types of small sailing yachts

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

25 of the best small sailing boat designs

• Nic Compton
• August 10, 2022

Nic Compton looks at the 25 yachts under 40ft which have had the biggest impact on UK sailing

There’s nothing like a list of best small sailing boat designs to get the blood pumping.

Everyone has their favourites, and everyone has their pet hates.

This is my list of the 25 best small sailing boat designs, honed down from the list of 55 yachts I started with.

I’ve tried to be objective and have included several boats I don’t particularly like but which have undeniably had an impact on sailing in the UK – and yes, it would be quite a different list if I was writing about another country.

If your favourite isn’t on the best small sailing boat designs list, then send an email to [email protected] to argue the case for your best-loved boat.

Ready? Take a deep breath…

Credit: Bob Aylott

Laurent Giles is best known for designing wholesome wooden cruising boats such as the Vertue and Wanderer III , yet his most successful design was the 26ft Centaur he designed for Westerly, of which a remarkable 2,444 were built between 1969 and 1980.

It might not be the prettiest boat on the water, but it sure packs a lot of accommodation.

The Westerly Centaur was one of the first production boats to be tank tested, so it sails surprisingly well too. Jack L Giles knew what he was doing.

Colin Archer

Credit: Nic Compton

Only 32 Colin Archer lifeboats were built during their designer’s lifetime, starting with Colin Archer in 1893 and finishing with Johan Bruusgaard in 1924.

Yet their reputation for safety spawned hundreds of copycat designs, the most famous of which was Sir Robin Knox-Johnston ’s Suhaili , which he sailed around the world singlehanded in 1968-9.

The term Colin Archer has become so generic it is often used to describe any double-ender – so beware!

Contessa 32

Assent ‘s performance in the 1979 Fastnet Race makes the Contessa 32 a worth entry in the 25 best small sailing boat designs list. Credit: Nic Compton

Designed by David Sadler as a bigger alternative to the popular Contessa 26, the Contessa 32 was built by Jeremy Rogers in Lymington from 1970.

The yacht’s credentials were established when Assent , the Contessa 32 owned by Willy Kerr and skippered by his son Alan, became the only yacht in her class to complete the deadly 1979 Fastnet Race .

When UK production ceased in 1983, more than 700 had been built, and another 20 have been built since 1996.

Cornish Crabber 24

It seemed a daft idea to build a gaff-rigged boat in 1974, just when everyone else had embraced the ‘modern’ Bermudan rig.

Yet the first Cornish Crabber 24, designed by Roger Dongray, tapped into a feeling that would grow and grow and eventually become a movement.

The 24 was followed in 1979 by the even more successful Shrimper 19 – now ubiquitous in almost every harbour in England – and the rest is history.

Drascombe Lugger

Credit: David Harding

There are faster, lighter and more comfortable boats than a Drascombe Lugger.

And yet, 57 years after John Watkinson designed the first ‘lugger’ (soon changed to gunter rig), more than 2,000 have been built and the design is still going strong.

More than any other boat, the Drascombe Lugger opened up dinghy cruising, exemplified by Ken Duxbury’s Greek voyages in the 1970s and Webb Chiles’s near-circumnavigation on Chidiock Tichbourne I and II .

The 26ft Eventide. Credit: David Harding

It’s been described as the Morris Minor of the boating world – except that the majority of the 1,000 Eventides built were lovingly assembled by their owners, not on a production line.

After you’d tested your skills building the Mirror dinghy, you could progress to building a yacht.

And at 24ft long, the Eventide packed a surprising amount of living space.

It was Maurice Griffiths’ most successful design and helped bring yachting to a wider audience.

You either love ’em or you hate ’em – motorsailers, that is.

The Fisher 30 was brought into production in 1971 and was one of the first out-and-out motorsailers.

With its long keel , heavy displacement and high bulwarks, it was intended to evoke the spirit of North Sea fishing boats.

It might not sail brilliantly but it provided an exceptional level of comfort for its size and it would look after you when things turned nasty.

Significantly, it was also fitted with a large engine.

Credit: Rupert Holmes

It should have been a disaster.

In 1941, when the Scandinavian Sailing Federation couldn’t choose a winner for their competition to design an affordable sailing boat, they gave six designs to naval architect Tord Sundén and asked him to combine the best features from each.

The result was a sweet-lined 25ft sloop which was very seaworthy and fast.

The design has been built in GRP since the 1970s and now numbers more than 4,000, with fleets all over the world.

Credit: Kevin Barber

There’s something disconcerting about a boat with two unstayed masts and no foresails, and certainly the Freedom range has its detractors.

Yet as Garry Hoyt proved, first with the Freedom 40, designed in collaboration with Halsey Herreshoff, and then the Freedom 33 , designed with Jay Paris, the boats are simple to sail (none of those clattering jib sheets every time you tack) and surprisingly fast – at least off the wind .

Other ‘cat ketch’ designs followed but the Freedoms developed their own cult following.

Hillyard 12-tonner

The old joke about Hillyards is that you won’t drown on one but you might starve to death getting there.

And yet this religious boatbuilder from Littlehampton built up to 800 yachts which travelled around the world – you can find them cruising far-flung destinations.

Sizes ranged from 2.5 to 20 tons, though the 9- and 12-ton are best for long cruises.

The innovations on Jester means she is one of the best small sailing boat designs in the last 100 years. Credit: Ewen Southby-Tailyour

Blondie Hasler was one of the great sailing innovators and Jester was his testing ground.

She was enclosed, carvel planked and had an unstayed junk rig.

Steering was via a windvane system Hasler created.

Hasler came second in the first OSTAR , proving small boats can achieve great things.

Moody kicked off the era of comfort-oriented boats with its very first design.

The Moody 33, designed by Angus Primrose, had a wide beam and high topside to produce a voluminous hull .

The centre cockpit allowed for an aft cabin, resulting in a 33-footer with two sleeping cabins – an almost unheard of concept in 1973 –full-beam heads and spacious galley.

What’s more, her performance under sail was more than adequate for cruising.

Finally, here was a yacht that all the family could enjoy.

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Nicholson 32

Credit: Genevieve Leaper

Charles Nicholson was a giant of the wooden boat era but one of his last designs – created with his son Peter – was a pioneering fibreglass boat that would become an enduring classic.

With its long keel and heavy displacement, the Nicholson 32 is in many ways a wooden boat built in fibreglass – and indeed the design was based on Nicholson’s South Coast One Design.

From 1966 to 1977, the ‘Nic 32’ went through 11 variations.

Credit: Hallberg-Rassy

In the beginning there was… the Rasmus 35. This was the first yacht built by the company that would become Hallberg-Rassy and which would eventually build more than 9,000 boats.

The Rasmus 35, designed by Olle Enderlein, was a conservative design, featuring a centre cockpit, long keel and well-appointed accommodation.

Some 760 boats were built between 1967 and 1978.

Credit: Larry & Lin Pardey

Lyle Hess was ahead of his time when he designed Renegade in 1949.

Despite winning the Newport to Ensenada race, the 25ft wooden cutter went largely unnoticed.

Hess had to build bridges for 15 years before Larry Pardey asked him to design the 24ft Seraffyn , closely based on Renegade ’s lines but with a Bermudan rig.

Pardey’s subsequent voyages around the world cemented Hess’s reputation and success of the Renegade design.

Would the Rustler 36 make it on your best small sailing boat list? Credit: Rustler Yachts

Six out of 18 entries for the 2018 Golden Globe Race (GGR) were Rustler 36s, with the top three places all going to Rustler 36 skippers.

It was a fantastic endorsement for a long-keel yacht designed by Holman & Pye 40 years before.

Expect to see more Rustler 36s in the 2022 edition of the GGR!

It was Ted Heath who first brought the S&S 34 to prominence with his boat Morning Cloud .

In 1969 the yacht won the Sydney to Hobart Race, despite being one of the smallest boats in the race.

Other epic S&S 34 voyages include the first ever single-handed double circumnavigation by Jon Sanders in 1981

Credit: Colin Work

The Contessa 32 might seem an impossible boat to improve upon, but that’s what her designer David Sadler attempted to do in 1979 with the launch of the Sadler 32 .

That was followed two years later by the Sadler 29 , a tidy little boat that managed to pack in six berths in a comfortable open-plan interior.

The boat was billed as ‘unsinkable’, with a double-skinned hull separated by closed cell foam buoyancy.

What’s more, it was fast, notching up to 12 knots.

Credit: Dick Durham/Yachting Monthly

Another modern take on the Contessa theme was the Sigma 33, designed by David Thomas in 1979.

A modern underwater body combined with greater beam and higher freeboard produced a faster boat with greater accommodation.

And, like the Contessa, the Sigma 33 earned its stripes at the 1979 Fastnet, when two of the boats survived to tell the tale.

A lively one-design fleet soon developed on the Solent which is still active to this day.

A replica of Joshua Slocum’s Spray . Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

The boat Joshua Slocum used for his first singlehanded circumnavigation of the world wasn’t intended to sail much further than the Chesapeake Bay.

The 37ft Spray was a rotten old oyster sloop which a friend gave him and which he had to spend 13 months fixing up.

Yet this boxy little tub, with its over-optimistic clipper bow, not only took Slocum safely around the world but has spawned dozens of modern copies that have undertaken long ocean passages.

Credit: James Wharram Designs

What are boats for if not for dreaming? And James Wharram had big dreams.

First he sailed across the Atlantic on the 23ft 6in catamaran Tangaroa .

He then built the 40ft Rongo on the beach in Trinidad (with a little help from French legend Bernard Moitessier) and sailed back to the UK.

Then he drew the 34ft Tangaroa (based on Rongo ) for others to follow in his wake and sold 500 plans in 10 years.

Credit: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

The Twister was designed in a hurry.

Kim Holman wanted a boat at short notice for the 1963 season and, having had some success with his Stella design (based on the Folkboat), he rushed out a ‘knockabout cruising boat for the summer with some racing for fun’.

The result was a Bermudan sloop that proved nigh on unbeatable on the East Anglian circuit.

It proved to be Holman’s most popular design with more than 200 built.

Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Laurent Giles’s design No15 was drawn in 1935 for a Guernsey solicitor who wanted ‘a boat that would spin on a sixpence and I could sail single-handed ’.

What the young Jack Giles gave him was a pretty transom-sterned cutter, with a nicely raked stem.

Despite being moderate in every way, the boat proved extremely able and was soon racking up long distances, including Humphrey Barton’s famous transatlantic crossing on Vertue XXXV in 1950.

Wanderer II and III

Credit: Thies Matzen

Eric and Susan Hiscock couldn’t afford a Vertue, so Laurent Giles designed a smaller, 21ft version for them which they named Wanderer II .

They were back a few years later, this time wanting a bigger version: the 30ft Wanderer III .

It was this boat they sailed around the world between 1952-55, writing articles and sailing books along the way.

In doing so, they introduced a whole generation of amateur sailors to the possibilities of long-distance cruising.

Westerly 22

The origins of Westerly Marine were incredibly modest.

Commander Denys Rayner started building plywood dinghies in the 1950s which morphed into a 22ft pocket cruiser called the Westcoaster.

Realising the potential of fibreglass, in 1963 he adapted the design to create the Westerly 22, an affordable cruising boat with bilge keels and a reverse sheer coachroof.

Some 332 boats were built to the design before it was relaunched as the Nomad (267 built).

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20 Best Small Sailboats for the Weekender

• By Mark Pillsbury
• Updated: May 24, 2024

In order to go cruising, most of us require a sailboat with a head, a galley, and bunks. The boat, likely a 30-footer and more often a 40-footer, will have electronics for navigation and entertainment, refrigeration if the trip is longer than a coastal hop, an engine for light wind, and, depending on our appetites for food and fun, perhaps a genset to power our toys and appliances.

To go sailing , however, all we really need is a hull, mast, rudder, and sail. To experience the pure joy of sheeting in and scooting off across a lake, bay, or even the open ocean, there’s nothing better than a small sailboat – we’re talking sailboats under 25 feet. You can literally reach out and touch the water as it flows past. You instantly feel every puff of breeze and sense every change in trim.

Some of the boats in this list are new designs, others are time-tested models from small sailboat manufacturers, but every one is easy to rig, simple to sail, and looks like a whole lot of fun either for a solo outing on a breezy afternoon or to keep family and friends entertained throughout your entire sailing season. This list is made up of all types of sailboats , and if you’re looking for a list of some of the best small sailboats for beginners, you’ll find exactly that here.

Any one of these popular boats could be labeled as a trailerable sailboat, daysailer, or even a weekender sailboat. And while most would be labeled as a one or two person sailboat, some could comfortably fit three or even four people.

– CHECK THE WEATHER – The weather changes all the time. Always check the forecast and prepare for the worst case. Safety Tip Provided by the U.S. Coast Guard

Marblehead 22 Daysailer

If you have an eye for elegant lines and your heart goes pitter-patter over just the right amount of overhang beneath a counter transom, the Marblehead 22 daysailer, designed by Doug Zurn and built by Samoset Boatworks in Boothbay, Maine, will definitely raise your pulse. Traditional-looking above the waterline and modern beneath, the cold-molded hull sports a deep bulb keel and a Hall Spars carbon-fiber mast with a wishbone rig and square-top main. The 11-foot-9-inch cockpit can seat a crowd, and a small cuddy forward will let you stow your friends’ gear for the day. samosetboatworks.com

Catalina 22 Sport

Many a harbor plays host to an active fleet of Catalina 22s, one of the most popular small sailboats over the years, given its basic amenities and retractable keel, which allows it to be easily trailered. Recently, the company introduced the Catalina 22 Sport, an updated design that can compete with the older 22s. The boat features a retractable lead keel; a cabin that can sleep four, with a forward hatch for ventilation; and a fractional rig with a mainsail and a roller-furling jib. Lifelines, a swim ladder, and an engine are options, as are cloth cushions; vinyl cushions are standard. The large cockpit will seat a crowd or let a mom-and-pop crew stretch out and enjoy their sail. It’s clear why the Catalina 22 is one of the best sailboats under 25 feet. catalinayachts.com

With its large, open-transom cockpit and sloop rig, the Hunter 22 makes a comfortable daysailer for family and friends. But with its cuddy cabin, twin bunks, optional electrical system, opening screened ports, and portable toilet, a parent and child or a couple could comfortably slip away for an overnight or weekend. Add in the optional performance package, which includes an asymmetric spinnaker, a pole, and a mainsheet traveler, and you could be off to the races. The boat features a laminated fiberglass hull and deck, molded-in nonskid, and a hydraulic lifting centerboard. Mount a small outboard on the stern bracket, and you’re set to go. marlow-hunter.com

Not sure whether you want to race, cruise or just go out for an afternoon sail? Since 1958, sailors have been having a ball aboard the Uffa Fox/George O’Day-designed Daysailer. Fox, who in the 1950s was on the cutting edge of planning-dinghy design, collaborated with Fall River, Massachusetts boatbuilder O’Day Corp. to build the 16-foot Daysailer, a boat that features a slippery hull and a small cuddy cabin that covers the boat roughly from the mast forward. Thousands of Daysailers were built by various builders, and they can be found used for quite affordable prices. There are active racing fleets around the US, and new Daysailers are still in production today, built by Cape Cod Ship Building. capecodshipbuilding.com

BayRaider from Swallow Boats

Easy to rig and trailer, the BayRaider from England’s Swallow Yachts is a relative newcomer to the small-boat market in the United States. Nearly all of its 19 feet 9 inches is open cockpit, though a spray hood can be added to keep the forward sections dry. The BayRaider is ketch-rigged with a gunter-style mainmast. The topmast and mizzen are both carbon-fiber, which is an option for the mainmast as well. The BayRaider can be sailed with a dry hull in lighter conditions or with 300 pounds of water ballast to increase its stability. With the centerboard and hinged rudder raised, the boat can maneuver in even the thinnest water.

