The schooner yacht America was a child star and a technological marvel. Arguably the most famous yacht ever built, she won the ­silver cup in August 1851, and now she represents the pinnacle of yacht racing.

The story of America’s design, build, and her first 16 weeks afloat are the stuff of legend, and for good reason: The schooner’s origin story is irresistible and watertight. The yacht was funded by New York’s wealthiest sportsmen and created specifically for international competition; an invitation to compete had been extended to the Americans from British yachtsmen based at Cowes, on England’s southern coast. The resultant design brief was ambitious: The new yacht must possess the ability to safely and swiftly cross the ocean but also to win nearshore races against yachts specifically built for that purpose. Her given name reflected the aspirations of her owners: America. About 100 feet long on deck, America was constructed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the winter of 1850 and into 1851.

America’s design represented the latest—somewhat radical—ideas of how to create a fast racing yacht. Low to the water, lean, and carrying her maximum beam far forward of other racing yachts, she was rigged simply but ingeniously. A maximum of four sails meant that maneuvers could be executed quickly and by a relatively small crew. These sails were carried by a pair of dramatically raked masts. The engineless America featured state-of-the art sailing technology, including tightly woven cotton duck sails and lead ballast carried low and carefully molded to fit the shape of her hull. A tiller—more responsive than a wheel—could be fitted on for racing. 

In June 1851, just weeks after her launching, and with her racing sails stowed below, America bolted across the Atlantic—New York to La Havre—in just 19 days (a passenger-­carrying sailing ship of the era might complete the same route in 40 days). At Le Havre, her hull was painted black and, from there, she traveled to Cowes, England, to meet the British fleet. 

On August 22, 1851, America soundly defeated the cream of the British yachting fleet in a 53-mile race around the Isle of Wight. In the wake of this landmark victory, Queen Victoria walked her decks, and her owners were awarded a 27-inch-tall 134-ounce bottomless trophy made at Garrard’s, the Queen’s Crown Jeweler. Just 16 weeks after her launch, America was a legend. Her origin story is, to this day, familiar to sailors and aficionados of naval history and continues to be widely studied, written about, discussed, and analyzed in a near fetishized manner. However, what happened to America after the win at Cowes is a decidedly less-trafficked patch of water. America’s career post-Cowes is a more checkered narrative. After winning the cup, America was at the center of a decades-long run of ­adventure, neglect, rehabilitations, and hard sailing, always ­surrounded by ­colorful, passionate personalities. 

Recognizing an opportunity to cash in on their schooner at the top of the market—and harboring no sense of nostalgia or emotion—America’s American owners sold the schooner almost immediately after the race around the Isle of Wight. The new owner cut down her spars and added ballast. She would still be fast but never again as racy. America changed hands again and again. By 1854, just three years after her famous victory, she was abandoned on a mudbank at Cowes. Two years later, a shipwright bought her and began a restoration.

In July 1860, America was sold to a mysterious new owner who immediately put her in harm’s way. Her new owner sailed America back to North America, where the schooner was, apparently, sold into the Confederate navy, and for nearly a year, America officially served the rebel cause. In summer 1861, America carried a pair of Confederate officers across the Atlantic to Europe, and then returned to the southeast coast of North America, but only after entering at least one regatta in Europe. Through much of 1861 and into 1862, America appears to have been frequently in action on behalf of the rebel cause at the mouth the St. Johns River at Jacksonville in northeast Florida.

In spring 1862, as federal troops closed in on Jacksonville, America was pinned inside the St. Johns River at Jacksonville. Rather than risk the certain loss of the practically and symbolically valuable schooner, the rebels moved America 60 miles up the St. Johns and scuttled her in a shallow, muddy tributary—apparently with the intent of returning to refloat her at some later opportunity. Shortly thereafter, having secured the river and Jacksonville itself, US Navy sailors moved upriver, where they found and raised America. America then served on the federal blockade at Charleston and was directly involved in the capture and/or destruction of several rebel blockade runners. Finally, in May 1863, America received a reprieve. She was sent north to serve as a training vessel at the United States Naval Academy in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1873, the federal government sold America to General Benjamin Butler, a colorful Massachusetts-based politician. Butler proved to be a strong patron of the now-iconic schooner, spending lavishly on her upkeep and sailing her extensively. Butler and America were among the spectator fleet at New York for multiple defenses of the America’s Cup in the late 19th century. After Butler’s death, in 1893, the aging wooden vessel was approaching 50 years and had been “ridden hard and put away wet.” By 1921, America was rotting at her slip in Boston and offered for sale. Much of her lead ballast had been stripped off and repurposed for military purposes during the Great War. When rumors circulated that a Portuguese syndicate was interested in purchasing her and converting her to a trading packet, a group of historic-minded sailors from Boston’s Eastern Yacht Club stepped in and purchased America. The group moved America to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where she was ­presented to the Naval Academy. 

