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Best luxury yacht: 7 ultimate luxury cruisers you can buy

Watch: The Design Secrets of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s America’s Cup boat

Great seamanship: When the Sea Calls

Canal shortcuts to paradise: “You could sail through the fjord in two days, but why hurry?”

Cruising Greece: ‘We felt removed from the chaos of it all’

The 10 modern and updated golden rules for line handling

12 dream sailing experiences – from dreamy adventures to high-octane thrills

Oyster Yachts announce they are back in profit with World Rally proving popular

Grand Soleil Blue first look: new recyclable yacht concept

Bluewater Luxury – The new Moody DS48

Stylia: 22.8m of bluewater perfection

Air Yacht 80 a dream package

Is your anti-foul choice contributing to Global warming?

Charles Caudrelier: the first man to foil a giant multihull around the world

Solaris 55 first look: an ‘aggressive increase in form stability’

World’s coolest yachts: Open 7.50

Nikki Henderson’s advice on nurturing a high performing team

Wauquiez 55 first look: brimming with clever ideas

NKE NavXP chartplotter first look: NKE’s first chartplotter

‘The latest offshore racers take off like a scatty race horse’ – Matt Sheahan

How to use tides and tidal currents to your advantage

Catamarans and multihulls.

Expert tips: how to sail multihulls downwind in big breezes

5 of the best new ocean cruising catamarans for 2024

The best specialist yachts: new and interesting designs

Best catamaran and multihull: We sail the very best yachts on two and three hulls

Sailing across the atlantic.

Sailing from Annapolis to Iceland on the viking routes of old

How to prepare for an Atlantic crossing with the ARC

What’s the best autopilot kit for a transatlantic?

The ‘easy’ way to sail across the Atlantic?

New mutihulls take on an Atlantic crossing

How to prepare for an Atlantic crossing

Extraordinary boats.

Baltic 80 Custom: A ‘rosy’ design for racing and luxury offshore cruising

Hunters to racers: the fascinating world of Azorean whaleboat racing

Extraordinary boats: The Yachting World Diamond from design to deck

Extraordinary boats: Maluka – restoration of a 1932 classic

World’s fastest monohull: Malizia-Seaexplorer IMOCA 60

Extraordinary boats: Infiniti 52 – an incredible story and boat

Practical cruising.

‘Electric yacht propulsion opens doors to a completely different way of thinking about sailing’

An expert guide to safe line handling at sea

Great seamanship: Slow Boat to Uruguay

How to find the right weather window

Allures 40.9 vs Ovni 400: French aluminium centreboarders go head-to-head

CNB 66 yacht test: Intoxicating cruiser is a cut above the mainstream

Saffier SE37 Lounge test: A veritable supercar of the seas

Swan 65 test: The triumphant return of a true sailing icon

Sailor's Delight

No passport required, for the love of a boat, cruising connection, columns & blogs.

The best thing about the new BVIs is what’s old—the wind and sea

How do I replace leaking hatches?

The sea change that’s happening might not be the big shift escapists think it is

Fitting out is best when you follow the 10 Caswellian Laws

Recent articles.

Beneteau First 36

Beneteau’s latest midsize racer-cruiser gets the mix right.

How to start sailing shorthanded

With a few tips and some practice you can spend more time sailing your boat and less time waiting for crew.

This racer-cruiser makes for spirited club racing and great family cruising

Making sailing a cottage industry

California sailor paul keever discovered sailing and found a career in helping others discover it, from our archives.

Yo Ho Ho and a Charter of Rum

The Great Circle Route:...

Paradise Bound

What to do when the worst happens

Adventure Medical Kits Marine 1000

Cut it loose

Spyderco assist salt knife.

Inflatable PFD

Spinlock deckvest 5d.

Sunscreen for sailors

Winslow Marine Super Light

Pyrotechnic

Sos distress light.

Sound the alarm

Fox micro whistle.

Light up the night

Navisafe navi.

Waterproof racing gear

Perry on design.

Tanton No. 309

This rugged pilothouse cutter can handle the rough stuff in comfort.

Full Circle 30

This small oceangoing cruiser can be built by diy builders.

