines meet contemporary construction and attention to detail at Joop Doomernik’s traditional Dragon building yard. The top class composite work includes a keel grid built from 33 layers of carbon. Believe me, the result on the water is a truly intoxicating ride, both upwind and down!

Price ex. VAT: €390,000.

10. Rustler 33

The Stephen Jones design has the elegant lines and overhangs of the Cornish yard’s earlier Rustler 24, but with a comfortable handmade interior that makes it enticing to overnight on too – there is a proper heads compartment including wet hanging area.

With the addition of stanchions, this becomes a Class B offshore yacht. It’s a stiff boat to sail with a deep, dry cockpit, in which it is comfortable to sit, perch on the chunky coaming or stand to handle the tiller.

Rustler says recent clients for the Rustler 33 are ordering them with carbon masts and electric engines.

Price ex. VAT: £165,000.

11. Morris 29

Fusing S&S lines with modern lightweight materials such as carbon and epoxy, the Morris 29 is a quintessential daysailer that’s easy to rig and maintain, a witch to sail and is as handsome as they come.

And there’s a deep, long cockpit and comfortable saloon below to keep any guests content while you hog the tiller. Now built by Hinckley and priced from US$266,500.

12. Alerion 28 / 33

Cleverly marketed as ‘the 90-minute’ getaway, the iconic Alerion daysailer fleet, from 20-33ft, is designed to get people afloat easily and with the most enjoyment possible. Above is the Alerion 33.

Often seen sporting optional Hoyt jib booms, the models are easy and a delight to sail and have inviting and well-finished interiors.

Rarely do beauty, speed and single-handed ease combine this fluidly and successfully. Prices are available on application only.

13. Friendship 36 / 40

The elegantly timeless look of the Friendship 40, its classic lines, including pronounced tumblehome and wineglass counter, are by Rhode Island’s Ted Fontaine. A Friendship’s deep cockpit and wonderfully inviting and well-appointed interior invite you to sail on through the weekend and beyond.

Fontaine says both the 36 and 40 are still available to order, but at top prices: “The Friendship 40 would be built by Yachting Developments in New Zealand where the moulds are presently stored,” (priced in the region of US $1,350,000).

“And the Friendship 36 is being offered as a cold-moulded wood epoxy built boat that would be built by Rockport Marine in Maine – the yard that built the first 36.”

First published in the June 2020 edition of Yachting World.

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• Sailboat Reviews

The Daysailers of Daydreams

From the alerion express 28 to the wallynano, practical sailor examines the trend toward bigger, more expensive daysailers, and rates them according to style, construction, and performance..

A daysailer was once simple and small, an entry-level passport to the sport. In the new millennium, however, that has changed. Simplicity may still be a watchword, but the boats have grown into what could be called trophy boats. Hinckley Co.s latest daysail boat is 42 feet long. Morris Yachts is marketing a boat that stretches 53 feet as a daysailer. Ted Fontaine at Friendship Yachts already has built one that size. And these are only a few of the daysail boats with minimal accommodations, big cockpits, and over-size price tags that are filling up the fleet. In all, more than a dozen elegant daysailers have made it to market. This article compares an even dozen: the Alerion Express 28, 33, and 38 (Pearson Composites); e33 (e Sailing Yachts, Robbie Doyle and Jeremy Wurmfeld); the B-38 (Luca Brenta); Bruckmann 42 (Bruckmann Yachts); Crosscurrent 33 (Maxi Dolphin); the Friendship 40 (Ted Fontaine); Harbor 25 (W.D. Schock); Hinckley 42 (Hinckley Yachts), J-100 and J-124 (JBoats), Morris 36 (Morris Yachts), Sabre Spirit (Sabre Yachts), and the wallynano (Wally Yachts).

                                                       ****

By Ralph Naranjo

Lacking the time and opportunity to pursue racing and cruising the way that we used to, many of us have taken to daysailing. A daysailer was once simple and small, an entry-level passport to the sport. In the new millennium, however, that has changed. Simplicity may still be a watchword, but the boats have grown. Hinckley Co.s latest “DS” is 42 feet long. Morris Yachts is marketing a boat that stretches 53 feet as a daysailer. Ted Fontaine at Friendship already has built one that size. And these are only a few of the boats with minimal accommodations, big cockpits, and over-size pricetags filling up the fleet.

In all, more than a dozen “elegant daysailers” have made it to market. They have been well-received. Some say they represent the only real growth in new boat sales. Boosters claim they “address the kind of sailing that we actually do.” Cynics call them “a triumph of smoke and mirrors, branding, and snob appeal.”

Photo courtesy of Alerion Express

The dollars involved-up to $800,000 “base price”-made us wonder what they have to do with the average Practical Sailor reader. We tried to ignore the buzz the daysailer resurgence created at boat shows and in the glossy mags. Ultimately, it all boils down to this: These boats, like any other, get their “character” from their “characteristics.” Style, performance, control, comfort, and quality are key ingredients whether youre talking about a Sunfish or a Brenta 38. We focus here on todays “elegant daysailers” mostly to find out whats happening in this sphere and if we should pay attention.

The beginnings

Todays day boats harken back at least as far as 1912. Thats when Nathanael Herreshoff designed the 26-foot Alerion for his personal use. Like the boats of today, it provided nothing but the basics in terms of accommodation. Likewise, it was comfortable to sit in, sprightly under sail, and very pretty to behold.

The original is enshrined in the Mystic (Conn.) Seaport museum, but Garry Hoyt, always in search of a brighter idea, joined forces with designer Carl Schumacher around 1993 to produce a modern version. The Alerion Express 28 is true to the timeless look of the model, but made of modern materials and given a modern (though hardly unknown to Capt. Nat) fin keel and spade rudder. Advertised as “the prettiest girl at the dance,” over 400 hulls have been sold to date.

After developing more Alerions (20, 33, and 38), Hoyt left builder Pearson Composites, and a fleet of competitors appeared on the horizon.

President Jeff Johnstone of J-Boats recalls the 1992 U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Md., when a J-35 and the new J-105 were displayed side by side. Visitors could be heard wondering out loud, “Are the cruising amenities on the 35 worth the $50,000 price difference?”

“Today, especially if you live where you sail, people are realizing that they don’t need all the cruising stuff,” says Johnstone. “After all, if youve got a galley, somebodys got to cook.” We look at two J-Boats (J-100 and J-124) in the performance daysailer race.

The Hinckley Co. of Southwest Harbor, Maine, began building lobster boats in 1928. With sailing exemplars like the Bermuda 40 and Southwester 42, it achieved prominence in the yacht-building world. When it returned to the lobsterboat archetype with its Picnic boat in the mid 1990s, the full-circle was spectacular.

“People told us we were crazy building half-million-dollar 36-footers that slept just two,” says Sales Director John Correa. But style, luxury, and innovation (combining water-jet propulsion with joy-stick control) made the Picnic boat a legendary success (over 300 sold). Employing the same designer (Bruce King) and a somewhat similar approach, Hinckley recently introduced its DS 42, marketing it as a sailing Picnic boat.

The Friendship 40 was another boat inspired by the Picnic boat phenomena. “When I left Hinckley to start my own business,” explains designer Fontaine, “that Picnic-boat-with-sails idea, a boat that didnt depend on a commitment to racing or cruising, made sense. Since then, Ive taken my own tack, refined my ideas, found a builder, and sold more than a dozen. The Friendship sloop was the original lobsterboat. My Friendship 40 builds on that inspiration. But she has full headroom.”

courtesy of Alerion Express

Most American builders have, like Hoyt, chosen to base daysailers on traditional models. From Europe, however, come entries that are decidedly futuristic. Milanese designer Luca Brenta is best known for offshore megayachts ( Ghost , his various Wallys, and Swans custom Brenta 76), but hes also pursued another theme since he opened his office in 1986: His “B project” is a “quest to maximize pure pleasure under sail for all those aboard.” Teak decks, sofa seating, skin-tight sheeting angles, dual wheels, hydraulic sail controls, and more are part of his B-38. So, too, is styling that makes it a Ferrari among Model-Ts.

Also from Italy comes Maxi Dolphins Crosscurrent 33 and Andre Hoeks 36-foot Wallynano. To date, the innate conservatism of the American market has coupled with the declining dollar to keep these imports from having a major impact here.

Morris Yachts was doing well building quality cruisers when a wooden 1930s vintage 34-footer named Poppy was consigned to the yard for restoration. Designed by Sparkman & Stephens, the boat was resurrected to the point where it became the “boat of the fleet” at S&Ss 75th anniversary, a reunion that included such icons as Bolero , Dorade , Stormy Weather , and other classics. When Morris Yachts founder Tom Morris (who passed away in December) came upon an updated version of Poppy in the S&S files, he and his son, Cuyler, president of Morris Yachts, set out building traditional weekenders with sitting headroom, belowdecks sheeting, and no lifelines. They sell for “about $350,000” and are closing in on number 30.

The Harbor 25 from W.D. Schock, the e33 from sailmaker Robbie Doyle and Jeremy Wurmfeld, the Bruckmann 42 from Doug Zurn and Mark Bruckmann, and Jim Taylors Sabre Spirit round out our sample field. The last three show clearly that builders and designers of various backgrounds are being drawn into this daysailer movement.

Boats conceived without regard to handicap rules can achieve better speed. Similarly, daysailers offer a freedom from headroom, interior volume, and payload constraints. That enables their creators to concentrate on making them look good. Style becomes paramount. Lots of “pretty girls” have arrived at the dance.