While Annapolis seemed to be a logical long-term home for the famous schooner, the Naval Academy did not have the ­facilities or manpower to maintain an aging wooden sailing vessel. She spent the next 20 years afloat in a slip on the brackish Severn River, serving as a photo backdrop for midshipmen and, sometimes, as a playground for local children. She was kept afloat but with a bare-minimum level of maintenance. Finally, in 1940, a move was made to restore the now 90-year-old schooner. While no official paper trail has been found connecting President Franklin Roosevelt to America’s rehabilitation, the effort was widely assumed at the time to have been endorsed by the president himself who, allegedly, envisioned America as a centerpiece of a new Navy museum at Washington. Plans were made to move America to nearby Annapolis Yacht Yard, with the facilities and staff capable of undertaking a proper rehabilitation. On a windy evening in December 1940, America floated on a king tide over the sill of the privately owned Annapolis Yacht Yard’s marine railway and was hauled ashore, according to one witness, “groaning and complaining.” She would not touch the water again.

As work was started on the America project, the Annapolis Yacht Yard’s leadership began an aggressive, effective push to secure contracts to build 110-foot wooden submarine chasers for the United States Navy and, later, to build 70-foot wooden motor torpedo boats for the British Navy and other allied navies under the auspices of the Lend-Lease Act. The facility became a vital military production partner, critical to the war effort. Meanwhile, America languished in the literal center of this activity. Some initial scoping work had been completed and a few sections replaced, but the demands of wartime shipbuilding overcame any serious rehabilitation effort. In late March 1942, a makeshift shed that had been built over America’s hull collapsed under the weight of a surprise snowstorm. After the shed collapse, any visions of a straightforward rehabilitation evaporated, no matter how powerful the project’s sponsor. A more permanent structure was constructed over the ruins, and, at the end of the war, with Roosevelt dead, America was unceremoniously broken up and the remains hauled to the Annapolis city dump. 

At the time of the breakup, a handful of historic-minded ­yachtsmen and museum officials bemoaned the loss, but there was no widespread outcry, and it is unfair to judge the decisions and actions that led to America’s breakup through a modern lens. America’s planned rehabilitation was interrupted by the attacks at Pearl Harbor and halted after the United States’ entry into the Second World War. The iconic America, her physical form likely well beyond “saving” after the shed collapse, was, ultimately, a victim of poor timing and most unfortunate circumstances.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited for style and clarity.

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With its long history producing good-looking fast cruisers, in recent years, Nautor Swan has consolidated its performance yachts into its ClubSwan range, spanning the giant 125-foot Skorpios and the 80-footer My Song to their fleets of ClubSwan 36s and 50s. All designs by Juan Kouyoumdjian, the latter saw 11 and 15 compete in their respective five-event annual championships (Nations Cup) in 2023 and are set to be joined by the ClubSwan 43 this year. But Nautor Swan has another new development: While its smallest boats have been the ClubSwan 36 (plus the original Swan 36 back in 1967), its latest launch is its smallest ever, the ClubSwan 28.

This new model is not surprising given that Swan is sailing’s most prolific premium brand, with more large performance sailing yachts in existence than any other manufacturer. Its range firmly extends into the superyacht stratosphere, so why not lure new owners into the fold, earlier, with a modest offering? Federico Michetti, head of sports activities and product manager at Nautor Swan, explains, “The concept of the 28 is to have an entry-level Swan that allows owners to enjoy the journey with Nautor and our events.” He expects that the 28 will entice younger sailors, even those new to sailing, into the ClubSwan realm.

