SAIL’s 2024 Best Boats Awards

SAIL magazine revealed its annual Best Boat Nominees in October 2023 and now has selected the 2024 winners:

Every year, boatbuilders of all types submit their new models to be nominees in the SAIL Top 10 Best Boats contest. We start reviewing these as soon as they are available, sometimes traveling throughout the country or even overseas to examine the boats, talk to designers, builders, and dealers, and most important, to take these boats out sailing.

When it’s possible, we like to spend at least a day onboard—more if that’s feasible—to sail the boats as we believe potential owners would want to sail them. This year, one of our reviewers helped deliver a boat from Annapolis to Connecticut; another spent all day racing and then well into the night sailing on a racer-cruiser model. The more hours we can get onboard the better, because it gives us a truer sense of how a boat is meant to be sailed than a short trial could.

Along with sailing and handling characteristics, we look at systems innovation and installation, design, ingenuity, construction quality, deck and interior layouts, and ergonomics. We know that every potential owner has a unique wish list, so we try to include as many boats as possible, from 60-foot multihulls to trailerable daysailers. – Full report