20BOTY23

From a diverse field of new performance sailing entries, vetted and sailed in perfect conditions in Annapolis in October, four favorites emerged as the best of the best. The overall winner, our 2023 Boat of the Year, is the one we’ve been waiting for.

DAVE REED

The Total Package Like a runaway, the Beneteau First 36 careens across a westerly-whipped Chesapeake Bay. The boat’s big-shouldered spinnaker and mainsail are silhouetted in the early October morning light. It’s making trees on the Eastern Shore as we peg the throttle down to keep chase in a 19-foot RIB. The four crewmembers on board are having a casual conversation—like no big deal—when a cold and meaty gust fills the spinnaker. The leech flickers, and the boat surges forward onto plane. Twin rudders zipper the slick streaming out from the transom as the helmsman, hands at 10 and 2 on the carbon steering wheel, effortlessly weaves the boat across waves tops. The boat is, as the saying goes, on rails. “Wicked,” is how senior Boat of the Year judge Chuck…

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Sailing World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2023

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