Taste is subjective; beauty is in the beholders eye. For this survey of aesthetics, weve leaned upon the words of L. Francis Herreshoff, as written in his classic “The Commonsense of Yacht Design”: “Beauty is an attribute which delights the eye and the mind; delicacy of outline, harmony of proportion. The sole interest held by the eye in a straight line is in bending it. A curve to be interesting must be continually changing. Curves of a fixed radius are predictable. The reverse curve is vastly more interesting.”

Guided by these principles and a lack of commonsense, we rated and compared the looks of these beautiful boats. Highest on our list came the Alerion Express 28. Perhaps its our romantic preference for hull lines “sculpted” via carved half-model (as were those of Capt. Nat), but the limits, proportions, and resonances evident in the Alerion Express 28 seem just right. Its smaller and larger near-sisters seem less exquisite. Prejudice and snobbism could be causing us to prefer Schumachers “original” over the updates, but to us, theres a difference.

We gave equally high marks to the B-38. Totally different than the AE 28, it appealed through unity, integrity, and boldness. Says Eric Hall of Hall Spars: “I see lots of boats, and she is one of the few that made me fall in love. “

The Crosscurrent is also sexy, but its relatively low-aspect rig makes it seem squatty. The tumblehome transom and counter stern on the Friendship 40 not only echo the Friendship sloop but appeal on their own. The boats tall rig and low freeboard are a bit upsetting, but her ports, coamings, and house profile are masterful.

The Morris 36 is the queen of moderate. Stem and stern angle are restrained, its sheer has spring without slouch, and its house stops short of cluttering the skyline.

Pretty as they are, the next boats fall one tier, in our view: The bigger Morrises are endier than the 36, just a touch ungainly. Though we liked the jaunty, semi-hollow bow on the Bruckmann 42, the after part of the boat seemed overlong and a bit too low.

Robbie Doyle, founder and president of Doyle Sailmakers, calls his e33 “an Etchells on steroids,” but theres nothing ugly or bloated about the boat. If anything, its looks are a bit understated.

Crisp and balanced, the Sabre Spirit surprises by providing four bunks and full headroom in a boat that doesn’t stand out from the others.

The J-100 and J-124 have a distinct resemblance to the rest of the J-family. Its a sharp look, a look to be proud of, but not that expressive or unique.

Last on our style sheet come the Hinckley, the Harbor 25, and the Wally. Built by W.D. Schock, the Harbor is pleasant, unassuming, almost bland. It comes at the bottom because it doesn’t try to impress visually. The Hinckley and the Wallynano, on the other hand, try too hard. Faux-painting a carbon-fiber spar to look like spruce (as Hinckley does) recalls the wood-panel station wagons of the 70s. The luxuriant curves that distinguish Kings Picnic boats and mega-yachts look, to us, silly and extravagant on the daysailer. Given its minimal waterline and over-done overhangs, we find the Hinckley DS42 awkward rather than appealing.

Among the Europeans, vision and design intensity shine through in the B-38. The Wallynano, on the other hand, seems mixed up. Its “retro” reference to an outdated archetype combined with a cluster of clashing stylistic elements and conflicting purposes leaves us bewildered rather than bewitched.

Performance

Sailing performance isn’t as subjective as style, but neither is it a function of simple numbers. Though some look a bit like sportboats, delivering maximum speed isn’t what these daysailers are about. Rather, they all promise to be “lively and rewarding” without resorting to extra sails or crew. By sailing them, analyzing their designs, and gathering available intelligence, we tried to determine which candidates keep that promise best.

The B-38 looks like a rocket ship. Its sail area/displacement ratio of 31.4 is the highest in sight. With a beam of just 8 feet and a high ballast-displacement ratio, this formula for sailing-fast, flat, and under control -makes it the “high performance” option and puts it atop our performance rankings.

The Crosscurrent 33 relies more on beam and a low center of effort for its stability. Conceived by its builders at Maxi Dolphin as a day racer, it is robust enough to earn Class A (ocean certified) status but, laboring under a Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) rating of 40, it proved sluggish, finishing last in its class at Key West Race Week. Gifted now with a PHRF 72, it has proven more competitive.

For the majority of these boats, racing isn’t the objective. Still, competition is the laboratory where performance gets refined. Explaining the genesis of the J-100 and J-124, Johnstone says, “It all begins with an easily driven hull. Going all the way back to the J-24 (over 5,400 sold), that was the key. With a slippery shape, you can afford a moderate sailplan. Working with a rating is, after all, determining how little measured sail area you need. Hull shape, weight placement, deck layout, raceboat design is intense.” Their longer waterlines, planing surfaces, and deep racing background earn the Js a spot behind the B-38, but ahead of the rest in the pecking order.

Photos (from top) by Billy Black

The e33 is Doyles first design. “Ive been campaigning an Etchells 22 for some time. [Hes finished in the money in the last three world championships.] Why can’t I bundle the fun of sailing dinghies in a boat for us “old guys” who don’t want to wake up sore after a regatta?” says Doyle. With S&S graduate Wurmfeld, Doyle developed “a narrow boat with a big bulb and controllable (no winches) units of sail.”

Wed heard the boat had “too much main” for average sailors, but while sailing it, we found that its 2,500-plus-pound deep keel kept it quite forgiving. Dodging through Marbleheads mooring field, it handled much like a dinghy ( Practical Sailor , November 2008).

The Sabre Spirit, despite weighing 3,400 pounds more than the e33, is nimble, too. Rather than a big-roach main like the e33, it has a taller, pointier, triangle controlled by a backstay. Says designer Jim Taylor, “We think the average sailor appreciates being able to get the most from the main without being an Olympian. Certainly with the small jibs on these boats, the mains become critical.” Sabre calls the boat a “weekender”-less racy than a dinghy, perhaps, but snappy nonetheless.

Sail area/displacement (horsepower/weight) calculations demand a grain of salt. They derive from figures that can be skewed, and reflect but few of the many factors that determine performance. Still, its significant that the remaining daysailers have similar SA/D ratios. With the exception of the Friendship 40, they are all very much alike.

Fontaine worked for years with sailmaker and designer Ted Hood; the F40 is a wide, whale-bodied, keel-centerboarder with a generous rig and hefty displacement reminiscent of the boats that Hood designed and campaigned. The rest are moderate-to-light displacement hulls with proportionate overhangs, narrow beams, separated rudders, and deep fins with bulbs. That directs the focus to ballast/displacement. The more the boats overall weight is used to produce stability, the better it can carry sail. Thats why the Harbor 25 (0.45) and Bruckmann 42 (0.46) look good. Alerions lesser numbers (0.38 and below) help explain why weve sometimes found them cranky in strong winds (over 18 knots, true).

We can confirm that the M-36 is slippery enough to headreach farther and faster than most modern racers weve sailed. We also have seen it soundly trounced upwind by a modern 35-foot racer-cruiser.

Two boats could not be more different than the Friendship and the Hinckley. So far, they have met in day races four times in all kinds of breeze. At last check, the score was 2-2. Go figure.

The aim here is to make it easier to go sailing. Crew weight used to be needed to balance the rig. With deep bulb keels, thats no longer true.

Getting rid of big headsails is great. Hoyts patented wishboom does a fine job-especially off the wind-on the Alerions, the Js, and the Harbor. The Bruckmann and Sabre Spirit are self-tacking by virtue of a single sheet led from a car on the foredeck track to a point high on the forward side of the mast. Morris uses basically the same geometry, but has the sheet disappear inside the spar and return to the cockpit invisibly. Hinckley, Brenta, Crosscurrent, and Doyle use a pair of sheets to control a non-overlapping jib that lives on a roller furler. The end result: No one fights a big genny, anyone can tack the boat singlehanded, and, unfortunately, line chafe is now out of sight and out of mind.

courtesy of Bruckmann Yachts; by Onne van der Wal

Sailing in 6 to 10 knots of breeze, we miss the power of the big sail somewhat, but attention paid to the main pays off in good acceleration even in low-pressure puffs. High-roach mains (e33, Alerion, Brenta, and Crosscurrent) have been proven on multihulls and sailboards to be more efficient than pointy-headed planforms. Having more of their sail power located in the controllable mainsail makes all of these boats easier to sail.

A keen eye toward comfort helps explain why todays trophy boats are so big and why they offer so little-a minimum of 4 feet-in shoal draft capability. Ballast displacement ratios count for a lot when it comes to keeping the boat upright.

In addition, the daysailers are drier than the little boats they replace. “I will always prefer the narrow boat in a seaway,” said Olin Stephens. Morris has capitalized on the S&S heritage with excellent seakeeping boats.

Fontaine has sailed the Friendship from Maine to the Caribbean. Doyle took the e33 on last summers Eastern Yacht Club cruise. In a universe where flat-bottomed, shallow-draft auxiliaries are the norm, these boats (with the obvious exception of the Italian imports) can be comfortable at sea.

Because its where sailors spend their time, cockpits have grown and luxuriated. You may bang your shins or be forced to sit below, but in the cockpit, youre king. Only the B-38 offers couches, but no maker here scrimps on cockpit comfort.

Although the usual owner of some of these boats isn’t the kind to paint his own antifouling, we can’t help but grouse about exterior wood flourishes that seem only to elevate the conspicuous consumption quotient.

courtesy of Friendship Yachts; courtesy of manufacturers

They may be retro in terms of aesthetics, but the trophy daysailers are up-to-the-instant in terms of boatbuilding.

