The Best Sailboats for the High Seas?

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The Best Sailboats for the High Seas?

At the St. Petersburg Boat Show month last month, I had the pleasure of seeing delivery skipper and author John Kretschmers presentation on what he called sailboats for a serious ocean. I have reservations about any ideal boat list, but Kretschmer, who reviews boats for Sail Magazine and whose most recent book Sailing a Serious Ocean is available in our online bookstore, has the ideal background for this sort of work, and a list like this is undeniably helpful for wannabe cruisers who need a place to start their search.

I certainly wouldnt limit my search to boats on such a list, but by paying careful attention to the pros and cons of each, you can find something that suits your own aspirations.

Here are the boats Kretschmer suggests: Contessa 32, Pacific Seacraft 34, Pretorien 35, Cape Dory/Robinhood 36, Valiant/Esprit 37, Prout Snowgoose 37, Alajuela 38, Privelege 39, Freya 39, Passport 40, Caliber 40, Baba 40, Hallberg Rassy 42, Taswell 43, Hylas 44, Norseman 447, Beneteau 456, Outbound 44, Hylas 46, Kaufman 47, Tayana 48, Hylas 49, Amel Maramu 53, and the Sundeer 60/64. For a brief capsule summary of each, be sure to check out his website.

The list is hardly definitive. There are plenty of good boats that arent featured, and some of these would be ill-matched for the wrong sailor-Kretschmer clearly pointed this out during his talk. I like how the list presents a good cross-section of the various shapes and sizes for a boat in this category. For example, Kretschmer includes the Prout Snowgoose and Steve Dashews Sundeer 60, boats that, notwithstanding their successful record at sea, fill an outlying niche.

If I were going to expand the list, one of the heavier-displacement microcruisers like those I blogged about would be a nice addition. Although I would be wary of promoting even the most formidable of this breed as well-suited for a serious ocean, John Neale of Mahina Tiare Expeditions includes one of them, the Dana 24, on his own list of recommend cruising boats. Neales much broader list of boats is accompanied by a very helpful discussion of design elements to consider.

What got me thinking about formidable cruising boats was our series of reports on sailboat construction, focusing specifically on structural details. Although there are plenty of excellent coastal cruisers on the market, once you start talking about offshore duty, scan’tlings (the dimensions for structural components) take on far more importance.

A few years ago we touched on this subject in our Mailport section, encouraging readers to suggest their own nominees for a list of what we called at the time, tough boats, vessels that were built to take a beating, requiring minimal care and upkeep.

Here are some of the boats that were suggested from our readers: Mariner 36, Cal 34, Morgan 43, Swan 43, Bermuda 40, Island Packet 26, Mariner 47, LeComte Northeast 38, Westsail 32, Dana 24, J/35, and the CSY 44.

Id be interested in hearing of other nominees for this list, or other good resources for sailors looking for a short list of good offshore boats.

For those who are frustrated to find that their own ideal boat isn’t on anybodys list, I wouldnt be too miffed. The best line Ive heard in a while on this topic came from Steve Callahan, the author of the survival classic Adrift, who gave a presentation at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show. When I asked Steve, who has sailed extensively on both multihulls and monohulls, what type of boat he preferred, he said, quite seriously. Well, at the end of the day, the best cruising boat is the one that you are on.

Well said.

Darrell Nicholson
Practical Sailor has been independently testing and reporting on sailboats and sailing gear for more than 50 years. Supported entirely by subscribers, Practical Sailor accepts no advertising. Its independent tests are carried out by experienced sailors and marine industry professionals dedicated to providing objective evaluation and reporting about boats, gear, and the skills required to cross oceans. Practical Sailor is edited by Darrell Nicholson, a long-time liveaboard sailor and trans-Pacific cruiser who has been director of Belvoir Media Group's marine division since 2005. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master license, has logged tens of thousands of miles in three oceans, and has skippered everything from pilot boats to day charter cats. His weekly blog Inside Practical Sailor offers an inside look at current research and gear tests at Practical Sailor, while his award-winning column,"Rhumb Lines," tracks boating trends and reflects upon the sailing life. He sails a Sparkman & Stephens-designed Yankee 30 out of St. Petersburg, Florida. You can reach him by email at practicalsailor@belvoir.com.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Interesting list. I am fond of Hylas of which you chose three models. However, I am suspect of their yard and construction techniques and do not have confidence that they are as strong as they are beautiful. Only one Hallberg-Rassy was selected, which is a far more robust and dry sailing boat than the Hylas. Passports make a good boat as does Cape Dory and several others on your list. Didn’t four sailors die on a Beneteau in 2018? Over all it is a decent list.

  2. Almost all of the sailing clubs in San Diego rent Beneteaus out. They are a decent coastal sailboat. I have a couple friends who have even made the crossing to Maui in them..not me, not ever. I consider them a living room boat. Having said that, I am certainly no expert so its just my opinion. If I am crossing an ocean I want a capable kindly strong boat with redundancy built into critical systems.

  3. Curious to think what people think about the early 70s Swan 43 as a cruising boat for a couple with occasional guests for a round the world trip? I have an S&S 30 which is too small but I do have some bias towards their designs. Add a watermaker and some power generation and off you go… Any thoughts?

  4. Walt Schulz’s Shannon 43 is a beautiful, sea kindly, comfortable and sturdy bluewater boat. Walt had not only the ICW and Bahamas in mind when he designed and built 52 of them. He designed for ocean cruising. He believes his boats should outlive him and still sailing for generations. We sailed the Chesapeake, Bahamas, Caribbean and Pacific to Australia on a Shannon 43 ketch. She took great care of us and is still turning heads.

  5. Great article! John Kretchmer is one of my fave modern day sailors. While there is only one Crealock design on John’s list, and the Dana is added on John Neale’s list, I was surprised not to see a Crealock/ Pacific Seacraft 37 mentioned. But there are so many great serious off shore boats, it’s hard to narrow it down to 10. Here’s a few to think about. Cape George Cutter 36. Biscay 36, tradewind 35, Rustler 36, Nicholson 31 (never talked about) and 32. Seldom seen on top 10 lists, but great boats. Thanks for the article.

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