Among race boats today, 28 to 30 feet is the cusp between sportboat and yacht, and the ClubSwan 28 is more the former, given its light weight (displacing sub-1,200 kg versus 1,600 kg and 1,800 for the more yachtlike Farr 280 and Cape 31, respectively); outboard engine rather than inboard; and low freeboard and minimal interior, accessed via the foredeck hatch. The ClubSwan 28 is neither an excessively high-end carbon race boat nor a high-­volume J/70, but rather somewhere between. “Our aim for it is to race well in 6 knots or 20. It is a powerful boat but not extreme,” Michetti says. 

Kouyoumdjian adds: “We incorporated everything that modern boats have to perform very well but didn’t go extreme on any of them.”

Fundamental to the boat’s ethos is simplicity, and for it to be fun to sail, but as Michetti puts it, “at the same time being safe, a boat that can fit the needs of everyone from ­beginner to expert.”

Aside from its performance, the best demonstration of this is that while most sportboat crews must hike and hike hard (it being so vital to stability on boats of this size), the 28 is a “legs-in” boat.

“We would like to avoid a ­hiking contest. It is much more social too; sailors can enjoy what is happening around them,” Michetti says. Everything is optimized for this—the sheerline and cockpit arrangement to make maximum use of the weight of the inward-facing crew, while keel draft and ballast make up righting moment lost due to no hiking and crew not moving fore and aft.

Compared with the ClubSwan 36’s advanced hull shape and fixed-keel/C-foil combination, the 28 is far more conservative. The hull has a low wetted surface area and rocker aft to minimize bow burying. Its modest 8-foot beam means it can be towed legally throughout Europe without having to be inclined. It also allows the boat and trailer combined to fit into a 40HQ container for shipping farther afield.

The hull shape is quite ­complex, with flared topsides at the stern, above a substantial chine. Going forward, the topsides turn vertical and then evolve into a deck chamfer ­forward of the mast. The bow has a slight reverse sheer and a retractable sprit.

The rig breaks new ground, but again, simplicity is the focus. Developed between Kouyoumdjian, Southern Spars’ Steve Wilson and mast-builder Axxon Composites, it is skifflike, with no backstay or runners, and with swept-back spreaders and a GNAV (inverted vang) to keep the cockpit clear. “Imagine a 49er rig that is set up by the headstay,” Kouyoumdjian says. “The prebend and the tension you have in that kind of rig usually comes from presetting the headstay and then you deal with it with the vang and cunningham. But we wanted something variable that could simulate what you could otherwise do with the runners.”

The solution is to have a ­permanently attached mast ­ram that can be operated while ­racing via a pump in the pit area. “It brings a lot of things together—not only the tension on the headstay, but also the tension on the rig,” Kouyoumdjian adds. “And when you tension the rig, you bend the mast.”

Therefore, powering up the rig comes with just two or three pumps and an inch of movement of the ram. “Everything on the rig is simple and has been done before many times successfully,” Kouyoumdjian says. “We added the mast up-and-down function. I imagine crews using it on medium-light days: When you get into a luff and you’d ease the runner, instead you’d drop the mast, or anticipating a puff, you’d pump it up. As soon as the wind gets to 10 to 12 knots, then you’d be maxed up, like you would be at ­maximum runner on a typical boat.”

The ClubSwan 28 will be a strict one-design class. Like the ClubSwan 36, it is being built in Cartagena, Spain, by Sinergia Racing Group. Tooling for the 28 is CNC milled to fine tolerances, and like most other boats in this size, it is a glass boat, built with vinylester resin, although naturally its mast, bowsprit and rudder are full carbon. The keel fin is stainless steel.

What appears to be a 1990s retro feature is the 28’s L-configuration keel, as featured on many vintage 1990 one-­designs and early VO60s. Aside from positioning bulb weight aft, this lengthens the keel’s leading edge by 15 to 20 percent, increasing its efficiency and improving, for example, lift to windward. Kouyoumdjian is enthusiastic about this and says that he would readily recommend L-keels on other race boats, but warns that the shape of the bulb’s front must be correct. To enable easy trailering, the keel can be raised, and the rudder assembly lifts out within its own box. A full derig, from water to motorway, is expected to take around three hours.

Production for the ClubSwan 28 will be modest, initially at least, with the yard in Cartagena expected to roll out two per month, with the ready-to-sail price forecast to be around 200,000 euros. The aim is to have international fleets, with boats built by local yards. After Europe, Michetti says, its focus will be the United States, although as yet there is no time frame for this. At the time of this writing, six 28s had been sold, with the first boat due for launch in late May, with all six expected to compete at the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo in September.