From scrimp resin-infusion through vacuum-bagging and mixed-laminate composites, the hulls are high-tech. Getting the weight out of the structure and into the keel is the norm. Virtually all the boats have carbon-fiber masts (stiffer, easier to tune, and lighter). Velocity prediction, computer modeling and fairing, even programs to calculate sheet loads have helped engineer “products” very well.

In terms of construction, the Sabre Spirit stands out in this field as one of the better values.

Conclusions

Our first reaction was a paralytic form of sticker shock. Looking closer did not make the obscenity vanish, but weve adjusted a bit.

In an age of Wall Street bailouts, McMansions, and Manny Ramirez, millions get thrown around pretty easily. A boat you can enjoy, even love, can make the big dollars seem less far-fetched. Many of these trophy boats are lovable. For the most part, theyre gorgeous, well-made, and lots of fun to sail.

Choosing among them, we favor the genuine (like the Herreshoff-inspired Alerion) for looks and the competition-forged (Js and e33) for performance. We can’t help but fantasize about the B-38, identify with the down-to-earth mission of the Sabre Spirit, and hope that the Harbor 25 is extraordinary enough to confirm its spot as the bargain. We hate to dismiss the Bruckmann and the Crosscurrent as “me-too” imitations, but we found little that made them distinctive.

Popular boats like the Morrises and Hinckley daysailers don’t, in our opinion, justify their big tickets. However, owning an “elegant head-turner” is something many sailors are willing to pay for.

Ultimately, these daysailers seem to point toward a simplicity and ruggedness that replaces the “second home” mentality in favor of “the joy of sailing.” That much we can appreciate.

• Carl Alberg and the C lassic Daysailer
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2022 Boat of the Year: Best Pocket Cruiser/Daysailer

• By Cruising World Editors
• December 15, 2021

During and in the four days immediately following the US Sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland, the  Cruising World  judges inspected and sailed on 27 boats vying for recognition. Learn more about the boats in our  2022 Boat of the Year  »

From the very beginning, nearly 50 years ago, Cruising World has kept an open mind as to exactly what constitutes cruising. For some, it might mean circling the globe under sail alone. For others, lowering the mast and motoring through America’s rivers, lakes and canals to complete a Great Loop fits the bill. Some seek long bluewater passages, others are content to gunkhole along a lakeshore in a shallow-draft vessel, sleeping under the stars on a cockpit bench or tucked under a boom tent should it rain.

And likewise, since the inception of our Boat of the Year contest a quarter century ago, we’ve asked our independent team of judges to evaluate a wide range of boats and measure them against their stated design brief. It’s not every year that our experts have the opportunity to inspect a category of nifty, smooth-sailing vessels under 30 feet, but for 2022, there was a trio of modestly sized smart, cool boats to put through their paces. The only problem? Each model was designed and built with a vastly different purpose (and sailor) in mind. 

The Tartan 245 was originally conceived as a training boat for sailing schools. J/Boat’s J/9 is an unabashed daysailer, meant to provide exciting spins around the harbor, even under mainsail alone. And, the Beneteau First 27 is fine-tuned to deliver performance, and definitely lives at the racier end of the spectrum. 

The judge’s task? Decide which nominee came closest to fulfilling its stated purpose.

Let’s begin with the J/9 . It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s a totally enjoyable, stress-free sailing experience that can be easily handled by any sailor looking to enjoy a breezy afternoon. And that’s just what the crew at J/Boats was striving for with their new 28-foot daysailer. 

In promotional materials, the company asks, “Is this the most comfortable cockpit ever?” And the answer, after sailing the boat on a blue-sky Annapolis day, would have to be yes. There is plenty of room for a couple of couples to sit comfortably. But the tiller and its extension also allow a singlehander to sit forward and easily reach the jib sheets, led to winches on the low-profile cabin top. Aft, there is even a small swim platform and ladder for when the time comes to douse sails and enjoy a dip on a hot afternoon.

Described from the get-go as a “daysailor,” a small cabin has room for an open V-berth, a couple of settees, a head, and space for a small portable cookstove and cooler. 

Underway in 10 knots or so of breeze, the boat was quite well mannered, even with the jib furled. Judge Tim Murphy notes, “The design writ started off with it being a mainsail-only boat, and then it ended up having a headsail too. But it’s really mainsail-driven. And the big drawing point is the huge cockpit. We sailed the boat under main alone, and sure enough, you could go out for an afternoon with just the main and have a time for yourself. The cockpit is perfect. It really is the strongest part of the boat.”

With the Tartan 245 , longtime Tartan naval architect Tim Jackett, who’s now practically synonymous with the brand, was originally asked to design an easily handled, simply laid-out 24-footer that would be ideal for sailing lessons. 

What he came up with is a delightful little boat that does all that and more. Longtime aficionados of the Carl Alberg-designed Ensign will recognize several features from that classic daysailer (the sailor who commissioned the 245 had a soft spot for Ensigns). The long and spacious cockpit, the tiller steering and the handy cuddy cabin are all perfect. What separates the designs is the Tartan’s lifting keel, which makes it versatile and trailerable. 

If the J/9’s focus is on simple sailing, the Tartan’s aim is to give students the ability to tweak sails and rig to their hearts’ content in order to learn big-boat handling and racing skills. Numerous control lines are led into the cockpit from the base of the mast, and aft, there is a beefy backstay adjuster.

The boat that the judges sailed in Annapolis was a demo boat for a local sailing school, and was stripped out inside, except for a cushion for the V-berth. But the owner’s plans included towing the boat back to his home in Florida, where he’s contemplating loading aboard a port-a-potty, cooler and stove, and possibly sailing it across to the Bahamas. Outfitted as such, it would be a sporty little vessel for exploring shallow-water venues between the cays.

With two boats that so closely hit the bullseyes described in their design briefs, there was one boat left to assess, and in the end, the Beneteau First 27 turned in a performance that insured it would sail away with the pocket-cruiser hardware.

Built in Slovenia and, before undergoing a branding and systems revamping by Beneteau, this sharp, tidy “sport cruiser” was known as the Seascape 27. By any name, it delivers thrilling performance in a compact, well-reasoned package. 

While the Seascape 27 was originally conceived as a major player in the ever-expanding world of doublehanded offshore racing— CW ’s sister publication, Sailing World , tested and rewarded that boat—the cruisier version was reintroduced this year with several tweaks and the new moniker: First 27. And as a racer/cruiser, it boasts all the amenities necessary for weekend and coastal voyaging: a serviceable head, galley and berths, and a Yanmar diesel. In other words, a couple could easily liveaboard, rather than camp, for short periods of time, but they could also expect to be serious podium contenders should those outings involve a regatta.

In the end, it was the little things that swayed the judges. “The fit-and-finish for the price point is at a different level,” judge Gerry Douglas said. “The equipment level was higher.”

• More: beneteau , Boat of the Year , Boat of the Year 2022 , J/Boats , Sailboats , tartan yachts
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Sparkman & Stephens 30: Best Daysailer

• By Dave Reed
• Updated: December 13, 2012

Sparkman & Stephens 30

Purpose: daysailing/PHRF racing Recommended race crew: 3 to 4 Best attributes: overall look, high-volume interior, easy handling Price as sailed: $169,000 www.bluenoseyachts.com

Record labels re-master classic albums for good reason: Great music is always great music, and with modern digital tools, great songs can be improved. The same is true of the Sparkman & Stephens 30 , said to be one of the late, great Olin Stephens ‘ favorite designs. In the 1930s, Babe (Design No. 97) had a notable ocean-racing career, and in his final years, says the design firm, Stephens revisited the design with intentions of building an updated version. With his passing, the firm carried on, but instead of the wooden version Stephens envisioned, they introduced a fiberglass production model that superbly connects the past with the present.

The judges had three other classic-styled daysailers to test this year, but in many respects, the Sparkman & Stephens 30 was untouchable. “The first thing I thought when I saw it was how much better it looked than it does on the drawing,” said Stewart. “The sheer comes up nicely from the bow, it’s got that narrow look, and the traditional stern gives it a nice touch.”

“It looked good sitting there at the dock, but when we sailed it, it had a great feel,” he added. “All the control lines worked really well. There’s not a lot of extra stuff anywhere on the boat, so it feels very clean and open.”

It’s billed as a daysailer, but it’s much more than that, said the judges. The interior is minimalist, with no galley or refrigeration, but with a lot of volume, long setees, and a proper enclosed head (with frosted Lexan folding doors). It’s more of a weekender and beer can racer [estimated 100 PHRF] than anything else. “The interior volume is amazing,” said Stewart. “The extra-long companionway and dodger setup allows you to stand inside the boat and look out. You can happily sit in the settees [while sailing], which puts the weight where you want it to be.”

Its high-aspect sailplan compliments the boat’s slender hull, and under full sail the boat leans on its waterlines, gracefully climbing upwind. A spinnaker on an optional top-down furler, and tacked to the stem, did wonders for the boat’s downwind performance. “Having the screecher out there is the way to go,” said Rich. “With that setup, even if you’re singlehanding it, you won’t be afraid to use it. This makes the boat much more user-friendly, and keeps wet sails out of the interior.”

The finish quality and overall construction were very good, noted the judges (it’s built by C&C Fiberglass Components, which also builds the J/70). With a simplistic, but efficient, layout inside and out, it’s the sort of boat you’d want to take out for a sunset sail or race, and then keep on sailing well past nightfall.