Dragonfly 40

This folding trimaran for fun cruising offers plenty of options, current issue.

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Cruising World ’s 2024 Boat of the Year Competition

Top boatbuilders from around the globe are set to compete for the prestigious Boat of the Year award at the Annapolis Sailboat Show.

Cruising World Charter Directory

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Are wooden boat the answer to environmentally responsible yachting?

Boatbuilding as we know it is not a sustainable process. The dawn of mass production GRP boats from the 1960s onwards fuelled an explosion in sailing participation and boat ownership.…

Orcas ‘attack’ and sink a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar

• Heather Prentice
• May 14, 2024

Growing demand for electric propulsion at South Coast & Green Tech Boat Show

• April 25, 2024

Maiden’s all-female crew win the Ocean Globe Race

• April 22, 2024

Maiden poised to win Ocean Globe Race

• April 16, 2024

French dominate Ocean Globe Race finish at Cowes

• April 15, 2024

Expert guide: how to tune the rig of a yacht

How to get your boat home if you experience an engine failure

How to squeeze a yacht into a tight marina berth

Sail more with J-Boats

A magical cruising ground just a stone’s throw from France

Golden globe race.

Jeremy Bagshaw on his 2022-23 Golden Globe Race

Michael Guggenberger on his 2022-223 Golden Globe Race

Abhilash Tomy on his 2022-23 Golden Globe Race

‘We spent hours rowing and snorkelling along the edge of the islets’ – cruising the Galapagos in a yacht

A guide to cruising England’s East Coast rivers

The classic ocean race that’s open to anyone – taking on the AZAB

Everything you need to know about yacht solar power

How to convert a yacht to electric propulsion

Cruising life.

Cruising the Scillies and Gurnsey: ‘All was well in our little world’

Why trading your boat in for something smaller can make your sailing more fun

How we survived a storm and a heatwave in the eastern Mediterranean

Libby Purves calls time on the ship’s bell

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Launched in 1947,  Yachts & Yachting  is recognised the world over as essential reading for anyone with a passion for competitive sailing. Boasting a unique heritage that both inspires and informs its readers, Yachts & Yachting reports directly from the cutting edge of the sport. Capturing the latest developments, technique advice and technical updates with input from world class sailors and industry experts, Yachts & Yachting delivers unrivalled content that enables readers to enhance their performance, knowledge and enjoyment.

Classic Boat   celebrates the world’s most beautiful boats. Each issue showcases the best-designed traditional boats afloat, examining their design, provenance and heritage.

Sailing Today is the magazine for hands-on cruising sailors whose love of sailing takes them around the British Isles, across the Channel and further, to the blue waters of the wider world.

Yachts & Yachting is the leading performance sailing magazine, covering every aspect of the racing scene, from dinghies to keelboats. Our insightful features and stunning photography bring you the inside track on the world’s most exciting regattas together with advice and inspiration from the very best sailors, coaches and industry experts.

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Reviews of sailing yachts from all sailboat manufacturers like Catalina, Sunfish, and more from Yachting Magazine.

Royal Huisman to Build 264-Foot “Noir”

Also known as Project 411, Noir will reportedly have the world’s tallest sloop rig.

Reminiscing “Freedom”: a 12 Metre Classic

This renowned 12 Metre yacht didn’t win the race, but it won the heart of our writer.

Superyacht Smack Talk

The team behind the 154-foot Nilaya from Royal Huisman throws down with news that the yacht has arrived in Antigua ready to race.

Revisiting the Classic Cal 40

A sailor and an iconic sailboat are reunited for a voyage down memory lane.

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Grand Soleil 72 Long Cruise to Debut This Fall

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The ‘Maltese Falcon’s’ Refit Is Complete

This iconic, 288-foot Perini Navi had more than 80 people working on her for six months.

The First wally101 Full Custom Has Launched

It’s a cruiser-racer built of carbon fiber, helping reduce the yacht’s weight.

Vendée Globe Aspirant Ronnie Simpson Finds Peace in Sailing

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12 Metre World Championship racing is returning this summer to Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

‘Impossible Dream’ Racing with a Unique Crew

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Sailing’s Hydrofoiling Revolution

Hydrofoils let boating enthusiasts fly across the blue at eye-watering speeds.

