For me, for many reasons, certain boats and brands are synonymous with the waters or regions where they were created. The places are an essential component of the boats’ DNA. I’ll always associate a varnished mahogany runabout with upstate New York, or a cool little vintage catboat with Buzzards Bay and southern New England. Every classic Hinckley or Morris that I come across paints a vivid portrait of coastal Maine. Even yachts that sail or cruise far and wide all over the world still convey a sense of place. Recently, aboard a new Tartan 455, we pointed the bow into choppy Lake Erie, and I intuited an instant connection to the nearby northeast Ohio plant where the boat was spawned. It all felt like home. 

Other people see different things. After I uploaded a photo to social media of myself steering the 455, an old pal quickly hit me back with a comment, asking: “Tartan is still building boats?” 

The answer is an emphatic yes, and pretty darn good ones at that. The company has certainly had its ups and downs over the years, but it’s now navigating smoother waters for a couple of major reasons. First, it was recently acquired by Seattle Yachts, which made significant investments in the product and facilities, and appears firmly committed for the long haul. Second, longtime Tartan designer Tim Jackett is running operations, and the native Ohio homeboy is giving it his all. 

Jackett says that the 455 evolved from powerboats by Legacy, a company Tartan acquired in 2010. “The roots of it came after having some exposure to the Legacy brand and looking at how the deck and interior of that sedan style of powerboat works out so nicely,” he says. His first swing at the design in sailboat mode was a 37-foot motorsailer with a substantial trim tab that powered up at 14 knots. (It was never built.) When the owner of a Tartan 3700 approached him about commissioning a larger boat, Jackett returned to expand upon his earlier incarnation.

“But the concept was the same,” he says. “More of a sailing hull, but a nice, big, well-lit living space with inside steering, and then an aft cockpit that gave you the normal sailing experience of wind and water in your face when you wanted it.”

Jackett says that the 455 evolved from powerboats by legacy, a company tartan acquired in 2010. His first swing at the design was a 37-foot motorsailer.

Down a few steps into the deep ­cockpit, sliding doors open into the salon, which transitions into the forward living areas. The bulletproof laminate is a vacuum-bagged, infused sandwich that employs epoxy resin with a foam core in the hull construction and end-grain balsa in the deck. The lead keel supports a hefty ballast bulb and is available in deep- and shallow-draft configurations.

There are a couple of accommodations plans, including a two-stateroom version or the three-stateroom layout employed in the model we sailed, with guest staterooms to port and starboard, and an owner’s space forward with an attached head. The well-executed joiner work and furniture were cherry, though teak and maple are available (much of it sourced from northeast Ohio’s Amish mills). I’d say that this is primarily a comfortable couple’s boat with space for occasional visits from family and friends. 

Aesthetically, I found the lines plan of the 455 to be handsome and pleasing­—not a particularly easy task with a large ­deckhouse, which Jackett incorporated nicely into the profile.

This is ​​­primarily a comfortable ­couple’s boat with space for occasional visits from family and friends­—A big boat but an easy one to negotiate.

Wraparound windows allow light to pour in from all directions, as does the deckhouse’s overhead window. A split hydraulic backstay provides easy access to the drop-down transom and boarding platform between the twin wheels, which are stationed well outboard. (There’s a single, deep spade rudder.) Moving forward, an outboard ramp rises from the cockpit to the side decks, which makes for easy egress to the topside and foredeck. I believe that this feature originated with the Jeanneau line, and I always thought it was a trend that would spill over to other builders (see the Moody 41DS). It’s just too simple and elegant a solution to an age-old design conundrum. There are grippy stainless-steel handrails just about everywhere. This Tartan is a big boat but an easy one to negotiate.

The carbon-fiber double-spreader rig is fashioned in Tartan’s in-house autoclave, as are the rudder post and other reinforcements. The company’s Cruise Control Rig double-headsail sail plan (also known as a Solent setup) has become a fixture across the brand, with a code-zero-style reacher on the forward stay and a smaller, self-tacking jib on the aft one. The powerful, full-battened mainsail is stashed in a Leisure Furl in-boom furler, and there’s a wide traveler atop the deckhouse that facilitates the end-boom mainsail sheeting. All the running rigging is led into the cockpit and handled by a combination of rope clutches and Harken electric winches. The excellent sails come from Sobstad’s loft in nearby Rocky Hill. 

