You never forget your best day of sailing. Mine came in the waning miles of the 2005 Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, screeching down the Molokai Channel under spinnaker toward Diamond Head in 30 knots of pumping trade-wind breeze, hanging onto the tiller for dear, lovely life while surfing at 14 knots aboard a Cal 40 called Dancing Bear. The sun was searing, the wind was howling, and the deep, blue Pacific Ocean was all the more striking set against the stunning backdrop of the green volcanic islands.

This remembrance, however, is not about me. Instead, it honors the legendary Cal 40, a William Lapworth design originally launched in Southern California in 1963 that has provided scores of fellow offshore sailors with rides they’ll always hold dear. Though I do recall my first thoughts to a fellow shipmate soon after crossing the finish line: “God, I love a boat that’s better than I am.”

All this came back to me last summer, when I joined Dancing Bear’s owner and skipper, accomplished Pacific Northwest sailor Mark Schrader, for a cruise northward from Anacortes, Washington, and up the coast of Vancouver Island. It’s a far different venue and excursion than the Transpac, but one that made me appreciate the Cal 40 in a new light. This is one versatile vessel.

From the outset, the Cal 40 was considered a radical, ultra-light design, displacing just 15,000 pounds with 6,000 pounds of ballast and a flat, canoe-shaped hull that was ideal for prolonged downwind surfs. What really separated it from other boats of its era—hulls with long overhangs and deep, full keels from prominent East Coast yacht designers like Sparkman & Stephens—was the fin keel and detached spade rudder, greatly reducing the boat’s wetted surface. A similar appendage was employed in the winning America’s Cup 12-Metre Intrepid, but that was four years later.

Read Next: An Ocean Sailor Tries Freshwater Racing

The Cal 40’s production run lasted eight years and produced 108 boats, which are still highly sought-after. There’s no question that the boat has reached cult status and that it remains highly competitive. Indeed, the overall winner of the 108-boat fleet in the 2022 Newport Bermuda Race and the recipient of the coveted St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy was Sally and Stan Honey’s Cal 40, Illusion.

Yes, the Honeys are world-class sailors—Stan is a renowned professional offshore racer and navigator, and Sally is a two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year—and they recruited an all-star crew after Illusion had undergone a full refit. Still, Illusion was almost 60 years old. The Honeys purchased the boat in 1988 and spent the ensuing decades racing and cruising it. They decided to campaign it one final time in 2022. Their victorious attempt, covering the 635-nautical-mile voyage in 87 hours, included a textbook crossing of the Gulf Stream and a top-speed burst of 22 knots, both of which were winning highlights.

My own trip last summer on Dancing Bear was a decidedly more mellow affair, but we also scored our own personal highlights. For me, one of those was taking the helm on a cold, funky overnight passage from the coast of British Columbia across the Hecate Strait to the archipelago known as Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands. The sensation of driving a solid craft offshore, nestled deep in the cockpit on a tiller-steered boat, is rare and wonderful. In the wind and waves, everything balanced and in harmony, I fell in love with the Cal 40 all over again.

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Contest Yachts has collaborated with Bentley Home to create a 67CS, whose interior is inspired by the look of Bentley Motors.

The Bentley team brought its experience from working with vehicles such as the Continental GT and the Bentayga. Contest Yachts combined those talents with its own interior designers, Wetzels Brown Partners, to create the interior aboard this custom 67CS.

“Prototyping methods such as 3D printing were harnessed to confirm the feasibility of individual components, extending to a full mock-up of items prior to fit-out, such as the bar and vanity unit created from scratch to the customer’s taste, to ensure the exacting finishes and demanding quality standards were met,” according to Contest Yachts.

Bentley’s diamond-quilted leather hides were book-matched across the yacht’s interior, with detailing that included the type of hand cross-stitching used to produce the Bentley steering wheel.

Contest Yachts CEO Arjen Conijn says it’s possible the builder could add a dedicated line of Bentley-featured yachts: “We hold so many of the same beliefs and ambitions; it totally makes sense bringing our two fantastic ranges of prestigious luxury yachts and autos together.”