$28,900, (904) 234-8779, swallowyachts.com

Big fun can come in small packages, especially if your vessel of choice happens to be the 12 ½-foot Beetle Cat. Designed by John Beetle and first built in 1921, the wooden shallow draft sailboat is still in production today in Wareham, Massachusetts at the Beetle Boat Shop. With a draft of just 2 feet, the boat is well-suited for shallow bays, but equally at home in open coastal waters. The single gaff-rigged sail provides plenty of power in light air and can be quickly reefed down to handle a blow. In a word, sailing a Beetle Cat is fun. beetlecat.com

– LEARN THE NAVIGATION RULES – Know the “Rules of the Road” that govern all boat traffic. Be courteous and never assume other boaters can see you. Safety Tip Provided by the U.S. Coast Guard

West Wight Potter P 19

With berths for four and a workable galley featuring a cooler, a sink, and a stove, West Wight Potter has packed a lot into its 19-foot-long P 19. First launched in 1971, this is a line of boats that’s attracted a true following among trailer-sailors. The P 19′s fully retractable keel means that you can pull up just about anywhere and go exploring. Closed-cell foam fore and aft makes the boat unsinkable, and thanks to its hard chine, the boat is reportedly quite stable under way. westwightpotter.com

NorseBoat 17.5

Designed for rowing and sailing (a motor mount is optional), the Canadian-built NorseBoat 17.5—one of which was spotted by a CW editor making its way through the Northwest Passage with a two-man crew—features an open cockpit, a carbon-fiber mast, and a curved-gaff rig, with an optional furling headsail set on a sprit. The lapstrake hull is fiberglass; the interior is ply and epoxy. The boat comes standard with two rowing stations and one set of 9-foot oars. The boat is designed with positive flotation and offers good load-carrying capacity, which you could put to use if you added the available canvas work and camping tent. NorseBoats offers a smaller sibling, the 12.5, as well; both are available in kit form.

$19,000, (902) 659-2790, norseboat.com

Montgomery 17

Billed as a trailerable pocket cruiser, the Montgomery 17 is a stout-looking sloop designed by Lyle Hess and built out of fiberglass in Ontario, California, by Montgomery Boats. With a keel and centerboard, the boat draws just under 2 feet with the board up and can be easily beached when you’re gunkholing. In the cuddy cabin you’ll find sitting headroom, a pair of bunks, a portable toilet, optional shore and DC power, and an impressive amount of storage space. The deck-stepped mast can be easily raised using a four-part tackle. The builder reports taking his own boat on trips across the Golfo de California and on visits to California’s coastal islands. Montgomery makes 15-foot and 23-foot models, as well. If you’re in search of a small sailboat with a cabin, the Montgomery 17 has to be on your wish list.

With long overhangs and shiny brightwork, the CW Hood 32 is on the larger end of the daysailer spectrum. Designers Chris Hood and Ben Stoddard made a conscious decision to forego a cabin and head in favor of an open cockpit big enough to bring 4 or 5 friends or family out for an afternoon on the water. The CW Hood 32 is sleek and graceful through the water and quick enough to do some racing, but keeps things simple with a self-tacking jib and controls that can be lead back to a single-handed skipper. A top-furling asymmetrical, electric sail drive and Torqeedo outboard are all optional. The CW Hood 32 makes for a great small family sailboat.  cwhoodyachts.com

Sun Cat from Com-Pac

Shallow U.S. East Coast bays and rock-strewn coasts have long been graced by cat boats, whose large, gaff-rigged mainsails proved simple and powerful both on the wind and, better yet, when reaching and running. The 17-foot-4-inch Sun Cat, built by Com-Pac Yachts, updates the classic wooden cat with its fiberglass hull and deck and the easy-to-step Mastender Rigging System, which incorporates a hinged tabernacle to make stepping the mast a one-person job. If you want a personal sailboat ideal for solo sailing, the Sun Can is a great choice. Belowdecks, the twin 6-foot-5-inch berths and many other features and amenities make this cat a willing weekender.

$19,800, (727) 443-4408, com-pacyachts.com

Catalina 16.5

The Catalina 16.5 sits right in the middle of Catalina Yachts’ line of small sailboats, which range from the 12.5 to the 22 Capri and Sport, and it comes in both an easy-to-trailer centerboard model and a shoal-draft fixed-keel configuration. With the fiberglass board up, the 17-foot-2-inch boat draws just 5 inches of water; with the board down, the 4-foot-5-inch draft suggests good windward performance. Hull and deck are hand-laminated fiberglass. The roomy cockpit is self-bailing, and the bow harbors a good-sized storage area with a waterproof hatch. catalinayachts.com

No roundup of best small sailboats (trailerable and fun too) would be complete without a mention of the venerable Hobie 16, which made its debut in Southern California way back in 1969. The company has introduced many other multihulls since, but more than 100,000 of the 16s have been launched, a remarkable figure. The Hobie’s asymmetric fiberglass-and-foam hulls eliminate the need for daggerboards, and with its kick-up rudders, the 16 can be sailed right up to the beach. Its large trampoline offers lots of space to move about or a good place to plant one’s feet when hanging off the double trapezes with a hull flying. The boat comes with a main and a jib; a spinnaker, douse kit, trailer, and beach dolly are optional features. hobiecat.com

Novice sailors or old salts looking for simplicity could both enjoy sailing the Hunter 15. With a fiberglass hull and deck and foam flotation, the boat is sturdily built. The ample freeboard and wide beam provide stability under way, and the heavy-duty rubrail and kick-up rudder mean that you won’t have to worry when the dock looms or the going grows shallow. Both the 15 and its slightly larger 18-foot sibling come standard with roller-furling jibs.

$6,900/$9,500 (boat-show prices for the 15 and 18 includes trailers), (386) 462-3077, marlow-hunter.com

– CHECK THE FIT – Follow these guidelines to make sure your life jacket looks good, stays comfortable and works when you need it. Safety Tip Provided by the U.S. Coast Guard

Super Snark

Under various owners, the Snark brand of sailboats, now built by Meyers Boat Co., has been around since the early 1970s. The Super Snark, at 11 feet, is a simple, easily car-topped daysailer that’s fit out with a lateen rig and sail. Billed as unsinkable, the five boats in the company’s line are built with E.P.S. foam, with the external hull and deck vacuum-formed to the core using an A.B.S. polymer. The Super Snark weighs in at 50 pounds, and with a payload capacity of 310 pounds, the boat can carry two.

$970, (800) 247-6275, meyersboat.com

Norseboat 21.5

Built in Canada, the NorseBoat 21.5 is a rugged looking craft that comes in a couple of configurations: one with an open cockpit and small doghouse, and another with a smaller cockpit and cabin that houses a double berth for two adults and optional quarter berths for the kids. Both carry NorseBoat’s distinctive looking carbon fiber gaff-rigged mast with main and jib (a sprit-set drifter is optional), and come with a ballasted stub keel and centerboard. Because of its lightweight design, the boat can be rowed and is easily trailered.

$36,000 (starting), 902-659-2790, norseboat.com

Flying Scot

Talk about time-tested, the 19-foot Flying Scot has been in production since 1957 and remains a popular design today. Sloop rigged, with a conventional spinnaker for downwind work, the boat is an easily sailed family boat as well as a competitive racer, with over 130 racing fleets across the U.S. Its roomy cockpit can seat six to eight, though the boat is often sailed by a pair or solo. Hull and deck are a fiberglass and balsa core sandwich. With the centerboard up, the boat draws only eight inches. Though intended to be a daysailer, owners have rigged boom tents and berths for overnight trips, and one adventurous Scot sailor cruised his along inland waterways from Philadelphia to New Orleans.

Known primarily for its line of racing dinghys, RS Sailing also builds the 16-foot, 4-inch Venture, which it describes as a cruising and training dinghy. The Venture features a large, self-draining cockpit that will accommodate a family or pack of kids. A furling jib and mainsail with slab reefing come standard with the boat; a gennaker and trapeze kit are options, as is an outboard motor mount and transom swim ladder. The deck and hull are laid up in a fiberglass and Coremat sandwich. The Venture’s designed to be both a good performer under sail, but also stable, making it a good boat for those learning the sport.

$14,900, 203-259-7808, rssailing.com

Topper makes a range of mono- and multihull rotomolded boats, but the model that caught one editor’s eye at Strictly Sail Chicago was the Topaz Taz. At 9 feet, 8 inches LOA and weighing in at 88 pounds, the Taz is not going to take the whole crowd out for the day. But, with the optional mainsail and jib package (main alone is for a single child), the Taz can carry two or three kids or an adult and one child, and would make a fun escape pod when tied behind the big boat and towed to some scenic harbor. The hull features Topper’s Trilam construction, a plastic and foam sandwich that creates a boat that’s stiff, light, and durable, and shouldn’t mind being dragged up on the beach when it’s time for a break.

$2,900 (includes main and jib), 410-286-1960, topazsailboats.com

WindRider WRTango

WRTango, a fast, sturdy, 10-foot trimaran that’s easy to sail, is the newest portable craft from WindRider International. It joins a line that includes the WR16 and WR17 trimarans. The Tango features forward-facing seating, foot-pedal steering, and a low center of gravity that mimics the sensation of sitting in a kayak. It weighs 125 pounds (including the outriggers and carbon-fiber mast), is extremely stable, and has single-sheet sail control. The six-inch draft and kick-up rudder make it great for beaching, while the hull and outriggers are made of rotomolded polyethylene, so it can withstand running into docks and being dragged over rocks.

$3,000, 612-338-2170, windrider.com

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• The Ultimate Guide to Small Sailboats: From Dinghies to Ocean Cruisers

Ahoy there, maritime enthusiasts! Are you tired of being a landlubber and ready to take on the open waters? Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about sailing into the sunset but thought that owning a sailboat was only for the wealthy or the experienced? The good news is that small sailboats are here to prove you wrong. Easy to maneuver, affordable, and incredibly fun, these little vessels offer a world of possibilities for novices and veterans alike. So, why not set sail on this journey and explore what small sailboats have to offer?

Types of Small Sailboats

Dinghies are like the hatchbacks of the sailing world—compact, practical, and surprisingly versatile. Usually measuring under 15 feet, they are the go-to boats for sailing newbies to cut their teeth on. Why? Because they're affordable and easy to manage. Think of a dinghy as your first bicycle—sure, you'll fall a few times, but the lessons learned are invaluable.

If a dinghy is a hatchback, then a daysailer would be your sporty coupe—ideal for a fun day out but not really for a week-long journey. These boats are a bit larger, typically ranging from 15 to 25 feet, and can comfortably accommodate 4 to 6 people. They're perfect for sailing close to shore, having a picnic on the water, or enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Looking for something a bit unique? The catboat could be your feline friend on the water. These boats are known for their single mast and mainsail, making them easier to handle. They’re the sort of boat that likes to lounge lazily in shallow waters but can also pick up the pace when needed.

Features to Consider When Buying

Hull material.

The hull is like the foundation of a house—if it's not strong, everything else fails. Generally, you'll find hulls made of fiberglass, wood, or even aluminum. Each material has its pros and cons. For instance, fiberglass is durable and low-maintenance but can be expensive. Wood offers a classic look but requires more upkeep.

Would you prefer manual or automatic transmission in a car? Similarly, the rig type of your sailboat affects your sailing experience. You might opt for a simple sloop with one mast and two sails or maybe a cutter with an additional headsail for better balance. The choice is yours.

Length and Beam

Here's where size really matters. The length and beam (width) of your boat will significantly impact its stability, storage capacity, and how it handles in different water conditions. It's not always that smaller is easier to handle; sometimes, a slightly larger boat offers better stability and amenities.

Advantages of Small Sailboats

Affordability.

Let's face it—owning a boat isn't cheap. But small sailboats make the dream more accessible. Not only are the upfront costs generally lower, but ongoing maintenance expenses like docking fees, cleaning, and repairs are also more manageable. It's the difference between owning a high-end sports car and a reliable sedan—both can be fun, but one is undoubtedly easier on the wallet.

Maneuverability

Remember the first time you parallel parked a car? Now, imagine doing that with a 40-foot boat! Small sailboats shine when it comes to maneuverability. They're easier to steer, quicker to respond, and a breeze to dock, making them perfect for navigating through narrow channels or crowded marinas.

Low Maintenance

Less is more when it comes to boat maintenance. Smaller surface area means fewer places for dirt and grime to hide, making cleaning easier. Not to mention, smaller engines (if your boat has one) mean less complicated mechanical problems to solve. It's like owning a plant that only needs water once a week—low commitment, high reward.

Popular Small Sailboats

Remember the Volkswagen Beetle of yesteryears? Compact, easy to manage, and immensely popular—that's what Sunfish is to the world of small sailboats. Whether you want to race or just sail leisurely, this boat is a versatile choice that won't disappoint.

For those who crave a bit more adrenaline, the J/22 is like the sports bike of small sailboats. Known for its speed, agility, and performance, this boat is a favorite in racing circles. It's agile enough to make quick turns yet sturdy enough to handle a variety of sea conditions.

Catalina 22

If you're looking for the minivan of small sailboats—functional, family-friendly, and reliable—the Catalina 22 is for you. Ideal for weekend trips with the family, this boat offers a cabin for shelter, a cooking space, and even a small toilet. It's a floating home away from home.

Small Sailing Yachts for Sale

Where to buy.

Buying a boat can be like buying a car; there are various avenues available. You can go through dealerships, check out classified ads, or even explore online platforms like Boat Trader or YachtWorld. Just like you wouldn't buy a car without a test drive, make sure to do a sea trial before making a purchase.

Price Range

The cost of your new aquatic venture can vary widely depending on the size, brand, and features. You might find a used dinghy for as low as $1,000 or a top-of-the-line daysailer that costs over $20,000. Therefore, it's crucial to budget not just for the initial purchase but also for the ongoing costs like maintenance, insurance, and docking fees.

(To be continued...)

Read our top notch articles on topics such as sailing, sailing tips and destinations in our Magazine .

Check out our latest sailing content:

Small Bluewater Sailboats

Definition and features.

When it comes to small sailboats, not all are built for the big leagues, aka open-ocean sailing. However, some compact beauties are fully capable of taking on the mighty seas, and these are commonly referred to as "bluewater sailboats." These boats generally have reinforced hulls, deep keels for added stability, and more robust rigging systems. They also often come with advanced navigation and safety features like radar and autopilot systems.

If you're serious about open-ocean sailing but don't want a massive boat, brands like Nor'Sea and Pacific Seacraft have some excellent offerings. These boats might be small in size (often under 30 feet), but they are big on features and sturdiness, designed to withstand challenging sea conditions.

Boats for Cruising

Characteristics.

A cruiser is like a comfortable sedan equipped for a cross-country road trip. Similarly, cruising boats are designed for longer journeys and typically feature amenities like sleeping cabins, cooking facilities, and even bathrooms. However, small cruising sailboats make these comforts available in a compact form, ensuring you don't have to compromise on luxury while also enjoying the benefits of a small boat.

The market offers various models to suit different cruising styles. If you prefer a classic, vintage look, the Bristol series offers some wonderful choices. Those who want a more modern flair might gravitate towards Hunter or Beneteau models. No matter your preference, there's likely a small cruising sailboat that fits the bill.

Very Small Sailing Boats

What makes them unique.

We're talking about boats usually under 10 feet, often even as small as 6 or 7 feet. These are the "motorbikes" of the sailing world—quick, nimble, and perfect for a joyride, albeit on water. What they lack in amenities, they make up for in sheer fun and the ability to go places bigger boats can't.

Very small sailing boats are perfect for specific types of water activities. You can use them for fishing, exploring secluded inlets, or just enjoying a peaceful day on the water. They are also excellent for teaching kids the basics of sailing due to their simplicity and ease of handling.

Small Ocean Sailboats

Ocean-capable small boats.

Yes, you read that right—there are small sailboats designed for ocean sailing. Unlike their cousins confined to more tranquil waters, these boats have features that make them seaworthy. However, don't assume that any small boat can be taken on an ocean voyage. Specific design features are essential for this kind of challenging adventure.

Essential Features

So what makes a small sailboat ocean-worthy? For starters, a strong hull designed to take on challenging sea conditions. You'd also want a deep keel for stability, a robust rigging system to withstand high winds, and multiple fail-safes like backup navigation systems.

Small Ocean Cruisers

Adaptability.

Ocean cruisers in a small size offer the best of both worlds—they are versatile enough for both coastal cruising and open-ocean voyages. These boats are like your all-terrain vehicles, capable yet compact.

