Performance Dinghies

Bigger, roomier and sportier on the water than it looks on the dock, the Fusion 2 is designed to get new sailing adults excited and learning. The judges agreed that it sails great and would appeal to clubs and families.

The Maverick is the multitool of watersports. For sailing, there are inflatable seats and it tracks upwind just fine. Pop in the windsurf rig or practice your wing technique. No wind? Bust out the SUP paddle. For waterside living, this 10-foot, 95-pound dinghy will entertain all summer.

A gem of a dinghy from Mackay Boats, the VX Two was the top boat from our BOTY session in St. Pete. The judges described it as perfect in every way, a sophisticated but simple skiff-style dinghy for more experienced sailors.

Foilers

The IODA is a 10-foot foiler that the judges felt was challenging to sail as first-timers. It’s better suited for smaller and more nimble sailors. The judges felt that the BirdyFish S was far easier to sail and more versatile.

The BirdyFish Race was a contender from our St. Pete session. It’s a bigger scow-shaped craft than the BirdyFish S, and it was praised for its excellent construction, robust foils and the ability to sail two-up and share the fun. The Race’s gennaker takes the fun factor up a big notch. 

Club Racers

The J/7 made its BOTY debut in St. Pete in February, and in the lighter conditions, without a spinnaker, it was difficult for the judges to really assess the true performance of the boat. As a targeted multipurpose boat,  it has all the traits of a J Boat: lightweight, roomy, responsive and great upwind.

The development of the Storm 18 was thorough and the result is a legitimate multipurpose boat that’s built to last the abuses of adult sailing lessons, club team racing and recreational sailing. The judges praised the boat’s performance and versatility, but the demo tested in St. Petersburg was not yet perfected. Production is now apace, however, with several U.S. yacht clubs committed to fleets.       

Crossovers

With the Beneteau First 30’s highly refined hull and obsessive attention to detail with weight management, the engineers and builders at Beneteau have delivered what they tout as the first in a new genre of “planing cruisers.” Belowdecks is a weekender-worthy interior, and on deck, the sail-control systems and cockpit ergonomics all add up to make it an excellent platform for coastal and shorthanded races, especially courses with predominant downwind angles where its planing attributes can deliver.

The Argentinian-built Zonda Z28 follows the award-winning Z24, selected as the 2024 Best Recreational Racer. Whereas the Z24 was light and sporty, however, the 28 is much more of a cruiser-leaning design. With a lot of interior volume, an electrified lifting keel and a retractable transom-hung carbon rudder for shallow-water venues, the judges noted it being well-priced and well-built. With the rig out of tune for the test, they did, however, have helm control issues in the day’s 15-knot breeze.  

Multihulls

As the most sophisticated HH Catamaran ever tested as part of Boat of the Year, the HH52 delivered an exceptional sailing experience for the judges who praised it for its ergonomics and systems. Whatever the sail combination or angle, the judges said, the feel on the tiller was sensational as was the level of detail in the construction and execution. As a multimillion-dollar catamaran loaded with performance features, it will make many a happy owner.

The 15-foot inflatable Happy Cat Star Carbon is one not to be overlooked by adventure-race fanatics. Super durable rubber tubes for the hulls and a carbon frame to keep it all stiff and fast made for high-speed and thrilling test for the judges. With a gennaker deployed, they had the fun-meter pegged. The entire boat breaks down into duffel bags, and the accessories list from Grabner, the builder in Germany, is extensive. 

After a stunning session on the Happy Cat, the judges were left wanting on the MiniCat 520 Explorer, which did not have the same level of stiffness or balance. As a recreational inflatable catamaran, they didn’t feel it was suited for serious adventure racing.

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Saffier isn’t a brand well known in the States, and as far as we know, they’ve never entered a single model into our Boat of the Year world. But after admiring a brand new Saffier Lite 24 on a trailer all summer, we persisted in convincing them to show us what they’ve been hiding in Europe for the past few years.

Saffier, says our demo host and dealer Anton Webre, promises there is no pretending with its boats. “It is a premiere performance daysailor brand. That is their DNA. Dennis (Hennevanger, the builder) will tell you that if you’re looking for something else, then look somewhere else.”