Where is Contest Yachts located? In the Netherlands. The brand builds semicustom sailing cruisers for coastal, offshore and bluewater use.

Take the next step: go to contestyachts.com

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Sometimes I get the feeling that I’ve spent more time working on boats out of the water, below their waterline, than I’ve spent actually sailing them. That’s because for New England-based sailors like myself, every fall, our yachts get hauled for the winter and then require a fresh coat of bottom paint before returning to the drink the following spring. For me, this seasonal rite of passage has gotten a bit easier since the old days when I spent hours with a longboard sanding the bottom of my J/24 racer to get that smooth-as-silk racing edge. But all the cruising boats I’ve owned since then still require prep and paint, and it’s an annual task I’ve learned to tolerate—barely—in the same way I grit my teeth for my yearly physical with the doctor.

But all that changed when I bought my Pearson 365, August West, on the Gulf Coast of Florida. At first, I was astonished to learn that lots of boats spend multiple seasons without fresh bottom paint, opting instead to hire a diver for regular scrubs to keep marine growth to a minimum. For the first few months last winter, that was my go-to solution. But it was a stopgap measure, to say the least, as my diver, Casey, sent me text messages after every cleaning with an update on his work. After the third time my report card came back “Paint: poor,” I contacted the previous owner, wondering when the boat was last hauled and painted. When he basically couldn’t remember, I knew the time had arrived for the inevitable.

Back home in Rhode Island, the sanding and painting was always a job I’d tackled myself. In Florida, I quickly discovered there wasn’t a boatyard in greater Sarasota, near my boat’s slip on Longboat Key, that permitted owners to wield a sander or roller. On top of that, the closest yard to my boat, in nearby Cortez, didn’t even work on sailboats. But its team was good enough to recommend a neighboring facility, N.E. Taylor Boat Works, that was up for the task.

Related: Selecting Right Bottom Paint for Your Boat

As the pelicans fly, it’s only about 5 nautical miles from my dock to Taylor’s Travelift, mostly along the well-marked stretch of Intracoastal Waterway snaking through Sarasota Bay. However, the last little bit, up a narrow channel outlined with old, painted green markers into Cortez Cove, was a bit of a maze, and of course I ran aground in full view of one of the funky little town’s waterfront restaurants. Though I was ultimately able to extricate myself without assistance, I provided about 45 minutes of free entertainment to the dinner crowd. You’re welcome.

It also turned out that the previous paint job had been commissioned by the staff of Practical Sailor, a popular how-to newsletter about gear and maintenance. I was able to contact the editor, who helpfully told me the brand of ablative paint that had been applied, along with some other useful advice. He was curious to know how it had held up over the years, and I was happy to send him the “before” shot once the boat was hauled and blocked. The answer to his question? Not well.

The crew at N.E. Taylor, however, could not have been more welcoming or professional, and as long as they had the boat, I ended up getting some other work done, particularly the installation of two new deck hatches to replace the pair that had long ago given up the ghost.

So, I’m happy to report that August West returned to its slip with a spanking new paint job that should last me—fingers crossed—at least a couple of years. In the meantime, I’m hoping for high marks from Casey the next time he dons his wetsuit and takes the plunge.  

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Wally has launched the wally101 Full Custom, a yacht inspired by the Wallycento box-rule design.  

“Following Baron D, Nahita and the Wally 144 Full Custom of the last few years, this is the 48th full-carbon sailing superyacht built by Wally, continuing the company’s remarkable contribution to the advancement of sailing design and technology,” Stefano de Vivo, Wally managing director, stated in a press release. “Launching a fully custom 101-footer is a great milestone for us, which demonstrates once again the ability of Wally and Ferretti Group to always place themselves at the forefront, even in the competitive market of sailing superyachts.”

According to the builder, the yacht displaces 55 tons, almost 15 percent less than similar-size yachts. Carbon-fiber technology, including a high-tech sandwich composite with pre-preg carbon fiber, helps to keep weight down.

