BEST BOATS WINNERS 2018

The year’s Top 10 new sailboats in terms of design, function, style and comfort, as decided by SAIL’s Best Boats judges

If there’s one word that sums up the Best Boats Class of 2018, it would have to be “performance.” This is most obvious in the simple fact that our panel of judges exercised its editorial prerogative to create an additional third performance category, to accommodate three great new speedsters. However, as any old salt can tell you, there’s a lot more to good performance afloat than pure boatspeed. Equally important is the way a boat treats its crew, whether it’s resting on the hook in a quiet anchorage or off soundings battling a gale.

A perfect example of this alternative kind of performance can be found aboard the winner in our smaller cruising monohull category, which features a host of innovations aimed at increasing comfort and usability afloat. Similarly, the winners in our two cruising multihull categories combine outstanding handling under sail with outstanding accommodations—no mean feat aboard a boat type in which light weight is critical to performance. Then, of course, there is the winner in our “systems” category, in which performance means being able to store and easily sail the boat even if you happen to live in, say, a postage-stamp-sized loft in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.

Finally, a special shout-out to the smallest of our performance-category winners. Every now and then a boat comes along that moves the world of sailing forward—think the Hobie 14 or the Laser. Could the Foiling UFO follow in these boats’ footsteps? Time will tell. In the meantime, it sure is fun to see this kind of innovation is still alive and well at the cutting edge of naval architecture. 2 0 1 8