There have always been yachts that claim to offer the best of all worlds. They lure you in with the promise of being able to luxuriate in spacious opulence after a day of exhilarating sailing.
The message is that there’s no need to compromise. Of course we know that’s not really the case. Any boat is a compromise. It’s just a matter of which elements are compromised more than others.
Time was when we had the cruiser-racers: race with the lads, cruise with the family (no doubt considered a politically-incorrect message these days). By and large, race boats are now race boats that make no pretence at being anything else.
Cruisers, on the other hand, have become more performance-conscious in recent years, reflecting the reality that more speed allows you to sail further in less time. In many cases, today’s new cruising yachts are also faster by virtue of being longer than their predecessors.
Over the years, the elements of compromise in mainstream production cruisers have meant that buyers have, at different times, missed out on something significant. When hulls became beamy and the keels and rudders were shallow, handling and performance were – well, let’s just say, a little below par sometimes. Then when sterns became seriously broad and entries