Huisfit Completes Refit of 203-Foot ‘Athos’

A stern extension means the Holland Jachtbouw yacht is now 208 feet length overall.

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Sailing World’s 2022 Boat of the Year

• By Dave Reed
• December 22, 2021

Sailing World Magazine’s annual Boat of the Year tests are conducted in Annapolis, Maryland, following the US Sailboat Show. With independent judges exhaustively inspecting the boats on land and putting them through their paces on the water, this year’s fleet of new performance-sailing boats spanned from small dinghies to high-tech bluewater catamarans. Here’s the best of the best from our 2022 Boat of the Year nominees »

Out yonder in the vast cornfields of Wisconsin, boatbuilders in Tyvek suits are infusing polyester glass hulls as fast as they can, buffing out one gleaming white dinghy nearly every 66 hours in a full-tilt routine to place the latest American-made dinghy into the hands of sailors clamoring to get a piece of the new great thing in small-craft sailing: the remarkably versatile Melges 15, our 2022 Boat of the Year. No longer shall youth and adult sailors be cast to their individual dinghy classes, and our judges agree. This one allows all ages to play together in one remarkable 15-footer.

“It’s stable, forgiving and accessible to a wide swath of physiques, a platform where you can learn to sail it and then transition quickly to racing,” says Eddie Cox, the youngster of Melges Performance Sailboats who’s been involved with the Melges 15’s development from inception to launch. “The boat fits a wide variety of sailors, and that’s what our goal was. It’s family-orientated sailing, which is important to us because that’s how Melges boats are.”

While the Reichel/Pugh-designed Melges 15 was originally introduced in May 2020, its BOTY appearance was delayed to 2021, and clearly neither the class nor the builder was waiting for its award. In less than a year, multiple fleets have been seeded and growing across the country, with more than 150 boats sailing and another 175 or so already on order as of October 2021. Demand is, of course, outpacing supply, but the folks out in Zenda don’t mind that one bit.

The most notable trait the judges noted as they observed the boat on land during October’s United States Sailboat Show is its deep cockpit, which puts the boat in a similar space as the Club 420. But that’s about where comparisons end. In fact, during post-sailing deliberations, the judges found it impossible to identify another doublehanded dinghy quite like it, aside from the 25-year-old RS200 class, which is only active in Europe. So, there’s a golden opportunity for the Melges crew in the non-skiff, doublehanded asymmetric-spinnaker market.

The Melges 15’s best trait under sail, however, is its stability. The hull’s wide after sections and sharp chines push a lot of buoyancy outboard, says Greg Stewart. Examine the hull profile from aside the boat on its dolly and it’s easy to see the rocker too, which encourages early planing and a smooth ride uphill while also making it responsive to crew-weight adjustments as wind conditions change.

On deck, the judges took note of the open foredeck, which allows you to safely and comfortably walk or crawl to the bow should you need to when landing or correcting the inevitable spinnaker snafu. Mounted on the foredeck is the asymmetric spinnaker turtle with a stainless-steel throat bar and aluminum retracting sprit. The single-line spinnaker hoist and retrieval system leads to a cam cleat near the mast base and runs aft to a turning block at the transom, so either the helmsman or crew can manage the hoist. Pin-stop adjustable jib tracks are mounted on the side tanks, and sheets lead to ratchet blocks with stand-up rubber boots to provide the appropriate cross-sheeting angles.

Here, in the crew’s playground, a lot of design focus went into the height, width and construction of the boat’s backbone, making it a comfortable seat to straddle in lighter winds. The aluminum-reinforced centerboard box, Cox says, also provides extra strength in the trunk and allows Melges to build the boat more economically. The trunk tapers downward sharply aft toward the floor to provide an anchor point for the mainsheet block. From there, it’s a clean run aft with only the skipper’s hiking straps.

While the trend in dinghy design has been toward open transoms, doing so requires raised floors in order to drain water. To maintain a deep cockpit, Melges instead opted for tried-and-true stainless-steel Elvström/Anderson Bailers, as well as flaps in the transom should the sleigh ride be especially wet and wild.