The advantage of the 28 is that the owner is buying into the ClubSwan world, with its established circuit, Michetti says. “If you are building a new class, people need to trust you. You need to create momentum, you need to have sponsors and find locations and organize regattas,” which the ClubSwan management already has, with its comprehensive circuit, mixing established regattas and ClubSwan’s own in the Med, UK, Baltic and US. Aside from enticing new sailors and teams into the ClubSwan family, Michetti also imagines that some teams with larger race boats might acquire a 28 for crew training.

There is currently no class crew-weight limit, which risks enticing larger muscle-bound types on board, but Michetti explains: “We want to avoid this crazy ‘saunas before the regatta’ thing” (in other classes, crews typically duck just below maximum weight at weigh-in). ClubSwan 28 crews will ­comprise four or five with a World Sailing Group 1 (amateur) owner-­driver and probably one mandatory female or youth crewmember.

For the 28 this year, there are a number of events, including a kick-off event from Nautor Swan’s base in Scarlino, Italy, in July, plus September’s Rolex Swan Cup and the Nations League 2024-ClubSwan 28 Invitational Sardinia Challenge, taking place in Villasimius, Sardinia, in early November. Given its trailerability, the ­likelihood is that the 28 will also race inland, for example, on Italy’s famous Lake Garda. Naturally, as numbers grow, there will also be the opportunity for the ClubSwan 28 to get its own start in the world’s top ­multiclass regattas.

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Nautor Swan is best known for the modern-day giants of its fleet, but they’re now extending their range into the high 20s with the announcement earlier this year of the ClubSwan 28, an impressive-looking sportboat from avant-garde designer Juan Kouyoumdjian that is said to be “based on the concept of simplicity, quality and, of course, pure one-design speed.”

Expected to be launched by late summer, the ClubSwan 28 has been conceived to be “as simple as possible,” while still maintaining a high level of performance in every condition. Nautor Swan’s design brief says: “Both hull and deck will be built using specifically reinforced fiberglass, with carbon mast and no backstay. The hull has been designed to perform well in all conditions, specifically in the medium/light winds.”

The deck layout design provides a clean and safe cockpit for a crew of four, allowing to race leg-in, sitting inboard. “All the ergonomic studies have been done around this feature,” says the builder. “The ClubSwan 28 will have a full kite retrieve system with a sliding hatch on the bow.”

Thanks to the lifting keel and dimensions, the boat is trailable, and is anticipated to be rigged and unrigged in few hours only. As the renderings show, the sail plan is powerful and the sail quiver includes a mainsail, a jib, an AP kite and a reaching kite.

The concept of the rig is all about simplicity, based on one single movement of the rig up and down through a dedicated and simple hydraulic system (mast jack) the mast bend and headstay tension is achieved simultaneously without the need of a backstay thanks to the configuration of the shrouds.

“ClubSwan 28 is not going to be extreme but will have great performance in medium/light breeze,” says Federico Michetti, Head of Sports Activities and Product Manager. “The brief was to have a boat not pushing to the limits of absolute performance, but it is a boat easily manageable and easy to sail.”

CLUBSWAN 28 PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

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2024 Boat of the Year Winner

The HH44 Sport Cruiser elevates big catamaran sailing with an innovative package that looks and sails as well as it performs.

Read More about the HH44 »

2024 Boat of the Year Best Crossover: Italia 14.98 

The Italia 14.98 stands out amongst the crowd with a style, luxury and undeniable performance all its own.

2024 Boat of the Year Best Trimaran: Dragonfly 40 Ultimate

The Dragonfly 40 Ultimate is a work of art inside and out, and when the sails are up, this tri flies.

2024 Boat of the Year Best Dinghy: RS Toura

RS Sailboats does rotomolded dinghies like no one else and the Toura, their latest 15-footer, is its best yet.

2024 Boat of the Year Best Recreational Racer: Z24

Auster Yachts’ Z24, a refreshing and fun all-purpose daysailer, is a top choice for its simplicity and speed.

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Pogo Structures continues its quest for innovation with the launch of the Pogo RC, a true “Mini Class 40,” a 33-foot monohull with a highly sophisticated high-tech construction in keeping with its know-how.

The successes of the design duo Bernard Nivelt and Sam Manuard and their new approach to the IRC gauge convinced Pogo Structures to launch the Pogo RC. This boat is innovative, simple, fun and planning, fast like the Pogo, but this time designed to defend its IRC rating.