For more images of the Sparkman & Stephens 30, click here . To read more about Sparkman & Stephens, click here . To see the rest of 2013’s winners, click here .

• More: Boat of the Year , BOTY , Keelboat , Monohull , PHRF , Sailboats
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Modern classic.

Sailing Simplicity at its Finest

Long time single handed sailors love the M36 because within 5 minutes they can be off the dock and sailing. Beginners are equally as enthralled because the M36 is simple to sail, simple to learn on and immediately rewarding with her straightforward sail handling and control lines that are lead under deck to electric winches at the helmsman’s fingertips. In addition, all instruments are intelligently arrayed to quickly provide all the information you need.

More Than a Daysailer

Take her overnight! The elegantly appointed optional V-berth, standard fridge and enclosed head make her far more versatile than a mere daysailer. The M36 also has a deep, safe and comfortable cockpit which accommodates six adults allowing you to safely entertain your guests.

Beautifully Appointed Interior

No detail inside her cabin is overlooked. Large safety glass windows and a huge foredeck hatch flood the interior with natural light. The Herreshoff style interior is finished elegantly with white bulkheads, solid cherry trim and marvelously varnished hull sheathing. Twin port and starboard settees are ergonomically designed for comfortable lounging (or sleeping), and well placed reading lights invite you to enjoy the morning paper or catch up on some afternoon reading. Generous storage can be found in the forepeak. An alternative layout converts the forepeak space into a beautiful and functional V-Berth for overnight stays.

Remarkably Simple to Dock

The M36 does exactly what you tell her to do. She backs straight (no prop walk), turns on a dime and docks like a pro. In short, she maneuvers under power as responsively as she does under sail making her a pleasure to both sail and to bring back to port. Even the fenders are just a ‘clip’ away; pad eyes and stainless steel rub rails are placed on deck for ‘clip-on’ polar-fleece-covered fenders. What could be easier!

Perfectly Engineered

At Morris Yachts we’re not just boat builders; we’re sailors and boat owners too. Perhaps this is the reason the M36 is so intuitively designed with the owner in mind. Often overlooked by other builders, access to the engine, through-hulls and electrical systems is superb.

As with all sailing boats built by Morris Yachts, the M36 offers peace of mind. You are onboard one of the most seaworthy boats in the world. Setting the industry standard, Morris Yachts’ level of engineering, fit and finish sets the benchmark by which other builders measure themselves. Morris craftsmen and engineers demand only the finest equipment and use the most modern techniques and technology during the boat building process, proving that the beauty of a Morris is not only skin deep but integrated throughout all facets of the vessel.

Images and media on this page may represent optional equipment or previous specifications. Specifications and equipment are subject to change.

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8 Best Daysailers Under 21 Feet – Buying Guide

SAFFIER SE 33 UD

It’s a sunny day, and you want to take a spin around the harbor. What better way to do that than launching a daysailer?

These sailboats are traditionally smaller than a cruise ship or yacht, but considerably bigger than kayaks , catamarans, inflatable dinghies , and other smaller boats. Owning an open sailboat shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg, but expect to spend some top dollar.

Here are 8 best daysailers that are 21 feet or under.

CATALINA 16.5

Let’s kick things off with the Catalina 16.5 sailboat. It might come as a surprise to find a Catalina boat listed among the best daysailers under 20 feet because the name is more known for bigger cruiser yachts. But there are a whole lot of small boats built by Catalina, too.

The Catalina 16.5 is one of the most versatile hand-laminated fiberglass sloops from this designer and can be purchased with the option of a 4-feet 5-inch shoal-draft keel or a centerboard that draws 5-inch with the board up.

Consider choosing the lead-keel option if you want to park it on a mooring or at the dock. It is built to remain stable in such conditions. On the flip side, getting the centerboard version is most suitable if you want to store the boat on a trailer.

Catalina builds all their boats with a self-bailing cockpit, and the 16.5 is no different. It comes with a huge self-bailing cockpit. There is a waterproof hatch and a stowage space forward of the boat. The boat also comes with standard hiking straps and a tiller extension if you want to step on to the side deck for some spray in your face and good visibility forward.

You can get out on the water with around ten grand or more. Check out current listings for Catalina 16.5 .

 Boats  →

Teaching your kids or anyone to sail requires a low-maintenance and very steady boat. This is where the Hunter 15 shines. It is a perfect knockabout sailboat that can take a lot of rough beating without breaking, thanks to its high freeboard and fiberglass construction.

The boat has a wide beam that ensures she’s steady no matter what. Crew-weight shifts or sudden crazy jibes that may happen along the way won’t do a thing to this boat. And even the most fearful and unsteady learner won’t fall out of it. It will take a tremendous effort to capsize this beautiful boat, making it one of the best daysailers any daysailer (or intending daysailer) would want to have.

But stability and durability are not the only pluses for the Hunter 15. It has a self-bailing cockpit that allows any water that gets into the boat to exit quickly. There is room enough to comfortably accommodate up to four people.

Getting a durable and high-performance sailboat that will cruise smoothly on the water is one thing; finding convenient storage is an entirely different ballgame. Thankfully, you don’t have to spend extra cash when it comes to this boat. The sailboat can fit into your garage while sitting on a trailer. And here’s another good thing with Hunter 15; you don’t have to worry about varnishing wood afterward.

But perhaps the best part of the Hunter 15 is that it is a very affordable boat. Although sailboats don’t come cheap, you don’t have to break the bank to own one of the beauties.

Prices for a new one range from around $10k, and you can find used ones for less. Check out the listings of Hunter 15 and other equally excellent models of the Hunter sailboat.

Ready for some painless daysailing? Renowned designer, Chuck Paine, has something classy and beautiful for you. The Paine 14 (obviously named after the designer) is a trailerable sailboat with exceptional performance and purposely styled after the traditional Herresholf 12 1/2 boat, except for its size. Paine 14 is a lot smaller in all aspects, which accounts for its considerable lightness.

It is fitted with a modern spade rudder and fin keel, giving the boat more agility and speed as she sails. And even with a lead-ballast keel almost her total weight, this sweet, small vessel maintains stability at top speed.

But why is a boat with an old-time appeal be listed among the best daysailers? Simple. It is a blend of the classic old and modern performance. Indeed, it is constructed from cold-molded wood with varnished gunnels and transom, but don’t be fooled by that century-old look.

Chuck Paine worked some modern magic into this cute beauty with the inclusion of a carbon mast and an extremely easy way to attach sails to it. Setting up sail is quick and simple, and you can get it done and over with in only a couple of minutes.

The boat can be gaff-rigged, or you can use a Marconi rig. Got a standard car? That’s all you need to trailer this light sailboat, and you are good to go.

Check here for Paine 14 listings .

 Chuckpaine  →

If you want a sailboat that will get your adrenaline pumping and bring out the competitive sailor in you, perhaps you should take a look at the Laser .

The 13-feet 10-inch Laser boat is not included on the list of the best daysailers for nothing. It is raced both as club races and as an international sailing category, featuring in world-class competitions, including the Olympic sailing championships.

However, you don’t have to take part in a competition to enjoy sailing this boat. And you definitely don’t need it for exercising. The Laser is a great choice even if you simply want to enjoy plain smooth sailing just for fun.

The Laser boat has an incredibly lightweight build with fiberglass and a powerful sail. It is an excellent choice for a single cruiser and works well for two adults, too. Be warned, though. It can easily capsize because it is lightweight, but it will also recover just as fast, too!

The boat is easy to transport, launch, and store, thanks to its kick-up rudder. Laser Performance built this model to have a single sail, two-part mast design, with a daggerboard.

This sailboat is very affordable. Prices start from $7k for new boats, and you can find used ones for far less than that. Check here for Laser boat listings .

You can’t go wrong with a design that has been in existence for over five decades and with more than one hundred thousand boats launched since it debuted in Southern California. The Hobie 16 is a long-lasting design that has stood the test of time and attracts quite a following.

This sailboat weighs only 320 pounds, so it is conveniently trailerable. It has ample room to accommodate a crew of four without straining it. The hulks are built from asymmetric fiberglass sandwich and come with kick-up rudders. This gives you the option of sailing all the way to the beach.

The Hobie 16 is designed to have great speed, thanks to its abundant high-speed gear. But that’s not all. It is also equipped with a spinnaker, a trailer, and a douse kit. The main and jib offer a wide sail area of more than 200 square feet.

Both adults and kids will enjoy having lots of fun in this spacious sailboat, especially in the summer. Little wonder it is one of the very best daysailers available on the market.

The Hobie 16 is a high-performance boat with starting prices for new ones in the $12K range. You can find used ones at a little less. But if you want a simpler, smaller, and more affordable option, take a look at the Hobie Cat Wave . It is not a high-performance design, but it offers loads of fun, too. It comes with roto-molded hulls and fitted with a boomless mainsail. This smaller version costs almost half the price of the 16’s, which is a pretty good bargain.

NORSEBOAT 17.5

Looking for one of the best daysailers that will stand out from any crowd? The Norseboat 17.5 might just be the perfect sailboat for you. Dubbed as the “Swiss Army Knife of Boats,” this one-of-a-kind sailboat can be sailed or rowed.

But wouldn’t it take a lot of effort to row this boat? No. Not with the boat’s sheer. The fiberglass hull has lots of sheer – a deliberate and apt design to make rowing easy-breezy. So, even if there’s no wind, you can still have fun rowing while getting some exercise in the process. And if the wind is strong enough, you can relax and let the jib and mainsail do their thing.

