Practical Boat Owner – August 2019

What happened to the

small offshore cruiser?

A few decades ago, plenty of small boats were designed and built for

offshore cruising. So what happened, and what’s available today?

David Harding has some thoughts

BOATS

S

ome of us have long been

lamenting the dearth of

small new production

cruisers. Too many builders

have stopped building boats

altogether or moved on to bigger ones

instead. In either case, the reason is

usually the same: it has become

increasingly difficult to make money

from small boats.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s it was by

no means unusual for a family of four to

go cruising for a week on their 22-footer,

or for three blokes to change from city

suits to sailing suits on a Friday night, hop

aboard their Hunter 19 and line up for a

JOG (Junior Offshore Group) race across

the Channel. If you wanted to go further

offshore – well, some people crossed

oceans on small production cruisers such

as the E Boat and Anderson 22 (that’s

how the Mini Transat was born). Others

David Harding is an

experienced sailor,

established yachting

journalist, photographer

and boat tester. He

races at club and

championship level and

runs a Poole-based photo agency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR