Sailboat Reviews

Best known for his big race boats, Argentinean designer German Frers drew the lines of the Niagara 31. The 35, as noted, was drawn by Mark Ellis, who also designed the Nonsuch line, and more recently, the Northeast 37 motorsailer. The 35 came first, in 1978, and about 300 were built before its run came to an end in 1995. The Niagara 31 was built between 1980 and 1984. A less popular 26-footer also was built, as well as a 42.

Just over 200 Nicholson 35s were built over more than a 10-year period, with production tailing off in the early 1980s. Most boats were sold in England, but a number were built for American owners, and still more found their way to the U.S. during the rampage of the dollar against foreign currencies in the mid 1980s. The Nicholson 35 is a cruising boat, plain and simple. Its proportions are about as common-sense and moderate as you can get. The boat is clean, almost austere in appearance, with very little exterior wood trim.

C&Cs have been known for good-looking moderate designs, a tradition started by the original partners and the company's chief designer Rob Ball. Some models--like the early Corvettes and C&C 35s--have become classics of production sailboats, and (except for the Mega, a one-design 30-footer of the late 70s) it's hard to think of any C&C which has been extreme or unattractive to the eye.

The C&C 40 entered production as a 1978 model, and was phased out in 1983, replaced by the higher-performance C&C 41. The 40 has good all-around performance upwind and downwind, in both light and heavy air. Despite a wide maximum beam, the boat's ends are fairly well balanced, and the rudder is deep enough to stay in the water in all but a flat-out broach.

In 1983, the Rob-Roy 23 was the only trailerable canoe-stern yawl in town. Its appeal, however, goes beyond novelty. This is a boat with character: She looks salty; sails well with working sails alone; and she provides accommodations for two. Simplicity, from a space-saving centerboard to a "hardened" kick-up rudder, from an unstayed mizzen mast to a tabernacle-mounted mainmast, is a watchword. The Rob Roy can be launched at a ramp and is easily beached due to its 1' 7" draft with the board up. Owners have cruised her for weeks at a time and routinely cross the Gulf Stream and other formidable chunks of open water.

Though designed as a performance cruiser, the designers clearly intended the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 36.2 to be comfortable at anchor. The French Euro-style favors wide scoop transoms, which the marketing agencies highlight through ads showing bikini-clad girls sitting seductively on the steps, shower head in hand. The 36.2 fits this stereotype.

Designed by Phillip Rhodes back in 1960, the Rhodes 22 is a trailerable cruiser for a couple that wants the amenities of a larger boat without putting up with the hassles and expenses of a larger boat. It's clearly not a racing boat. It's also not a "shoehorn special," whose claim to fame is how many persons it can sleep. And it's not an inexpensive boat for its size. The Rhodes 22, from its inception, has been a purpose-built boat. And, with a history of detail improvements and some innovative thinking, it meets that purpose quite well.

The concept for the Express 37 was developed in 1984 by Schumacher and boatbuilder Terry Alsberg of Alsberg Brothers Boatworks in Santa Cruz. Schumacher's objective was to design a boat that would excel on long ocean races that emphasize performance on reaching and running legs, that would meet the TransPac Race minimum size entry requirements, and also would have at least 6' of standing headroom.

The PDQ 32 was introduced in 1996. The concept was to offer a smaller, lighter and less expensive alternative to the PDQ 36. One of the things we like about PDQ boats is the quality materials and generally clean workmanship. A modified epoxy resin (AME 5000) and tri-axial knitted fiberglass fabrics are used in the hull and deck. The mast is supported in part by a carbon fiber-reinforced deck beam. The hulls are solid glass below the waterline and cored with Klegecell foam above the water, an arrangement we think makes a lot of sense. Each hull has an air-tight comparatment forward, which provides a measure of safety in the event of collision, and the keels also have sacrificial sections. When you poke around in lockers, you don't see a lot of unfinished glass.

The Caliber is a peculiar blend of tradition and innovation, of security and performance, of practicality and pizzazz. All of the owners we heard from were "satisfied." One called the 33 his favorite boat over six decades of sailing.