The Norseboat 17.5 is the perfect choice for daysailers searching for a high-performance boat that comes with beautiful traditional lines. But even if you are a sea kayaker who is looking to move up, or a cruising sailor seeking to downsize a bit, you’ll find this legendary pedigree to be a good fit for you.

Some of its features include a fully battened mainsail, pivoting carbon mast, shallow draft, furling headsail, and a signature curved headboard. The lightweight boat comes with two rowing stations and performs excellently well, whether wind-powered or rowed. Plus, it has plenty of room to stow stuff.

The boat’s light weight makes transportation easy. All you need is a mid-sized car, and you can easily tow it. Storage is equally hassle-free, as the sailboat can fit into any standard garage.

Check out the current listings for Norseboat 17.5 .

 Norseboat  →

Traditional daysailers are small sailboats that you can take for a quick spin around the harbor. They lack accommodation primarily because they are not designed for spending the night (it’s even in the name!). But all that has changed over the years, and that distinction is almost non-existent with modern designs such as the Fareast 18 .

The boat is a Simonis Voogd design with incredibly high performance, high speed, low maintenance, and comes at a comparatively affordable price. The mainsail has a fully battened square-top and an asymmetrical spinnaker. This is an excellent choice for buoy racing with enough room for a crew of six to compete.

While you typically will not spend the night in a daysailer, there’s nothing wrong with taking a short break below deck. The boat can comfortably sleep up to three just in case you decide to spend the night on the water.

Fareast 18 design features a foam-core hull/vacuum-infused fiberglass, a carbon-structured contemporary bulb keel, and vacuum-infused foils. This high-tech boat is small enough to be rigged and launched by a single sailor.

Even with only one foot of water, this boat will float with the keel retracted and the rudder off. And it is quite easy to trailer this boat.

Check for the current price of new Fareast 18 boats .

 Fareast  →

If you are in the market for a top-class daysailer, you might as well take a look at the Saffier Se 33 UD . Hennevanger brothers, the designers, threw in a lot of know-how and investment to bring this dream boat to reality. The production facility shows in the vacuum-infused build and quality finish of the boat.

Saffier has a collection of models that range between 21 feet and 37 feet, with each boat thoroughly tested to ensure seaworthiness. Considering the size of these boats, one will naturally assume they will be difficult to sail. But that’s not the case with these boats. Even the largest models can be sailed single-handedly and quite easily.

The Se 33 UD was launched in 2014 and done a sporty design. It sails smoothly in all weather conditions, thanks to its solid sprayhood. The sailboat features a practical self-draining cockpit to expel any water that gets into the boat. Included in the cockpit are a folding transform and two-meter benches. The boat is spacious enough for a crew of four, and you can even take a quick nap below.

This top-class boat is an excellent choice if you have deep pockets. Starting prices are in the range of $150k for new boats. You can also check out the new Se 27 model if you want something that is serious fun. The new models can clock up to 20 knots.

For more on pricing, you can check out listings on these boats.

How to Choose the Best Daysailers – Buying Guide

With well over a hundred different daysailers on the market, it can be daunting to pick just one. Here’s what to look for when deciding on which open sailboat to buy for yourself or family use.

Ease of Sail

How a boat behaves when the wind blows up can make it easy or difficult to sail. A lot of modern sailboats are incredibly fast and are great for racing, but can be quite tricky to handle.

You want to look for an open boat that is tamer and stable. This is the perfect choice for a family day sailing boat, especially if you want to encourage kids to learn to sail. Look for a boat that is heavy enough to remain stable regardless of the crew’s acrobatics. It should be easy to rig, launch, and sail, even by a single person.

Reliability

While it is okay to take proper care of your boat, it is equally important to choose a boat that is easy to maintain. Go for boats with hulls designed to a beating without breaking down. Pay attention to the sails, too. Select one with tough sails that won’t easily blow out of shape after just one season of sailing.

Choose a Daysailer with Safety Features

Whether you will be sailing alone or with your family, safety should come first. Pick a boat that can cope with trouble in any condition or weather, and both on rivers or open waters. Look for a sailboat with positive foam floatation. Even if the hull gets filled with water or is punctured, the boat shouldn’t sink.

But because you cannot completely rule out manufacturing errors, even the best daysailers with safety designs can still capsize. However, you should look out for one with a “self-rescue” feature. In other words, choose a boat that rides very high even when it capsizes, so that the weight of her crew will quickly get her to recover without external help.

High Performance

Safety and stability are great, but that shouldn’t translate to a dull boat. You want a sailboat that provides safety as much as it offers some level of fun and exciting challenge even with your family on board.

Ample Space

Daysailers are typically small sailboats, but they should provide enough room to suit your purpose. Whether you want to sail with your family or a few friends, choose a boat that can comfortably accommodate the entire crew.

While not a requirement, a few modern designs include overnight abilities. Consider choosing these types if you spend a lot of time in the open water, even if you are primarily using an open daysailer. You never know when you will be tempted to spend the night cruising in the open water.

About Chris

Outdoors, I’m in my element, especially in the water. I know the importance of being geared up for anything. I do the deep digital dive, researching gear, boats and knowhow and love keeping my readership at the helm of their passions.

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10 Best Small Sailboats (Under 20 Feet)

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

December 28, 2023

Compact, easy to trailer, simple to rig, easy to maintain and manage, and affordable, the best small boats all have one thing in common: they offer loads of fun while out there on the water.

So whether you're on a budget or just looking for something that can offer ultimate daytime rides without compromising on safety, aesthetic sensibilities, alternate propulsion, and speed, the best small sailboats under 20 feet should be the only way to go.

Let's be brutally honest here; not everyone needs a 30-foot sailboat to go sailing. They come with lots of features such as electronics, entertainment, refrigeration, bunks, a galley, and even a head. But do you really need all these features to go sailing? We don't think so.

All you need to go sailing is a hull, a mast, rudder, and, of course, a sail. And whether you refer to them as daysailers, trailerable sailboats , a weekender sailboat, or pocket cruisers, there's no better way to enjoy the thrills of coastal sailing than on small sailboats.

There are a wide range of small boats measuring less than 20 feet available in the market. These are hot products in the market given that they offer immense thrills out on the sea without the commitment required to cruise on a 30-footer. A small sailboat will not only give you the feel of every breeze but will also give you the chance to instantly sense every change in trim.

In this article, we'll highlight 10 best small sailboats under 20 feet . Most models in this list are time-tested, easy to rig, simple to sail, extremely fun, and perfect either for solo sailing or for sailing with friends and family. So if you've been looking for a list of some of the best small sailboats , you've come to the right place.

So without further ado, let's roll on.

Table of contents

{{boat-info="/boats/hunter-15"}}

The Marlow-Hunter 15 is not only easy to own since it's one of the most affordable small sailboats but also lots of fun to sail. This is a safe and versatile sailboat for everyone. Whether you're sailing with your family or as a greenhorn, you'll love the Hunter 15 thanks to its raised boom, high freeboard, and sturdy FRP construction.

With high sides, a comfortable wide beam, a contoured self-bailing cockpit, and fiberglass construction, the Hunter 15 is certainly designed with the novice sailor in mind. This is why you can do a lot with this boat without falling out, breaking it, or capsizing. Its contoured self-baiting cockpit will enable you to find a fast exit while its wide beam will keep it steady and stable no matter what jibes or weight shifts happen along the way.

This is a small sailboat that can hold up to four people. It's designed to give you a confident feeling and peace of mind even when sailing with kids. It's easy to trailer, easy to rig, and easy to launch. With a price tag of about $10k, the Hunter 15 is a fun, affordable, and versatile boat that is perfect for both seasoned sailors and novices. It's a low-maintenance sailboat that can be great for teaching kids a thing or two about sailing.

Catalina 16.5

{{boat-info="/boats/catalina-16-5"}}

Catalina Yachts are synonymous with bigger boats but they have some great and smaller boats too such as Catalina 16.5. This is one of the best small sailboats that are ideal for family outings given that it has a big and roomy cockpit, as well as a large storage locker. Designed with a hand-laminated fiberglass sloop, the Catalina 16.5 is versatile and is available in two designs: the centerboard model and the keel model.

The centerboard model is designed with a powerful sailplane that remains balanced as a result of the fiberglass centerboard, the stable hull form, and the rudder. It also comes with a tiller extension, adjustable hiking straps, and adjustable overhaul. It's important to note that these are standard equipment in the two models.

As far as the keel model is concerned, this is designed with a high aspect keel as the cast lead and is attached with stainless steel keel bolts, which makes this model perfect for mooring or docking whenever it's not in use. In essence, the centerboard model is perfect if you'll store it in a trailer while the keel model can remain at the dock.

All in all, the Catalina 16.5 is one of the best small sailboats that you can get your hands on for as low as $10,000. This is certainly a great example of exactly what a daysailer should be.

{{boat-info="/boats/hobie-16"}}

There's no list of small, trailerable, and fun sailboats that can be complete without the inclusion of the classic Hobie 16. This is a durable design that has been around and diligently graced various waters across the globe since its debut way back in 1969 in Southern California. In addition to being durable, the Hobie 16 is trailerable, great for speed, weighs only 320 pounds, great for four people, and more importantly, offers absolute fun.

With a remarkable figure of over 100,000 launched since its debut, it's easy to see that the Hobie 16 is highly popular. Part of this popularity comes from its asymmetric fiberglass-and-foam sandwiched hulls that include kick-up rudders. This is a great feature that allows it to sail up to the beach.