Over the years, I’ve sailed many a Jackett design, and the common denominator is they sail exceedingly well. We sailed the 455 on an early-fall afternoon after a cold front rolled through, offering up ideal 10- to 15-knot northwest breezes. The waves in the relatively shallow lake were closely spaced. As I took the wheel and came onto the wind under the smaller jib, it took me a while to stop pinching and get in the groove. But once I fell off a good 10 degrees, the boat and I settled in, and it muscled through the chop with aplomb. 

The steering was tight and accurate. Jackett says that he was still playing with the optimal rudder configuration, but it all felt fine to me. Topside, the Jefa wheels are cable-controlled, while the deckhouse steering station is on a hydraulic ram. You toggle between the two, depending on where you’re driving. We swapped out the self-tacker for the large reacher and bore off another 10 degrees, and the boat absolutely lit up, trucking along on a beam reach at bursts over 9 knots in complete and utter control. We even jibed the big sail through the exceedingly tight ­foretriangle, a maneuver I wouldn’t have thought possible. It was quite the sail. 

Fittingly, the first Tartan 455 is going to live on the Great Lakes, with Lake Huron’s North Channel a likely regular cruising ground. But I can envision this being a terrific yacht for the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and ideal for high-latitude adventures. You might not be able to take the Ohio out of a Tartan, but you can take this Tartan just about anywhere.

Where It All Began: Tartan 27

On the back lot of Tartan’s headquarters in Painesville, Ohio, the exact boat that started it all—Hull No. 1 of the sweet little Tartan 27 line, of which more than 700 were eventually built in a production run that lasted until 1979—is awaiting a complete refit. It was fun and ­enlightening, after sailing and reviewing Tartan’s latest offering, to consider how ­production-boat building and design has evolved during the past 60-plus years. The changes have been extensive.

The Tartan 27 was a collaborative effort between Douglass & McLeod Inc., an Ohio-based builder of one-design wooden dinghies such as the Thistle and the Flying Scot, and Charlie Britton, a sailor and businessman who was also reared on the shores of Lake Erie. Following his service in the US Navy, Britton sailed his 42-foot yawl from Japan to the West Indies, a rather unheard-of voyage in the late 1950s. Once home, he joined forces with D&M to commission a 27-footer for coastal cruising and club racing. Being Scotsmen, they decided to name it Tartan.

There were a lot of firsts ­involved here: The T27 was D&M’s first fiberglass boat, and it was one of the initial glass designs from the venerable East Coast firm of Sparkman & Stephens. The chief designer for the project was a young naval architect named Bill Shaw, who would go on to become the principal design chief at Pearson Yachts, where he designed dozens of models. 

Hull No. 1 launched in 1961. With its boxy coachroof and low-aspect masthead rig, it’s hard to believe today that the T27 was considered a performance racer/cruiser at the time, but as such, it was an immediate success. It was designed to compete under the popular Cruising Club of America rating rule of the early 1960s. Like other yachts of that period, including the Pearson Triton and Hinckley Bermuda 40, it featured long overhangs and a short waterline, a narrow beam (8 feet, 9 inches), moderate displacement, a long keel, shallow draft, an aperture-mounted propeller for the Atomic 4 gas engine, a keel-hung rudder, and slack bilges. Most of the early T27s were sloops, though it was also offered as a yawl, which did well under the CCA rule. 

At 7,400 pounds ­displacement, it was not a light boat, but when slightly cracked off, it tracked to weather like a demon. Unlike the Triton, which had a fixed keel, the T27 was a keel-centerboard boat that drew 6 feet, 4 inches when the board was lowered, and a mere 3 feet, 2 inches when raised, making it highly versatile as a pocket cruiser. The original centerboards were bronze, which must have raised some mighty maintenance issues, and is likely why it was soon switched over to steel encased in fiberglass. The ¾-inch fiberglass hull was a proverbial brick house; the deck was balsa-cored. At the time, the construction was state of the art.

