What’s more important to you: eating up the miles at speed, or comfort and seaworthiness in any weather?

The kind of boat you own, or dream of, will go a long way to answering that question.

It will also dictate which of this month’s test boats you’ll prefer.

The 30-year-old Najad 390 may displace a generous 10 tonnes, but as her owners find, you’ll still feel fresh after a long day at sea, and there’s plenty of space to make toast and marmalade (p86).

On the other hand, the Salona 46, fresh out of a less well-known Croatian yard, offers 7ft more waterline and another 10m2 of sail area for the same weight (p20).

She’ll eat up the miles in style, if less sedately than the Najad. I’m still debating which I’d go for.

Continues below…

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The people I do envy, however, are the Kemp family in their Arcona 410 (p54).

It’s a cracking boat but more importantly, they’ve got family sailing properly squared away.

Their young sons can helm, fend and knot-tie with the best of them, and their mum, Amy, has built up the confidence to take the boys out even when it’s just the three of them.

With a crew like that, it won’t be long until they’re racking up some serious adventures under their keel. If it were me, I’d be itching to sail around the British Isles – an as-yet unfulfilled dream.

However long you’ve got, Miranda Delmar-Morgan explains just how to do it (p42).

Not in a one-size-fits-all way, but looking at the decisions you’ll be making as skipper when it comes to which direction to go, how to play the tides, where to stop and explore, and the tide races and headlands you’ll navigate on the way.

It makes me want to cast off the lines and set sail right now, whatever the boat looks like.

Enjoyed reading It’s not about the boat: Editor’s Letter May 2022?

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