For about $12,000, the Hobie 16 will provide you with endless fun throughout the summer. It's equipped with a spinnaker, trailer, and douse kit. This is a high-speed sailboat that has a large trampoline to offer lots of space not just for your feet but also to hand off the double trapezes.

Montgomery 17

{{boat-info="/boats/montgomery-17"}}

Popularly known as the M-17, The Montgomery 17 was designed by Lyle C. Hess in conjunction with Jerry Montgomery in Ontario, California for Montgomery Boats. Designed either with keel or centerboard models, the M-17 is more stable than most boats of her size. This boat is small enough to be trailered but also capable of doing moderate offshore passages.

This small sailboat is designed with a masthead and toe rail that can fit most foresails. It also has enough space for two thanks to its cuddly cabin, which offers a sitting headroom, a portable toilet, a pair of bunks, a DC power, and optional shore, and a proper amount of storage. That's not all; you can easily raise the deck-stepped mast using a four-part tackle.

In terms of performance, the M-17 is one of the giant-killers out there. This is a small sailboat that will excel in the extremes and make its way past larger boats such as the Catalina 22. It glides along beautifully and is a dog in light air, though it won't sail against a 25-knot wind, which can be frustrating. Other than that, the Montgomery 17 is a great small sailboat that can be yours for about $14,000.

Norseboat 17.5

{{boat-info="/boats/norseboat-17-5"}}

As a versatile daysailer, Norseboat 17.5 follows a simple concept of seaworthiness and high-performance. This small sailboat perfectly combines both contemporary construction and traditional aesthetics. Imagine a sailboat that calls itself the "Swiss Army Knife of Boats!" Well, this is a boat that can sail and row equally well.

Whether you're stepping down from a larger cruiser or stepping up from a sea kayak, the unique Norseboat 17.5 is balanced, attractive, and salty. It has curvaceous wishbone gaff, it is saucy, and has a stubby bow-sprit that makes it attractive to the eyes. In addition to her beauty, the Norseboat 17.5 offers an energy-pinching challenge, is self-sufficient, and offers more than what you're used to.

This is a small, lightweight, low-maintenance sailboat that offers a ticket to both sailing and rowing adventures all at the same time. At about 400 pounds, it's very portable and highly convenient. Its mainsails may look small but you'll be surprised at how the boat is responsive to it. With a $12,500 price tag, this is a good small sailboat that offers you the versatility to either row or sail.

{{boat-info="/boats/sage-marine-sage-17"}}

If you've been looking for a pocket cruiser that inspires confidence, especially in shoal water, look no further than the Sage 17. Designed by Jerry Montgomery in 2009, the Sage 17 is stable and should heel to 10 degrees while stiffening up. And because you want to feel secure while sailing, stability is an integral feature of the Sage 17.

This is a sailboat that will remain solid and stable no matter which part of the boat you stand on. Its cabin roof and the balsa-cored carbon-fiber deck are so strong that the mast doesn't require any form of compression post. The self-draining cockpit is long enough and capable of sleeping at 6 feet 6 inches.

The Sage 17 may be expensive at $25k but is a true sea warrior that's worth look at. This is a boat that will not only serve you right but will also turn heads at the marina.    

{{boat-info="/boats/laserperformance-laser-sb3"}}

Having been chosen as the overall boat of the year for 2008 by the Sailing World Magazine, the Laser SB3 is one of the coolest boats you'll ever encounter. When sailing upwind, this boat will lock into the groove while its absolute simplicity is legendary. In terms of downwind sailing, having this boat will be a dream come true while it remains incredibly stable even at extraordinary speed.

Since its debut in 2004, the Laser SB3 has surged in terms of popularity thanks to the fact that it's designed to put all the controls at your fingertips. In addition to a lightweight mast, its T- bulb keel can be hauled and launched painlessly. For about $18,000, the Laser SB3 ushers you into the world of sports sailing and what it feels to own and use a sports boat.

{{boat-info="/boats/fareast-18"}}

As a manufacturer, Fareast is a Chinese boat manufacturer that has been around for less than two decades. But even with that, the Fareast 18 remains a very capable cruiser-racer that will take your sailing to the next level. In addition to its good looks, this boat comes with a retractable keel with ballast bulb, a powerful rig, and an enclosed cabin.

Its narrow design with a closed stern may be rare in sailboats of this size, but that's not a problem for the Fareast 18. This design not only emphasizes speed but also makes it a lot easier to maintain this boat. Perfect for about 6 people, this boat punches above its weight. It's, however, designed to be rigged and launched by one person.

This is a relatively affordable boat. It's agile, safe, well-thought-out, well built, and very sporty.

{{boat-info="/boats/chuck-paine-paine-14"}}

If you're in the market looking for a small sailboat that offers contemporary performance with classic beauty, the Paine 14 should be your ideal option. Named after its famous designer, Chuck Paine, this boat is intentionally designed after the classic Herreshoff 12.5 both in terms of dimensions and features.

This is a lightweight design that brings forth modern fin keel and spade rudder, which makes it agile, stable, and faster. The Paine 14 is built using cold-molded wood or west epoxy. It has varnished gunnels and transoms to give it an old-time charm. To make it somehow modern, this boat is designed with a carbon mast and a modern way to attach sails so that it's ready to sail in minutes.

You can rest easy knowing that the Paine 14 will not only serve you well but will turn heads while out there.

{{boat-info="/boats/wd-schock-lido-14"}}

Many sailors will attest that their first sailing outing was in a Lido 14. This is a classic sailboat that has been around for over four decades and still proves to be a perfect match to modern small boats, especially for those still learning the ropes of sailing.

With seating for six people, the Lido 14 can be perfect for solo sailing , single-handed sailing, or if you're planning for shorthanded sailing. While new Lido 14 boats are no longer available, go for a functional used Lido 14 and you'll never regret this decision. It will serve you well and your kids will probably fall in love with sailing if Lido 14 becomes their main vessel during weekends or long summer holidays.

Bottom Line

There you have it; these are some of the best small sailboats you can go for. While there are endless small sailboats in the market, the above-described sailboat will serve you right and make you enjoy the wind.

Choose the perfect sailboat, invest in it, and go out there and have some good fun!

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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The Paine 14 – A Herreshoff – inspired daysailor

CHUCK PAINE’s FLEET OF MODERN KEELBOAT DESIGNS. And their progenitor, the wonderful Herreshoff 12 1/2.

Unlike most centerboard boats of this size, she can be kept on a mooring.   Many centerboard boats will capsize in a squall.

Tired of owning and spending lots of money on a boat you never have time or available crew to enjoy? Read on. If you have a length restriction at 14 feet, this is the sailboat you’ll actually USE. (It has been largely supplanted by the LEVANT 15, which is larger and faster and owing to investments made by its builder, even cheaper)   The PAINE 14 is a scaled-down adaptation of the venerable and much-loved Herreshoff 12 1/2, with a much lower wetted surface hull, fin keel, carbon fiber mast and separate rudder. They are now built in seamless epoxy cold-molded wood construction at French & Webb Boatbuilders, Inc. of Belfast, Maine. At approximately 10% smaller in length, breadth and depth, she preserves much of the “big boat” feel of her predecessor thanks to a lead ballast keel that accounts for nearly half her entire weight, but is optimized for easy trailering, maintenance, launch and retrieval, and home-stowage in your garage. The prototypes shown in these photos have been built and tested, many small refinements have been made, and the boat is now in a word, perfect. The PAINE 14 may be either gaff or marconi rigged though for quick setup and takedown and an edge in performance, the latter is preferable. The size of this design was chosen for its ability to be easily lifted and stowed on the deck of a motoryacht… without this limitation the larger Levant 15 and York 18 might probably be the better choices.

Want to know just how fast a PAINE 14 is in light airs?  Watch the video below.  In her appearance she pays homage to her predecessor, Chuck Paine’s 83- year old Herreshoff 12 1/2. Then you’ll see that like the very best boats, she is so fast she “makes her own wind” when going to windward in light airs.

Amelia from Jim Dugan on Vimeo .

You just can’t slow this beauty down! And even if you could make it go slow, it’s gorgeous.

The PAINE 14 is in every possible way optimized for trailering behind a standard-sized automobile or lifted by a yacht’s crane or a canal-side boat lift. Her carbon fiber mast requires no stays and weighs with its halyards a mere 20 pounds, so it is as easy to deploy as that on a Laser dinghy. Easier, actually, as the sail need not be attached before stepping the mast, and is simply swung up into its Herreshoff-type mast ring, Iwo-Jima style. We have invented a nifty way to attach the mainsail to the mast very quickly… no tedious fitting of little slides to little tracks, so the boat can be launched and gotten going in a short amount of time.

The simple Velcro-strap attachments render obsolete tracks and slides, and mast hoops, with all of their expense and tedium, and make short work of getting a small boat rigged and sailing.

AVAILABLE WITH “PAINE DVT” ROLLER- REEFING, SELF- VANGING SYSTEM!

The PAINE 14   AMELIA was the first yacht ever fitted with the PAINE DVT jib-vanging system. Until now all jibs, and jibs set on jib-booms especially, had the annoying habit of losing effectiveness as the jibsheet is paid out. The jib clew would rise, rather than rotate around the headstay as one would prefer. When this happens the lower part of the jib becomes overtrimmed and stalls, while the upper part is let out too much and loses all its drive.