D&M followed up the T27 with a couple more venerable “classic plastic” legends, including the Ted Hood-designed Black Watch 37 (which eventually was remodeled and relaunched as the Tartan 37) and another S&S benchmark, the Tartan 34, an expanded version of the T27 that also had a centerboard. Man, for many years, I was bewitched by the 34-footer, and you can still find all of these models in harbors everywhere. 

After a fire in 1971, D&M sold Britton the Tartan division, starting a whole new chapter in the company’s storied history.

As I steered the latest Tartan—a systems-rich yacht finished to an incredibly high degree—I could only wish that Britton were still around to experience the power and speed of a contemporary, long-range cruising yacht. I have no doubt that he’d be amazed, but that sweet little Tartan 27 of his was the inspiration for all that followed.

The post Sailboat Review: Tartan 455 appeared first on Cruising World.

There’s an alarm clock on the nightstand beside Tim Jackett’s bed in his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, but he doesn’t need it. Every weekday morning, at the otherwise sleepy hour of 5 a.m., he’s already wide awake, up and at it, ready to go. The drive to Painesville, Ohio, the current home of Tartan Yachts, is a 75-mile straight shot down I-90 that he can generally knock off in a bit over an hour (though he once got stranded on the highway for 11 long hours in a lake-effect blizzard). 

Jackett started working for Tartan as a summer job in college almost 50 years ago. Though he hasn’t toiled there continuously since then, the work has been the central thread woven through his long, eventful ­career as a boatbuilder and naval architect. These days, he not only designs the boats at Tartan, but he also oversees the operations and production. The plant gets ­underway at 7 a.m. sharp, and he won’t be late. 

Jackett’s a boatbuilder all right, but, to be more specific, because his roots play such an important role in who he is and what he does, he’s a Midwestern boatbuilder, a born-and-bred northeast Ohio boy, a child of Lake Erie, where his passion for sailing was kindled and the seeds of his lifelong craft were sown. 

The sixth of seven kids, Jackett’s the son of a US Navy veteran who briefly set down stakes in Florida following his service in World War II but soon returned to good old Cleveland, where he and his wife were raised. The family eventually moved to the east-side suburb of Mentor, pronounced Menner: “No ‘t’ in there,” Jackett said. “If you’re from Menner, you’re from Menner.”

Jackett attended the public high school there, but, more important, the little town had a cool, cozy, ­communal sailing club. It was a no-frills outfit (unlike the nearby hoity-toity yacht club) where his parents sailed their little wooden sailboat, a Privateer named Jacquette (the original spelling of the family name, in honor of the old man’s French-Canadian heritage). That club is where the racing bug bit Jackett.  

“There certainly wasn’t any junior sailing program, but it was a great place,” he said. “We were kind of the outcasts. We raced on Thursday nights because the yacht club raced on Wednesdays. And we used their marks. We did try to be courteous about it, but, yeah, we were the hoodlums across the water.”

Following high school, Jackett applied to exactly one college: the tiny, focused Cleveland Institute of Art. “I thought I was going to be a painter,” he said. “I was a bit of a loner at that point, and going up on a mountaintop somewhere and painting sounded pretty good. But my very practical dad didn’t think much of that as a career choice and encouraged me to go from the fine-arts side to the more-commercial program, which was industrial design. So I went down that path. And I spent my whole time there drawing boats. I got a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design and learned how to draw lines plans. When everyone else was drawing toasters and headlights, I was drawing boats.”

The boat-crazed lad searching to find his place on the watery planet went through a family friend to land the ideal summer gig: as a gofer at the busy local boatbuilding concern, Tartan Yachts. Launched in 1951 and originally called Douglass & McLeod after its two founders, the company switched in 1961 from building small one-design racing dinghies and launched the Sparkman & Stephens-designed Tartan 27, a wild success commercially and on the racecourse. By the mid-1970s, however, after a fire wiped out the company’s base in Grand River, it was owned and run by a passionate sailor named Charlie Britton, who would come to play a major mentoring role in Jackett’s life. 