Webre sells quite a few Saffier models, especially the builder’s bigger mooring candy. The 24 Lite, he says, is one sweet little harbor burner. Yes, it’s pricey at $195,000 (as quoted, with tariff), but sailing it is believing it.

“Esthetically, this boat is really, really nice,” Davis says. “It would be a beautiful thing to have for a Wednesday night club race series.”

It’s also light and plenty lively, Davis adds. At only 1,300 pounds, the boat is really stable, so the ballast is clearly in the right place. And sailing upwind was a delight. “It’s designed to be a stay-in-the-cockpit boat,” Davis says, “so yeah, sit on the cushions and enjoy it.”

Comfortable, very light and very cool-looking daysailor is what Ingham jotted into his note pad, while also noting the quality and finish of the composite hull, built in the Netherlands, northwest of Amsterdam, in what is described as a technically-advanced and clinically clean shop. Saffier’s story is a captivating one, but it is one for later. We know very little about them in the States, but what we do know is that they’ve been building award winning and ground breaking sailboats since 1999. The Saffier 24 Lite is yet another for them.

“It’s a boat where you get out on the water, by yourself or with a bunch of people,” Webre says. “It’s all so easy to use, thoughtful and beautiful.”

The judges also pointed out its impressive gelcoat finish and that there is not one piece of wood on the boat. It’s all composite, including the synthetic decking, which comes in almost any color.

Aluminum is the standard rig, and while carbon is an option, Webre says not to bother. The aluminum rig is perfectly fine. And for the dry-sail racer in the group: A single-point lift eye is embedded into the rock-solid keel grid. Easy in, easy out on the hoist.

It’s certainly possible to shorthand the 24 on a beer-can twilight, but four would be perfect company. Whether racing with a code zero, an A2 or even JAM, there’s something for everyone. All controls cascade aft to companionway clutches. With cabin-top winches, it’s all simple and effective. The jib is self-tacking and runs on a flush deck track, the Zero is on a furler at the end of a carbon sprit, and the mainsheet block is set on the cockpit floor post.

Behind the helm is a sprawling aft cushion lounge for guests to enjoy the ride, away from the fray, and down below is sitting headroom only and acres of cushions encircling a compression post. You hardly know the electric sail drive unit and batteries are there. Inside, there’s nothing more until you toss the overnight gear drybags on board and see where that takes you. “I’d overnight it with my son,” Webre tells the judges with a hint of sincerity, “but my wife would not.”

And that’s okay, because there is no night in daysailor. But there is all day—and there is twilight—in the Saffier 24 Lite.

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For the first day of our Boat of the Year test sailing, small-craft warning flags were whipping, and so too was the rain when we sailed off the beach at the Annapolis Sailing School with the BirdyFish S—S as in solo or single—without any clue of how to handle the scow-shaped 14-footer and its long, arcing and pointed “mustache” foils.

When it’s time to put our judge Monica Morgan into the driver’s seat, she hops in with her trademark giddy giggle. We don’t know what she knows: She’s never foiled.

She orients herself with the whereabouts of the boat’s key control lines: a 16-to-1 vang, downhaul and the 2-to-1 mainsheet. She promptly trims the reefed square-top mainsail, turns onto a reach, sails 100 feet or so away, then rises up onto both foils, streaking away as if she’s done it a million times.

“Insanely easy,” is how Morgan would later describe the experience, which is the whole point of the BirdyFish S.

Unlike the BirdyFish Double (Race), which has symmetric J-shaped foils, the BirdyFish S has curved asymmetric foils that can’t be inverted or swapped if damaged, so launching should always be a calculated effort. Still, says Hardy Peters of East Coast Sailboats, the U.S.’ BirdyFish distributor, getting underway is a simple affair. With the foils up in their stowed position, step one is to roll the boat to the water’s edge on its custom wheels, which fit into slots in the hull. These are removed once the boat is afloat, and then stored in a bag on the boat. Wade to waist-high water (two feet or more), push down and lock the foils into their sacrificial Delrin bearing cases. Do the same with the rudder and off you go.