The PAINE DVT invention consists of a series of fiberglass battens, fitted parallel to the luff, and extending from the leech to the foot of the sail. These battens both stiffen the leech of the sail as do other battens, but in extending to the foot of the sail prevent it from rising.  (Note some other photos in this website show the conventional jib, which is also available).

The PAINE DVT at work.

Off the wind, the sail goes OUT, not UP!

Note that the leech of the jib remains parallel to the luff even though the sheet has been let out

Even let out this much, the angle of the sail to the wind is nearly constant from foot to head.

Make no bones about it, though, inidividually hand-built by the few remaining American craftsmen with nearly half of its weight in cast lead ballast and lots of beautifully varnished (or painted)  mahogany trim, this is in every respect, including its construction cost and the need for yearly maintenance, a true yacht of the old school. But you don’t need a mooring or a marina slip with this one, just a garage or boathouse.

MIND THE GAP!

This design has a balanced rudder, making it exquisite to helm. This means that some of the rudder blade area is forward of the pivot axis. This is great for the helm balance, but since the aft end of the boat has deadrise, as soon as the rudder is swung off-center, a gap opens up between the rudder and the hull. It’s like a forward facing pair of scissors.

One week a few summers ago I took my friend Dennis sailing. It was blowing pretty hard, and just as I cast off the mooring a gust caught us on the wrong tack, forcing us to sail over the dinghy painter which was tied to the mooring float. Needless to say, in she went, and almost immediately we were tethered stern to wind, and a lot of it. The forces involved are huge. There was no choice but to wrestle the mainsail down- no small feat― and roll up the jib to remove the pressure. Then fish around underwater with the boom crutch to finally release the jammed rope, near the point of exhaustion. Not exactly a day of elegant relaxation on the water.

Then just to drive the point home we sailed over a lobster pot line an hour later and did the same thing all over again!

I was determined that this would never happen again. I considered the other ways that have been used to mitigate the problem: A windsurfer fin installed just forward of the rudder, or pieces of shock cord that stretch across the open maw- but neither is entirely proof against a jam for as we all know on a sailboat, if anything possibly can go wrong, it will! So I have invented an absolutely jam-proof solution to the problem. Since many other designs have the combination of a balanced rudder and veed hull, I offer my solution for your benefit. It will be fitted to all PAINE 14 s and LEVANT 15 s and YORK 18 s and any similar yachts I might be asked to design in the future.

What I did was to swing the rudder off-center to its maximum possible turning angle. Then I extended the top of the rudder up until it just cleared the hull at this angle. Of course then when you articulate the rudder toward the centerline there is a hull in the way. This I carved away into a section of the surface of a cone, such that the top of the rudder just “sweeps” the concave cone with a paper-width of clearance- far too little for anything to force its way into the gap.

It works great. The amount of turbulence created by the little discontinuity is trivial. And no more embarrassing and potentially dangerous rudder jams!

This shows the rudder on centerline.

Swung all the way to one side, showing the absence of any gap.

Showing it swung the other way. No way anything larger than a fishing line can get into the gap!

This is the loveliest sailboat you could ever own. It’s hand-built, piece by piece, so only the most cogent sailors can justify owning one. But if you can, it will delight you until your final breath! What the world needs now is certainly not more boats―there’s plenty of clapped-out junk out there―but manifestly far better ones that truly enhance their owners’ lives. You can’t give away old fiberglass boats today, and with good reason. But the few emergent classic sailing designs of obvious and lasting merit are the unique bright spot in boating that makes sense today―the only thing that is selling and rightly so―and the PAINE 14   and its larger sisters the LEVANT 15  and YORK 18 are the most beautiful examples of this emerging phenomenon. We believe the times are right for small, classy, easy to get going and transport, investment quality manageable sized yachts that unlike virtually anything currently available in fiberglass, will be loved for its entire lifetime by its owner and left to his kids and by them to their kids. With reasonable maintenance, they’re built to last that long.

She’s waiting… Whenever you’re ready.

The boating field today is experiencing a wholesale “flight to quality” and flight from consumer-crap. Do we still really believe that a molded fiberglass hull glued to a molded fiberglass deck, with ugly extruded aluminum spars, no varnished wood, and not an ounce of lead to keep it upright, cheap as that may be to produce and sell, is a yacht? An intelligent few of today’s water-lovers are choosing to spend their leisure time in something of intrinsic quality, beauty and unquestionable value. The PAINE 14 and its larger sisters provide the sensible alternatives that truly enhance the lives of those privileged enough to afford time spent aboard her, and their classic design will endure long enough to become a family heirloom.

Shallow draft, heavily lead-ballasted, with moderate wetted surface and a NACA-foil laminar flow keel, the PAINE 14   is delightfully fast and easy to handle, store, or trailer to a new destination every summer weekend.

A TRUE MINI-YACHT

In a single phrase, the PAINE 14 is “A TRUE MINI-YACHT.”  The yacht is light enough to be easily trailed behind a moderate sized automobile—no truck or SUV or surge brakes are required. The first one, named REDWING , was built in New Zealand.  The second one built― AMELIA , was built in America. Both now reside aboard motoryachts.

AMELIA aboard her mothership.

REDWING aboard her mothership.

At roughly 850 pounds she is light enough hoist easily with a boat crane.

A custom-fitted galvanized trailer with integral tongue-extender makes launching and retrieving a snap. And at 860 pounds, they can be easily handled by most shipboard boat cranes. The carbon fiber mast requires no stays and is simply swung up into a bronze retainer fitting in a matter of seconds. Unlike a Laser, or any other unballasted dinghy, she is impossible to capsize, and easy to sail mile after mile without athletic ability. You sit “in” her, not “on” her, and there is no need for “hiking out”—you sit on bench seats with properly angled seatbacks (coamings) at just the right height. In enough wind, of course, she could be swamped but has forward and aft flotation tanks to keep her afloat. And in the off-season she fits right into your garage where you can perform the yearly maintenance yourself at near negligible expense, and proudly show her off to your dinner-guests. Or if you lack the time or skills to maintain her yourself, the boatyard fees to keep her in Bristol condition will be so trivial as to make you laugh at the folly of owning anything much bigger.

UNSINKABLE, AND SELF-RESCUING.

Just how safe is a PAINE 14 ? To find out we conducted an intentional swamping to show you. Would she turn turtle, or go to the bottom? Chuck tried to swamp her by standing on the gunwale and leaning out as far as he could, hanging onto the mast. At 180 pounds and rocking the boat violently, the coaming tops could not be gotten close to underwater. Only by bailing the ocean in could he finally swamp her. She floated with the lowest point of the coaming 10 inches above the surrounding water, and was very stable. You could sit in the boat all day long like this and she would not sink. Though like Chuck, you might eventually decide to bail her out, raise the mainsail, and sail away.

You can watch a video of the intentional swamping by clicking here:

Amelia sinking

The performance of the PAINE 14 is, as one might expect from her numbers, downright stimulating. The helm is nicely balanced in both light airs and heavy. Its acceleration in a puff is amazing―in less than a couple of boat lengths it accelerates to hull speed. With the full jib and a reefed main, it can handle 15 to 20 knots of wind. And in stronger winds, she can be sailed under complete control without the jib―an extremely rare capability amongst today’s fleet of small boats. This is also helpful in picking up a mooring or coming alongside a dock or your larger yacht. You can roll up the jib first, clearing the foredeck and its mooring cleat of the nasty slapping jib-boom, and get safely cinched up with a clear field of view.

Those who have read Chuck Paine’s books on yacht design will recall that one of his bugaboos in the latter years of his career was self-rescue. If you fall overboard from even a yacht of low freeboard like this, it is impossible to get back aboard. You can imagine the potential consequences. So Chuck made the decision that no future design of his would lack this important capability. The PAINE 14 is fitted with a simple rescue step on the trailing edge of the rudder. You never know it’s there until you need it. But if you ever do, you’ll thank its designer a thousand times over.

The beautifully crafted rudder with its integral rescue step.

ONE PERFECT POSSESSION

We believe the ethic of filling multiple houses, then rented storage containers with unloved and unused material objects, with all of the environmental damage and unserviceable debt that this might entail, is in precipitous decline. The wiser among us will build their future lives around ONE PERFECT POSSESSION. For those who revel in exploring remote locales without the noise and expense of internal combustion, it’s time accept the reality of the 21 st century, rid yourself of that unused leviathan you can no longer afford nor find crew to operate, and join the renaissance in easily usable sailboats of eternal beauty. Though far from cheap, you can commission a PAINE 14 for what you pay in a few years’ maintenance and storage fees for your unloved and unused thirty-something foot white elephant, and you’ll actually USE your PAINE 14 , as will your progeny!

The yachts are available only in hand-built epoxy consolidated cold-molded wood. In any case the yachts will be beautifully hand-finished with a great deal of painted trim or varnished hardwood to look as beautiful of those from the past century.  French & Webb custom boatbuilders in Belfast, Maine, now have the rights to build a sistership for you, at a price of between $80,000 and $90,000 depending upon specification. A custom-designed galvanized trailer with integral tongue extender will enable the yacht to be easily launched on reasonably angled ramps. Its price is US$ 4500.00 plus shipping to your destination from Raleigh, SC. (Prices may change owing to inflation).

Todd French and his crew would gladly enhance your life and that of your progeny by building another for you. D0n’t hesitate― our federal reserve are seemingly unwilling to constrain inflation and the price will surely rise as a result.  Better to own and spend a lifetime enjoying a lovely sailing yacht today than have your wealth confiscated tomorrow.