Naval architecture is by judel/vrolijk & co., with exterior and interior design by Wally and Studio Santa Maria Magnolfi.

Features include the Wally Enhanced Hydraulic System, which has multiple hydraulic pumps to speed up sail handling.

How fast will the wally101 Full Custom go? According to Wally, under sail, the boat can “easily reach high performance.” Under power with the 425-horsepower engine, top speed is reportedly 11.5 knots.

Take the next step: go to wally.com

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If Hollywood made a movie about Ronnie Simpson’s life—and some director with a sense of adventure, empathy and accomplishment should do exactly that—it’s difficult to determine who would play the titular role. A younger Brad Pitt might’ve pulled it off; Ethan Hawke could deliver the necessary intensity; Matt Damon would probably get the nod from today’s ranks of leading men.

But the fact of the matter is that only Ronnie could star in an epic Ronnie biopic. He is nothing less than an American original: a Marine Corps veteran who was nearly blown to smithereens in the first Iraq war and later found solace, healing and purpose in sailing. Now, at 37, he hopes to up the ante and become America’s top single-handed offshore racer. He wants to compete in the sport’s showcase event, the nonstop Vendée Globe solo around-the-world race, which sets forth from France in 2024.

This I learned last fall when he sailed into Newport, Rhode Island, on a well-traveled Open 50 war horse of a yacht called Sparrow. He plans to compete on that boat in another nonstop solo marathon: the Global Solo Challenge, which will start from Spain this fall. But Ronnie is clear that it’s merely a steppingstone, one he hopes will attract a title sponsor for his ultimate goal of competing on a world-class Open 60. “I’m rolling the dice here in a really huge manner,” he told me. “If doing [the GSC] on an Open 50 was the endgame, I probably wouldn’t be here. I consider this my shot for the Vendée. I don’t know why I’m so driven to do that race, but I wake up every day, and I want to do it, and I go to sleep every night, and I want to do it.”

I’ve known Ronnie for several years, in a professional sense, as his former editor at Cruising World magazine. His most remarkable article was called “From Fallujah to Fiji,” a detailed account of a decade-long odyssey that began with his enlistment in the Marines, just days after graduating from high school. Then came the day in Iraq when his Humvee fell under attack and he was seriously injured. While recovering, he learned online about sailing, and he purchased a 41-footer, which he later abandoned at sea in a Pacific hurricane. He then picked up the pieces after his rescue, and he purchased a succession of small boats that he raced alone to Hawaii and rambled across the Pacific to Fiji, becoming a professional sailor, rigger and delivery skipper. Ronnie notched over 130,000 nautical miles and gained the skills necessary for a Vendée campaign.

Ronnie was preparing to return to Fiji on his recently purchased 43-footer to relaunch a charter business that had become a COVID casualty, generating the funds to bankroll his own Vendée project. That’s when his friend Whitall Stokes offered up Sparrow, a two-time veteran of round-the-world races, for the Global Solo Challenge. Ronnie sold his cruiser, set up a GoFundMe page, launched a website (ronniesimpsonracing.com) and sailed to Newport to begin his quest.

That is where I joined him on a breezy afternoon with a pumping southwesterly on Rhode Island Sound for his ongoing shakedown sails. “Learning,” he said, time and again, tack after tack, spray flying, as we put the boat through its paces. “We’re doing a lot of learning here today.” Clearly, he was in his element.

Yet the question remains: Will Ronnie Simpson fulfill his dream of being on the Vendée starting line off Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, on November 10, 2024, to test himself against the planet’s best single-handers? If any story deserves a happy ending, Ronnie’s does.

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There’s a revolution underway in the sport of sailing, and it can be summed up in one simple word: foiling.

More specifically, we’re talking about hydrofoils, the winglike appendages mounted beneath the hull of a vessel that, at a certain speed, lift the hull clear of the water. When this happens, the foiling sailboats can reach speeds two or even three times faster than possible in “displacement” mode.

