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There is a renaissance of sorts underway in American boatbuilding, and some of it is concentrated in the little state of Rhode Island, which for many years was a major player in producing cruising sailboats, where companies like Bristol Yachts, the O’Day Corp., Freedom Yachts and so many others were based and flourished.

Those builders are gone, but these days such iconic brands as Alerion, C&C Yachts, J/Boats and other superb vessels are now being produced—or soon will be—in Little Rhody.

There have, of course, been constants through all these changes, and one exemplary example is Walter Schulz, the founder and president of the Schulz Boat Company, which is perhaps better known by the long line of sailboats and powerboats the firm has produced: Shannon Yachts.

Schulz began his career in 1974 in collaboration with naval architect George Stadel. They debuted their 38-foot ketch in October of 1975 at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland. It was the first of over 20 sail and power boats that Schulz would produce, including his biggest boat to date, the Shannon 53 High Power Sailor (HPS).

Perhaps fittingly, this fall Schulz has returned to his roots with another 38-footer, the Shannon 38 HPS. But the lines and specifications of the two boats could hardly be more different, and graphically illustrate how Schulz and his company have evolved in the intervening decades.

1981 Shannon 38 Ketch. Photo courtesy of Cannell, Payne & Page Yacht Brokers.

For example, that original Shannon 38 had a split rig, cutaway keel and classic overhangs: the boat’s LOD was 37’ 9”, the LWL was 30’10” and the beam was 11’6”. The boat drew 5’6” and displaced 18,500 pounds.

Now compare those dimensions with the 38 HPS: LOD (38’3”), LWL (37’9”), beam (13’0”), draft (3’0”) and displacement (14,500 pounds).

The new Shannon 38 HPS. “Scutter” rig shown at left, sloop rig with self tending boom at right. Courtesy of Shannon Yachts.

Clearly, the new boat is not your daddy’s Shannon 38. Heck, it’s not even Walt Schulz’s original Shannon 38!

No, it’s a boat built for shallow gunkholes or the high seas, under sail or power. It can be specified with a single 165 hp. diesel or twin 75 hp. diesels that will reportedly motor at 12 knots with a 500 nautical-mile range. But Schulz insists it’s not a traditional motorsailer by any means, but also a “fast and fun sport boat” that will sail at 7 knots in 15-knots of wind. The dual-purpose capability is the defining characteristic of and concept behind Shannon’s HPS line, an ambitious take on the cruising sailboat.

The first Shannon HPS was recently launched and is currently undergoing sea trials off Bristol, R.I. This winter, the boat will head south to Fort Myers, Florida, where Shannon will offer inspections and sail tests to interested parties. For more information, visit the Shannon website or contact Bill Ramos (bill@shannonyachts.com).

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The post One More Sail Before Casting Off appeared first on Cruising World.

Morris Yachts

On a pristine weekend early last August, more than a dozen boats and several dozen people gathered at Maine’s Northeast Harbor to recognize a legacy 40 years in the making: the first gathering in one place of the family and friends and customers of Morris Yachts since the death nearly four years ago of the man who created it all.

Tom Morris was 32 years old when he loaded up a black VW Beetle and moved his young family from the buttoned-up city life of Philadelphia banking and insurance to Mount Desert Island. The year being 1972, Tom Morris wasn’t alone in choosing to shuck the suit and tie in favor of the more rural life of a craftsman. What distinguished him was the unimpeachable quality of the work he produced. Steeped in his pure love of sailing, that body of work culminated in what one Cruising World Boat of the Year judge recently called “the Rolls-Royce of American boatbuilding.”

But what becomes of Morris Yachts once its founder is gone? It’s a question that no one has wrestled with more deeply than Tom’s son, Cuyler Morris, 47, the president and chief development officer of Morris Yachts. On a shady hill overlooking the working boats and varnished yachts of Northeast Harbor, Cuyler reflected with me on the past, present, and future of the enterprise his father started here 40 summers ago.

TM:_ I visited your dad’s boatshop in Southwest Harbor in 1991 or 1992. Was that the first shop he set up?_
CM: The first shop was on the property behind our house on the High Road. I guess he started building it in the spring of 1973 and built boats there in our backyard for at least two years. Then he bought that tidal property down by the water. He moved the business—physically took the building down the hill—then added on to it over the years. And that’s where the business was from the mid 1970s to 2000.

