SMALLER BOATS
HOOD 24
Chris Hood, builder of the drop-dead gorgeous CW Hood 32 daysailer, has come out with another eye-catching daysailer, this time designed by Stephens Waring Yacht Design of Belfast, Maine. As is the case with Hood’s 32-footer, the new Hood 24’s classic lines belie its thoroughly modern underbody, which comes complete with spade rudder and bulb keel. Topside, the boat’s square-top main and slightly overlapping headsail provide plenty of power while remaining easy to handle for a singlehander. There’s also a spacious cockpit with room for as many as a half-dozen sailors. It would be hard to imagine a nicer way to spend an afternoon on the water than aboard a boat like this. CW Hood Yachts, cwhoodyachts.com; stephenswaring.com
VENTURA 23 Where do we start with the Ventura 23? With the 8ft-long cockpit that provides room for a family of five? Or should we start with its 6ft—that’s right 6ft—of headroom belowdecks? (In a boat with a 23ft LOA no less!) Then again, maybe we should talk about the boat’s four berths and two settees, or the functional galley and enclosed head. Or maybe we should talk about the fact it can make 9 knots off the wind under sail or up to 25 knots under power. Or with the fact that it’s trailerable or…oh, we give up. You’re just going to have to check out this clever little sloop for yourself! Ventura Sport Boats, venturasportboats.com
SEASCAPE 14 After making its mark with such offshore, shorthanded cruiser-racers as the Best Boatswinning Seascape 27 and Seascape 24, the Slovenian-based boatbuilder (recently acquired by Group Beneteau) is now venturing into the dinghy space with its new Seascape 14. Of course, this being Seascape, not just any dinghy design would do, and to this end, the Seascape 14 can be sailed either singlehanded under main alone, or singlehanded or doublehanded with a main, jib and A-sail. The hull is vacuum-infused in vinylester resin to keep it as light as possible, in the interest of boatspeed and easy launching. The mast, which breaks down into two parts, and sprit are both carbon fiber. Wide sections aft and chines serve to promote easy planing. Seascape, thinkseascape.com
CORSAIR 760R An evolution of the company’s standard 760 and 760 “Sport,” the Corsair 760R (“R” for racing) includes such go-fast features as a tall rotating aluminum wing mast (carbon is an option) with high-modulus shrouds and a hull in which the cuddy has been minimized and the cockpit enlarged in the interest of providing room for boathandling and minimizing weight. Like the 760 and 760 Sport, the 760R also features longer, more buoyant, wave-piercing amas than the Dash 750 from which they were all derived, thereby ensuring stability and security even when the boat is hard-pressed in a blow or a rough seaway. Corsair Marine, corsairmarine.com
RS21 SPORT BOAT The UK’s RS Sailing has long-since made a name for itself by producing a dizzying array of small boats for everyone from rank beginners to high-performance skiff sailors. Now comes the RS21 Sport Boat, a performance keelboat specifically designed and manufactured for club and fleet ownership with an eye toward making one-design sport boat racing accessible for as many sailors as possible. As such it includes all the fun features you would expect from a sport boat, like an A-sail flying from a retractable sprit, complete sail controls and a spacious cockpit with room for four sailors to hurl their elbows around handling lines. Chines aft provide additional form stability, which works with the boat’s 50 percent ballast ratio to help keep the boat on its feet while under a press of sail. The two-part, carbon-fiber mast is light and easy to step by hand. A durable Mylar laminate mainsail, jib and gennaker are supplied as standard. RS Sailing, rssailing.com