And sailboats are just one element of the foiling revolution: Surfboards, paddleboards and powerboats are also getting in on the act.

An Italian naval architect named Enrico Forlanini is credited with developing the first waterborne hydrofoils, which he affixed to a 60 hp, airscrew-driven craft that topped off at 36.9 knots back in 1906. In the century that followed, a series of would-be inventors took a swing at the concept with varying degrees of success. Foiling sailboats finally ascended into the mainstream during the 2013 America’s Cup, when Oracle Team USA beat Emirates Team New Zealand in a match between foiling 72-foot catamarans (the Cup has been contested in foiling cats ever since).

Surprisingly enough, my first foiling experience happened some three decades ago, aboard something called a Hobie TriFoiler, from the popular manufacturer of Hobie surfboards, beach cats and kayaks. The TriFoiler, basically a 22-foot trimaran with a central pod and a pair of mainsails stepped on the twin outriggers, was invented by a fanatical California engineer named Greg Ketterman. The sail controls were laid out just forward of the tiny airplane-style cockpit; you steered with foot pedals. It was so ridiculously easy that even a gremmie like me had the thing foiling within moments of getting in and reaching off.

But after the initial thrill, it was actually kind of boring. Which, I believe, is why it went out of production soon after. The TriFoiler was, unfortunately, way ahead of its time.

Such was the extent of my personal foiling experience until this past summer, when a new class of foiling monohull skiffs called Persico 69Fs rolled into my home waters for a series of races among youth squads in the class’s inaugural season. I got an invitation to take a spin.

After donning my helmet, wetsuit and life jacket, I was handed the helm with a pair of skilled young sailors on board. At 25 knots, we were towed into Narragansett Bay behind a powerful RIB, foiling all the way. It was terrifying. And a preview of coming attractions.

Once the tow dropped us, the sails went up and we bore off. I skied the tiller extension while scrambling out onto the hiking racks. Which sent us off on a screaming reach. Which flipped the 22-foot-7-inch carbon rocket ship.

Twenty seconds into foiling, and I’d capsized the bloody thing. How embarrassing.

The kids, bless them, were kind and patient. We got the whole shooting match, including ourselves, back upright and tried again. The mainsail trimmer sheeted it home, we started to accelerate, and he said: “Here we go! You’re up. You’re flying!” Indeed, we were.

Hard on the breeze in the 12-knot southwesterly, things unfolded quickly. Spray was flying, and I took more than one solid wave to the kisser. I was mostly too frightened to concentrate on anything but driving, but I did glance at the speedo once: 17.4 knots. (I felt pretty chuffed until later learning a 69F’s top speed is 34 knots. Ugh.)

However, I guess I’d proved the point: With a couple of sailors who know what they’re doing, foiling is for everyone. From now on, just call me Mr. Foiler.

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Wally has released the first details about its wallywind range, which will include three sailing yachts from 110 feet to 150 feet length overall.

The first hull will be the wallywind110, which is scheduled to launch in May 2024. Features will include a carbon hull along with a simplified sail-handling system. Naval architecture is by judel/vrolijk & co.

“The wallywind110 is the equivalent of the Grand Touring car in the automotive world,” Wally managing director Stefano de Vivo stated in a press release. “It is a very powerful yet smooth long-distance cruising machine but one that could become a serious challenger in a race, if you felt so inclined. The boat is ideal for an experienced sailor, maybe someone who has had boats in the 60- to 80-foot range and is now willing to make the jump to the 100-foot size range to get the extra comforts.”

Those comforts include an 860-square-foot cockpit that, according to Wally, is twice the size of cockpits in other boats of the same length. It can accommodate seating and dining for 15 people, if that’s how owners want to arrange things; the only elements fixed in position are the twin carbon wheels and crew companionway.

The yacht’s tender, which can be about 13 feet long, is hidden beneath the deck, keeping the transom clear for swimmers.

