Mini-Cruiser Madness

Vote to determine the best small cruising sailboat

It might not be March but we’ve launched our own brand of madness here at Small Craft Advisor. How about taking 32 of the most popular mini-cruisers (in this case defined as trailerable sailboats that are good for camping and cruising) and pitting them against each other randomly head-to-head and having our readers vote for their favorite?

This single-elimination contest will lead to one overall boat winning it all, but let’s be honest—there isn’t a bad boat on this list. Every design is a collection of compromises, so some fantastic boats are going to get knocked out in the early rounds. More important than winners or losers, hopefully this series will highlight some boats you’d never properly considered.

How will this work? We’ll give you a photo of each boat and list a few of its features, then it will be your turn to vote for which of the two boats you think should be the winner. The poll will remain active for 3 days. Winning boats will advance to the next round. Losers are out.

Tell us about it: Feel free to tell us and readers why you chose one boat over the other in the comments section below the article.

What criteria should we use for the judging? We recognize this could turn into a simple popularity contest, but we’d ask that you consider the following criteria when comparing the two boats:

• Performance

• Seaworthiness

• Accommodations (suitability for camp-cruising)

• Trailerability (and rigging, launching ease)

• Appearance

• Quality/Value

How come you fools forgot to include my favorite design? Our contest only features 32 boats out of many hundreds of potential candidates—of course we missed some good ones. But there’s no reason we can’t do this again with another 32 designs. Feel free to make your case for a particular design’s inclusion in the comments section below.

OK, let’s get ready to rumble. Tomorrow the O’Day Mariner squares off against the Aquarius 23—place your bets. —Eds

•SCA•