Pros and Cons

While adaptable, small ocean cruisers may lack some of the luxury or speed that larger yachts can offer. However, their versatility and ease of handling often make them a popular choice for those who like a variety of sailing experiences.

Small Cruising Sailboats

Ideal for beginners.

If you're a rookie in the world of sailing, a small cruising sailboat could be your best bet. These boats are typically easy to handle, straightforward to maintain, and offer enough amenities for short trips—making them an ideal starting point.

Popular Models

If you're new to cruising, a couple of models might catch your attention. The Compac 16, known for its easy handling and classic look, is often recommended for beginners. Another excellent option is the Catalina 18, which offers a bit more room without compromising ease of use.

Setting sail on a small sailboat opens up a world of opportunities—whether you're a seasoned sailor looking for a weekend thrill or a beginner aiming for a long-term commitment to the sea. Understanding the types, features, advantages, and options in the small sailboat market will help you make an educated choice. The sea is vast and welcoming, offering adventures and tranquility alike, and a small sailboat can be your perfect vessel for exploration.

So what are you waiting for? Take a look at our range of charter boats and head to some of our favourite  sailing destinations.

FAQs: more about Small Sailboats

What's the best small sailboat for beginners, can small sailboats be used for ocean sailing, how much does a small sailboat cost, what features should i consider when buying a small sailboat, do small sailboats have sleeping accommodations, i am ready to help you with booking a boat for your dream vacation. contact me..

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Small Sailboat Types: Sail Smaller and Savor It All

23rd jun 2024 by elaine lembo / toi williams.

You’ve got the sailing bug and you’ve learned there are many types of small sailboat you should consider buying to get started. Why is that? Because aboard a small boat, you and your senses and your elbow grease play every role, and then some. There’s just no downside to such pure activity so close to the surface of liquid Earth. 

With each lesson, newcomers can discover how easy it is to maneuver a small craft because it is so responsive. Nudge the tiller and immediately experience a shift in course. Pull on a line and feel the hull speed change. The sailboat is your magic carpet, drawing energy from air to move you near and far, from lake and river to estuary and ocean. 

Whether you race, cruise, embark on a high-speed or high-latitude adventure, charter for a holiday, or take a casual day sail, the act of getting outdoors and on the water keeps you fitter, healthier, and mentally sharper — attributes that give you an important edge in your more mature years, whether you trade up to a full-size cruising or performance sailboat, head far offshore, or keep sailing small boats in lakes, bays, and harbors.   

Here's a rundown of the many affordable and diverse small sailboat design types on the market, each offering optimal simplicity and efficiency for learning basic skills.

Types of Small Sailboats

The term "small sailboat" encompasses a wide range of sailboat models. Generally, if a boat is less than 25 feet long, has a mast, rudder, and sail, and can be towed on a trailer, it is considered a small sailboat. Various types of small sailboats have different characteristics that may make them better for certain types of sailing. Let’s review some of the most popular small sailboat types. 

Sailing dinghies

Sailing dinghies are frequently chosen because they are light and responsive. They are usually rigged with one mast and one sail, making them easy to handle, and they have a shallow draft, allowing them to be used almost anywhere. Sailing dinghies are also some of the least expensive sailboats because they tend to be simple with few features. Most are equipped with a retractable daggerboard or a centerboard.

The experience they deliver is one that puts the sailor closer to the surface of the water, whether from the roomy cockpit of a Beetle Cat, or from the more board-like surface of a Sunfish. Dinghy sailing also affords enthusiasts the chance to “hike out” on the hull. Leaning out alters the center of gravity in the boat and makes it go faster as the wind increases.

Beetle Cat :  Beetle Cat sailing dinghies are a traditional design with a single sail (“cat rigged”), about 12 feet long with a draft of 2 feet. They are great for short coastal day cruisers as long as you’re comfortable sitting on the floorboards! A larger 14-foot model includes seats.

Laser : Laser sailing dinghies are fast, nearly 14 feet long and weigh about 130 pounds, making them easy to maneuver and transport. Raced in the Olympics by one sailor (the class is named the ILCA 6 and 7), the boats plane easily in a breeze and require mobility and athleticism in a breeze.

Optimist:  The famed children’s dinghy, at less than 8 feet long, is designed for youth and can be raced under the rules of the International Optimist Dinghy Association by anyone up to 15 years old. 

RS Venture:  The Venture model from RS Sailing is 16 feet long and is often used in training classes for those new to sailing. 

RS Aero:  The Aero model from RS Sailing is nearly 14 feet long and is known for its speed, making it popular with experienced racers.

Sunfish:  A 14-footer, the Sunfish has a short mast, a lateen rig with upper and lower booms and is ideal both or those learning how to sail and experienced racers.

Tiwal 3R:  This award-winning inflatable boat for one or two crew is 10 feet long and 121 pounds when rigged. Its success, aside from performance, is its portability. No trailer needed here — it packs into two 5-foot duffel bags.

Topaz   Taz:  At slightly less than 10 feet, the Topaz Taz is a small, modern sailing dinghy primarily for training children and teenagers. Topaz boats for sale

Topaz Taz. Topper Saliboats photo.

Daysailer is a broad category of small sailboat types based on usage, size, and rig. Daysailers, also known as dayboats, are larger than sailing dinghies and sometimes include overnight accommodations. Keelboat daysailers have a fixed appendage on the bottom of the hull that provides sideways resistance to counter the force of the wind on the sails; centerboards on daysailers perform the same job while also being retractable in shallows. At Rightboat, we list a large selection of daysailers in a wide variety of styles. 

Cape Cod DaySailer:  This 16-foot centerboard sailboat available in standard and racing versions is one of the most affordable models for its size and has enough room to seat several people comfortably. 

Montgomery 17:  This small sloop has a length of roughly 17 feet and a retractable centerboard keel so it can be sailed in just 2 feet of water.

Sun Cat:  This interpretation of a classic cat boat is a centerboard daysailer from Com-Pac Yachts. At nearly 18 feet long, it has twin 6-foot berths as well as a handful of other useful amenities.

West Wight Potter P19:  The P19 model from West Wight Potter features a fractional rig and lifting keel. At just less 20 feet, it is equipped with four berths, galley, sink, and stove. It’s a cozy little cruiser for weekend and longer outings.

Flying Scot:  At just less than 20 feet, the Flying Scot centerboarder is a low-displacement daysailer and popular one-design class. It races with two but can comfortably seat up to eight people. 

Harbor 20:  This stable one-design 20-footer with a 900-pound bulb keel is great for cruising and racing, solo or with a group of friends. Its easily handled self-tacking rig and latest marine technology below the waterline make for a swift and smooth ride.

BayRaider 20:  The BayRaider centerboard boat is an award winner for its portability, performance, good looks, build quality and safety features. Its blend of modern technology and traditional appearance is highlighted by an open cockpit. 

Catalina 22 Sport:  The Catalina 22 Sport daysailer is nearly 22 feet long, can sleep four people, and has a retractable keel for a draft of less than two feet. Catalina boats for sale

Marblehead 22:  The Marblehead 22 is a daysailer with an easily handled rig, bulb keel, and a cockpit that is nearly 12 feet long. It has plenty of room for a group.

Marblehead 22. Zurn photo.

Small Multihulls

Small catamarans and trimarans are a good choice for beginning sailors who want something different. These sailboats offer a wider base and can be rigged with one or two sails. They’re used for cruising, racing, even fishing. Newer to the scene are foiling multihulls such as the UFO foiling catamaran, a simply rigged and stowable lightweight craft that supplies the helmsperson stability on or above the water. Here are some models to consider:

Hobie Wave:  The boomless 13-foot Hobie Wave comes with one sail, forgiving and durable rotomolded construction, and a mast float to keep it from turtling in the event of a capsize.

Hobie 16:  The sloop-rigged Hobie 16 catamaran sparked the beach-cat revolution when designed in 1970 due to its speed off the beach with crew on a trapeze and successful promotion of the Hobie lifestyle. Made of fiberglass, the Hobie 16 is nearly 17 feet long and still known for its international one-design racing class.

Minicat:  Its European manufacturer created a line of inflatable catamarans in various sizes. A key feature is easy assembly from the components, which fit in up to three completely portable bags. 

Weta Trimaran:  With a length a few inches beyond 14 feet, a beam less than 12 feet, this self-tacking, boom-less multihull offers easy recreation and international competition in the form of a global one-design fleet. It is capsize-resistant and packs up to the dimensions of a Laser.

More information: Buying A Sailing Catamaran

Hobie 16. Hobie photo.

This article, originally by Toi Williams, was published in March 2023 and then revamped by Elaine Lembo in June 2024. 

Written By: Elaine Lembo / Toi Williams

Elaine Lembo, editor in chief of the  Caribbean Compass , has built a career around sailing and journalism. She is an award-winning chartering editor for  BoatUS Magazine  and  Cruising World  magazine, among others. She is a fellow of the Metcalf Institute for Environmental Reporting at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.  Find out more at her social media profiles:  LinkedIn  |  Facebook

Toi grew up in coastal New England, Her parents had a second home on Newfound Lake, in New Hampshire. Because of this, Toi was able to enjoy boating at sea as well as in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Today, she regularly wakeboards and waterskis on her Malibu wake surfing boat. She also sailed at sea in Maine, and taken many trips to the Isles of Shoals.

More from: Elaine Lembo / Toi Williams

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Home » Blog » Buy a boat » 5 best small sailboats for sailing around the world

5 best small sailboats for sailing around the world

By Author Fiona McGlynn

Posted on Last updated: April 19, 2023

A small sailboat can take you big places

Small sailboats are the ticket to going cruising NOW — not when you retire, save up enough money, or find the “perfect” bluewater cruising boat. In fact, it’s the first principle in Lin and Larry Pardey’s cruising philosophy: “Go small, go simple, go now.”

Small yachts can be affordable, simple, and seaworthy . However, you won’t see many of them in today’s cruising grounds. In three years and 13,000 nautical miles of bluewater cruising, I could count the number of under 30-foot sailboats I’ve seen on one hand (all of them were skippered by people in their 20s and 30s).

Today’s anchorages are full of 40, 50, and 60-foot-plus ocean sailboats, but that’s not to say you can’t sail the world in a small sailboat. Just look at Alessandro di Benedetto who in 2010 broke the record for the smallest boat to sail around the world non-stop in his 21-foot Mini 6.5 .

So long as you don’t mind forgoing a few comforts, you can sail around the world on a small budget .

What makes a good blue water sailboat

While you might not think a small sailboat is up to the task of going long distances, some of the best bluewater sailboats are under 40 feet.

However, if you’re thinking about buying a boat for offshore cruising, there are a few things to know about what makes a small boat offshore capable .

Smaller equals slower

Don’t expect to be sailing at high speeds in a pocket cruiser. Smaller displacement monohulls are always going to be slower than larger displacement monohulls (see the video below to learn why smaller boats are slower). Therefore a smaller cruiser is going to take longer on a given passage, making them more vulnerable to changes in weather.

A few feet can make a big difference over a week-long passage. On the last leg of our Pacific Ocean crossing, our 35-foot sailboat narrowly avoid a storm that our buddy boat, a 28-foot sailboat, couldn’t. Our friend was only a knot slower but it meant he had to heave to for a miserable three days.

Small but sturdy

If a pocket cruiser encounters bad weather, they will be less able to outrun or avoid it. For this reason, many of the blue water sailboats in this list are heavily built and designed to take a beating.

Yacht design has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Today, new boats are designed to be light and fast. The small sailboats in our list are 30-plus year-old designs and were built in a time when weather forecasts were less accurate and harder to come by.

Back in the day, boat were constructed with thicker fiberglass hulls than you see in modern builds. Rigs, keels, rudders, hulls and decks – everything about these small cruising sailboats was designed to stand up to strong winds and big waves. Some of the boats in this post have skeg-hung rudders and most of them are full keel boats.

The pros and cons of pocket cruiser sailboats

Pocket cruiser sailboats present certain advantages and disadvantages.

More affordable

Their smaller size makes them affordable bluewater sailboats. You can often find great deals on pocket cruisers and sometimes you can even get them for free.

You’ll also save money on retrofits and repairs because small cruising sailboats need smaller boat parts (which cost a lot less) . For example, you can get away with smaller sails, ground tackle, winches, and lighter lines than on a bigger boat.

Moorage, haul-outs, and marine services are often billed by foot of boat length . A small sailboat makes traveling the world , far more affordable!

When something major breaks (like an engine) it will be less costly to repair or replace than it would be on a bigger boat.

Less time consuming

Smaller boats tend to have simpler systems which means you’ll spend less time fixing and paying to maintain those systems. For example, most small yachts don’t have showers, watermakers , hot water, and electric anchor windlasses.

On the flip side, you’ll spend more time collecting water (the low-tech way) . On a small sailboat, this means bucket baths, catching fresh water in your sails, and hand-bombing your anchor. Though less convenient, this simplicity can save you years of preparation and saving to go sailing.

Oh, and did I mention that you’ll become a complete water meiser? Conserving water aboard becomes pretty important when you have to blue-jug every drop of it from town back to your boat.

Easier to sail

Lastly, smaller boats can be physically easier to sail , just think of the difference between raising a sail on a 25-foot boat versus a 50-foot boat! You can more easily single-hand or short-hand a small sailboat. For that reason, some of the best solo blue water sailboats are quite petite.

As mentioned above small boats are slow boats and will arrive in port, sometimes days (and even weeks) behind their faster counterparts on long offshore crossings.

Consider this scenario: two boats crossed the Atlantic on a 4,000 nautical mile route. The small boat averaged four miles an hour, while the big boat averaged seven miles an hour. If both started at the same time, the small boat will have completed the crossing two weeks after the larger sailboat!

Less spacious

Living on a boat can be challenging — living on a small sailboat, even more so! Small cruising boats don’t provide much in the way of living space and creature comforts.

Not only will you have to downsize when you move onto a boat  you’ll also have to get pretty creative when it comes to boat storage.

It also makes it more difficult to accommodate crew for long periods which means there are fewer people to share work and night shifts.

If you plan on sailing with your dog , it might put a small boat right out of the question (depending on the size of your four-legged crew member).

Less comfortable

It’s not just the living situation that is less comfortable, the sailing can be pretty uncomfortable too! Pocket cruisers tend to be a far less comfortable ride than larger boats as they are more easily tossed about in big ocean swell.

Here are our 5 favorite small blue water sailboats for sailing around the world

When we sailed across the Pacific these were some of the best small sailboats that we saw. Their owners loved them and we hope you will too!

The boats in this list are under 30 feet. If you’re looking for something slightly larger, you might want to check out our post on the best bluewater sailboats under 40 feet .

Note: Price ranges are based on SailboatListings.com and YachtWorld.com listings for Aug. 2018

Albin Vega 27($7-22K USD)

The Albin Vega has earned a reputation as a bluewater cruiser through adventurous sailors like Matt Rutherford, who in 2012 completed a 309-day solo nonstop circumnavigation of the Americas via Cape Horn and the Northwest Passage (see his story in the documentary Red Dot on the Ocean ). 

• Hull Type: Long fin keel
• Hull Material: GRP (fibreglass)
• Length Overall:27′ 1″ / 8.25m
• Waterline Length:23′ 0″ / 7.01m
• Beam:8′ 1″ / 2.46m
• Draft:3′ 8″ / 1.12m
• Rig Type: Masthead sloop rig
• Displacement:5,070lb / 2,300kg
• Designer:Per Brohall
• Builder:Albin Marine AB (Swed.)
• Year First Built:1965
• Year Last Built:1979
• Number Built:3,450

Cape Dory 28 ($10-32K USD) 

This small cruising sailboat is cute and classic as she is rugged and roomy. With at least one known circumnavigation and plenty of shorter bluewater voyages, the Cape Dory 28 has proven herself offshore capable.

