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Small Craft Advisor
SCAMP vs San Juan 21
Mini-Cruiser Madness

SCAMP vs San Juan 21

A Round 1 Mini-Cruiser Madness Match-up

Jan 01, 2023
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Small Craft Advisor
Small Craft Advisor
SCAMP vs San Juan 21
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Having been involved in the creation and development of SCAMP (the acronym is “Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project,” after all…) we certainly don’t claim to be impartial. As a micro camp-cruiser, we think our John Welsford-designed SCAMP is as close to perfect for her purpose as any design could hope to be. That said, we’ve only got one vote in this contest—so it’ll be you folks who decide which boats win!

(Yes, we know this is another mismatch in terms of size and type of boat. As we mentioned already, that’s to be expected. The only criteria we set was “popular trailerable sailboats used for camp-cruising.” As the rounds continue the boats will narrow to your favorites and we can see which boat you just couldn’t vote against.)

In our review of SCAMP performance we wrote: Scamp has been called “sneaky fast,” and compared to a bumblebee for flying better than its shape suggests it should. However you want to say it, Scamp’s performance tends to surprise folks. Sailor and boatbuilder Dave Lucas’s account of seeing a Scamp under sail in-person for the first time was representative of the sort of thing we hear often:

“…this weekend at Cedar Key really showed me the true nature of these little boats. It was blowing a solid 12 to 15 with higher gusts and us hot-rodders were having a ball showing off and speeding around the slower boats when what do I see ahead of me but a Scamp.

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