The latest addition to the Pogo range features the latest hull shapes for the open classes: Mini, Class 40 and IMOCA. The sail area is large, but optimized for IRC, with a square-top mainsail.

The layout of the runners is designed so that, with a reef in the mainsail, the crew won’t have to worry about it. This makes jibing easier in strong winds. A detailed study has been carried out on the appendages, both for the keel and the rudders.

The layout of the vast cockpit, open to the stern and equipped with numerous winches, has been designed for rapid execution of maneuvers, whether solo, doublehanded or fully crewed.

The construction of the Pogo RC is in line with the “high-tech” technology of the Pogo 40s4, resulting from the experience of the Combrit shipyard in offshore racing for more than 30 years.

For the interior layout, simple but comfortable, sober solutions, without luxury or unnecessary accessories, have been specifically designed for racing. They include a forward cabin and a saloon in the central area. The chart table and galley are at the foot of the companionway.

The Pogo RC, approved in Category A, is designed for offshore races such as the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Transquadra or the Transat Cap-Martinique. It will also be at home in the the coastal races.

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Bill Crane and Karl Ziegler, co-founders of Storm Marine, explain the philosophy and purpose of their soon-to-be-built Storm 18, targeted for clubs and sailing schools.

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There’s always one unknown with the Boat of the Year, and this year’s surprise entry was the Z24, a model from an Argentinian builder no one on the team had ever seen or heard of before. But there it sat at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, an eye-catching design that proved to be as exciting to sail as it was impressive at the dock.

The Z24 is an evolution of a line of keelboats designed for the shallow waters of the Rio de La Plata, simple boats ideal for the area’s sailing schools and local races. The schools want long bench seating and the removable padded backrests, and private owners want basic amenities like the sink, the quarter berth and the portable toilet. The racers, of course, want an asymmetric spinnaker package and a taller rig, and what the judges experienced is a utilitarian sportboat that could very well be an offspring of a J/24 and Melges 24. “I was really impressed with how it sailed both upwind and downwind,” Greg Stewart says. “It’s all simple because there’s not a lot of extra parts or lines on it. It would be a great little beer-can racer.”

For its test sail, in a 10- to 15-knot breeze and flat water, the three judges sailed upwind and downwind without ever leaving the comfort of the ­cockpit. “With all of us sitting legs-in and comfortable with the backrests, it wasn’t tippy and tracked really well,” Stewart says. “The rudder, which is plenty long and nicely shaped, had a great feel. I tried to force it to spin, but it wouldn’t. It’s well-balanced.”

At less than 3,000 pounds all up, the boat was light and responsive, Stewart adds, and 1,100 pounds of ballast in the 4-foot-7-inch lifting bulb keel provided plenty of stability. At the dock, the boat’s builder, Andres Mendez, demonstrated the efficiency of the winch system that nests over the companionway and lifts the keel flush to the hull in a matter of minutes. The carbon-skinned rudder is even easier, held captive in its casing with two quick-release skewers.

To ensure the integrity of the keel-box structure, the boat is built (in hand-laid polyester with PVC honeycomb coring in the deck only) in split halves and joined at the center seam with the keel box molded in place. “It’s not glued, and it’s not a secondary bond,” Mendez says. “Everything is laminated together, so it’s solid glass down the entire center seam—very strong and very stiff.”

Beneath the port cockpit bench seat is a deep locker to stow an outboard (electric), fenders, sails and accessories, and under the starboard bench is the full-length quarter-berth. The boat as tested had a mainsheet swivel mounted on a single floor post, which sailing schools prefer, but the ­cockpit design can accommodate a midship traveler that spans between the cockpit walls, or a floor-mounted traveler aft of the benches. The judges say the 8-to-1 backstay purchase was robust enough to effectively manipulate the rig. At the forward end of the cockpit are only two cabin-top winches and cam cleats. On the foredeck is a radiused self-tacking jib track and shallow anchor locker. The judges noted the molded nonskid pattern is excellent.  

The Z24’s superb sailing attributes aside, what appealed to all the judges was its simplicity, inside and out. “It’s all very low-maintenance,” Stewart says. “It’s definitely a hose off and walk away kind of boat, and my impression is that they spent a lot of time developing it and thinking about it to get it right, and that allowed them to keep it simple. The quality is great inside and out. Right away, when we got on it, I could see the gelcoat was really nice, and it had a sleek low-cabin profile that looked great. I could definitely recommend this boat to somebody looking for a well-priced daysailer that would be really easy to own.”