• Hull Type: Full Keel
• Length Overall:28′ 09″ / 8.56m
• Waterline Length:22′ 50″ / 6.86m
• Beam:8’ 11” / 2.72m
• Draft:4’ 3” / 1.32m
• Rig Type:Masthead Sloop
• Displacement:9,300lb / 4,218kg
• Sail Area/Displacement Ratio:52
• Displacement/Length Ratio:49
• Designer: Carl Alberg
• Builder: Cape Dory Yachts (USA)
• Year First Built:1974
• Year Last Built:1988
• Number Built: 388

Dufour 29 ($7-23K)

As small bluewater sailboats go, the Dufour 29 is a lot of boat for your buck. We know of at least one that sailed across the Pacific last year. Designed as a cruiser racer she’s both fun to sail and adventure-ready. Like many Dufour sailboats from this era, she comes equipped with fiberglass molded wine bottle holders. Leave it to the French to think of everything!

• Hull Type: Fin with skeg-hung rudder
• Length Overall:29′ 4″ / 8.94m
• Waterline Length:25′ 1″ / 7.64m
• Beam:9′ 8″ / 2.95m
• Draft:5′ 3″ / 1.60m
• Displacement:7,250lb / 3,289kg
• Designer:Michael Dufour
• Builder:Dufour (France)
• Year First Built:1975
• Year Last Built:1984

Vancouver 28 ($15-34K)

A sensible small boat with a “go-anywhere” attitude, this pocket cruiser was designed with ocean sailors in mind. One of the best cruising sailboats under 40 feet, the Vancouver 28 is great sailing in a small package.

• Hull Type:Full keel with transom hung rudder
• Length Overall: 28′ 0″ / 8.53m
• Waterline Length:22’ 11” / 6.99m
• Beam:8’ 8” / 2.64m
• Draft:4’ 4” / 1.32m
• Rig Type: Cutter rig
• Displacement:8,960lb / 4,064 kg
• Designer: Robert B Harris
• Builder: Pheon Yachts Ltd. /Northshore Yachts Ltd.
• Year First Built:1986
• Last Year Built: 2007
• Number Built: 67

Westsail 28 ($30-35K)

Described in the 1975 marketing as “a hearty little cruiser”, the Westsail 28 was designed for those who were ready to embrace the cruising life. Perfect for a solo sailor or a cozy cruising couple!

• Hull Type: Full keel with transom hung rudder
• Hull Material:GRP (fibreglass)
• Length Overall:28′ 3” / 8.61m
• Waterline Length:23’ 6” / 7.16m
• Beam:9’ 7” / 2.92m
• Displacement:13,500lb / 6,124kg
• Designer: Herb David
• Builder: Westsail Corp. (USA)
• Number Built:78

Feeling inspired? Check out the “go small” philosophy of this 21-year-old who set sail in a CS 27.

Fiona McGlynn is an award-winning boating writer who created Waterborne as a place to learn about living aboard and traveling the world by sailboat. She has written for boating magazines including BoatUS, SAIL, Cruising World, and Good Old Boat. She’s also a contributing editor at Good Old Boat and BoatUS Magazine. In 2017, Fiona and her husband completed a 3-year, 13,000-mile voyage from Vancouver to Mexico to Australia on their 35-foot sailboat.

Saturday 1st of September 2018

Very useful list, but incomplete - as it would necessarily be, considering the number of seaworthy smaller boats that are around.

In particular, you missed/omitted the Westerly "Centaur" and its follow-on model, the "Griffon". 26 feet LOA, bilge-keelers, weighing something over 6000 pounds, usually fitted with a diesel inboard.

OK, these are British designs, and not that common in the US, but still they do exist, they're built like tanks, and it's rumored that at least one Centaur has circumnavigated.

Friday 31st of August 2018

This is a helpful list, thank you. I don't think most people would consider a 28' boat a pocket cruiser, though!

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Types of Sailboats: A Complete Guide

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

June 15, 2022

Learning the different types of sailboats can help you identify vessels and choose the right boat.

In this article, we'll cover the most common kinds of sailboats, their origins, and what they're used for. We'll also go over the strengths and weaknesses of each design, along with when they're most useful.

The most common kind of sailboat is the sloop, as it's simple to operate and versatile. Other common sailboat types include the schooner, cutter, cat, ketch, schooner, catamaran, and trimaran. Other sailboat variations include pocket cruisers, motorsailers, displacement, and shoal-draft vessels.

The information found in this article is sourced from boat reference guides, including A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America by Richard M. Sherwood and trusted sources in the sailing community.

Table of contents

Distinguishing Types of Sailboats

In this article, we'll distinguish sailboats by traits such as their hull type, rig, and general configuration. Some sailboats share multiple characteristics with other boats but fall into a completely different category. For example, a sailboat with a Bermuda rig, a large engine, and a pilothouse could technically be called a sloop, but it's more likely a motorsailer.

When discerning sailboat type, the first most obvious place to look is the hull. If it has only one hull, you can immediately eliminate the trimaran and the catamaran. If it has two or more hulls, it's certainly not a typical monohull vessel.

The next trait to consider is the rig. You can tell a lot about a sailboat based on its rig, including what it's designed to be used for. For example, a long and slender sailboat with a tall triangular rig is likely designed for speed or racing, whereas a wide vessel with a complex gaff rig is probably built for offshore cruising.

Other factors that determine boat type include hull shape, overall length, cabin size, sail plan, and displacement. Hull material also plays a role, but every major type of sailboat has been built in both wood and fiberglass at some point.

Sailboat vs. Motorsailer

Most sailboats have motors, but most motorized sailboats are not motorsailers. A motorsailer is a specific kind of sailboat designed to run efficiently under sail and power, and sometimes both.

Most sailboats have an auxiliary engine, though these power plants are designed primarily for maneuvering. These vessels cannot achieve reasonable speed or fuel-efficiency. Motorsailers can operate like a powerboat.

Motorsailers provide great flexibility on short runs. They're great family boats, and they're popular in coastal communities with heavy boat traffic. However, these features come at a cost. Motorsailers aren't the fastest or most efficient powerboats, and they're also not the most agile sailboats. That said, they make an excellent general-purpose sailing craft.

Monohull vs. Multi-hull: Which is Better?

Multihull sailboats are increasingly popular, thanks to advances and lightweight materials, and sailboat design. But are they better than traditional sailboats? Monohulls are easier to maintain and less expensive, and they offer better interior layouts. Multihulls are more stable and comfortable, and they're significantly easier to control. Multihull sailboats also have a speed advantage.

Monohull Sailboats

A monohull sailboat is a traditionally-shaped vessel with a single hull. The vast majority of consumer sailboats are monohulls, as they're inexpensive to produce and easy to handle. Monohull sailboats are proven and easy to maintain, though they lack the initial stability and motion comfort of multi-hull vessels.

Monohull sailboats have a much greater rig variety than multi-hull sailboats. The vast majority of multihull sailboats have a single mast, whereas multi-masted vessels such as yawls and schooners are always monohulls. Some multi-hull sailboats have side-by-side masts, but these are the exception.

Catamaran Sailboats

The second most common sailboat configuration is the catamaran. A catamaran is a multihull sailboat that has two symmetrical hulls placed side-by-side and connected with a deck. This basic design has been used for hundreds of years, and it experienced a big resurgence in the fiberglass boat era.

Catamarans are fast, efficient, and comfortable. They don't heel very much, as this design has excellent initial stability. The primary drawback of the catamaran is below decks. The cabin of a catamaran is split between both hulls, which often leaves less space for the galley, head, and living areas.

Trimaran Sailboats

Trimarans are multi-hull sailboats similar to catamarans. Trimarans have three hulls arranged side-by-side. The profile of a trimaran is often indistinguishable from a catamaran.

Trimarans are increasingly popular, as they're faster than catamarans and monohulls and considerably easier to control. Trimarans suffer from the same spatial limitations as catamarans. The addition of an extra hull adds additional space, which is one reason why these multi-hull vessels are some of the best-selling sailboats on the market today.

Sailboat Rig Types

Rigging is another way to distinguish sailboat types. The rig of a sailboat refers to it's mast and sail configuration. Here are the most common types of sailboat rigs and what they're used for.

Sloops are the most common type of sailboat on the water today. A sloop is a simple single-mast rig that usually incorporates a tall triangular mainsail and headsail. The sloop rig is easy to control, fun to sail, and versatile. Sloops are common on racing sailboats as they can sail quite close to the wind. These maneuverable sailboats also have excellent windward performance.

The sloop rig is popular because it works well in almost any situation. That said, other more complex rigs offer finer control and superior performance for some hull types. Additionally, sloops spread their entire sail area over just to canvases, which is less flexible than multi-masted rigs. The sloop is ideal for general-purpose sailing, and it's proven itself inland and offshore.

Sloop Features:

• Most popular sailboat rig
• Single mast
• One mainsail and headsail
• Typically Bermuda-rigged
• Easy to handle
• Great windward performance
• Less precise control
• Easier to capsize
• Requires a tall mast

Suitable Uses:

• Offshore cruising
• Coastal cruising

Cat (Catboat)

The cat (or catboat) is a single-masted sailboat with a large, single mainsail. Catboats have a thick forward mast, no headsail, and an exceptionally long boom. These vessels are typically gaff-rigged, as this four-edged rig offers greater sail area with a shorter mast. Catboats were popular workboats in New England around the turn of the century, and they have a large following today.

Catboats are typically short and wide, which provides excellent stability in rough coastal conditions. They're hardy and seaworthy vessels, but they're slow and not ideal for offshore use. Catboats are simple and easy to control, as they only have a single gaff sail. Catboats are easy to spot thanks to their forward-mounted mast and enormous mainsail.

Catboat Features:

• Far forward-mounted single mast
• Large four-sided gaff sail
• Short and wide with a large cockpit
• Usually between 20 and 30 feet in length
• Excellent workboats
• Tough and useful design
• Great for fishing
• Large cockpit and cabin
• Not ideal for offshore sailing
• Single sail offers less precise control
• Slow compared to other rigs
• Inland cruising

At first glance, a cutter is difficult to distinguish from a sloop. Both vessels have a single mast located in roughly the same position, but the sail plan is dramatically different. The cutter uses two headsails and often incorporates a large spar that extends from the bow (called a bowsprit).

The additional headsail is called a staysail. A sloop only carries one headsail, which is typically a jib. Cutter headsails have a lower center of gravity which provides superior performance in rough weather. It's more difficult to capsize a cutter, and they offer more precise control than a sloop. Cutters have more complex rigging, which is a disadvantage for some people.

Cutter Features:

• Two headsails
• Long bowsprit
• Similar to sloop
• Gaff or Bermuda-rigged
• Fast and efficient
• Offers precise control
• Superior rough-weather performance
• More complex than the sloop rig
• Harder to handle than simpler rigs

Perhaps the most majestic type of sailboat rig, the schooner is a multi-masted vessel with plenty of history and rugged seaworthiness. The schooner is typically gaff-rigged with short masts and multiple sails. Schooners are fast and powerful vessels with a complex rig. These sailboats have excellent offshore handling characteristics.

Schooners have a minimum of two masts, but some have three or more. The aftermost large sail is the mainsail, and the nearly identical forward sail is called the foresail. Schooners can have one or more headsail, which includes a cutter-style staysail. Some schooners have an additional smaller sale aft of the mainsail called the mizzen.

Schooner Features:

• At least two masts
• Usually gaff-rigged
• One or more headsails
• Excellent offshore handling
• Precise control
• Numerous sail options (headsails, topsails, mizzen)
• Fast and powerful
• Complex and labor-intensive rig
• Difficult to adjust rig single-handed
• Offshore fishing

Picture a ketch as a sloop or a cutter with an extra mast behind the mainsail. These vessels are seaworthy, powerful, excellent for offshore cruising. A ketch is similar to a yawl, except its larger mizzen doesn't hang off the stern. The ketch is either gaff or Bermuda-rigged.

Ketch-rigged sailboats have smaller sails, and thus, shorter masts. This makes them more durable and controllable in rough weather. The mizzen can help the boat steer itself, which is advantageous on offshore voyages. A ketch is likely slower than a sloop or a cutter, which means you aren't likely to find one winning a race.

Ketch Features:

• Headsail (or headsails), mainsail, and mizzen
• Mizzen doesn't extend past the rudder post
• Good offshore handling
• Controllable and mild
• Shorter and stronger masts
• Easy self-steering
• Slower than sloops and cutters
• Less common on the used market

A dinghy is a general term for a small sailboat of fewer than 28 feet overall. Dinghys are often dual-power boats, which means they usually have oars or a small outboard in addition to a sail. These small boats are open-top and only suitable for cruising in protected waters. Many larger sailboats have a deployable dinghy on board to get to shore when at anchor.

Dinghy Features:

• One or two people maximum capacity
• Easy to sail
• Works with oars, sails, or an outboard
• Great auxiliary boat
• Small and exposed
• Not suitable for offshore use
• Going from anchor to shore
• Protected recreational sailing (lakes, rivers, and harbors)

Best Sailboat Type for Stability

Stability is a factor that varies widely between sailboat types. There are different types of stability, and some sailors prefer one over another. For initial stability, the trimaran wins with little contest. This is because these vessels have a very high beam-to-length ratio, which makes them much less prone to rolling. Next up is the catamaran, which enjoys the same benefit from a wide beam but lacks the additional support of a center hull section.

It's clear that in most conditions, multihull vessels have the greatest stability. But what about in rough weather? And what about capsizing? Multihull sailboats are impossible to right after a knockdown. This is where full-keel monohull sailboats excel.

Traditional vessels with deep displacement keels are the safest and most stable in rough weather. The shape, depth, and weight of their keels keep them from knocking over and rolling excessively. In many cases, these sailboats will suffer a dismasting long before a knockdown. The primary disadvantage of deep-keeled sailboats is their tendency to heel excessively. This characteristic isn't hazardous, though it can make novice sailors nervous and reduce cabin comfort while underway.

Best Sailboat Type for Offshore Cruising

The best sailboat type for offshore cruising is the schooner. These graceful aid robust vessels have proven themselves over centuries as durable and capable vessels. They typically use deep displacement keels, which makes them stable in rough weather and easy to keep on course.

That said, the full answer isn't quite so simple. Modern multihull designs are an attractive option, and they have also proven to be strong and safe designs. Multihull sailboats are an increasingly popular option for offshore sailors, and they offer comfort that was previously unknown in the sailing community.

Many sailors cross oceans in basic Bermuda-rigged monohulls and take full advantage of a fin-keel design speed. At the end of the day, the best offshore cruising sailboat is whatever you are comfortable handling and living aboard. There are physical limits to all sailboat designs, though almost any vessel can make it across an ocean if piloted by a competent skipper and crew.

Best Sailboat Type for Racing The modern lightweight Bermuda-rigged sailboat is the king of the regatta. When designed with the right kind of hull, these vessels are some of the fastest sailboats ever developed. Many boats constructed between the 1970s and today incorporate these design features due to their favorable coastal and inland handling characteristics. Even small sailboats, such as the Cal 20 and the Catalina 22, benefit from this design. These boats are renowned for their speed and handling characteristics.

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Discover the Best Types of Small Boats for Every Water Adventure

In the realm of miniature vessels, a unanimous chorus sings the praises of small boats. These compact aquatic conveyances hold sway with a multitude of compelling arguments .

• Initially , their allure stems from their cost-effectiveness, offering a wallet-friendly gateway to the aqueous wilderness.
• Secondly , their unparalleled ratio of time spent afloat to maintenance time sets them apart from their larger counterparts.
• Thirdly , their lightweight design and portability make them effortlessly reachable, truck-fittable, and stowable in remote alcoves.
• Lastly , they serve as exceptional tutors for honing boat handling proficiency, whether in the hands of the youthful or the mature; skills cultivated in small vessels readily translate to their larger brethren.

Amidst this favorable backdrop, the greatest appeal of small boats lies in the abundance of diverse options available. A cornucopia of small boat types caters to an array of aquatic activities . Even those with substantial vessels often keep a small counterpart on standby for specific tasks or when the grandiose boat's logistics prove daunting.

Which variety of small boats aligns with your aspirations ? The ensuing guide categorizes them into a dozen distinct genres, encompassing rowing dinghies, sailing boats, kayaks, and petite powerboats, to name a few.

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Types of Small Boats

Defining a precise threshold for small boats remains a subjective endeavor. However, consensus typically pegs them at under 30 feet in length and, in some circles, considerably shorter . Your ideal choice among small boats hinges on the intended aquatic pursuits and launch locations. Herein, an overview of the fundamental small boat types awaits your exploration.

Flat-Bottomed Jon Boats

Characterized by their aluminum construction, flat hulls, squared bows, outboard engines, and bench seating, Jon boats emerge as uncomplicated and economical options. Their simplicity extends to ease of launching, loading, and maintenance . The cost of the engine bolsters the affordability of these boats.

The Versatile Skiff

Skiffs, occupying the midrange in cost and complexity, beckon those seeking simplicity at a reasonable price. Typically featuring uncomplicated hulls, outboard engines, and seating, skiffs may sport center console helm stations in contemporary iterations . Maneuvering a boat proves relatively straightforward, with minimal maintenance requirements, and their compact size facilitates diverse launch locations.

Diverse Dinghies

The term " dinghy " encompasses various vessels, including sailboat racing classes. Dinghies generally measure up to 10 feet, though sail-equipped variants may extend to 15 feet or more. They derive propulsion from sails, motors, oars, or paddles and boast varied materials, such as fiberglass, aluminum, wood, or inflatable construction. Some serve as tenders for larger vessels, enabling access to shallow waters and shores .

Inflatable Options

Inflatable boats come in two primary forms. The first type is entirely inflatable and collapsible, allowing for convenient storage within larger vessels . The second variant combines a rigid fiberglass hull with inflatable sides. Inflatables span from 6 to over 40 feet, often serving as tenders for sailboats. Their versatility makes them adaptable to a range of scenarios.

Lightweight Aluminum Fishing Boats

Aluminum fishing boats excel in practicality, offering lightweight construction, ease of transport, and minimal upkeep. They typically cost less than their counterparts and exhibit commendable fuel efficiency . Lengths vary from 8 to 24 feet, with shorter models resembling Jon boats and longer versions boasting sophistication and speed.

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Pontoons Boats

Pontoon boats come in diverse sizes and shapes, from compact fishing pontoons to performance-oriented cruisers. Ranging from 15 to 30 feet, they flaunt a spacious, flat profile accommodating numerous passengers . Affordability, easy trailering, and launch capabilities enhance their appeal.

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Canoes endure as a cherished traditional choice, celebrated for user-friendliness, low maintenance, and portability. These paddle-powered vessels navigate various shallow waters and typically accommodate multiple passengers . Canoes adopt diverse shapes, catering to speed enthusiasts, leisurely cruisers, and avid anglers alike.

The Modern Appeal of Kayaks

Modern kayaks garner popularity for many of the same reasons as canoes. Designed primarily for one or two occupants, kayaks propel through water with double-bladed paddles. Some feature enclosed cockpits, distinct from open-canoe designs . Innovations include foot pedal propulsion and submerged fins for efficient navigation.

Jet Boats for Thrills

Jet boats come to the fore for enthusiasts seeking exhilarating speed and maneuverability. Ranging from 14 to 24 feet, these vessels prioritize velocity and excitement . Jet engines generate thrust by directing high-pressure water through a nozzle, with options for both inboard and outboard configurations.

Personal Watercraft: Compact and Speedy

Personal watercraft, often known by brand names like Jet Ski, represent some of the smallest and swiftest boats available. Designed for one or two occupants, they zip across the water's surface at impressive speeds . Available in sit-down and stand-up variations, these water bikes and water scooters offer a broad selection from various manufacturers.

Deck Boats: Space and Power

Among the larger small boats, deck boats stretch up to 26 feet, affording ample room for passengers and gear. Their open deck layout , forward and aft seating , and powerful engines cater to family outings and recreational activities on the water.

Bowriders: Versatile Watercraft

Bowrider boats, while occasionally extending beyond 30 feet, offer smaller versions measuring under 20 feet . Featuring V-shaped hulls for wave-cutting efficiency, they excel in maneuverability and adapt to diverse aquatic settings, accommodating various activities.

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Types of Small Motorboats

Small motorboats, collectively known as cruisers and runabouts, encompass various powerboats . These boats may employ inboard or outboard motors, with representations like bowriders, deck boats, and jet boats.

Types of Small Sailing Boats

Small sailboats, usually under 25 feet long, embrace masts, rudders, and sails. Varieties include daysailers, small sloops, " cat " rig boats, and multihulls with two or three hulls for stability. Expect the possibility of a lively journey when the wind picks up.

⚡️Another article:   Small Sailboat Types: Your Guide to the Perfect Vessel

Types of Small Fishing Boats

While most small boats can serve as fishing vessels, aluminum fishing boats and jon boats are especially well-suited for anglers. Their versatility extends to diverse waters, including narrow inlets, bays, flats, and shallow shores . From kayaks to skiffs, these boats can come equipped with angling-specific features.

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Types of Small Boats for Lakes

Selecting the ideal small boat for lake navigation hinges on seamless travel around the lake . Options span from manually powered canoes and kayaks to larger powerboats like deck boats, tailored to match the lake's wave conditions and size.

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Types of Small River Boats

River boating mandates constant downstream drift, necessitating motor-equipped boats for returning upstream. Small river boats, including Jon , pontoon , deck , and jet boats , accommodate this requirement, enabling fluid river exploration.

In embracing the diversity of small boats, one can embark on aquatic adventures that align with their desires and the water's character. The world of petite vessels beckons, promising memorable journeys on the open water .

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The Ultimate Guide to Sail Types and Rigs (with Pictures)

What's that sail for? Generally, I don't know. So I've come up with a system. I'll explain you everything there is to know about sails and rigs in this article.

What are the different types of sails? Most sailboats have one mainsail and one headsail. Typically, the mainsail is a fore-and-aft bermuda rig (triangular shaped). A jib or genoa is used for the headsail. Most sailors use additional sails for different conditions: the spinnaker (a common downwind sail), gennaker, code zero (for upwind use), and stormsail.

Each sail has its own use. Want to go downwind fast? Use a spinnaker. But you can't just raise any sail and go for it. It's important to understand when (and how) to use each sail. Your rigging also impacts what sails you can use.

On this page:

Different sail types, the sail plan of a bermuda sloop, mainsail designs, headsail options, specialty sails, complete overview of sail uses, mast configurations and rig types.

This article is part 1 of my series on sails and rig types. Part 2 is all about the different types of rigging. If you want to learn to identify every boat you see quickly, make sure to read it. It really explains the different sail plans and types of rigging clearly.

Guide to Understanding Sail Rig Types (with Pictures)

First I'll give you a quick and dirty overview of sails in this list below. Then, I'll walk you through the details of each sail type, and the sail plan, which is the godfather of sail type selection so to speak.

Click here if you just want to scroll through a bunch of pictures .

Here's a list of different models of sails: (Don't worry if you don't yet understand some of the words, I'll explain all of them in a bit)

• Jib - triangular staysail
• Genoa - large jib that overlaps the mainsail
• Spinnaker - large balloon-shaped downwind sail for light airs
• Gennaker - crossover between a Genoa and Spinnaker
• Code Zero or Screecher - upwind spinnaker
• Drifter or reacher - a large, powerful, hanked on genoa, but made from lightweight fabric
• Windseeker - tall, narrow, high-clewed, and lightweight jib
• Trysail - smaller front-and-aft mainsail for heavy weather
• Storm jib - small jib for heavy weather

I have a big table below that explains the sail types and uses in detail .

I know, I know ... this list is kind of messy, so to understand each sail, let's place them in a system.

The first important distinction between sail types is the placement . The mainsail is placed aft of the mast, which simply means behind. The headsail is in front of the mast.

Generally, we have three sorts of sails on our boat:

• Mainsail: The large sail behind the mast which is attached to the mast and boom
• Headsail: The small sail in front of the mast, attached to the mast and forestay (ie. jib or genoa)
• Specialty sails: Any special utility sails, like spinnakers - large, balloon-shaped sails for downwind use

The second important distinction we need to make is the functionality . Specialty sails (just a name I came up with) each have different functionalities and are used for very specific conditions. So they're not always up, but most sailors carry one or more of these sails.

They are mostly attached in front of the headsail, or used as a headsail replacement.

The specialty sails can be divided into three different categories:

• downwind sails - like a spinnaker
• light air or reacher sails - like a code zero
• storm sails

The parts of any sail

Whether large or small, each sail consists roughly of the same elements. For clarity's sake I've took an image of a sail from the world wide webs and added the different part names to it:

• Head: Top of the sail
• Tack: Lower front corner of the sail
• Foot: Bottom of the sail
• Luff: Forward edge of the sail
• Leech: Back edge of the sail
• Clew: Bottom back corner of the sail

So now we speak the same language, let's dive into the real nitty gritty.

Basic sail shapes

Roughly speaking, there are actually just two sail shapes, so that's easy enough. You get to choose from:

• square rigged sails
• fore-and-aft rigged sails

I would definitely recommend fore-and-aft rigged sails. Square shaped sails are pretty outdated. The fore-and-aft rig offers unbeatable maneuverability, so that's what most sailing yachts use nowadays.

Square sails were used on Viking longships and are good at sailing downwind. They run from side to side. However, they're pretty useless upwind.

A fore-and-aft sail runs from the front of the mast to the stern. Fore-and-aft literally means 'in front and behind'. Boats with fore-and-aft rigged sails are better at sailing upwind and maneuvering in general. This type of sail was first used on Arabic boats.

As a beginner sailor I confuse the type of sail with rigging all the time. But I should cut myself some slack, because the rigging and sails on a boat are very closely related. They are all part of the sail plan .

A sail plan is made up of:

• Mast configuration - refers to the number of masts and where they are placed
• Sail type - refers to the sail shape and functionality
• Rig type - refers to the way these sails are set up on your boat

There are dozens of sails and hundreds of possible configurations (or sail plans).

For example, depending on your mast configuration, you can have extra headsails (which then are called staysails).

The shape of the sails depends on the rigging, so they overlap a bit. To keep it simple I'll first go over the different sail types based on the most common rig. I'll go over the other rig types later in the article.

Bermuda Sloop: the most common rig

Most modern small and mid-sized sailboats have a Bermuda sloop configuration . The sloop is one-masted and has two sails, which are front-and-aft rigged. This type of rig is also called a Marconi Rig. The Bermuda rig uses a triangular sail, with just one side of the sail attached to the mast.

The mainsail is in use most of the time. It can be reefed down, making it smaller depending on the wind conditions. It can be reefed down completely, which is more common in heavy weather. (If you didn't know already: reefing is skipper terms for rolling or folding down a sail.)

In very strong winds (above 30 knots), most sailors only use the headsail or switch to a trysail.

The headsail powers your bow, the mainsail powers your stern (rear). By having two sails, you can steer by using only your sails (in theory - it requires experience). In any case, two sails gives you better handling than one, but is still easy to operate.

Let's get to the actual sails. The mainsail is attached behind the mast and to the boom, running to the stern. There are multiple designs, but they actually don't differ that much. So the following list is a bit boring. Feel free to skip it or quickly glance over it.

• Square Top racing mainsail - has a high performance profile thanks to the square top, optional reef points
• Racing mainsail - made for speed, optional reef points
• Cruising mainsail - low-maintenance, easy to use, made to last. Generally have one or multiple reef points.
• Full-Batten Cruising mainsail - cruising mainsail with better shape control. Eliminates flogging. Full-length battens means the sail is reinforced over the entire length. Generally have one or multiple reef points.
• High Roach mainsail - crossover between square top racing and cruising mainsail, used mostly on cats and multihulls. Generally have one or multiple reef points.
• Mast Furling mainsail - sails specially made to roll up inside the mast - very convenient but less control; of sail shape. Have no reef points
• Boom Furling mainsail - sails specially made to roll up inside the boom. Have no reef points.

The headsail is the front sail in a front-and-aft rig. The sail is fixed on a stay (rope, wire or rod) which runs forward to the deck or bowsprit. It's almost always triangular (Dutch fishermen are known to use rectangular headsail). A triangular headsail is also called a jib .

Headsails can be attached in two ways:

• using roller furlings - the sail rolls around the headstay
• hank on - fixed attachment

Types of jibs:

Typically a sloop carries a regular jib as its headsail. It can also use a genoa.

• A jib is a triangular staysail set in front of the mast. It's the same size as the fore-triangle.
• A genoa is a large jib that overlaps the mainsail.

What's the purpose of a jib sail? A jib is used to improve handling and to increase sail area on a sailboat. This helps to increase speed. The jib gives control over the bow (front) of the ship, making it easier to maneuver the ship. The mainsail gives control over the stern of the ship. The jib is the headsail (frontsail) on a front-and-aft rig.

The size of the jib is generally indicated by a number - J1, 2, 3, and so on. The number tells us the attachment point. The order of attachment points may differ per sailmaker, so sometimes J1 is the largest jib (on the longest stay) and sometimes it's the smallest (on the shortest stay). Typically the J1 jib is the largest - and the J3 jib the smallest.

Most jibs are roller furling jibs: this means they are attached to a stay and can be reefed down single-handedly. If you have a roller furling you can reef down the jib to all three positions and don't need to carry different sizes.

Originally called the 'overlapping jib', the leech of the genoa extends aft of the mast. This increases speed in light and moderate winds. A genoa is larger than the total size of the fore-triangle. How large exactly is indicated by a percentage.

• A number 1 genoa is typically 155% (it used to be 180%)
• A number 2 genoa is typically 125-140%

Genoas are typically made from 1.5US/oz polyester spinnaker cloth, or very light laminate.

This is where it gets pretty interesting. You can use all kinds of sails to increase speed, handling, and performance for different weather conditions.

Some rules of thumb:

• Large sails are typically good for downwind use, small sails are good for upwind use.
• Large sails are good for weak winds (light air), small sails are good for strong winds (storms).

Downwind sails

Thanks to the front-and-aft rig sailboats are easier to maneuver, but they catch less wind as well. Downwind sails are used to offset this by using a large sail surface, pulling a sailboat downwind. They can be hanked on when needed and are typically balloon shaped.

Here are the most common downwind sails:

• Big gennaker
• Small gennaker

A free-flying sail that fills up with air, giving it a balloon shape. Spinnakers are generally colorful, which is why they look like kites. This downwind sail has the largest sail area, and it's capable of moving a boat with very light wind. They are amazing to use on trade wind routes, where they can help you make quick progress.

Spinnakers require special rigging. You need a special pole and track on your mast. You attach the sail at three points: in the mast head using a halyard, on a pole, and on a sheet.

The spinnaker is symmetrical, meaning the luff is as long as its leech. It's designed for broad reaching.

Gennaker or cruising spinnaker

The Gennaker is a cross between the genoa and the spinnaker. It has less downwind performance than the spinnaker. It is a bit smaller, making it slower, but also easier to handle - while it remains very capable. The cruising spinnaker is designed for broad reaching.

The gennaker is a smaller, asymmetric spinnaker that's doesn't require a pole or track on the mast. Like the spinnaker, and unlike the genoa, the gennaker is set flying. Asymmetric means its luff is longer than its leech.

You can get big and small gennakers (roughly 75% and 50% the size of a true spinnaker).

Also called ...

• the cruising spinnaker
• cruising chute
• pole-less spinnaker
• SpinDrifter

... it's all the same sail.

Light air sails

There's a bit of overlap between the downwind sails and light air sails. Downwind sails can be used as light air sails, but not all light air sails can be used downwind.

Here are the most common light air sails:

• Spinnaker and gennaker

Drifter reacher

Code zero reacher.

A drifter (also called a reacher) is a lightweight, larger genoa for use in light winds. It's roughly 150-170% the size of a genoa. It's made from very lightweight laminated spinnaker fabric (1.5US/oz).

Thanks to the extra sail area the sail offers better downwind performance than a genoa. It's generally made from lightweight nylon. Thanks to it's genoa characteristics the sail is easier to use than a cruising spinnaker.

The code zero reacher is officially a type of spinnaker, but it looks a lot like a large genoa. And that's exactly what it is: a hybrid cross between the genoa and the asymmetrical spinnaker (gennaker). The code zero however is designed for close reaching, making it much flatter than the spinnaker. It's about twice the size of a non-overlapping jib.

A windseeker is a small, free-flying staysail for super light air. It's tall and thin. It's freestanding, so it's not attached to the headstay. The tack attaches to a deck pad-eye. Use your spinnakers' halyard to raise it and tension the luff.