Owners also have a choice for the master stateroom, which can include walk-in closets, his-and-her heads and additional seating. As many as three guest staterooms can be added to the layout, in addition to cabins for crew.

Wally says the 150-foot wallywind flagship breaks new ground: The lightweight carbon-fiber construction means that where other boats need at least 12 knots of wind to hoist the sails, the wallywind150 will be able to do so in 6 or 7 knots of wind.

Take the next step: go to wally.com

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Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding in Maine has launched Hull No. 2 of its wooden-hull LM46.

The yacht, christened Arcadia, is a high-performance, cold-molded sailing yacht with a reported 10 knots of speed under power or sail. The design is a collaboration among Lyman-Morse founder Cabot Lyman, his son and company President Drew Lyman, and Kiwi designer Kevin Dibley.

Arcadia differs slightly from Hull No. 1 of the LM46, with a deeper, 7-foot-7-inch draft keel for better racing performance. Arcadia also has a second head. The owner is a regular in the Newport Bermuda Race. He previously owned a J/42 and has been a service customer at Lyman-Morse for decades.

“Having raced in 10 Newport Bermuda races, I saw the LM46 as the perfect competitor for the race,” the owner stated in a press release. “While speed is definitely a top priority, comfort makes the race that much more enjoyable, and I saw the LM46 as being the best of both worlds. Having been a longtime service customer of Lyman-Morse, I knew the build technology and quality would be the best of the best.”

Lyman-Morse’s vision for the LM46 is to build a series of the yachts, with the goal of starting a one-design class. The yacht is offered in three stateroom configurations and three keel configurations, with drafts of 6 feet; 7 feet, 7 inches; and 10 feet. Options include a more powerful engine, retractable bow thruster, electric winches and robust sail package.

What else is new at Lyman-Morse? The Hood 35 LM express cruiser is expected to launch in mid-May, and a Navier 27 all-electric, hydrofoiling powerboat is in build with a debut planned at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October.

Take the next step: click over to lymanmorse.com

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JFA Yachts in France has unveiled a new design: the JFA Adventure 68, created in collaboration with Britain’s Dixon Yacht Design.

The JFA Adventure 68 is intended for long-distance cruising. It’s a monohull that would be built in aluminum with a centerboard and with features that allow for short-handed cruising.

“The high-volume hull, with its long waterline, takes design cues from the modern short-handed racing yachts to give the owner outstanding performance combined with a layout that makes sailing the yacht short-handed safe and secure,” Bill Dixon stated in a press release.

He added: “The single living space encompassing the cockpit and the saloon gives amazing protection both inside and out, with the ability to watch keep in a secure environment. The integrated solid Bimini makes a perfect space for multiple solar panels, giving a real boost to onboard energy.”

Would the JFA Adventure 68 carry a tender? Yes. It could be located in a garage or on the aft deck.

Take the next step: jfa-yachts.com

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Matterport, a California-based company that makes 3D online tours, worked with Taiwanese boatbuilder Hylas Yachts to create a new online virtual tour of the Hylas H57.

The tour is intended to bring the Bill Dixon interior to life, showing off the oak, ash and teak woods along with the yacht’s mood lighting. Hylas Yachts says the tour showcases Hull No. 1, which has teak soles, white cabinetry, mirrored stainless steel fittings and deep gray suede upholstery.

“The increased popularity of white oak and, on occasion, ash has really brought a new brightness to our yacht interiors,” Peggy Huang, chief operating officer of Hylas Yachts, stated in a press release. “Faux leather and suede are nice and manageable for interior furnishing, and the classic Sunbrella works well for exterior cushions.”

The belowdecks lighting system blends direct, indirect and natural light sources with options for digital switching, mood lighting, dimming and accent colors.

“The raised salon and oversized portlights bring a huge amount of light into the salon and cabins,” Huang added.

How many staterooms are aboard the Hylas H57? Three—with the ability to use the third stateroom as a utility or laundry space while still keeping a usable bunk there.

Take the next step: Go to hylasyachts.com

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