Aiming to keep the rig tuning quick and simple, the two-part tapered aluminum Selden rig has a single-length forestay and adjustable turnbuckles, while gross settings for varying crew combinations can be made with adjustable spreader brackets for rake and spreader length.

“Put a Loos tension gauge on the forestay, tune the rig up until you hit 19 on the gauge, and that’s your base setting,” Cox says. “When it gets windy, put on a few more turns at the shrouds and that’s how you get to 24, which is your heavy-air setting. It’s all pretty simple. The boom-top mounted vang is anchored on the mast with the sliding track on the boom, which is a clean solution to keep the crew’s runway clear and have a powerful tool to depower the rig (the cleat is on a mast-mounted swivel).

The centerboard and rudder are both aluminum with rubber end caps, which is the go-to solution for maintenance-free appendages these days—less time fairing and fussing means more time sailing, and this is especially true for boats destined for sailing and yacht-club fleets.

“Our goal is to help the sport grow and help racing grow,” Cox says. “We think one problem with American sailing is getting younger sailors out of high school or college sailing into their next race boat. Going fast and being able to go 20 knots downwind hooks people—we need to make sure we are making sailing fast, fun and exciting.”

When the judges got their time in the boat with a fresh 15-knot northwest wind, they witnessed firsthand what Cox had promised. To prove a point of its versatility, veteran judge and college sailing coach Chuck Allen commandeered the 15 alone, set the red spinnaker, and was immediately a projectile—soon a red speck on the horizon.

“The stability of this really opens it to such a wide range of sailors,” Allen says. “The build quality is superb, and it is so clean. It’s classic Melges. They really took their time with it before putting it out there. Its stated purpose is right on target, the price point is good, and with that stability it sails incredibly well upwind and downwind.”

Once they were able to wrestle the tiller from Allen’s hands, fellow judges Greg Stewart and David Powlison, tipping the scales at 420 pounds combined, set off on a few speed burns of their own, climbing to windward in 12 knots of breeze at narrow angles, and effortlessly planing off downwind, knocking through jibes with ease after only a few minutes in the boat.

“Of all the boats we sailed, it was the one I really didn’t want to get off of,” Stewart says. “For me, selecting it as our Boat of the Year comes down to execution of the build and its performance. It’s exceptional in all ways. Everything is so well-integrated and clean. It starts with a good designer, and then it’s good product development and craftsmanship—there’s nothing on this boat that you don’t need.”

Powlison seconds Stewart’s praise for the boat, especially the part about how it serves such a wide variety of crew combinations. “It’s not just a race boat, but a boat to go sail and have fun with anyone, anytime.”

• More: Boat of the Year , Boat of the Year 2022 , Melges , Sailboats
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Caracole repeats Swiss Open 5.5 Metre Title

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“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1987 Vasco Was Downhill ALL the Way

by Richard Crockett The Vasco da Gama Race has a reputation for being tough and unrelenting, but in …

“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1986 Vasco Da Gama Race

by Richard Crockett This was another classic Vasco with both upwind and downwind conditions, nothing…

“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1985 Vasco Photo-Finish

by Richard Crockett It’s rare that one sees a photo-finish in a coastal ocean race, but just 13 seco…

“Talking Sailing” for My Archives. Close – But No Cigar

by Richard Crockett It’s done and dusted, and was fast too. This 2024 Vasco da Gama Race was one tha…

“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 2024 Vasco – A Fast Race So Far

by Richard Crockett If ever there was a Vasco race to do it was this one as the wind has been behind…

May 24, 2024

by Richard Crockett The Vasco da Gama Race has a reputation for being tough and unrelenting, but in 1987 that changed as the race was downwind ALL the way. This is what I wrote as an introduction to the report in SAILING Mag: “Any crew sailing the Wilbur Ellis Vasco …

May 23, 2024

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“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1983 Vasco Da Gama Race

May 17, 2024

“Talking Sailing” From My Archives. 1982 Vasco Da Gama Race

May 16, 2024

Sailor of the Month

Sailor of the Month – postponed due to COVID!