Like the foils themselves, the BirdyFish S’s polyester and honeycomb hull is built (in France) in halves and then glued together. A robust structural bulkhead runs the full length of the boat, giving it some serious rigidity. The scow hull shape also provides strength and, more importantly, stability. Unlike other singlehanded foilers (such as the Moth or Waszp), the BirdyFish is stable at rest and far more forgiving in crash-downs.

Most other high-tech foilers also have dynamic rudder-angle adjustment, but with the BirdyFish S, rudder angle is preset and can be adjusted on the water with a wrench. The single-piece aluminum mast and a black Dacron mainsail with two reef points also opens up the boat to sailing in a wide range of conditions. It can be sailed upwind and downwind in displacement mode, with one crew or two, with all reefs or none at all.

“You’re probably looking somewhere between 185 to 210, max is 310 (pounds),” says Peters. “I’m 250 pounds and I can get this boat up and out in 8 knots of breeze.”

The sailing technique, Peters explains to the judges before splashing, is to shift weight aft when building speed, and once it takes off, shift forward enough to give the boat a slight bow-down attitude. Minimal rudder movement is essential, he adds, “Don’t sail it like an ILCA. Subtle tiller movements prevent spinouts.”

As for tacking, he says, “This boat will easily foil tack and jibe. Just remember that the best [exit] angle on this boat is 55 degrees. So, you have to take that 55 and go another 55 or more, so you’re looking at a 110-degree turn basically. But on a jibe, it’s a lot less.”

Both Morgan and fellow judge Mike Ingham eventually figured out the technique enough to pull off a few, albeit sketchy, foiling turns in 15 to 20 winds and flat water. And their straight-line speeds were more than impressive.

“I was a little surprised at how fast it would go,” Morgan says. “I almost wiped out once, but I never felt like I was just gonna get launched off the boat. I felt pretty locked in tacking. I was trying to figure out the right rate of turn for the tack, because you couldn’t go too slow, but if you went fast, it felt as if you were spinning out. I had that feeling a couple times, mostly tacking, but as a first-timer, it was really rewarding to go foiling so easily.”

To validate the boat’s versatility, before wrapping up our test sail, we put both Morgan and Ingham on the boat and shook out the reef. With both of them working in sync to balance the boat onto its foils, they hit their top speed of the day in one dark and streaking puff. We could hear the whooping from a good mile away, until the sleigh ride ended in a spectacular explosion of spray. Ingham slipped from his hiking strap, and Morgan casually tacked the boat back upwind and retrieved her teammate. It was easy for Ingham to get back into the boat and they soared away again.

“It was a surprisingly easy boat to foil,” Ingham says. “It was like stress-free foiling that was always just in the groove.” Morgan seconded the sentiment and says, “For never having foiled before, I was able to do it within 30 seconds, and that’s kind of crazy. But I also felt really stable on the boat, not intimidating or overwhelming at all.”

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Here is a reason why Dragonfly owners are okay with waiting two years or more to get their hands on the new 36. Everyone that has tested it agrees: It’s a multihuller’s dream boat. “Exhilarating” is the one word that BOTY judge Monica Morgan came away with after a windy session on the 36.

“It was such a joy to sail,” she says. It was effortless to sail in 25 knots under a big main at full hoist. Proper winches and everything led correctly into the cockpit, tails disappear into lockers. “It was fast and stable, and felt so safe and bulletproof,” she adds. “It wasn’t hitting waves, it was just cruising through them. The helm felt amazingly light, and everything was just so simple, but it made sense, and it is so classy.”

Dragonfly’s Jens Quorning, a master of his craft, confidently says the Dragonfly 36  is the best they’ve ever done. “Up in the bows we have some new modern tricks with the wave-piercing center hull bow. We’ve got more buoyancy there, and more buoyancy forward in the floats. It is really hard to force it down.”

That also allows him to pile on the sail area and have fun. He’s especially keen about the electric Code Zero furler that “introduces more fun sailing and allows our owners to go out and do 20 knots, easily.”