Jackett’s job involved mostly warranty work, though he once leapt into murky Lake Erie to see if one could reattach a centerboard pennant on a Tartan 37C without hauling the boat (one could). During the couple of summers that he worked there, he never actually crossed paths meaningfully with Britton. That all changed thanks to, of all things, a local bar called the Beachcomber that the after-work Tartan crew frequented. 

Jackett’s sister was a friend of the owner, who wondered if her art-school brother could build a model sailboat to display in the center of the joint. (If you strolled to the men’s room, you couldn’t miss Jackett’s framed boat renderings from his college classes lining the walls.) Jackett was mightily enamored of the slick Tartan 41, of which there were several on the lake, including the one campaigned by Britton.

“I’d spent a lot of time looking at the boat and found a brochure and decided to do the 41,” he said. “The model was fully rigged, sheathed in fiberglass, had the keel, winches, everything. Charlie had a look and asked, ‘Who the hell made that?’ And that’s when I got to know him a bit.”

That first impression proved lasting. The summer after graduating, in 1977, at the tender age of 22, he was hired full time at Tartan. Little did he know then, but he’d embarked upon his lifelong pursuit.

If, at the time, jackett had any inkling about the tenuous future of American production ­boatbuilding, or about the twisting, turning marine-­industry journey that lay ahead of him personally, he just might’ve packed up his easel and headed for the hills. In the moment, however, there was no time for deep contemplation. His first project was the 33-foot, one-design Tartan Ten racer, and it was full-on.

Britton was betting the farm on the boat, with the ambitious goal of having 40 boats on the starting line the following season (other than the prototype, none had actually been built). Sparkman & Stephens had drafted the lines for the hull but little else. So, Britton set up Jackett in the development shop with a drafting table and told him to get to work. 

“I ended up doing the deck design and what little interior there was to it,” he said. “Charlie was a product guy, not a designer, but he loved the development side of it. If you had a sketch, he’d put his notes all over it. And we’d sit down and talk about stuff, and I’d take his thoughts and help him turn it into what we were trying to do. I felt really privileged to work with Charlie. He was such an experienced sailor.”

Collaborating with Britton on this inaugural ­effort was an almost perfect introduction to the business of creating yachts for a consumer market. And it would lay the groundwork for so much more to come. But ­working with Britton was also an adventure because it was almost never exactly clear what would happen next.

For instance, the union situation in Ohio was ­problematic, so much so that Britton shut down the production floor and moved that whole shooting match to Tartan’s second facility, in Hamlet, North Carolina, to which Jackett was also dispatched. In Hamlet, Jackett graduated from conjuring deck layouts to engineering entire systems, with Britton once again looking over his shoulder and working through problems and challenges. “It was a great experience,” he said. “Talk about a hands-on education.”

Also in Hamlet—because what else was a ­boatbuilder going to do with his time off—Jackett decided to rent a little shop and design loft, and build his own cold-­molded, 24-foot-6-inch racing sloop (it was ­actually his second personal boat, having completed one earlier in Ohio). 

“I’d work all day at Tartan, grab a six-pack, and go to work on my next boat,” he said. “One day I’m down on my hands and knees, and Charlie comes in and says, ‘What are you doing?’ And I tell him I’m building my next boat. Next thing you know, he’s down there on his hands and knees with me.” The sensei and student, back at it.

Like Jackett, Britton always had a side project going; under the auspices of a company he called Britton Marine, he commissioned Southern California naval architect Doug Peterson to draw a powerful 43-foot offshore racer, exposing Jackett to yet another facet of design work and the approach of a renowned designer. But the move also signaled Britton’s own growing wariness with union labor and Tartan in general. In 1984, he pulled the plug and put it up for sale. 

Partners John Richards and Jim Briggs (of Briggs & Stratton power-equipment fame) were the next ­owners, and their five-year tenure was characterized by ­missteps and false starts. But Jackett said that he will forever be indebted to them for one satisfying opportunity: to design his own boat, soup to nuts, the Tartan 31.