TM:Was the Frances 26 the very first Morris yacht from those early days?
CM: My dad built the shop and got started finishing off Friendship sloops for Jarvis Newman. He did seven 25-foot Pemaquids or 31-foot Dictators. Then Chuck Paine strolled into his boatyard with the half hull and the drawings for the Frances. Dad was thinking, “OK, I like finishing off Friendship sloops. I want something I can call, you know, a Morris yacht.” And they pretty quickly agreed that they should work together.

TM: **You were 6 or 7 years old at the time. What did you think about it all when you were growing up?
**CM: I hated sailing—because my dad loved sailing. I was like most kids: You hate what your parents do. But you know, I grew up in a boatyard. So I’d come home at the end of the day—the garage door is open, the boat is right there. It was a contact high. I’d go in the cabinetry shop, and Dad would show me how to use the bandsaw.

TM:What changed your mind about sailing?
CM: When I was about 15, the J/24 came on the scene up here. A family friend invited me to come racing. And I thought, “Oh, cool. I can go out on a boat with somebody other than my dad.” We went out, and we won the first race. After that, I really got into the competitive aspect of sailing.

TM:I first came to know of you through your work with the America’s Cup program in the mid-1990s. How did that come about?
CM: I’d spent summers doing deliveries and racing. I wanted to be a pro sailor. I ended up in San Diego for the 1994 Star Worlds. I made the mistake of going over to Mission Bay [the Maine-based PACT 95 America’s Cup team compound] to see people I knew. And all these guys are saying, “You’re going to work with us. We need help. We need some boatbuilders.”

| |At his son Charlie’s age, Cuyler Morris wanted nothing to do with sail boats. But once he learned he could sail with friends, rather than dad, he took to the sport|

TM: **At that point, were you a boatbuilder?
**CM: Honestly, I was thinking, “Yeah, I’m a boatbuilder. I’ve grown up in a boatyard. I’ve dabbled in it.” They were long on people who had sailing résumés. I’ll admit, some of the stuff they thought I could do, I’d never done before. But it came pretty naturally to me. And there weren’t too many redos.

TM: Did you have any thoughts then about joining the family business?
CM: None whatsoever. My dad never sat around the table and said, “Son, you’re going to take over the business. You’re going to start the apprenticeship.”

TM:What changed?
CM: It was spring of 1995. I was a newlywed. The Cup was ending. That’s when my dad called and said, “My service manager has just given notice. And if you’re interested in a job as the service manager, coming to work for me, think about it over the weekend and call me on Monday.” [laughs]

TM:How did you and your dad work together?
CM: The service business is really near and dear to my heart. I like how every day in the service business is people coming in with problems to solve and trying to figure it out in a timely and functional way so that they leave happy. The enjoyment for me wasn’t necessarily the hands-on boatbuilding. That was where my dad ultimately got his pleasure in the business. I was on the competitive side. I get my pleasure out of growing the culture of the business, not so much the boatbuilding. I don’t long to be in the woodshop or in the hull of the boat. My easel is different than my dad’s. I think that’s how we complemented each other.

TM:Until the mid-1990s, Morris built classic cruising sailboats. Then the designs shifted to boats that were going to race some. Was that your influence?
CM: We refer to those early boats as our Heritage Series: the Frances up through the 46, which are the overhang-style hull, trunk cabins, sort of Herreshoff American-style yachts. When it came to the contemporary boats [beginning with the 48-foot Reindeer in 1996], I definitely started to sit in more meetings because it interested me. And I definitely saw an opportunity to start to influence rig design and all that kind of stuff, because of racing. Dad was the interiors and making these tiny spaces work really well. I always said that when he and I were working together, he was more about the inside of the boat and I was more about the outside of the boat—the styling and how it was going to function when it’s moving.

**TM: **The Sparkman & Stephens-designed M Series Yachts are in the daysailer mode. What inspired that direction?

| |Hope, a Morris M52| |

| |From the time he was a young boy, Cuyler Morris has enjoyed picturesque harbors and fine sailboats.|

CM: Dad came back from a London boat show in the late 1990s and said, “You know, our biggest struggle going forward is going to be time. Sailing takes time.” My defining moment was in the early 2000s. A customer said to me, “I’ve owned this 52-foot sailboat for seven years. I’ve spent three nights aboard it. All I do is daysail it. In order to have a cockpit big enough for friends and family, I had to buy a 52-foot boat.”
When we came up with the M36, we thought, “Let’s go away from 48- or 52-footers. Let’s do something 36 feet, get back to our roots.” And we thought, “Well, hey, we build three to five of these Ocean Series boats here. If we could build six of those a year, wouldn’t it be great? We’d be building 10 boats.
Never in our wildest dreams would we imagine that we’d go on to build over 110 M Series boats since 2004.

TM: **You’re just building the last of eight Leadership 44 training boats for the U.S. Coast Guard. What’s that been like?
**CM: David Pedrick designed a great product for the Coast Guard, and we were thrilled that they chose us from the 12 possible builders. And the American sailor should be pretty excited about what the Coast Guard is trying to do. They want to get to know the customer better? That’s a platform to get to know the customer better and understand these “blow boats.”

TM:Has the civilian version of that boat opened any doors for you?
CM: We took it to Annapolis last year. But, you know, it was a little bit of a departure of a look from us. And it’s not because of the boat. I just think that that market’s still pretty quiet.

TM: I_t’s clear that you’ve been thinking a lot about the business and the right scale for it. This year, you separated out the CEO role from your role as president. How did you decide to bring in Doug Metchick as CEO?_
CM: It was something I had been struggling with internally for years. One of the best things I did about three years ago is put together a board of advisors. In the vacuum of my dad—Dad and I were the advisors to each other, and that worked. But when dad was gone, it was definitely, Oooh, this is kind of lonely. The board very softly and then very strongly started beating on the drum of, “You know, you’re not doing what’s in your best interest and in the best interest of the company. This thing’s gotten too big for you to handle.” And I knew that. I like business, but there are other guys who are much better at looking at P&Ls and all that kind of stuff. I understand that finances are important. But I wanted somebody to complement me the way that my dad and I complemented each other. And, you know, the business was always long on artistic creation and developing a great product for people. Doug really brings a great marketing mind. He’s a great communicator. He’s a good businessman. And he’s a really fun guy. I get him and appreciate him. He gets me and appreciates me. It’s only been six months, but I’ve known Doug for seven years.

TM:Going forward, where do you see Morris Yachts heading?
CM: We want to continue to grow our service business steadily. We’re doing it by making our operations here best-in-class, first and foremost. Fix your house first. Or, perfect your house first. Then our strategic plan is to find service properties that we can go into in those appropriate markets. I grew up in this boatyard. I just like boatyards. And I just hate going into a place that’s kind of falling apart, and going, “Wow, this place could be so amazing.” And so I’m just as happy to get a broom out and sweep and kind of make the place look good as Dad was to get a chisel out and get in the bilge of the boat. So, hopefully, we can do that. Organically.

TM:And on the boatbuilding front: Anything new coming down the pike?
CM: We’re going to continue with evolutionary makeovers of the M-Series. And as for the Ocean Series, obviously Chuck Paine has retired and isn’t around to continue that line, so we’re going to be working with somebody different there. We’re selling boats to people all over the world, so we’re looking at designs worldwide. I’m excited to get back to focusing on the Ocean Series. Who doesn’t want to dream about sailing to the Caribbean or sailing around the world?

TM:Well, it seems that you’re at a hopeful place in the history of the whole enterprise, 40 years on.
CM: It’s a huge milestone in this industry. I don’t know what the average life expectancy is for a marine business. Sailing is a great lifestyle. I think it’s medicine for the future for people. Now, if we can just keep it going for another 40 years.

The post The Next Generation of Morris Yachts appeared first on Cruising World.

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The post Bavaria Cruiser 56 appeared first on Cruising World.

Bavaria Cruiser 56

Fresh from the drawing boards of Farr Yacht Design and the molds of Bavaria Yachts, the new Cruiser 56 was launched and becomes flagship of the German builder’s model line. The sporty sloop features a plumb bow, long waterline and dual rudders, which combine to give her both a good turn of speed and excellent handling characteristics under both sail and power. (See more images of the Cruiser 56 in the CW photo gallery.)

On a near-perfect day off Alaçarti, Turkey, we pushed the speedo to near 7 knots in 12 knots of breeze up wind; our SOG jumped to 10 and change when we bore off to a beam reach. Need I say, this was a fun boat to sail.

She’d be a comfortable boat to cruise, too. The boat we sailed had two generously sized aft cabins with queen berths, a third cabin to port at the foot of the companionway with double bunks, and an enormous owners cabin forward of the saloon with a separate head and shower. Amidships a spacious nav station to starboard could do double duty as a breakfast nook for the kids. Just forward, a deep U-shaped galley gives the chef a secure place in which to work under way.