The rig towers 60 feet above the deck, which Quorning says is “probably the tallest mast on any 36-foot production boat, for sure.” He adds that he and his like-minded owners like a lot of sail area. “With a more intelligent hull design, you want to push it hard, and especially downwind,” Quorning says. “With the right buoyancy right where you want it, you can push up the speedometer.”

Dobbs Davis, our panel’s big-boat guru, felt the same way: “It was blowing 30, the helm was so gentle and balanced. With the weather ama just kissing the wavetops, the sensation was amazing. It just wanted to keep going faster, slicing through the water really nicely.”

With a centerboard in the center hull, Davis adds, the boat tacked just as well as a monohull, and with electric winches available, the jib wind was easy. The code zero can go in and out all day, especially when the hydrogenator and solar panels are topping off the batteries.

The overall bigness of the boat and the beautiful composite work of the beams, the coamings and the interior give the immediate impression of a bigger boat. “I felt like I was on a 40-footer,” Davis says. “Part of that is stability, but it’s the center hull form as well. The whole thing is exceptionally engineered and the details beautifully executed, including the cabinetry. I know there was a lot of tooling that went into that, so what’s amazing to me is the amount of effort it takes to make that right.”

The judges noted the boat feeling light for its size. Quorning says that’s because he’s finally been able to shed the weight of heavy steel fittings in the folding system. All parts are now composite, all of it done in-house, vacuum-infused vinylester and carbon in the bulkheads and beams.

When folded, the beam is roughly 12 feet, great for storage and slip life. And liveaboard is definitely possible for extended fast getaways. And that’s why Quorning is also proud of what they’ve accomplished with the 36’s interior. They’ve managed to bump out the center hull enough to create space and accommodations that, he says, is on par with most modern 40-footers. All the sails, toys, bikes and gear go into the floats.

“There is tons of headroom, the head is lovely, and the aft cabin is really spacious,” Morgan says. “It was all so functional down below, everything had its place and fit really well.”

The engine is aft, under the cockpit, and the sail drive is not below the belly of the boat, Quorning says. “It gives us more freedom and more space in the main cabin. Less smell, less noise in the cabin.”

To its value and quality, Quorning is transparent about his Dragonflys being perceived as expensive. But building in Denmark is expensive, and quality comes with a price. “It’s a high-tech product with a lot of man-hours,” he says. “But we sell a lot of boats because people really admire our boats.”

Judge Mike Ingham would second that, and if he had the funds, he’d seriously consider buying one and giving the Scandinavian multihull racing circuit a go.

“It’s just such a classy boat, really well made, really functional, something you’d want to own, if you could afford it,” says Ingham. “Its stated purpose is to be a fast, safe, comfortable, offshore cruiser-racer, and it just knocks it out of the park in my mind.”

When we sailed with Quorning in October he shared that there were 35 owners in the queue already. And widely praised throughout Europe, the wait now extends well beyond 2028. It’s no surprise the Dragonfly 36 is in demand.

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Melges is on a roll. From its humble shop in Zenda, Wisconsin, to its Watersports Center in Florida, they reignited the adult dinghy racing scene with their Melges 15, of which more than 1,200 and counting have been built. But the 15, as popular as it is, does have one limitation: it’s a double-hander. So, what’s a larger sailing family to do? Try the Melges 19, a supersized twist on the Melges 15 that delivers a supersized sailing experience for a trio.

“This is our aim at a true three-person family boat,” Eddie Cox of Melges Performance Sailboats tells our judges. “There’s a real gap in our line, and this fills it. We wanted to build something that was simple to use and affordable—under $35,000 for the boat and sails, on the water.”

“Simple,” as Cox describes the boat, does not do justice to its sophistication. It’s an immaculately infused epoxy hull that weighs in at 375 pounds, and once again they entrusted the naval architecture firm of Reichel/Pugh  to deliver a hull shape that Cox says is revolutionary. “It’s so stable yet not sticky upwind,” he says, “This boat is really free upwind, and with a nicer rocker and taper into the transom, it’s a downwind sled, too.”