It's made from nylon or polyester spinnaker cloth (0.75 to 1.5US/oz).

It's designed to guide light air onto the lee side of the main sail, ensuring a more even, smooth flow of air.

Stormsails are stronger than regular sails, and are designed to handle winds of over 45 knots. You carry them to spare the mainsail. Sails

A storm jib is a small triangular staysail for use in heavy weather. If you participate in offshore racing you need a mandatory orange storm jib. It's part of ISAF's requirements.

A trysail is a storm replacement for the mainsail. It's small, triangular, and it uses a permanently attached pennant. This allows it to be set above the gooseneck. It's recommended to have a separate track on your mast for it - you don't want to fiddle around when you actually really need it to be raised ... now.

Why Use Different Sails At All?

You could just get the largest furling genoa and use it on all positions. So why would you actually use different types of sails?

The main answer to that is efficiency . Some situations require other characteristics.

Having a deeply reefed genoa isn't as efficient as having a small J3. The reef creates too much draft in the sail, which increases heeling. A reefed down mainsail in strong winds also increases heeling. So having dedicated (storm) sails is probably a good thing, especially if you're planning more demanding passages or crossings.

But it's not just strong winds, but also light winds that can cause problems. Heavy sails will just flap around like laundry in very light air. So you need more lightweight fabrics to get you moving.

What Are Sails Made Of?

The most used materials for sails nowadays are:

• Dacron - woven polyester
• woven nylon
• laminated fabrics - increasingly popular

Sails used to be made of linen. As you can imagine, this is terrible material on open seas. Sails were rotting due to UV and saltwater. In the 19th century linen was replaced by cotton.

It was only in the 20th century that sails were made from synthetic fibers, which were much stronger and durable. Up until the 1980s most sails were made from Dacron. Nowadays, laminates using yellow aramids, Black Technora, carbon fiber and Spectra yarns are more and more used.

Laminates are as strong as Dacron, but a lot lighter - which matters with sails weighing up to 100 kg (220 pounds).

By the way: we think that Viking sails were made from wool and leather, which is quite impressive if you ask me.

In this section of the article I give you a quick and dirty summary of different sail plans or rig types which will help you to identify boats quickly. But if you want to really understand it clearly, I really recommend you read part 2 of this series, which is all about different rig types.

You can't simply count the number of masts to identify rig type But you can identify any rig type if you know what to look for. We've created an entire system for recognizing rig types. Let us walk you through it. Read all about sail rig types

As I've said earlier, there are two major rig types: square rigged and fore-and-aft. We can divide the fore-and-aft rigs into three groups:

• Bermuda rig (we have talked about this one the whole time) - has a three-sided mainsail
• Gaff rig - has a four-sided mainsail, the head of the mainsail is guided by a gaff
• Lateen rig - has a three-sided mainsail on a long yard

There are roughly four types of boats:

• one masted boats - sloop, cutter
• two masted boats - ketch, schooner, brig
• three masted - barque
• fully rigged or ship rigged - tall ship

Everything with four masts is called a (tall) ship. I think it's outside the scope of this article, but I have written a comprehensive guide to rigging. I'll leave the three and four-masted rigs for now. If you want to know more, I encourage you to read part 2 of this series.

One-masted rigs

Boats with one mast can have either one sail, two sails, or three or more sails.

The 3 most common one-masted rigs are:

• Cat - one mast, one sail
• Sloop - one mast, two sails
• Cutter - one mast, three or more sails

1. Gaff Cat

2. Gaff Sloop

Two-masted rigs

Two-masted boats can have an extra mast in front or behind the main mast. Behind (aft of) the main mast is called a mizzen mast . In front of the main mast is called a foremast .

The 5 most common two-masted rigs are:

• Lugger - two masts (mizzen), with lugsail (cross between gaff rig and lateen rig) on both masts
• Yawl - two masts (mizzen), fore-and-aft rigged on both masts. Main mast much taller than mizzen. Mizzen without mainsail.
• Ketch - two masts (mizzen), fore-and-aft rigged on both masts. Main mast with only slightly smaller mizzen. Mizzen has mainsail.
• Schooner - two masts (foremast), generally gaff rig on both masts. Main mast with only slightly smaller foremast. Sometimes build with three masts, up to seven in the age of sail.
• Brig - two masts (foremast), partially square-rigged. Main mast carries small lateen rigged sail.

4. Schooner

5. Brigantine

This article is part 1 of a series about sails and rig types If you want to read on and learn to identify any sail plans and rig type, we've found a series of questions that will help you do that quickly. Read all about recognizing rig types

Related Questions

What is the difference between a gennaker & spinnaker? Typically, a gennaker is smaller than a spinnaker. Unlike a spinnaker, a gennaker isn't symmetric. It's asymmetric like a genoa. It is however rigged like a spinnaker; it's not attached to the forestay (like a jib or a genoa). It's a downwind sail, and a cross between the genoa and the spinnaker (hence the name).

What is a Yankee sail? A Yankee sail is a jib with a high-cut clew of about 3' above the boom. A higher-clewed jib is good for reaching and is better in high waves, preventing the waves crash into the jibs foot. Yankee jibs are mostly used on traditional sailboats.

How much does a sail weigh? Sails weigh anywhere between 4.5-155 lbs (2-70 kg). The reason is that weight goes up exponentially with size. Small boats carry smaller sails (100 sq. ft.) made from thinner cloth (3.5 oz). Large racing yachts can carry sails of up to 400 sq. ft., made from heavy fabric (14 oz), totaling at 155 lbs (70 kg).

What's the difference between a headsail and a staysail? The headsail is the most forward of the staysails. A boat can only have one headsail, but it can have multiple staysails. Every staysail is attached to a forward running stay. However, not every staysail is located at the bow. A stay can run from the mizzen mast to the main mast as well.

What is a mizzenmast? A mizzenmast is the mast aft of the main mast (behind; at the stern) in a two or three-masted sailing rig. The mizzenmast is shorter than the main mast. It may carry a mainsail, for example with a ketch or lugger. It sometimes doesn't carry a mainsail, for example with a yawl, allowing it to be much shorter.

Special thanks to the following people for letting me use their quality photos: Bill Abbott - True Spinnaker with pole - CC BY-SA 2.0 lotsemann - Volvo Ocean Race Alvimedica and the Code Zero versus SCA and the J1 - CC BY-SA 2.0 Lisa Bat - US Naval Academy Trysail and Storm Jib dry fit - CC BY-SA 2.0 Mike Powell - White gaff cat - CC BY-SA 2.0 Anne Burgess - Lugger The Reaper at Scottish Traditional Boat Festival

Hi, I stumbled upon your page and couldn’t help but notice some mistakes in your description of spinnakers and gennakers. First of all, in the main photo on top of this page the small yacht is sailing a spinnaker, not a gennaker. If you look closely you can see the spinnaker pole standing on the mast, visible between the main and headsail. Further down, the discription of the picture with the two German dinghies is incorrect. They are sailing spinnakers, on a spinnaker pole. In the farthest boat, you can see a small piece of the pole. If needed I can give you the details on the difference between gennakers and spinnakers correctly?

Hi Shawn, I am living in Utrecht I have an old gulf 32 and I am sailing in merkmeer I find your articles very helpful Thanks

Thank you for helping me under stand all the sails there names and what there functions were and how to use them. I am planning to build a trimaran 30’ what would be the best sails to have I plan to be coastal sailing with it. Thank you

Hey Comrade!

Well done with your master piece blogging. Just a small feedback. “The jib gives control over the bow of the ship, making it easier to maneuver the ship. The mainsail gives control over the stern of the ship.” Can you please first tell the different part of a sail boat earlier and then talk about bow and stern later in the paragraph. A reader has no clue on the newly introduced terms. It helps to keep laser focused and not forget main concepts.

Shawn, I am currently reading How to sail around the World” by Hal Roth. Yes, I want to sail around the world. His book is truly grounded in real world experience but like a lot of very knowledgable people discussing their area of expertise, Hal uses a lot of terms that I probably should have known but didn’t, until now. I am now off to read your second article. Thank You for this very enlightening article on Sail types and their uses.

Shawn Buckles

HI CVB, that’s a cool plan. Thanks, I really love to hear that. I’m happy that it was helpful to you and I hope you are of to a great start for your new adventure!

Hi GOWTHAM, thanks for the tip, I sometimes forget I haven’t specified the new term. I’ve added it to the article.

Nice article and video; however, you’re mixing up the spinnaker and the gennaker.

A started out with a question. What distinguishes a brig from a schooner? Which in turn led to follow-up questions: I know there are Bermuda rigs and Latin rig, are there more? Which in turn led to further questions, and further, and further… This site answers them all. Wonderful work. Thank you.

Great post and video! One thing was I was surprised how little you mentioned the Ketch here and not at all in the video or chart, and your sample image is a large ship with many sails. Some may think Ketch’s are uncommon, old fashioned or only for large boats. Actually Ketch’s are quite common for cruisers and live-aboards, especially since they often result in a center cockpit layout which makes for a very nice aft stateroom inside. These are almost exclusively the boats we are looking at, so I was surprised you glossed over them.

Love the article and am finding it quite informative.

While I know it may seem obvious to 99% of your readers, I wish you had defined the terms “upwind” and “downwind.” I’m in the 1% that isn’t sure which one means “with the wind” (or in the direction the wind is blowing) and which one means “against the wind” (or opposite to the way the wind is blowing.)

paul adriaan kleimeer

like in all fields of syntax and terminology the terms are colouual meaning local and then spead as the technology spread so an history lesson gives a floral bouque its colour and in the case of notical terms span culture and history adds an detail that bring reverence to the study simply more memorable.

Hi, I have a small yacht sail which was left in my lock-up over 30 years ago I basically know nothing about sails and wondered if you could spread any light as to the make and use of said sail. Someone said it was probably originally from a Wayfayer wooden yacht but wasn’t sure. Any info would be must appreciated and indeed if would be of any use to your followers? I can provide pics but don’t see how to include them at present

kind regards

Leave a comment

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14 Types of Small Boats

Explore the world of small boats with our guide on 14 types, featuring essential details on sizes, features, and vivid photos for travelers.

Boat lovers all over the world first found their fondness while fishing aboard a small canoe, riding down rapids on a kayak, or on some other small boat. Those looking to recapture that initial feeling, hoping to share it with others, or wanting to own a small boat for any other reason, will find a multitude of options.

There are a huge assortment of small boats on the market, all with various uses and in different sizes. From dinghies to Jon boats, to skiffs, and beyond, small boats can be a valuable asset for any boater. These specialized boats can help solve problems larger boats can’t handle and offer an additional way to enjoy the water.

However, with so many options, finding the right one for your specific needs can be a challenge. This is especially true if you aren’t familiar with the terminology or names of the many different types of small boats.

Below is a list of many of the most common small boats on the market, and an explanation about each one’s use. So, whether you’re looking for a fishing boat for the weekends, a small boat as a companion to a larger one, or something else, you’ll know what to look for.

What Are the Different Types of Small Boats?

Now that it’s understood that there is a wide array of options to choose from, let’s dive into the specifics of the most popular options out there. After this article, you’ll feel confident that you know what you’re looking for to meet your specific needs.

Pontoon boats

Pontoon boats are a great option for those looking for a casual boat option either for fishing or cruising short distances. These boats offer a lot of room on board for seating and are distinguished by the Catamaran style hull keeping it afloat.

Most pontoon boats are between 15 and 30 feet long. They have a flat profile with aluminum tubes spread around the boat for added support. 

The flat profile allows for plenty of passengers and equipment to be stored on board, however pontoons are not suited for long distances. This is a casual cruiser or fishing boat, not an intracoastal voyager.

Inflatable boats

There are two main types of inflatable boats, the RIB kind and the SIB kind. RIB stands for rigid inflatable boats. These types of boats have a rigid flooring or hull with an inflatable component. SIB stands for soft inflatable boat. These types of boats are soft all the way through.

Both the RIB and SIB have their advantages and disadvantages. The RIB offers added structural integrity, but due to its rigid hull, cannot be easily stored. The SIB lacks the structural integrity of the RIB, but its completely soft body allows it to be easily stored anywhere.

Inflatable boats typically range in size from 6 feet to 22 feet and have a variety of uses. They work great as lifeboats aboard a larger vessel, but can also be great for recreational use.

Those looking for a simple but reliable boat for recreational use, cruising, or fishing, will find exactly what they’re looking for with a jon boat. This kind of boat is characterized by its flat bottom, affordable price, bench seats, and motor.

Jon boats are most commonly used as cruisers and fishing boats. Their relatively small and simple construction makes them easy to transport, making them perfect for a quick weekend trip. 

Additionally, the light and simple construction of the Jon boat makes it perfect for fishing in shallow waters, where other boats might have trouble. The simple construction also means that they require very little maintenance, meaning you can spend more time on the water.

Skiffs are one of the more ambiguous boat types in this list. Skiffs are characterized by their small, simple, and open design, but can be used to categorize many other kinds of boats. Skiffs are made up of a simple hull, an outboard engine, and some seats.

Skiffs are ideal for recreational use, fishing, and cruising short distances. The simplicity of a skiff is one of its main draws. With a skiff you won’t have to worry about maintenance or have to worry about mastering many moving parts.

Their compact size also makes them easy to transport and easy to maneuver in the water. However, their small size also means that less people can be aboard at a time. Additionally, they have no natural protection from the elements, so you will have to find a safe space for storage.

If you’re looking for a simple boat ideal for recreational use at a moderate price, then a skiff might be for you. 

Personal Watercrafts

Sometimes referred to as water bikes, water scooters, “boatercycles,” or jet skis, personal watercrafts, or PWC’s, offer a lot of fun. These small “motorcycles” of the water are great for the adventurous looking for a thrilling time on the water.

Jet skis are recreational watercrafts suited for cruising and some light fishing. They can range in horsepower from 60 to 300, so you can get some serious speed if you want it. PWC’s can only hold one or two people, so keep that in mind if you’re looking to get more people on the water.

Personal watercrafts come in sit down and stand up versions, so make sure you know which one you’re getting when you buy. 

If you’re looking to go fast but want something larger than a personal watercraft, then a jet boat is for you. These boats use a high powered nozzle to propel you quickly through the water. These boats are great recreational boats for cruising and water sports.

Jet boats typically vary in size from 14 to 24 feet in length. They can’t fit as many people as some other boat options, but you will still find space to bring along a few passengers. The main draw for a jet boat however, is the speed and maneuverability.

Jet boats are great for speeding along the water even in shallow areas and participating in water sports. While you could also fish from a jet boat, you would probably be better off with a different option, as these are built for speed. 

Dinghies are another type of boat that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and forms. Dinghies can be sailed, rowed, or motored, but a common aspect is they are small and often used alongside a larger boat.

Some dinghies will be inflatable while others may be fiberglass, aluminum, or wood. They are typically between 8 and 10 feet long, making them one of the smallest options in this list. They also have varied amounts of seating, depending on the specific kind you get.

Dinghies are best used as companions to larger boats to reach areas that the larger vessel can’t reach. Their compact size makes them perfect for towing along with a larger boat. They can also be used as small fishing boats or for relaxing on the water.

Aluminum Fishing Boats

Aluminum fishing boats are one of the most reliable and utilitarian options on the market for fishing. Their relatively small size, between 8 and 24 feet in length, make them easy to transport to your favorite fishing spot for the weekend.

Aluminum fishing boats are great for navigating even the most shallow of waters, and their simple construction makes them durable. You won’t often find yourself worrying about maintenance with this type of boat.

Some fishing boats must be rowed,  but most will be motored. They often have plenty of floor space for sitting, walking, and storing equipment. 

Canoes are one of the most popular options of boat on the market for their simple construction, low maintenance, and ease of use. Canoes are propelled by rowing and are great for a fishing trip, or for coasting along a river.

These types of boats are moderately priced and easy to transport, making them perfect for recreational use. They offer plenty of seating for passengers, given their small size, which you’ll be thankful for when rowing.

Canoes are simple and offer plenty of fun for everyone involved. They come in a variety of shapes as well, some prioritizing speed, others prioritizing coasting, and more. 