February 5, 2021

Sadly with sailing still on the backburner, the monthly Sailor of the Month award is postponed until the sport gets back to normal. Thanks to Raymarine and MDM Marine services for their continued support and understanding during these difficult times. Stay Safe please.

Sailor of the Month Awards Cancelled for this Year

November 2, 2020

April 2020 Raymarine Sailors of the Month – Hasso Plattner

April 5, 2020

March 2020 Raymarine Sailors of the Month – Rijk Kuttel & Chris Garratt

March 9, 2020

February 2020 Raymarine Sailors of the Month – Crew of Love Water

February 4, 2020

Raymarine Sailor of the Month. Calling for Nominations

January 26, 2020

Raymarine Sailor of the Year – 2019 – Mike Hayton

January 1, 2020

Sailing Books

Book Review: The Saga of the Sarie

January 7, 2021

Book Review: The Saga of the Sarie by Buster May From the outset let me say that this is an exceptionally well written book which is crammed full of interesting anecdotes, stories, feats of seamanship and much more. Interestingly the book was written in 1964, but as May could not …

Book Review. Sport: Greed & Betrayal

July 16, 2019

Book Review. Nautical Works

March 14, 2019

The Mirror Book. 

October 1, 2018

Books on Sailing – FOR SALE

August 16, 2018

Book Review. SAIL & Rig. The Tuning Guide.

June 28, 2018

Book Review. Multihull Seamanship

Industry news.

Cape Performance Sailing – A Noteworthy Downwind Performance

October 12, 2023

by Richard Crockett It’s not often that the local South African boat building industry has something to crow about, especially if they are building racing monohulls, yet Cape Performance Sailing is on a super-fast downwind plane with its sails crammed full of orders. Having set up shop just 36 months …

Exalto Wiper Technologies now at Seascape Marine Services, Cape Town

August 3, 2023

Which Forecast Model is More Accurate?

December 2, 2021

Weather Routing. Now with depth avoidance

Yanmar Supports Customers with Extended Standard Warranty Period

July 28, 2020

“Energy Observer” Fits Bruntons Autoprop Eco*Star Propellers

July 23, 2020

Cox Powertrain First 300hp Diesel Outboards

• Boats for Sale

Hobie 14 2015 Northern Region Provincials Results

October 19, 2015

Hobie 14 2015 Northern Region Provincials Results Hobie 14 2015 Northern Region Provincials Results

Youth Nationals – final day

December 19, 2014

Youth Nationals RESULTS – Wednesday 17 December

December 17, 2014

Southern Charter Grand Slam 2 – RESULTS & PICS

December 8, 2014

Lipton Cup 2014 – Results after 3 races

August 29, 2014

For Sale – Morgan 31

November 19, 2019

Price – ZAR 290, 000 Designer – Angelo Lavranos Builder – Mosenthal Marine Hull – GRP Deck – GRP LOA – 31’ Beam – 3.20 m Draft – 1.50 m Keel – Full cruising Displ. – 4.5 Tons Launched – 1984 Mooring – Optional extra Contact – Chris de Kock …

For Sale – L34

September 17, 2019

29er FOR SALE

March 4, 2019

Bandit – the highly successful and super-fast offshore cat is FOR SALE.

November 14, 2018

For Sale. Farr 38 – ‘AL’

July 18, 2018

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Anchorages In Brittany: Guide to Finding Peaceful Anchoring Spots

New Women in Sailing Docuseries: How They’re Evening the Keel

Transatlantic Voyage: Sailing Eastward vs Westward

How to Reduce Drag: A Keelboat Masterclass from Niall Myant

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Silver Sail Croatia: A luxury sailing experience

Three of the best brokerage boats for sale

RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show 2024 

A Guide to Seasickness: How to Avoid/Combat Feeling Rough

New Boats: The Latest Yacht Designs Heading to the Market

Meet the Sailing Team GB: Going for 2024 Olympic Gold

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How to Prevent Food Waste at Sea: Tom Cunliffe’s Cooking Guide

Sustainable Sailing: How to Eco-Cruise in Greece

French Canal Guide: How to Travel 800 Miles through France

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Five Places to Take Sailing Lessons in Boston

Whether you’re a rookie or a salty dog, your sailboat journey starts here.