While cognizant of criticism about yet another one-design class with the potential to disrupt the livelihood of legacy one-designs like the Lightning and Thistle, the judges acknowledged that certain classes will continue to enjoy their followings so long as there are active builders. The Melges 19, they say, will better appeal to a newer generation of sailors who prefer a sportier asymmetric sailing experience. This one’s out of the bag, and the judges must evaluate it on what it is, not what it has the potential to do. Natural selection in the one-design world will do its thing over time, they agreed, but given their enjoyment of sailing the boat, and the commitment of Melges to support its classes, the Melges 19 is certainly the most exciting dinghy of the year.

The Melges 19 incorporates several design features that make it suitable for a family-oriented three-person racing experience over many heavier legacy classes. Lightweight construction makes it easier to launch and handle for a wider range of sailors. And the comfort and ergonomics of the cockpit, which Ingham described as considerably deep, will provide more comfortable hiking. The structural spine that runs the length of the cockpit doubles as a support during tacks, which is beneficial even for older sailors.

They appreciated such simple but modern features as the self-tacking jib and its athwartships jib tracks. But its accessibility, the judges say, is its best trait. The boat accommodates sailors of varied abilities and ages, with spacious and obstruction-free arrangements. The loads on sheets and control lines are not excessive, making it manageable for smaller or less experienced crew members.

“A smaller person can definitely handle it, which is really cool,” says Morgan, a sought-after crew in a number of one-design dinghy classes, including the Lightning and Melges 15. “Nothing on this boat felt overly loaded. It’s just so easy to hike, it’s easy to crew.”

And it was definitely easy to drive—that is the Melges Midas touch. “The boat is just so easy to understand,” Morgan adds, appreciating the simplicity of the boat’s straightforward and minimalist layout, especially after her recent experience rigging a new custom 6 Metre with a cat’s cradle of control lines. “We were never sitting on any hardware, jib sheets or spinnaker gear. We weren’t tangled up in maneuvers. And for the three of us having never roll-tacked together, we did a lot of tacks and jibes with no snafus.”

Davis, Morgan’s fellow judge, who was nursing a bum knee, noted that the cockpit spine goes beyond giving the boat its structural rigidity. “They made that into an ergonomic feature rather than an impediment, so for an older guy with a bad knee, it was great because it gave me something to support coming out of the tack.”

Davis notes that high-quality epoxy construction is what makes the Melges 19 feel “really solid and robust,” but he’s also cognizant of the fact that the boat is plenty powerful, with a generous amount of sail area and a hull that will always want to get-up-and-go. This is not targeted at entry-level families learning to sail, he says—although they certainly could—but rather the families that are already experienced. “For them,” he says, “this thing would be awesome.”

Cox says one reason they chose a daggerboard rather than a keel was to have the boat be easy to trailer and launch in any way—trailer, beach dolly or hoist. And cost considerations are a major factor in the package: from the aluminum rig, to the one-design class sails to stock hardware and ropes.

The intended race-weight range, Cox says, is 475 to 550 pounds, which is right around three average adults, and ideally, one junior sailor to mentor, but Ingham says the ideal number is likely at the bottom of that range. “In this kind of boat, crew weight will matter.”

With sheets and controls spread throughout the boat, the judges agreed with Cox’s pre-sail assessment that there is a job for everybody in the boat. “You can have the driver either just driving or driving and playing the main and backstay,” he says. “You can have the middle person doing the backstay, trimming the main and trimming the kite. You can have the bow person trimming the kite, dousing the kite, setting the kite. You know, you can split up the jobs depending on the skills that you have on the boat, which makes it super conducive to families.”

Ingham ranked the Melges 19 high on his list on account of it delivering perfection. He was especially appreciative of the deep cockpit floor that gave him the feel of being in a sportboat rather than a knees-to-your-chin dinghy. “There really is nothing like it in this modern three-person dinghy category today,” he says. “So for me, it does move the dial. It’s lighter than the legacy boats, it’s asymmetric and it’s a lot more comfortable to hike on. It just moves, and in the bigger puffs it never came close to feeling like it was gonna wipe out. A puff would come, you just bear off…easy and quick.”

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