Topsides, a five-batten in-mast furling main is easily controlled by the double-ended German-style mainsheet. And the slightly over-lapping genoa is effortless to tend, thanks to a pair of electric Lewmar reversable winches. Ready to tack? Just push a button at either of the twin helms and the loaded winch automatically eases as the boat turns through the wind and the other sheet is wound tight.

When it comes time to anchor, the transom folds down to reveal a clever garage space that houses a full-size inflatable, built exclusively for Bavaria. The tender is stored partially deflated and folded in half; it’s transom folds inward so the dinghy is stored with the four-horsepower motor in place. When it’s time to launch, the boat is inflated using a compressor mounted in the stern compartment, and you’re off.

With its easy-to-move-about deck and well thought-out spaces below, the new Cruiser 56 packs a lot of bang for the buck. And a lot of good sailing, too.

The post Bavaria Cruiser 56: Big and Nimble on the Water appeared first on Cruising World.

Discovery 57 sailing

In 1998, after searching for but failing to find what they considered the ideal boat for short-handed bluewater cruising, British sailors John and Charlene Charnley commissioned the well-known yacht designer Ron Holland to create what became known as the Discovery 55. Now, a little over a decade later, with over fifty Discovery’s roaming the watery world—including a 67-foot model and even a 50-foot catamaran—the company has upgraded that original Holland design with a slightly larger cruiser.

The first Discovery 57, the hull of which is also from the board of Ron Holland, made her debut last fall at England’s Southampton Boat Show, where the firm is also based. The powerful all-oceans cruising yacht sports a double-headsail Solent rig, a flush foredeck, a raised coachroof with sleek cat’s eye windows, and an ample cockpit. Yet everything is led and arranged so an experienced couple can easily operate the boat. The rich and spacious interior was fashioned by Ken Frievokh, while credit for the structural engineering goes to the composite wizards at SP High Modulus, which is also headquartered in the U.K.

In-mast furling is standard, as is the generator, washer/dryer, central heating, and a long list of other features. Discovery currently builds ten yachts a year with close input from their owners, which means a high level of customization goes into every yacht. Different accommodation plans, joinery woods and furniture, upholstery, and countless other details can all be chosen or modified. Visit their website to learn more.

Click here to see photos of the Discovery 57.

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The post Morris Ocean 48 GT appeared first on Cruising World.

As far as boat tests go, I could’ve been easily distracted during my sail aboard the Bavaria 50 Cruiser, the last in the model line to be revamped by the team at Farr Yacht Design. First, the arid, rock-strewn hills of the Turkish coast around Alacati were like nothing I’d ever seen. Greek isles danced in the distance. Atop the surrounding ridges, farms of wind generators stood testament to the fact that this area of the Aegean is among the windiest to be found and the ideal exotic proving grounds for Germany’s largest boatbuilder.

And then there was the wind itself to talk about, or, to be more precise, the totally baffling near-complete lack of it, which had us bobbing about much of the morning before we motored in for lunch, hoping that the afternoon’s heat might scare up a breeze.

The 50 Cruiser, though, and the crew from Bavaria managed to command my full attention as we motored out and back, the 75-horsepower Volvo and optional Gori propeller pushing us along at a very respectable cruising speed of 7.6 knots at 2,200 rpm and at 8.5 knots or better with the engine wide open. For yuks, I throttled back and threw the power plant into reverse. We came to a sharp halt, backed and turned with ease, and, once under way again, took a tight spin and watched the 50 twirl around, upright and within a boat length and a half of itself. Under power, at least, this all-round-sailer delivered an agile performance.

Post lunch, we’d learn that the boat was a spritely light-air sailer, too.

To be honest, this was the first of the Farr-designed Bavarias that I’d been aboard, and I was struck immediately by the solid feel of the boat and the well-thought-out layout on deck and below. From the dock, we stepped aboard the electric-powered fold-down transom and swim platform, which provided uncluttered access to a cockpit that was flanked at its aft end by a split backstay and twin pedestals with Lewmar wheels and rack-and-pinion steering. A sturdy cockpit table provided a good handhold and could double as a place to brace when the boat heels. In addition to teak on the cockpit sole and swim platform, the model we sailed had optional teak decks that provided solid footing forward.