“Charlie was so enamored of Sparkman & Stephens,” he said. “I don’t know that he ever would’ve given me free rein to be the complete designer of the product. I made my pitch to John and Jim, and they said, ‘OK, we’ll do it.’ At that time, the development cost for a 31-foot boat was about $400,000. At that point, I’m like 30 years old, and I’ve got a company committing major resources to something that I conceived and drew up. It was cool.”

The new owners’ confidence was not misplaced; the production run for the 31 totaled 165 units, which made it profitable. The design also earned a Cruising World Boat of the Year award, which made it a critical success. Moreover, it gave Jackett a new title: chief designer of Tartan Yachts.

But Briggs and Richards weren’t in it for the long haul. When they decided to bail out in 1990, Jackett took the molds for a Tartan side effort called the Thomas 35, a one-design racer, and hung out his own shingle to build them: Jackett Yachts. Which is just about the time everything once again came to a fork in the road. A businessman named Bill Ross picked up the Tartan pieces and lured Jackett back into the fold, this time not only as the brand’s designer, but also as chief of operations.

Ross cared little about boats, per se; his expertise lay in finding distressed companies and making them whole. His stewardship was oftentimes a rough ride down a road littered with potholes. But two significant events occurred during the time he owned the place. The first, in 1996, was acquiring the popular, longtime Canadian brand, C&C Yachts. Jackett was thrilled, and in rapid order designed three C&C’s: the 110, 99 and 121, of which some 400 yachts would eventually be built. 

“They were my favorite boats growing up, even more than Tartans,” he said. “Really good performers, more toward the racing side, and now we could take on
J/Boats a little bit. The two brands worked together very well. Dealers were hungry for them. It was a really smart move. I stopped racing my own little boats and started racing the C&Cs I designed. I took the 99 to Key West and did some nice events with it. It was all fun stuff.”

The second seismic shift happened in the late 1990s. With their Fairport, Ohio, plant bursting at the seams, Ross enlisted the services of a fellow named John Brodie, who was exporting some of Tartan’s stainless-­steel parts from a facility in China, to build the Tartan 4600 there. The tooling was loaded on a ship, and Jackett landed in China the same day the molds arrived. After inspecting the decrepit infrastructure, he almost immediately realized that the entire idea was disastrous and wouldn’t work.

But one significant development arose from the ­otherwise failed experiment: Brodie wanted to build the boats in high-tech, vacuum-bagged, two-part ­epoxy laminates—a superior mode of construction—and Ross was all in. He told Jackett to make it ­happen (his arm didn’t need twisting; he’d been ­employing West System epoxy, which he loved, on his own cold-molded boats for years). Jackett enlisted some of the top names in materials and composite structures, eventually bringing all the new technology to the Ohio floor. At the same time, Tartan acquired an autoclave and started fashioning its own carbon-fiber rigs and parts. It was a major shift in how the boats were built, and, for that matter, marketed. 

“All of that dovetailed into our advertising, which Bill was really smart about,” Jackett said. “It was all about ‘engineered to perform.’ Audi was running a similar marketing program at the time, and Bill didn’t mind plagiarizing from the auto industry. It was an important element back then, and it still is. Our boats are different from a run-of-the-mill production boat.”

But the roller-coaster ride was far from over. The early 2000s were good years for Tartan, right up to the Great Recession of 2008, when the hammer fell on the entire economy. Tartan wasn’t immune: Ross sold out. Jackett Yachts reopened for business. There was a collaboration with Island Packet on a boat called the Blue Jacket 40; the launching of a new little daysailer, the Fantail; and the acquisition of the Legacy powerboat brand from Freedom Yachts. In 2014, thanks to the Legacy business he brought with him, Jackett teamed up with Tartan’s latest owners and rejoined the firm. 

If Jackett had never done another thing in the ­marine industry, you could say he’d enjoyed a rewarding, stellar career. But it turns out that there was another chapter yet to unfold.

the heart attack—yes, heart attack—that Jackett suffered after racing sailboats on Lake Erie this past August was certainly unexpected. At first, he thought the tightness in his chest was from sitting too long in an awkward position on the boat. Once ashore, he realized it was something far more serious. Quick action by several folks at his yacht club averted what otherwise might’ve been tragic. And he was a lucky dude indeed, surviving with all systems intact and sparking. 

I learned of Jackett’s health situation and other ­personal matters on a visit to the Painesville plant this past September while on an assignment to ­review the Tartan 455, his latest design. It’s a pretty sweet, ­powerful sailboat, with a raised deckhouse very much outside his usual purview. But as I discovered on a windy test drive on Lake Erie, like every Jackett design I’ve ever helmed, you get some sail up and it will haul the mail. So there was no real surprise there. Instead, the surprises came, one after the next, on a tour of the factory.

It was bustling place full of frenetic activity but with a palpable feeling of camaraderie and purpose. Pink Floyd blared from the wood shop. A makeshift help-wanted sign was placed near the entrance: “Marine Mfg, Now Hiring, Apply Inside.” Jackett was bearded (his last shave was the day he graduated from high school; his wife, Donna, and their three kids have never seen him without it) and bedecked in a Cleveland Browns hoodie (his beloved Brownies were playing that evening on Monday Night Football), and he looked every bit the image of the burly, no-nonsense Midwestern boatbuilder. He was clearly quite proud to show some visitors around. “We make two things here,” he said by way of introduction. “Boats and dust.”

At the front of the shop, a trio of older Tartans, including a 4400 that had been thrashed in the Bahamas during Hurricane Dorian, were undergoing complete refits, which is a welcome and steady stream of business. Around the corner, a new rudder was being cast for a Tartan 37C. If you have an older Tartan that needs parts or an upgrade—“regardless of vintage,” Jackett said—the company’s happy to address it for you. 

The hulls and decks for several new Tartan 365s, one of three models currently in production, including the 395 and the 455, were in various stages of construction. The 365 is Jackett’s latest critical triumph, the Cruising World Domestic Boat of the Year for 2022 and one of his 31 overall designs, including the C&Cs and the five backyard boats he ultimately built. (When complimented on that impressive number, he cracked, “We become prolific and old at the same time.”) In the rigging shop, a worker was laying up swaths of carbon fiber, straight out of the fridge, in the autoclave for a new spar. Out back, the original Tartan 27, Hull No. 1, was propped up and ready for a complete makeover, set to coincide with the 65th anniversary of its launching in 2025.

Jackett led us from the factory floor to the stairs and his second-floor office, where a window overlooks the entire hectic scene (and where his contented pooch, Ella, a German shepherd/husky mix, waited ­patiently). At the foot of the staircase was a pair of sneakers ­painted gold and mounted on a plaque. 

“That’s the Golden Tennis Shoe Award,” he said with a laugh, “for the guy most improved in staying at his workstation and not wearing out his shoes.”

This is where Seattle Yachts, the latest entity to own Tartan, comes in. In early, pre-pandemic 2020, Jackett was running the place with Rob Fuller, but matters “reached a financial rough point.” They reached out to Peter Whiting, a managing partner of Seattle Yachts, an established Tartan dealer that had several boats on order. Whiting paid a visit to the plant. And, in rather short order, Seattle Yachts took over Tartan Yachts. It was a strong move by the Pacific Northwest firm to commit to a good, old American brand.

Originally a brokerage office, Seattle Yachts had pivoted into boatbuilding and owned several brands. After purchasing Tartan, it made several six-figure investments, including the purchase of the new plant in Painesville. Eventually, the new owners put Jackett back in charge of overall operations. Always a stickler for running things efficiently and incentivizing his workers, Jackett witnessed a few too many folks taking too many breaks. Hence, the Golden Tennis Shoe Award for sticking to the task at hand, one of several new employee incentive programs. 

