Greatest Small Sailboat Ever

Which small sailboat deserves to be called the greatest ever?

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Which small sailboat deserves to be called the greatest ever? It’s a question that raises many others. What are the criteria? A single epic voyage? Enduring popularity? Revolutionary design? Racing prowess? Production numbers? Raw beauty? Without more defined parameters, there are literally thousands of one-designs and production boats for which a case could be made.

The most popular trailersailer in the world? This vintage 1972 model was hull number 200—Catalina has produced nearly 16,000 of these versatile boats since. (Photo courtesy Catalina Yachts)

We decided to ask a group of recognized small-boat experts to nominate one or two of their personal favorites. Naturally we didn’t waste much time on planning. Instead, we just tossed the question out there like a hot potato and waited to see who picked it up.

We encouraged the experts to nominate their own designs, or boats they were intimately familiar with, if they wished. We can certainly see how a craft drawn with one’s own hand, or a boat that carried her skipper through a gale, might meet one’s own definition of “greatest.” The only parameters we set were that the boat should be under 30 feet overall length, and displace less than 6,000 pounds.

A glance at the results from the website poll we’ve been running this month suggests our discussion of greatest boats will inevitably exclude more worthy boats than it includes. Even with ten choices on the board, poll respondents chose “other” almost twice as often as the first-place boats. Some of those we heard “kicked around” that weren’t ultimately nominated by our small group of experts included production boats like the West Wight Potter 14/15, the Catalina 22, the Com-Pac 16, the Edey & Duff Stonehorse, the Sunfish, the Marshall Sanderling, and the O’day Mariner. Then there were the one-offs: Sven Yrvind’s Bris, Manry’s Tinkerbelle, Earnest Shackleton’s James Caird, Stanley Smith’s Nova Espero, Hugo Vihlen’s Father’s Day and April Fool, Shane Acton’s Super Shrimp—and there were many others.

Legendary sailor Sven Yrvind (Lundin) built his 20-foot “Bris” in his mother’s basement. Eventually he and “Bris” sailed half the world, including an east west crossing of the Atlantic. Sven shot this photo while becalmed in the Saragosso Sea. (Photo courtesy Sven Yrvind)

”Tinkerbelle,” a modified 13-foot Old Town sloop, took newspaper copy editor Robert Manry across the Atlantic in 1965. Manry was thrown overboard and suffered hallucinations during the epic voyage. (Photo courtesy Western Reserve Historical Society www.wrhs.org)

In 1876, as the Untied States celebrated 100 years of independence, a young Danish immigrant named Alfred Johnson decided on his own patriotic tribute. He painted his modified, gaff-rigged Grand Banks fishing dory red, white and blue, and named her “Centennial.” Surviving storms and a shark attack, Johnson became the first person to sail solo across the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo courtesy Rob Morris author of Alfred “Centennial” Johnson www.pembrokeshire-online.co.uk/abercastle/)

We recognize anytime you use the word “greatest” you’re likely to ruffle some feathers. As one well-known designer told us, “These things are fraught with potholes for an editor. ‘Greatest designs’ is famous last words and can start recriminations.” Perhaps. We’ll look forward to your scathing missives about the boats that weren’t mentioned. In fact, we might even consider them proper nominations.

Now let’s hear from the experts.