Kayaks are very similar to canoes in their simple construction, but vary in a few key ways. While canoes offer an open interior to store things and sit, Kayaks seal off your legs and are used primarily for traversing a body of water. 

Kayaks typically only sit one or two people and are propelled by rowing. They use a double bladed paddle as opposed to two separate oars. 

Kayaks are also more suited for maneuverability, and will often be seen as the boat of choice on rapids. These types of boats are ideal for coasting along a body of water or racing down rapids.

If you’re looking for a boat with speed but want a more comfortable seating area than a jet boat has, then the deck boat is for you. This type of boat varies in length from 25 to 35 feet, and offers plenty of seating and comfort for all your passengers.

The wide deck is what gives the deck boat its name. Its large deck space makes it ideal for just about any water activity. Its high powered engine makes it great for watersports, while its wide deck makes it suitable for parties. 

Deck boats can be used for fishing, some longer distance travel, and much more. These are the ideal boat for someone hoping to take a lot of people out on the water. 

Runabout boats are another catch-all term used to describe a variety of boats. Runabouts include bowriders, deck boats, jet boats, and more. The two primary factors that distinguish a runabout boat are that they are powerboats, and that they are relatively small.

Bowrider Boat

Bowriders are another great option for those hoping to take several people out onto the water. They typically range in size from 16 to 28 feet in length and are characterized by their v-shaped hull. 

Bowriders are great for just about any water activity from fishing to cruising, to watersports, and beyond. They are known for their versatility.

What's the Smallest Boat?

The smallest boat on the market is the jet ski, the largest being only around 11 feet long. While there are some dinghies, kayaks, and other boats of similar size, jet skis at their smallest take the title. The stand-up models are even smaller than the sit-down style.

What Is a One-Person Boat Called?

There is no one singular name for a single-person boat, as there are numerous kinds of boats that are built for individuals. 

Some of these types of boats include kayaks, rafts, sculls, and dinghies. However, there are many more, and some of these have models that fit more than one person.

What Is a Small Pleasure Boat? 

Small pleasure boats can refer to a variety of boats on the list above. While there is no official designation for what makes a “small” boat, most people agree that smaller than the upper 20s in feet is the cut-off. 

Some small pleasure boats may include bowriders, runabouts, jet boats, and car toppers among many more. What distinguishes a small pleasure boat is that it fits within the loose definition of “small boat” and can be used as a personal water vehicle.

Kit Evans is a seasoned marine journalist and naval architect, bringing over 20 years of multifaceted experience in the boating industry to his writing and consultancy work. With expertise ranging from boat design and marine surveying to charter operations and vessel restoration, Kit offers unparalleled insights into all aspects of maritime life. When he's not penning articles for top boating publications or hosting his popular YouTube channel, Kit can be found sailing his lovingly restored 1960s Columbia 29 on the Chesapeake Bay, embodying his commitment to both preserving nautical heritage and embracing modern innovations in boating.

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The Ultimate Guide to Small Boats: What Are Your Options?

Small boats are where many people discover a love for the water, and if you’ve been browsing our Boat Finder Tool looking for small boats that would be ideal for your needs, you’ve surely encountered many options. 

Small boats are less expensive to buy and operate than large ones, are easier to tow or load on a trailer, and can sneak into tiny waterways that bigger boats can’t access.

Small boats also have an esoteric value that’s difficult to pin down. There’s something special about being physically closer to the water, surrounded by nature without all the extra tools and features found on larger, more complex boats. 

In fact, many boat lovers who own large boats also have a small boat or two that they love and enjoy just as much as their bigger craft. But which small boats would be best for you? To make the search easier, we'll review the top 10 small boat contenders.

Types of Small Boats

Inflatable boats, aluminum fishing boats.

• Pontoon Boats

Car-Toppers

Canoes and kayaks, personal watercrafts (pwcs).

Jon Boats are among the simplest and most popular boats around. Many consist of little more than an aluminum hull with a flat bottom and a squared-off bow, bench seats, and an outboard or electric outboard engine. They’re incredibly easy to launch, load, and store and are among the least expensive options for buying a boat .

Skiffs are another form of very simple, basic, all-purpose utility boats. What exactly makes a boat a skiff? This is a catch-all term often used to describe any relatively small and open boat. Due to this, there’s an extensive range of candidates.

Dinghies come in many shapes and sizes and in different versions that can be rowed, motored, or sailed. But they all share a few common traits: they’re usually very small (eight or 10 feet is standard) and are often used as tenders to transport people and gear from a boat to shore.

Inflatable boats come in two basic styles: those that are completely inflatable and those that have a rigid hull surrounded by an inflatable “collar” or ring (usually called a “RIB,” short for rigid inflatable boat). 

Most inflatables are made of materials like Hypalon or PVC fabrics. Their main advantage is the ability to bounce off anything they might hit. Still, RIB versions are also considered seaworthy and used in many commercial and search-and-rescue applications and for recreational purposes.

Aluminum fishing boats come in all shapes and sizes, the only common denominator being that they’re constructed of aluminum. Aluminum boats tend to be light, relatively inexpensive, and fuel-efficient.

Small Pontoon Boats

Although there are some very large and costly pontoon boats on the water, plenty of small models are available that are easy to trailer, easy to afford, and still get you a taste of luxury on the water. There are even different models and designs ranging from mini fishing pontoons to small performance pontoon boats.

Learn more in Buying a Pontoon or a Deck Boat?

This is another catch-all category of boat, with one common denominator: if a couple of people can lift it up and secure it to a roof rack on a car, the boat’s officially a car-topper. Usually, these are very small, simple boats, like Jon boats and dinghies.

These small crafts are popular, and even though most don’t have any mechanical propulsion, they’re still boats. In fact, there are some shockingly advanced models designed for specific purposes (such as fishing or maximum speed). Many boaters develop their initial love for the water while paddling or pedaling on a canoe or kayak.

While there are some large and rather complex jet boats , some small ones can be pretty thrilling to drive. Most have inboard jet engines that create thrust by blasting high-pressure water through a nozzle rather than spinning a propeller. However, there are outboard versions of jet engines, too.

Many people think of personal watercraft (PWCs) more like motorcycles of the water, which has led some to refer to them as waterbikes, or boatercycles. But despite their small size and limited passenger capacity, these are still boats in every sense of the word. They’re also among the most exciting to drive, and many are capable of neck-snapping acceleration, hair-raising high speeds, and exhilarating hairpin turns.

So—have you made up your mind as to which small boat you’d like to own? With all these options, it’s no surprise if you’re still trying to determine which one is right for you. No matter which ones you may be considering, however, one thing is a sure bet: whether it’s the only boat you have or it’s one of several in the family fleet, your love of the water is only going to grow when you spend time on your own small boat.

Read Next: Choosing the Right Boat Type for You

Editor’s Note:  This article was updated in December 2022.

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Refastening a Wooden Hull   - Season 4, Episode 1 Now Available!

Small Boat Shapes, an Overview of Types and Terms

The original print version of this quide can be viewed as a PDF or purchased from the WoodenBoat Store.

When I was getting started in boatbuilding, I struggled to understand how different small-boat shapes might perform and their level of difficulty in construction. I remember feeling nearly overwhelmed by a sea of foreign words and unknown concepts. It would have been nice to have had an illustrated guide to basic small-boat shapes: hulls, bows, sterns, and some terminology that defines form. So, if you are new to boatbuilding, or if you feel unclear on some of these basic concepts, this guide is for you.

From the moment man discovered that he could traverse a river on a floating log, boat shapes have continued to evolve. Early boats took on a wide variety of forms, utilizing any available material that could be made to float. Among these craft were rafts made from inflated animal skins, bamboo, papyrus reeds, and even terra cotta pots. Later came dugout canoes, skin, wood, and bone kayaks first used by Eskimo hunters, and basket-shaped coracles (also skin boats) built in Ireland and Wales.

While boat and ship building became refined over the centuries, early designers and builders still took a Darwinian approach: If a new ship returned from her maiden voyage, she might be copied and built again. If she failed to return, well, then she might not be reproduced.

We still haven’t conquered the sea, and I doubt that we ever will. However, we do have more tools at our disposal to help us build boats that are safer to use and perform better. Hours spent on construction represent only a fraction of time in the life of a small wooden boat. It isn’t difficult to grasp the utility of basic small-boat shapes, and it will be helpful to know something about them when choosing a boatbuilding project.

Please remember that this is an article about small-boat shapes, not small-boat design. While some overlapping concepts are mentioned here, we will not cover even the rudiments of what it takes to create a lines drawing. If this piece whets your appetite for learning something about small-boat design, then I encourage you to read Harry Bryan’s article on the subject in WB No.196, page 44, and to consider the titles provided at the conclusion.

The Origins of Hull Shapes

Hull shapes (in section) are made up of some combination of three basic forms. These are: flat-bottomed, V-bottomed, and round-bottomed.

Flat-bottomed Form

Strengths: The flat-bottomed boat’s principal asset is that it is easy to build. Therefore it is generally inexpensive for its size. It also has a lot of interior volume and can have good initial stability (and not feel tender, that is, tippy). The flat bottom shape is most often used for small rowboats, but many larger craft have also successfully used this most basic of forms. This skiff is based on a flat-bottomed form. The form is augmented by rocker, canted topsides, and a bit of flare in the forward section.

Weaknesses: The flat-bottomed boat has some serious drawbacks, too. Its large, flat panels are hard to support structurally; when heeled too much, it can easily fill and capsize; and the flat bottom pounds even at moderate speeds in waves. Because of these drawbacks, the flat-bottomed boat shape is generally not considered as sea-worthy as the other basic shapes.

V-bottomed Form

Strengths: V-bottomed boats, when properly shaped, can be inherently stronger than a boat with a flat-panel bottom and will slice through the water with much less pounding. Because of this, they are considered more seaworthy than equivalent-sized flat-bottomed boats. Boats and yachts of all sizes have been designed and built with V-bottoms. Virtually all high-speed power craft built today employ some type of V-bottomed shape.

Weaknesses: In smooth water, V-bottomed boats require more power for the higher speed ranges than flat-bottomed boats do. Also, the V-shape offers greater difficulty in construction. Because of this, V-bottomed boats tend to be more expensive than the flat-bottomed type. Also, the V-bottomed boat may be less roomy, and harder to clean and paint than a similarly sized flattie.

Round-bottomed Form

Strengths: The curved shape of a round bottom is intrinsically strong and allows the boat an easier motion than its V-bottomed and flat-bottomed cousins. This shape is generally used for higher-displacement boats (displacement boats do not plane) that are designed to go at moderate speeds through the water rather than over it like the higher-speed V-bottoms can.

Weaknesses: Round-bottomed boats are the hardest to construct and are, by far, the most expensive to build. Virtually all hulls borrow from these pure forms. Let’s look at some of the many elements of small-boat hull shapes and the characteristics that distinguish one from the other.

This simple-to-construct, flat-bottomed hull type tends to be a slow mover that will pound in waves, but it is very stable in calm waters on a breezeless day.

While both the flat-bottomed skiff (see illustration on previous page) and the dory (above) are somewhat more difficult to construct than the scow, their sweeping bottom shapes and canted sides enable them to ride the waves more easily than their slab-sided counterpart. A dory has some similarities to a skiff. However, it has a narrower bottom and transom, employs some different construction techniques, and is made for use in heavier seas. A dory’s flaring sides make it increasingly stable the more it is tipped, so while you might be alarmed at this boat’s initial nervousness, you may find yourself able to stand on its rail without water coming aboard.

Arc-bottomed Centerboard Sailboat

Of the flat-bottomed hull configurations presented here, the arc bottom is the most difficult to construct. It is also the most sea-friendly and comfortable of these flat-bottomed types.

V-bottomed Motorboat

The deadrise angle (see page 6) of the V-shaped bottom allows this hull shape to move forward through waves more easily than a flat-bottomed type, while still providing good stability. Many planing boats, such as runabouts, combine the deep V-bottom in the forward area of the boat, while unrolling the shape to a flatter deadrise angle toward the stern (as illustrated). This combination gives a boat the dual benefits of speed in waves and stability.

Multichined Kayak

Up to this point, we have not discussed chines. Chines are the intersections of the bottom and sides. All of the boats we have discussed so far are single-chined, meaning that they have only one hard turn, or corner, where the bottom meets the sides. The bottom of a multichined boat is made up of a number of narrower panels. Depending on the design, the multichined shape, as in the kayak shown above, can produce a hull whose performance approaches that of a round- bottomed boat.

Round-bottomed Canoe

Round hull shapes are more difficult to build than either flat-bottomed or V-shaped hulls. Often, flat-bottomed or V-shaped hulls can be built on their own permanent frames, or their frames are easily sawn and fitted. A much more complex mold system must be set up before a round-bottomed hull can be built. For a well-constructed round-bottomed boat, the builder must have a higher level of woodworking skill and a good understanding of wood characteristics. Yet round-bottomed boats are the usual preference of people who spend a lot of time on the water. Why? Partly because this shape responds to the undulations of the water more gracefully than any other type of small boat. Also, they tend to be more comfortable and many people prefer their looks.

Round-bottomed Keel Sailboat

Adding a keel with built-in ballast to a round-bottomed boat adds complexity to the construction process. Also, if you look at the turn of the bilge (see cover illustration), you’ll notice that some of the planking has been hollowed out (“backed out”) in order to follow the round shape of the hull. Still, it’s easy to see that this shape would make a comfortable and stable boat, even in rolling seas. Whoever came up with the phrase, “Go with the flow,” might have sailed a round-bottomed sailboat. Its curved shape allows water to easily roll along its surface while its ballast keel acts as a pendulum and (usually) prevents the boat from tipping over while under sail.

Reverse-curved Sailboat

This type of hull shape represents the toughest building challenge of all the boat shapes presented here. Notice the reverse (S) curves of the hull. The backbone and deadwood (keel area) and the planking, framing, and fitting out (adding interior elements) all require a higher degree of skill and workmanship. Add to that the fact that a sail, through its rigging, will be pulling on the structure over its lifespan. Yet, of all the shapes presented here, this one may be the most seakindly. The great weight of the ballast keel combined with the compound and complex curves of her hull shape allow the boat to take better advantage of breezes in both calm waters and heavier seas.

Small-Craft Stability

Naval architect C.W. Paine defined small-craft stability as “The propensity of the vessel to remain upright.” Two major types of stability apply to small boats: initial stability (how tender or not-tender a boat feels), and ultimate stability (the ability of a boat to return upright after being turned over). Because most small boats will remain inverted when turned over, initial stability is of primary interest to their users. On small boats, waterline beam (or the width of a boat at its LWL; see opening illustrations) is the principal factor in determining initial stability. A small increase in waterline beam can greatly increase initial stability. The shape of the sections also plays a part. For example, sections with good flare regain stability quickly when they are tipped, while slab or vertical sided boats do not.

Flare, Flam, and Tumblehome

Other Characteristics That Affect Boat Shape

See also illustrations on cover and page 3

Sheer is easily seen in the side view of a boat. The sheerline is the topmost line of the planking, where the planking meets the deck (or the rails if the boat has no deck). It is the dominant line (of many) that determines the look of a boat.

Freeboard is the distance or height of the sides of the boat from the waterline to the sheer or deck line. Too little freeboard leads to easy entrance of water when the boat is heeled. Too much freeboard causes excess windage (as a wall to the wind) and weight of construction. It detracts from a boat’s appearance, too.

Topsides, sometimes confused with freeboard, is the surface area of the hull from the water-line to the sheer, or rail (the part that you see). Freeboard is always a distance; topsides is an area.

Rocker is the amount of fore-and-aft curvature to a boat’s underbody. The amount of rocker will help to determine how easily a boat will make turns. Too little rocker will render a boat that never wants to turn without a fight. Too much, and it will yaw (twist back and forth) and resist running on a straight course.

Deadrise angle describes the upwardness of the bottom (in section) from horizontal. On a flat-bottomed scow, skiff, or dory, deadrise angle is zero. On a V-bottomed powerboat, the deadrise angle may be as much as 20–25°, and even more on an extreme hull shape.

Overview of Bow Types

At daybreak, there is hardly a prettier sight than watching a boat cut the first seam in flat water like sharp scissors cutting satin. Literally and figuratively, a boat makes a first impression with its bow.