The new overall responsibilities have once again changed Jackett’s life, adding a daily commute back and forth from Erie, where he’d moved to be closer to his grandchildren. On top of everything else—­actually, more than anything else—Jackett’s a family man, and being closer to his kids is a huge priority as he navigates his 60s. Taken in context with his recent health scare, this desire leads to inevitable questions. Like, do you ever consider wrapping up your career? And what, exactly, does it feel like to be one of the business’s lone survivors, the proverbial last man standing? 

The answers took some of those old twists and turns. Under a photo on his office wall of the Tartan 31 under full sail—his first design, and still a fond memory—he offered a few thoughtful responses. 

Sure, he’s given some thought to moving on, but he needs a successor, someone he trusts, to whom he can pass the baton. He enjoys the operations side of management, building the team. He’s proud of continuing the long manufacturing tradition in northeast Ohio. He likes the fact that he’s there for owners of older Tartans, that when you buy one of his boats, you join the Tartan family. And the feeling he gets when setting the sails of a new design after months of hard work, that initial rush as it heels into the breeze, remains a cherished one. 

But what about it, Tim? How long? 

“There’s a country song that asks that question: ‘What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?’ And the answer is: ‘I’d be doing this,’” he said. “Maybe not with Tartan, but maybe I’d set up a little shop and build my own cold-molded 25-foot boats. Just for the pleasure of building them, putting them in the water, and sailing them.”

Once a boatbuilder, always a boatbuilder. 

Jackett had one last remembrance and anecdote to share. Fittingly, it goes back to where this story began, on that nightstand in Erie, next to the useless alarm clock. 

“Back in the mid-1980s, I actually sent a job ­application to Sabre Yachts, and I asked Charlie Britton to write a letter of recommendation,” Jackett said. “And he wrote one, in longhand. I tell people, you have your wooden box that you keep by your bed, and Charlie’s letter is in there. He was a man’s man, and there’s a line in there that I really appreciated: ‘The men have respect for you.’

“And that’s a cool statement, you know?” 

Herb McCormick is a CW editor-at-large. 

The post Last Man Standing appeared first on Cruising World.

For me, for many reasons, certain boats and brands are synonymous with the waters or regions where they were created. The places are an essential component of the boats’ DNA. I’ll always associate a varnished mahogany runabout with upstate New York, or a cool little vintage catboat with Buzzards Bay and southern New England. Every classic Hinckley or Morris that I come across paints a vivid portrait of coastal Maine. Even yachts that sail or cruise far and wide all over the world still convey a sense of place. Recently, aboard a new Tartan 455, we pointed the bow into choppy Lake Erie, and I intuited an instant connection to the nearby northeast Ohio plant where the boat was spawned. It all felt like home. 

Other people see different things. After I uploaded a photo to social media of myself steering the 455, an old pal quickly hit me back with a comment, asking: “Tartan is still building boats?” 

The answer is an emphatic yes, and pretty darn good ones at that. The company has certainly had its ups and downs over the years, but it’s now navigating smoother waters for a couple of major reasons. First, it was recently acquired by Seattle Yachts, which made significant investments in the product and facilities, and appears firmly committed for the long haul. Second, longtime Tartan designer Tim Jackett is running operations, and the native Ohio homeboy is giving it his all.

Jackett says the 455 evolved from powerboats by Legacy, a company Tartan acquired in 2010. “The roots of it came after having some exposure to the Legacy brand and looking at how the deck and interior of that sedan style of powerboat works out so nicely,” he says. His first swing at the design in sailboat mode was a 37-foot motorsailer with a substantial trim tab that powered up at 14 knots. (It was never built.) When the owner of a Tartan 3700 approached him about commissioning a larger boat, Jackett returned to expand upon his earlier incarnation.

“But the concept was the same,” he says. “More of a sailing hull, but a nice, big, well-lit living space with inside steering, and then an aft cockpit that gave you the normal sailing experience of wind and water in your face when you wanted it.” 

Down a few steps into the deep cockpit, sliding doors open into the salon, which transitions into the forward living areas. The bulletproof laminate is a vacuum-bagged, infused sandwich that employs epoxy resin with a foam core in the hull construction and end-grain balsa in the deck. The lead keel supports a hefty ballast bulb and is available in deep- and shallow-draft configurations. 