In 10 to 15 knots of wind, judge Mike Ingham was impressed with the responsiveness of the helm and the overall balance of the sail plan, a proportional mainsail, and small non-overlapping, self-tacking jib. The boat can accommodate larger jibs, Mendez tells the judges, with the installation of cabin-top tracks and a floating inhauler system. With the asymmetric spinnaker on furler and tacked to the prod, it was easy for the judges to deploy it, jibe it and roll it away without ever having to step foot on the foredeck.

“It had that recreational sportboat feel,” Ingham says. “It’s not going to jump up on plane instantly, but it’s plenty quick. They got some things right, geometrically, with the keel and rudder that make it a real pleasure to sail. It’s nicely balanced and tracked really well upwind. I was never fighting the helm. Downwind, it was plenty lively, and when a puff hit, it was just a slight bear away and it would accelerate immediately. As a recreational race boat and family daysailer, I think they nailed it.”

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Sailboat racing’s future is inextricably linked to the flow of new sailors who walk through the doors of community sailing centers and yacht clubs. These establishments do the yeoman’s work to attract and retain sailors young and old, and often the biggest challenge is securing boats that deliver a positive sailing experience but can take the abuse. For many such establishments, the saving grace has been the roto-molded trainer, of which RS Sailboats is the dominant builder. It does plastic—and does it extremely well—and the versatile Toura is its best yet.  

“This is a fantastic learn-to-sail boat because it checks so many boxes,” Mike Ingham says. “It sails amazingly well, can bounce off a dock or be dragged up a beach, and can fit a lot of people. What really strikes me is how stable and spacious it is, but somehow it performs so much better than I expected. When it comes to innovation, this boat moves the needle for me, no question about it.”

The Toura is the result of a decade’s worth of feedback from sailing programs using RS Sailing’s Quest, its most popular roto-molded trainer, of which there are more than 3,000 in use around the world. “The Quest is an excellent boat,” says RS Sailing’s Todd Riccardi, “but people kept asking for a bigger boat with a little more room.”

That’s a big ask of even the most advanced roto-molding technology because the bigger the boat, the more complex the structure must be in order to keep it stiff and durable yet as light as possible. The Toura might just be at the edge of what’s possible. RS uses what it describes as a three-layer laminate to get a durable shell—an inner layer, a foam core and an outer layer that are applied in stages. But the real structure is from skeletal-like spines that bisect the cockpit and give the boat its rigidity.

At 15 feet, and with a few inches over 6 feet of beam, the Toura is a substantial dinghy that Riccardi says can comfortably fit as many as six to eight adults and double that amount of kids. Inboard bench seating running the entire length of the boat is how it can fit so many passengers. While that might push the limits of its buoyancy, the judges agreed four large adults would have the right amount of room to casually race and learn the ropes.

RS Sailing has a well-earned reputation for developing and vetting its new boats before bringing them to market, and the Toura is no exception. The boat has many smart features that simplify the learning experience, from launching to capsizing to boathandling and sail trimming. To get the kick-up rudder on and off is a one-button operation. There’s a temporary forestay for safely raising the rig, an adjustable jib-stay purchase at the mast, a single-line mainsail reefing system, and a continuous spinnaker halyard. Riccardi says the boat’s considerable stability is capsize-prevention enough, but should it end up on its side, the square-top main and buoyancy in the bench seating keep it from turtling quickly. In the event of a capsize, however, aluminum grab handles are built into strakes that run along the bottom of the hull.

The judges, sailing two-up and three-up, never got anywhere near the point of capsize in the 10 knots of breeze for the test. With Greg Stewart and Chuck Allen first into the boat, they promptly set the spinnaker and took off. “It sails great, both upwind and downwind,” Stewart says. “It has a great feel to the helm, and I pressed it hard a few times and it never spun out. All the rigging was really nice, and the sail controls all worked. My one comment is that the 4-to-1 mainsheet gets pretty loaded because the main is pretty powerful and the cloth is good, so I’d be inclined to add a becket block to the mainsheet to get a bit more purchase.”