The double-spreader Seldén in-mast furling main is controlled by a sheet led to a cabin-top winch, an arrangement that’s typical on cruising boats but puts control of the sail several steps away from a singlehanded or short-crewed helmsman. Sheets for the slightly overlapping 106-percent genoa (on a Furlex furler) run to fairleads inboard on the cabin top, and from there to electric winches on the cockpit coamings, leaving the side decks free from clutter and making sail control a fingertip exercise. However, one does have to leave the wheel and step forward around the helm and between the table and seats to handle sheets when tacking.

Under sail, in 9 knots true, we hit just under 7 knots and tacked through 85 degrees. Still, it left me wanting more. The smooth-feeling steering led me to believe that with a little more wind, we’d have heeled smartly, the leeward of the twin rudders would’ve dug in, and we’d have been off for a spirited beat or, better yet, a reach like the one enjoyed by a Bavaria 50 owner with whom I spoke that evening following his arrival from a several-day sail from the Med.

Belowdecks, the 50 is downright spacious, with the saloon laid out to accommodate a crowd. A U-shaped amidships galley to port keeps the cook a part of the party, and the amply sized table with U-shaped seating to starboard and an amidships bench could easily seat eight. I liked the idea of the head to starboard of the companionway and just forward of that side’s aft cabin. It has a separate shower that can double as a place to store wet foulies. A private head and sink is to port for the other aft double. The four-cabin model we tested had a cabin forward of the galley with two bunks and a head and shower opposite to starboard. A large owner’s cabin and V-berth were forward, just aft of a water-tight bulkhead and the deep chain locker in the bow.

Three other layouts are available: a three-cabin model with an enormous owners space forward that includes a large head and shower to port and extended hanging lockers to starboard; a four-cabin layout that splits the V-berth in two, each side with its own head; and a five-cabin model with the split V-berth, a shared head forward, and a cabin with two bunks. The interior is well lit and airy, thanks to 17 opening hatches and 12 ports, and comes with wood and sole options that range from light-colored ones to dark chestnut.

Farr has drawn a hull shape with a fairly fine entry, broad shoulders, and a beam that’s carried aft. The layup consists of gelcoat and a layer of vinylester resin outboard, then solid hand-laid polyester and glass below the waterline and a glass-and-Airex foam sandwich above. The deck is Airex cored as well, with integral aluminum plates in the laminate where hardware is mounted.

Intended to be a well-rounded cruiser for both the private owner and charterer, the Bavaria 50 delivers good value with its $377,000 price tag. Add performance into the equation, and it’s hard not to enjoy an afternoon out on the 50 Cruiser. With a little wind and a destination in mind, a week or more wouldn’t be so bad, either.

Mark Pillsbury is CW‘s editor.

View photos of the Bavaria 50 Cruiser here.

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Ciao

The crew of yacht Ciao, Slovenian cruisers Srecko and Olga Pust, were safely evacuated to another yacht early on the morning of Tuesday, September 25, 2012 following a collision with a submerged object in the Indian Ocean.

The yacht, which was sailing with the World ARC rally from Indonesia to the Australian Cocos (Keeling) Islands, struck a submerged object approximately 40nm ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) group at around midnight UT today. The collision damaged the rudder of the US flagged Sweden Yacht 45, causing significant water ingress.

A PAN-PAN call was picked up by other World ARC yachts in the area, and yachts J’Sea, Spirit of Alcides, and Umineko were standing by Ciao just after 0100UT. To reduce the rate of water ingress, Srecko & Olga dropped sails and slowed the boat down and were taken in tow by J’Sea. By 0300UT it appeared that the water ingress was being controlled as the yachts continued slowly toward Cocos.

At 0430UT Srecko reported that the water inside the boat was now over the level of the floorboards and at 0445UT the tow line was dropped with Sreco and Olga still on board Ciao and the expectation that they would abandon to a dinghy or liferaft at the last moment. The yacht Zoe was attempting to rendezvous and transfer a high capacity pump across to Ciao, but was still 9nm away.

Sadly Ciao could not be saved and when the foredeck touched the water, Srecko and Olga evacuated from their yacht and transferred safely to Spirit of Alcides at approximate position 11º52S 097º23E. As of Tuesday, September 25, 2012 all yachts involved in assisting Ciao are now making their way to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, where they are expected to arrive later today.

World ARC rally control in Cocos Keeling were able to inform the Australian Coastguard (RCC Canberra) via the Cocos Keeling police post soon after the PAN-PAN alert was issued, passing on details of the yacht’s position relayed by the Yellowbrick Iridium tracking devices carried by each rally yacht. The intra-yacht SSB radio net also enabled swift communication between all rally boats on the passage.

Find more news at cruisingworld.com.

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