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Illustration by Jeannie Phan

For Smooth Sailing

Community Boating

From its perch on the Charles River Esplanade, Community Boating is responsible for the sailing dinghies dotting the river that have become an iconic Boston image. Incorporated in 1946 with the goal of providing accessible, inexpensive sailing opportunities, little has changed about this program except for the expansion of its offerings. There are classes for both adults and kids, from beginner to advanced levels, and for experienced sailors, four-passenger sailboat rentals are available to the public from April through October.

21 David G Mugar Way, Boston, community-boating.org .

For Technical Instruction

Boston sailing center.

When the weather’s fine, you might want to get right out on the water—but not so fast. This organization’s “Learn to Sail” course takes place in a classroom on Lewis Wharf before students head out onto Boston Harbor in a Sonar, one of the fleet’s fourteen 23-foot-long boats. You’ll sail to Boston’s outer harbor on the last session of the course, then you’ll complete the written American Sailing Association (ASA) test to receive your sailing certification.

bostonsailingcenter.com .

For a Confidence Boost

Courageous sailing.

Heralded for its summer day camp for kids ages 8 to 15, Courageous Sailing views the sport as a platform to develop leadership skills, gain confidence, and enhance personal growth while exploring the marine environment on keelboats, dinghies, and 420s. Based at Charlestown’s Pier 4 and on Jamaica Pond, the organization also offers adult sailing programs that range from beginner to advanced, and there are navigation and cruising courses that teach the essentials of larger boat handling. Once you have your sea legs, you can try racing on 19-foot Rhodes and 14-foot Lasers—also a big part of the Courageous Sailing culture.

courageoussailing.org .

For Building Community

Piers park sailing center.

Located on the East Boston Waterfront, this community-centric program is devoted to inclusive and adaptive programming. Youth programs are designed to increase science literacy and resilience while fostering an environment of mentorship, while summer and after-school programs start at age 10 with on-the-water skill building in basic keelboats. Adult fundamental courses, meanwhile, are conducted on the center’s fleet of 23-foot Sonars; upon completion, you’re eligible to sail the fleet’s boats on your own with a sailing pass.

piersparksailing.org .

For Experience on Larger Boats

First reef sailing.

Run by lifelong sailors Paul Sullivan and Forrest Hardy, First Reef opened in 2022 with the goal of providing ASA certification courses, clinics, and a group of people who could sail together. Instruction takes place on 26-foot Colgate day sailers, and “on land” classes, including Intro to Navionics and Intro to Passage Routing, are also offered. Not sure if you want to commit? Sullivan and Hardy also host open houses at their outpost in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina.

firstreefsailing.com .

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Killer Whales Sunk a 50-Foot Sailing Yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar

It's just the latest in a string of orca attacks on sailboats., tori latham, tori latham's most recent stories.

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Two sailors had a whale of a time over the weekend—but only in the technical sense.

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“This was a scary moment,” the skipper Jelmer van Beek said at the time. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”

While that attack didn’t result in the sinking of the ship, another sailing yacht sank near the Tanger Med port in November, The New York Times wrote. The crew of that ship had to abandon the boat after a group of orcas slammed into the rudder for a whole 45 minutes. (The whales have seemingly been targeting sailboats in particular.)

Researchers don’t know for sure why the whales have been attacking boats, but they think it may be one of the ways the orcas play, the Times said—a pretty dangerous form of amusement, albeit. Others have theorized that it’s a short-term fad among the animals, or that one orca experienced a traumatic event that made it aggressive and other whales began to mimic that behavior. The incidents have become so common in recent years that sailors trade advice online about how to maneuver in the Strait of Gibraltar area, and the Spanish government issued a release that included tips for sailors.

Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not…

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Setting Sail for Sustainability

ECO Yachts in Monfalcone, Italy, launched a third-party verified carbon neutral production sailboat, the ecoracer30. The 30-foot-long sailboat, which features a recyclable thermoplastic hull and deck and other green technologies, is the culmination of a four-year journey by three longtime friends and sailing teammates who want to help solve the boat industry’s recycling problem.