Bow with Tumblehome

Transom Shapes

The Transom As the bow makes a first impression, the transom makes a final, and lasting one. Here are some transom shapes that are common to small boats.

Skiff and Dory

Round-bottomed

Wineglass Shape

In many ways, each boat is as unique as her designer or builder. We have covered only a few of the most common forms here. Still, having a basic understanding of these small-boat shapes, we hope, will enable you to look at all boats in a new light. Depending upon your boat’s intended use, you’ll be able to use this guide to choose the characteristics that best serve your purpose. Then, as you look at boat plans, you’ll recognize more of these telling features and be able to proceed with confidence as you decide upon your first (or next) boatbuilding project.

Karen Wales is WoodenBoat’s Associate Editor. Further Reading Understanding Boat Design, 4th Edition, Ted Brewer. The Boatbuilder’s Apprentice, Greg Rössel. Boatbuilding Manual, Fourth Edition, Robert M. Steward. (All titles are available at The WoodenBoat Store. <www.woodenboatstore.com>.)

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Small Boats: What Type is Right for You?

Table of Contents

Last Updated on August 17, 2023 by Boatsetter Team

When it comes to boats, sometimes “small” is a good thing. This is especially the case with our friend, the powerboat (under 16 feet in length) .

Here, we highlight the advantages and explain the disadvantages of owning a small powerboat. We’ll also look at some of your options when considering the various small boat types.

Pros of owning a small powerboat

Cons of owning a small powerboat.

Read all the way through and catch all Pro Tips .

List your boat & start earning an avg. of $20K yearly with Boatsetter

• Lower purchase price: When comparing boats of the same type, a smaller boat will almost always cost less than a bigger boat.

Pro Tip: This is not always the case because some brands command a premium price despite the model’s size. Take, for example, this small Boston Whaler , and it may cost more than a mid-size runabout by another brand.

• Lower insurance cost: Boat insurance premiums are based primarily on the boat’s value , so a lower-cost boat will cost less to insure than a bigger boat.
• Lower cost to operate: Fuel is the highest cost of operating any powerboat, and a small boat needs a small engine, which will use less fuel than a bigger boat.
• Easier to tow: Most boats under 16 feet in length weigh less than 5,000 pounds on a trailer and can be towed with a mid-size SUV, van, or compact truck. No need to invest in a monster truck!
• Easier to store: A small boat may fit in your garage, especially if the trailer has a swing-away tongue.
• Easier to handle on the water: If you’re a novice boater , a smaller boat may be easier to handle around the dock, easier to launch and load off the trailer, and generally less intimidating than a bigger boat.

READ MORE: Boat Rentals by Owners- Here’s What to Expect

• Small boat = small crew : Seating and weight capacity will limit the number of people you can comfortably and safely have aboard. You’ll also have less room for coolers, tubes, and other gear.
• Fair weather boating: A small boat will not be comfortable if the water gets rough. Ideally, you’d use a small boat on a smaller lake or river less prone to stiff chop or big waves and wakes.
• Limited power & performance: You don’t expect to go fast in a small boat (with the exception of a PWC), if you’re interested in water sports, like tubing or wakeboarding, a small boat may not be the one.

Pro Tip: Pulling a big tube without a struggle usually requires at least a 150-hp outboard.

Interested in buying a small powerboat?

You’ll have many choices when considering a powerboat. Here are some of the most popular powerboats in sizes under 16 feet.

Pontoon boats : No small boat may offer more elbow room than a compact pontoon, such as the Lowe Ultra 160 Cruise and the classic Sun Tracker Bass Buggy 16 . Compact Sea Doo Switch pontoons feature jet propulsion. These boats are very stable, easy to handle, and can carry up to seven people.

Runabout boats: Also called a bow -rider, this is a great all-around family boat. Compact runabout models like the Bayliner 160 Bowrider and the Tahoe T16 are outboard-powered.

Deck boats: A deck boat offers a layout with more interior space than a runabout. There are a few examples in the under-16 class, most notably the Bayliner Element M15 .

Fishing boats : Most fishing boats in this size range will have rugged aluminum construction. Check out these fishing boat options:

• The Lund WC-16 (also offered in 12- and 14-foot lengths) uses a tiller-steer outboard, saving space and decreasing the price.
• The Tracker SuperGuide V-16 SC has a small console with remote steering.
• Compact aluminum bass boats like the Lowe Skorpion 16 have a mod-v hull shape, lower freeboard, and a casting deck .

Jet boats: A jet boat is propelled by a jet of water which allows it to power through shallow waters. Jet boats are also easy to maintain , agile, and a blast to drive. Check out the Scarab Jet 165 ID .

Personal watercraft (PWC): Top PWC models measure about 13 feet in length and can accelerate like a rocket to a top speed approaching 65 mph.

Pro Tip: Luxury models can be equipped with touring seats, audio systems, and GPS navigation, and there are specialized models designed for fishing and wake sports. Three-passenger models are the most popular, as they can be used as a tow sports vehicle in most states. Check out the PWC models at Sea Doo , Yamaha WaveRunner , or Kawasaki Jet Ski .

Utility boats: Most boats in this category are made from rugged aluminum, and may have a vee, mod-vee, or flat-bottom jon boat hull. The vee hull is more comfortable in choppy water, while the mod-vee and jon styles like the Crestliner Jon series draw very little water and are popular for rivers and shallow back-waters and marshes. These are great boats for hunting and fishing but typically offer very few creature comforts. The smallest examples may fit in the bed of a pickup truck.

Inflatable: Inflatable boats are rugged and can be easily stored in the off-season – just let out the air, and most soft-bottom models roll up into a carry case. Inflatable boats are offered in a very wide range of sizes and prices.

Pro Tip: Those with a rigid bottom (made of fiberglass), such as the West Marine RIB 330 offer more performance and better handling than soft-bottom models like the Beluga 14 .

There’s no rush in purchasing a boat. Taking your time and experimenting with different boat types, brands, and manufacturers will give you a better idea of the type of boat owner you want to become.

Take your time and browse through boat types , don’t forget to book to take out for a test cruise. Of course, we’ll be there for you once you buy a boat, too! List your boat for free on Boatsetter to offset boat ownership costs.

Boatsetter is a unique boat-sharing platform that gives everyone — whether you own a boat or you’re just renting — the chance to experience life on the water. You can list a boat , book a boat , or make money as a captain .

Charles Plueddeman  is a self-employed writer and photographer based in Wisconsin. A staff editor and contributor to  Boating Magazine  since 1986, he is the author of its “Off My Dock” column. In the marine realm he specializes in engine technology and trailerable boats. His editorial work has appeared in many national publications, including  Popular Mechanics, Men’s Journal, Playboy, Popular Science, Cycle World,  and  Harley-Davidson Enthuisast .

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Here's what we know about why a luxury sailing boat sank off the coast of Sicily

Emergency workers in southern Italy are still hunting for six people missing after a tornado sank a luxury yacht early Monday - prompting an air and naval operation off the coast of Sicily.

Fifteen people were rescued from the wreckage, according to Italy's Coast Guard. One body was recovered on Monday and four more on Wednesday, after divers struggled to reach deep inside the yacht around 50 meters underwater (approximately 150 feet).

Two Americans and four Britons were among the six initially reported missing - including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a prominent lawyer.

Here's what we know.

What happened?

A small waterspout - a type of tornado - spun over the Mediterranean island early Monday, likely capsizing the sailing boat amid lashings of rain and strong thunderstorms.

The British-flagged yacht, called the "Bayesian," was anchored about a half a mile from the port of Porticello, on Sicily's northern coast. The vessel sank after its mast broke in half in the storm, Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily's Civil Protection, told CNN on Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses described furious gales and hurricane-like winds that left an avalanche of debris near the pier.

More than a dozen survivors were spotted in the area hanging onto life rafts, according to the captain of a nearby boat, who steadied his ship to avoid colliding with the Bayesian.

"We got this strong hurricane gust and we had to start the engine to keep the ship in an angled position," Karsten Bower told reporters in Palermo on Monday. "After the storm was over, we noticed that the ship behind us was gone."

Bower and his crew rescued four injured people, he said, before calling Italy's Coast Guard - who later rescued the remaining survivors.

One of those rescued - a child - was airlifted to the children's hospital in Palermo. Eight people were hospitalized in total, according to the mayor's office.

The girl's mother, Charlotte, described how she battled to hold onto Sofia, her 1-year-old daughter, as reported by Italian news agency ANSA.

"In two seconds I lost the baby in the sea, then I immediately hugged her again amidst the fury of the waves. I held her tightly, close to me, while the sea was stormy," she told journalists. "Many were screaming."

The mother and daughter were later reunited with the father, James, according to a doctor at the local children's hospital in Palermo.

"The survivors are very tired and are constantly asking about the missing people," the doctor, Domenico Cipolla, said Monday. "They are talking and crying all the time because they have realized that there is little hope of finding their friends alive."

Italy's fire brigade dispatched helicopters to aid in the search, officials said Monday. After an unsuccessful attempt on Monday, the brigade sent divers to try and enter the sunken ship Tuesday, recommencing the operation on Wednesday.

The depth of the wreck means divers can only work there for limited periods of time, according to Marco Tilotta, an inspector for the diving unit of Palermo's local fire brigade. The Italian fire brigade said Monday its divers had reached the yacht's hull 49 meters (160 feet) below sea level.

The United Kingdom's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said it has deployed a team of four inspectors to Palermo which is conducting a preliminary assessment of the scene.

Who was on board?

Twenty-two people were on board the Bayesian, which was flying under a British flag and had mostly British passengers and crew, in addition to two Anglo-French, one Irish and one Sri Lankan person, a spokesperson for Italy's Coast Guard told CNN.

A troupe of high-profile guests are among those missing, including Lynch, the 59-year-old British tech investor who fought a fraud case earlier this year in the United States - which spiraled from the disastrous $11 billion sale of his company to tech firm Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

His 18-year-old daughter was also named missing. Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, survived the accident. Bacares told Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica that she woke up at 4 a.m. local time, as the boat tilted. She and her husband were not initially concerned, she said, but became worried when the windows of the yacht shattered and chaos erupted.

RELATED: Divers find 4 bodies during search of superyacht wreckage after it sank off Sicily, 2 still missing

Bacares spoke to the newspaper while sitting in a wheelchair, at a hospital in the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese. She had abrasions on her feet and bandages on other parts of her body, it reported.

Bloomer, the finance tycoon, and Morvillo, a prominent lawyer - and both their wives - are also among the missing, according to Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily's Civil Protection.

Morvillo, an American partner at Clifford Chance, was involved in successfully defeating the US fraud case against Lynch in June. Another employee of the firm, Ayla Ronald, and her partner, survived the incident, according to a spokesperson for Clifford Chance.

The body that was recovered from the vessel on Monday was identified as the onboard chef Ricardo Thomas, an Antiguan citizen, Reuters reported.

What do we know about the boat?

Built in 2008, the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht was manufactured by Italian company Perini Navi, Reuters reported. According to the Associated Press, the boat has been available for charter for $215,000 (195,000) per week.

Lynch's wife is linked to the yacht. The Bayesian is held by the company Revtom Limited, according to records from the maritime information service Equasis. The company's latest annual return from April lists Bacares as the proprietor.

"Bayesian," the name given to the vessel, is linked to the statistical theory on which Lynch built his fortune, according to Reuters.

The yacht's mast stood 72.27 meters (237 feet) high above the designated water line, just short of the world's tallest mast which is 75.2 meters, according to Guinness World Records. It was the tallest aluminium mast in the world, the Perini Navi website said.

Perini Navi is known for making "good quality boats," according to Caroline White, deputy editor of BOAT International, a media group serving the superyacht industry.

White told CNN that if the Bayesian dismasted, "it should theoretically become more stable." "But it might be a different story if you are in the middle of a violent storm with incredibly strong winds pinning you to the water," she added.

Dangerous weather conditions

Strong storms across Sicily brought torrential rainfall late Sunday. Initial reports suggest a small waterspout, which developed over the area Monday morning, could have been behind the yacht's sinking.

Waterspouts - one of several types of tornadoes - are spinning columns of air that form over water, or move from land out to water. They are often accompanied by high winds, high seas, hail and dangerous lightning. While they are most common over tropical oceans, they can form almost anywhere.

Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, told CNN that while waterspouts in Sicily are rare, "there is a risk" they can happen - just not every day.

Waterspouts rely on warm waters to gain energy and the Mediterranean Sea has been very hot, reaching a record daily median of 28.9 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) last week, according to preliminary data from researchers at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Spain.

Local temperatures have been even higher, with waters around Sicily reaching almost 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), almost 3 degrees more than normal, Italian climatologist Luca Mercalli told CNN.

"Warmer oceans have more energy and more humidity to transfer to the atmosphere, the most important fuels for storms," he said.

(The-CNN-Wire & 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)

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Labour is accused of 'undoing Tories work' on tackling Channel crisis - as 25,300 small boat migrants granted asylum in just one year

By David Barrett Home Affairs Editor

Published: 19:04 EDT, 22 August 2024 | Updated: 22:28 EDT, 22 August 2024

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The number of Channel migrants winning permission to stay indefinitely in Britain has quadrupled as efforts to increase deportations have stalled.

Home Office data revealed more than 25,300 people who arrived by small boat were granted asylum or another type of humanitarian protection in the year to June – making up a third of all types of asylum claims in the same period. 

This compared with about 6,600 in the previous 12 months.

Across all types of asylum claims, the number granted last year hit an all-time high of 76,176 – more than triple the previous year's total.

But the release of the figures drew fresh attention to Labour's approach to the crisis. Shadow home secretary James Cleverly accused the Government of having 'no clear plan' and being set to 'roll over for the EU and open our borders'.

The Labour government has been accused of having 'no clear plan' and being set to 'roll over for the EU and open our borders'

Home Office data revealed more than 25,300 people who arrived by small boat were granted asylum or another type of humanitarian protection in the year to June (pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants wade through the sea in Gravelines, France in  July)

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The increases were due to a backlog-clearing exercise launched by former prime minister  Rishi Sunak that aimed to eliminate 'legacy' asylum claims by the end of last year.

At the same time, only three per cent of the total of small-boat migrants to have arrived here since the start of the Channel crisis have been removed. The figures, published yesterday, showed that of 127,834 migrants to reach Britain since 2018, only 3,788 have been sent home.

Number of Channel boat migrants granted asylum rises 400% in a year

Once an asylum claim is granted, the applicant and any dependants have the right to work or claim benefits, as well as access public services including the NHS.

Removals slowed from 1,269 in the second half of last year to 1,067 in six months of this year. There has been a huge surge in the number of Vietnamese migrants reaching Britain.

Such arrivals quadrupled in the first half of this year to 2,248 compared with the same period last year, meaning they made up the largest nationality among small boat migrants at 17 per cent.

Other figures showed that in the year to June the number of work visas issued was down 11 per cent to just over 286,000 and student visas fell 13 per cent to 432,000.

One of Labour's first acts in office was to scrap the Conservatives' Rwanda asylum scheme, which was designed to save lives by deterring migrant crossings.

Instead, Labour is setting up a Border Security Command with counter-terrorism style powers to tackle trafficking gangs.

Only 6,600 people who arrived by small boat were granted asylum or another type of humanitarian protection in the previous 12 months (pictured: Migrants in Dover on June 24)

Only three per cent of the total of small-boat migrants to have arrived here since the start of the Channel crisis have been removed (pictured: migrants in the Channel on August 6) 

Migration minister Seema Malhotra said: 'We are getting a grip with a serious plan to end the chaos. We have put substantial additional resource into a new returns programme to ensure thousands more people with no right to be in the UK are removed.

'We have already started work to deliver an immigration and asylum system that is controlled, managed, and works for Britain.'

But Mr Cleverly accused Labour of squandering his legacy, stressing: 'The actions I took as Home Secretary are working but they're undoing all of this progress.'

Some 19,294 small-boat migrants have reached Britain so far this year – including 5,720 since Labour came to power.

Dr Peter Walsh, of Oxford University's Migration Observatory, said: 'It is too early to say how small-boat arrivals will change under Labour. If policies have any impact at all, it's more likely to be when they are implemented, not when they are announced.'

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