Take her sailing in your PAINE 14 and you’ll make her smile.

No need for hiking in your PAINE 14 … just showing off.

Click here to see what SAIL Magazine had to say:

http://www.sailmagazine.com/best-boats/sails-best-boats-2014-paine-14

Further information may be obtained from:

CHUCKPAINE.COM LLC  P.O. Box 114, Tenants Harbor, Maine  04860-0114

Phone: (207) 372-8147

Email: [email protected]

This design is featured in both of my recent books; MY YACHT DESIGNS and the Lessons they taught me, and THE BOATS I’VE LOVED- 20 Classic Sailboat Designs by Chuck Paine. Both are beautiful, full colored, first class books which give you lots more information on this design, and can be purchased on this website.

Click here to read more about the Paine 14

A full set of study plans is available for $25 emailed to you in PDF format.

PDF Study Plans: $25- no shipping, sent via email

Introducing The 90 Minute Getaway

Busy lives. Limited time. Escape with Alerion Yachts and discover thoughtful and innovative sail handling systems allowing you to sail on your terms. Alone or with family and friends, for an hour or a weekend, Alerion offers sailing the way it should be.

"Alerion Yachts offers impeccable quality and timeless look, mixed with just the right amount of performance."

–Blue Water Sailing Magazine

The Alerion fleet is designed to give you the ability to get on and off the water quickly and enjoy your time sailing in a beautiful boat. From the keel to the masthead, design and technology decisions have been made solely to deliver the best daysailing experience available. The end result is a graceful line of daysailers that uniquely fuse beauty, speed, and single-handed ease. Alerion Yachts allows a lifestyle that lets you choose to sail when it suits your schedule, while never having to sacrifice performance—or to line up crew.

DESIGN THE SAILBOAT OF YOUR DREAMS

Our sailing yachts come with a number of options, from fabrics and finishes to premium additions. Build the perfect boat for your needs and style.

Upcoming Events

With our 2021 deliveries behind us…delivering boats as far as Japan, the 2022 building season is upon us. If you want an Alerion for late 2022 or 2023, it’s time to get your order in and reserve your Build Slot now! It’s been a busy time the last couple of years and we’re looking forward to the launchings of all the boats ordered for 2022….from Downeast Maine and Gloucester to San Francisco, Seattle, and Oregon, Alerions will be launched from the East to the West and places in-between. Plan for the Alerion you’ve always wanted Now!

Upcoming events

• Tri Regional Championships June 22, 2024 Quannapowitt Yacht Club, Wakefield MA
• Al Morris Regatta August 03, 2024 Cathlamet Marina - Cathlamet WA
• New England Championships August 17, 2024 Massapoag Yacht Club, Sharon, MA
• Constitution & Bylaws
• More NACR 2018
• Rigging Measurements
• Tuning Guides
• Rigging a Winning Day Sailer
• Parts & Supplies

Moscow Muled

Best virgin moscow mule recipe.

Nov 30, 2019

Wherever there are great cocktail recipes, there are equally fabulous mocktail recipes for those of us who enjoy all the style and taste of cocktails without liquor. In this post, we reveal the best recipe for the Virgin Moscow Mule on the internet! Let's get started!

Introduction

A cocktail is essentially a blend of two or more ingredients of which at least one is alcoholic. As of late, cocktails are getting more inventive with upwards of four and five ingredients.

The Moscow Mule keeps it classically simple with only three ingredients that most of us already have at home. Vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice.

The intense burn of the ginger beer blended with the refreshing sourness of lime juice delights the palate and warms you right up from the first sip.

There are a multitude of practical reasons for choosing a mocktail over a cocktail.

This could include health concerns and diet practices. Or, maybe you're the designated driver and don't want to miss out on a fun night with your social group.

Whatever the reason, mocktails make sure no one is left out.

Most will say that a mocktail is simply a recipe for any cocktail sans the alcoholic ingredient(s), but we're going to show you fantastic ways to enjoy a Virgin Moscow Mule without sacrificing flavor or taste.

Ingredients:

• Sparkling Water 
• Fresh limes 
• Ginger beer 
• Simple syrup

Instructions:

• You can either muddle a couple of fresh limes or use freshly squeezed lime juice. We won't tell if you decide to do both ;)
• Next, combine your favorite sparkling water and a splash of ginger beer
• Add a serving of simple syrup (1 part water, 1 part sugar)
• Stir. If you have a shaker on hand, you can also shake the combined ingredients together, but be cautious when pouring as the turbulence may have created a little extra fizz from the sparkling water.
• Pour over ice

With this excellent non-alcoholic version of the Moscow Mule, you can have guilt-free seconds or even thirds!

Health Benefits

Typically, in every 6 oz serving of the traditional Moscow Mule cocktail there are approximately 180 to 200 calories.

One fantastic upside of making a Moscow Mule mocktail is that with the extraction of vodka (say 1.5 oz) you can eliminate around 96 calories, meaning that a typical 6 oz serving is approximately 100 calories or less!

Layers of Flavors

Now that we've laid the foundations, it's time to explore the variations and wonderful layers we can add to perfect our Virgin Moscow Mule.  With these alterations, your mocktails are sure to be enjoyed by all!

In addition to following the preparation of the basic recipe noted above, we suggest adding a few slices of fresh ginger to the mix.

To fully extract the flavors of the ginger, consider muddling it with your limes. Be careful to strain afterward, unless you want to be sucking up bits of ginger through your straw and set your mouth ablaze!

Coupled with the ginger beer, this is sure to amplify the smoldering tones of the original cocktail's taste.

Be sure to use ginger beer and not ginger ale. Most commercially sold ginger beer, though fermented, is alcohol-free. It differs from ginger ale in the way it is manufactured. The intensity of ginger essence in ginger ale isn’t comparable to that of the essence in ginger beer.

So, if you decide to replace ginger beer with ginger ale, you’ll be disappointed at the silenced flavors of ginger in your drink. Essentially, what you’d be drinking wouldn’t be a Moscow Mule at all.

Take it from us, use ginger beer!

If you would rather direct your variations or additions towards the sweet and fruity citrus flavors of your Virgin Mule, you can switch out the simple syrup for a fruit-flavored syrup.

Use a lime-flavored syrup if you would like to stay true to the original characteristics of the classic Moscow Mule.

If you're looking to put a spin on your virgin mule, don't be afraid to try any berry-flavored syrup for an extra layer of fruity goodness.

Sugar-Free Options

Not everyone is a fan of sugar and all things sweet. With this modification, the recipe can accommodate those of us who are patrolling our sugar intake due to dieting and/or health concerns.

More specifically, if you're counting calories or looking to steer clear of sugar all together, you can modify the Virgin Mule recipe by using sugar-free syrup. 

With 8 grams of sugar in one tablespoon of conventional syrup, the sugar-free option is a great way to go. A couple of dollops of the sugar-free syrup is a guilt-free way to enjoy the sweetness of this mocktail without the guilt.

Depending on your location and accessibility, you may or may not find brands of sugar-free syrup.  All the merrier if you can!

If you can’t find sugar-free syrup, another option is to use flavored sparkling water to add some additional flavour to your mocktail.  Some brands of flavored sparkling water are sold in tasty flavors with no sugar, no sweeteners, and no calories. Furthermore, the carbonation in sparkling water will augment the invigorating fizz of the ginger beer.  Win-win-win!

Serving Time

Just because we've decided to forego the alcohol component doesn't mean we're also forsaking presentation. We 're all about balance in life as well as in mocktails. So, if one component of the drink has been removed, another must be added!

And what better place to embellish then in the presentation?

It's no secret that the Moscow Mule is served in a copper mug . There are a variety of reasons why, and one of them is that copper is trusted to maintain a cooler temperature. In addition, the copper adds a "zing" to the flavor of the cocktail with each sip.

Whatever the reason, we can't deny that a Moscow Mule served in a copper mug just looks and feels right. The same is to be said for a Virgin Mule.

Besides, if we’re talking about looks, no one has to know you’re drinking a mocktail if you don’t want them to. The copper mug will keep your secret!

In lieu of serving your Virgin Mule in a copper mug, you can serve it in any bar glass. With so many types and shapes of cocktail glasses, there really is no reason why you couldn't enjoy your mocktail in a highball, an old fashion glass, or even a martini glass.

Whatever you have on hand should work just fine!

Garnish Like a Pro

Add a lime wedge to the rim and voila!

Want to take things up a notch? Drag the lime wedge along the rim of your glass, allowing the citrus to coat the edge. Turn your glass upside down into a plate of salt or sugar.

Extra points for presentation and added flavor with every sip!

For herb garnishes, clap your choice of herbs between your hands to bruise it lightly and release its essential oils and aroma.  Mint works great!

And here's an extra tip. If you have them, sprinkle a few pomegranate seeds on the surface of your drink! However, be careful if drinking with a straw as those little seeds will get sucked right up! It’s also a beautiful addition to your Virgin Mule, as you can see in the photo below.

We hope this article has been useful in helping to introduce you to the Virgin Moscow Mule! The Moscow Mule is an incredibly versatile drink, so don't hesitate to let your creativity push you to experiment with new variations. And, if you want to take your presentation and style up a notch, make sure to equip your kitchen bar with a few copper mugs !

Did You Enjoy This Article?

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, you might also like the following articles:  Top 7 Tennessee Mule Recipes and  Top 6 Gin-Gin and Gin Mule Recipes

Relevant Products

Moscow Mule Copper Mug

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