While GFRP composites transformed the leisure marine industry in the 1950s and 1960s, enabling mass production and a boom in boat ownership that continues today, millions of these crafts have reached their end-of-life and are creating another kind of boom – in global waste.

 “Unfortunately, [thermoset] fiberglass is not easily recyclable, and there are several challenges and high costs associated with recycling it,” says Fabio Bignolini, co-founder and CEO of ECO Yachts. “As a result, around 95% of fiberglass boats are sent to landfills, sunk, burned or abandoned at the end of their life, creating a global environmental challenge.”

According to ECO Yachts, there are 80,000 decommissioned GFRP boats in the European Union (EU), and an additional 30,000 boats – equivalent to 23,100 tons of FRP waste – will be discarded annually by 2030.

Disturbed by this trend, Bignolini, Andrea Paduano and Piernicola Paoletti founded NLcomp® in 2019 to develop a recyclable composite for boat building. After two years testing production technologies and hundreds of combinations of thermoplastic resins and fibers, NLcomp finalized rComposite™, a thermoplastic composite that can be reinforced with flax, glass and carbon fibers.

The trio then joined forces with boat designer Matteo Polli, who has worked closely with their Northern Light sailing team since 2012, to create ecoracer25, a 25-foot prototype featuring an rComposite hull and deck. Ecoracer25 was fabricated using two layers of ampliTex™ biaxial flax fibers, unidirectional reinforcements from Bcomp Ltd. and a 20mm AtlasHPE recyclable foam core supplied by NMG Europe, which were vacuum infused with an Arkema polymethyl methacrylate ( PMMA ). The parts were then post-cured at 80 degrees Celsius using air cannons and finished with acrylic paint.

“The challenge of combining thermoplastic resins was really complicated,” says Bignolini. “Nobody believed we could do it, but thanks to hundreds of infusion tests and numerous material tests, we managed to not only create a new recyclable composite but also build a real boat in just two years.”

Bignolini, Paduano (CTO and R&D manager of ECO Yachts) and Paoletti (CFO of ECO Yachts) sailed the ecoracer25 to victory in the 2022 Italian Sport Boat Championship, defeating a fleet of 40 traditionally manufactured GFRP boats.

“We proved that the performance of the material is on a par with fiberglass,” says Bignolini. Ecoracer 25 also received several awards, including the Eco Focused Boat of the Year 2022 at the International Boat Industry and Metstrade Boat Builder Awards.

Building on this expertise, NLcomp and spinoff ECO Yachts partnered with Polli and Paolo Dassi, a structural engineer who specializes in racing boats, to develop ecoracer30, which debuted at the 2023 Ocean Race Finale in Genova, Italy.

Like its predecessor, ecoracer30 is fabricated with layers of biaxial fiber mats and a recycled foam core that are vacuum infused with PMMA. Ecoracer30, however, is reinforced with flax and carbon fiber rComposite, laid up on 3D-printed, recyclable thermoplastic molds by Breton S.p.A. and finished with a gel coat.

In addition to its recyclable hull and deck, ecoracer30 features several other sustainable technologies, including solar, hydro and wind powered systems, recyclable 4T FORTE™ composite sails by One Sails and climate neutral manufacturing.

ECO Yachts says it’s the first boatbuilder to use a third party, in this case Climate Standard, to verify its yacht’s climate neutrality. The company publishes ecoracer30’s emissions data, reduction plans and offsetting strategy on its website ( climatestandard.net/eco-yachts ). It hopes that this transparency will help push the yachting industry toward true sustainability.

“Greenwashing is a significant issue in the market,” says Bignolini. “Now everything is labeled sustainable, even if it’s not truly so.”

Ecoracer30 is available as a 1,900 kg sport boat or 2,100 kg racing yacht, including its 700 kg lead bulb. As of March, two 2,100 kg ecoracer30s had been sold and will participate in Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) competitions in the Mediterranean Sea this summer. ECO Yachts hopes to have six ecoracer30s on the racecourse soon.

