Boat of the Year Nominee

Photos by Walter Cooper

Rondar president Paul Young told our Boat of the Year judges that nearly 100 of these 15-foot singlehanded keelboats have been sold in England, with the typical buyer being middle-aged and preferring to "not end up in the drink every time they go sailing." That's a pretty specific ask for a narrow and lightweight (286-pound) dinghy, one that's accomplished with a 137-pound bulb attached to a lifting keel. To keep it interesting, they designed a clever jib-pole system that the judges said was easy to deploy for wing-on-wing sailing. They liked its upwind performance, but off the breeze, said Chuck Allen, "it was nothing special." Fellow panelist Tom Rich said the boat was fun to sail, and lively, but its $15,000 price tag would be a barrier to one-design class development.