Allen put high scores in his notebook and says he was able to sit comfortably on the seat and use the spine as a foot brace. “We had it going pretty quick and found that with a little heel angle, the chine bites and the boat suddenly feels really stable. Great all-around performance, and with the high boom, the low centerboard trunk, and the vang on top of the boom, it was easy to get across the boat. Downwind with the spinnaker, it was awesome. Every control was easy to pull, and the nonskid had excellent grip.”

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“Classy.” That was the first word that came to mind for Boat of the Year judge Mike Ingham when he stepped aboard the formidable 40-foot trimaran from Dragonfly, an unexpected and welcome late entry to the competition in Annapolis. “It almost feels as if the boat is intentionally understated but overdelivered because once you start looking closer at the details and craftsmanship, it just keeps getting more impressive.”

Builder and company owner Jens Quorning, whose family has been building trimarans in southern Denmark since 1967, says the Dragonfly 40 is the biggest boat they now build and a worthy holder of the flagship title. “Building a boat of this scale is complicated,” he says of the folding trimaran. “It takes three years to develop a new design, and this is for owners looking for a bigger boat, with better performance, capable of more long-distance sailing.”

The result is a powerful trimaran aimed at experienced owners who appreciate the sheer pleasure of racing and cruising on three hulls. This is not your average production multihull. It is a powerful and luxurious sailing machine capable of knocking off fast miles in comfort. Slip down below and you’re immediately immersed in a master class of woodwork and joinery. There are berths for four, including a giant master under the cockpit, plenty of standing headroom, and a comfortable salon and galley arrangement that’s monohull-cozy. “We do not offer a big house on the water,” Quorning tells the judges. “But if you really want a fine and elegant yacht with double-digit sailing, this is what we do.”

For our tests, Dragonfly presented its Ultimate edition, the midrange version. An upscaled Performance model is an all-carbon version with a taller mast. And in the lightest wind of the week, sub-10 knots, the trimaran teased the judges with its potential. Still, in the light stuff, the boat delivered a winning experience.

“It was a dream to sail upwind and downwind, almost effortlessly,” Ingham says. “With the gennaker up, at about 100 degrees true, we were going faster than the wind, and with winch pods on each side of the steering wheel, everything was as ergonomic as you could possibly imagine. The electric winches made it a cinch to furl and unfurl the headsails through the tacks and jibes, and the sails trimmed in perfectly every time.”

The feather-light feel of the helm, Ingham adds, was as smooth as a balanced dinghy. “With tiny movements on the wheel, the boat would immediately respond, but I could also walk away from the helm for a few minutes and the boat would stay right on track. Crazy—I think it steered itself better than I did.”

That’s the trait of a good trimaran, Greg Stewart says. The Dragonfly 40 has a lot of buoyancy in the bows, and while the center hull is substantial, the tall trussed rig and square top mainsail provide plenty of power. “The biggest thing that struck me is how easily accessible everything is,” Stewart says. “Clearly, every detail is painstakingly thought out, and I can’t believe how beautifully built the interior is. It’s top-notch, from the glasswork to the paintwork inside and out. Down below, we were all blown away by the finish.”

There’s no denying the boat is expensive at upward of $1 million, but the test boat had quality race sails, a full electric-winch package, and a long list of high-spec extras. At nearly 15,000 pounds light, it’s a substantial boat—not trailerable, but foldable with Dragonfly’s trademark technique that Corning describes as mimicking parallel rules. The floats are 2 feet longer than the center hull, with buoyancy pushed well forward into the reversed bows, and the center hull is narrow at the waterline before sweeping upward to a high and hard chine. This pronounced hull shape allows for the generous amount of headroom, and high bench seats that flank a long centerline table, which can, of course, drop down to create a double-size berth.

Allen noted that the center hull’s wide side decks provide a secure pathway to the bow, rather than across the trampolines. He was also impressed with the ease of sailing the boat and the comfort belowdecks. “When we were doing 9 knots, I went below and there was silence. It’s comfortable and beautiful. It would be a blast to do some long point-to-point racing on it, doublehanded or with like a crew of four, max.”

Stewart agreed, adding that beyond its noteworthy gunkholing attributes, the engine is well aft on the center hull, allowing it to be motored safely into shallow anchorages. The daggerboard is mechanically raised into the trunk, and the rudder kicks up. “I also think it would be great for a distance race or rally type of event,” Stewart says. “Its performance and versatility are what appeal to me, but the build quality is what really sets it apart.”

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