The company’s next model will be a 36-feet performance cruiser that will be the first serial production cruiser built entirely with thermoplastic technologies, according to ECO Yachts.

“We had to slow down project development to concentrate all forces on the production of ecoracer30 boats for customers,” says Bignolini. “But we have an [ecofoiler] hull prototype, and we count on starting again after the summer with a production part.”

As ECO Yachts continues to build its own brand of climate-neutral, recyclable boats, the founders are also licensing NLcomp’s rComposite materials to other shipyards and sharing their expertise. In the first such collaboration, NLcompteamed with Canteire del Pardo on the Grand Soleil BLUE, a 33-foot, zero-impact day sailer.

“Our aim is to solve the end-of-life [problem] of fiberglass composites,” says Bignolini. “By sharing our expertise, we hope to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices throughout the industry.”

Melissa O’Leary is a freelance writer and avid sailor in Cleveland. Email comments to [email protected] .

Fabrication of an rComposite™ test part.

Photo Credit: NLcomp®

Orcas have attacked and sunk another boat in Europe — and experts warn there could be more attacks soon

A group of orcas known to attack boats in southwest Europe have sunk a 50-foot sailing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar after ripping open its hull. It is the fifth time these killer whales have sent a ship to the seafloor in the last three years.

Orcas that have been terrorizing boats in southwest Europe have just sank their fifth yacht in three years. And experts have warned that more attacks are likely in the coming months after the orcas unexpectedly switched up their behavior earlier this year.

On Sunday (May 12), an unknown number of orcas ( Orcinus orca ) attacked the 49-foot-long (15 meters) sailing yacht named the Alboran Cognac in the Strait of Gibraltar — a narrow body of water between southern Spain and North Africa that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. During the attack, which began at around 9 a.m. local time, the killer whales repeatedly rammed the boat's hull and rudder, Reuters reported . 

The yacht's two-person crew radioed for help and was rescued by a passing oil tanker. But the vessel's hull sustained serious damage during the attack and the yacht began to take on water, which eventually caused it to sink, Reuters reported.

The attack was likely carried out by a growing number of individuals from the Iberian subpopulation of orcas — a group of around 40 killer whales that live off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Gibraltar — that have been attacking boats across their range since 2020. 

Most of the attacks occur between May and August each year in and around the Strait of Gibraltar. However, earlier this year, some of the highly social apex predators were spotted circling a boat in northern Spain , suggesting they have spread out much further and earlier than normal.

As a result, the Spanish authorities have warned recreational boaters to avoid sailing too far from the coast and to not stop their vessels if they are approached by orcas, according to a translated statement from Spain's Maritime Safety and Rescue Society.

Related: Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter?

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Since the attacks started in 2020, sailors have reported around 700 interactions with orcas in the area, ranging from circling and nudging vessels to ramming, ripping apart and sinking boats, Reuters reported.

The most recent sinking event prior to this one occurred on Halloween last year when a pod of orcas sank a sailing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar after a near hour-long attack . Before then, at least three other boats were sunk in the region between 2022 and early 2023. However, no humans have been injured or killed.

During attacks, the orcas' most common tactic is to damage or rip off the vessel's rudder , which makes it impossible to steer the vehicles. Researchers believe this is a learned behavior, and eye-witnesses have previously reported seeing individuals seemingly teach other orcas how to do this . As a result, the number of attacks has increased over the last few years.

— 11 ways orcas show their terrifying intelligence

— How often do orcas attack humans?

— How orcas gained their 'killer' reputation

So far, at least 15 individuals have been linked to at least one attack in the region. But researchers believe the attacks can be traced back to a single female, named White Gladis, who may have been pregnant when she started harassing the boats. However, it is unclear exactly what sparked the attacks.

There has even been a suggestion that the behavior has spread beyond the Iberian population after an orca similarly attacked a boat in Scotland in 2023. However, this was an isolated incident, which makes it hard to link it to the Iberian attacks.

Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior, evolution and paleontology. His feature on the upcoming solar maximum was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Awards for Excellence in 2023. 

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