There are a couple of accommodations plans, including a two-stateroom version or the three-stateroom layout employed in the model we sailed, with guest staterooms to port and starboard, and an owner’s space forward with an attached head. The well-executed joiner work and furniture were cherry, though teak and maple are available (much of it sourced from northeast Ohio’s Amish mills). I’d say this is primarily a comfortable couple’s boat with space for occasional visits from family and friends.

Aesthetically, I found the lines plan of the 455 to be handsome and pleasing, not a particularly easy task with a large deckhouse, which Jackett incorporated nicely into the profile. 

Wraparound windows allow light to pour in from all directions, as does the deckhouse’s overhead window. A split hydraulic backstay provides easy access to the drop-down transom and boarding platform between the twin wheels, which are stationed well outboard. (There’s a single, deep spade rudder.) Moving forward, an outboard ramp rises from the cockpit to the side decks, which makes for easy egress to the topside and foredeck. I believe this feature originated with the Jeanneau line, and I always thought it was a trend that would spill over to other builders (see the Moody 41DS). It’s just too simple and elegant a solution to an age-old design conundrum. There are grippy stainless-steel handrails just about everywhere. This Tartan is a big boat but an easy one to negotiate.

The carbon-fiber, double-spreader rig is fashioned in Tartan’s in-house autoclave, as are the rudder post and other reinforcements. The company’s Cruise Control Rig double-headsail sail plan (also known as a Solent setup) has become a fixture across the brand, with a Code Zero-style reacher on the forward stay and a smaller, self-tacking jib on the aft one. The powerful, full-battened mainsail is stashed in a Leisure Furl in-boom furler, and there’s a wide traveler atop the deckhouse that facilitates the end-boom mainsail sheeting. All the running rigging is led into the cockpit and handled by a combination of rope, clutches and Harken electric winches. The excellent sails come from Sobstad’s loft in nearby Rocky Hill. 

Over the years, I’ve sailed many a Jackett design, and the common denominator is they sail exceedingly well. We sailed the 455 on an early-fall afternoon after a cold front rolled through, offering up ideal 10- to 15-knot northwest breezes. The waves in the relatively shallow lake were closely spaced. As I took the wheel and came onto the wind under the smaller jib, it took me a while to stop pinching and get in the groove. But once I fell off a good 10 degrees, the boat and I settled in, and it muscled through the chop with aplomb.

The steering was tight and accurate. Jackett says he was still playing with the optimal rudder configuration, but it all felt fine to me. Topside, the Jefa wheels are cable-controlled, while the deckhouse steering station is on a hydraulic ram. You toggle between the two, depending on where you’re driving. We swapped out the self-tacker for the large reacher and bore off another 10 degrees, and the boat absolutely lit up, trucking along on a beam reach at bursts over 9 knots in complete and utter control. We even jibed the big sail through the exceedingly tight foretriangle, a maneuver I wouldn’t have thought possible. It was quite the sail.

Fittingly, the first Tartan 455 is going to live on the Great Lakes, with Lake Huron’s North Channel a likely regular cruising ground. But I can envision this to be a terrific yacht for the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and ideal for high-latitude adventures. You might not be able to take the Ohio out of a Tartan, but you can take this Tartan just about anywhere. 

 Tartan 455 SPECIFICATIONS

Herb McCormick is a CW editor-at-large.

The post Tartan 455: Made in Ohio, Built to Roam the Globe appeared first on Cruising World.

Sailboats are getting ­bigger all the time. Gone are the days when a boatbuilder like Catalina would pump out hundreds of Catalina 22s in a ­production run that would last decades. Profit margins for ­builders are far greater with larger ­vessels, and more and more ­buyers—even first-time buyers who’ve ­never owned a yacht—are ­coming into the market searching for boats 40 feet or greater. It’s kind of amazing but also true. 

That’s why it’s interesting and exciting when production boats under 30 feet debut, and it’s even better when our Boat of the Year judging panel has a dedicated class of nifty new ­offerings to inspect, as we did for model year 2022. 

What’s cool about the trio of boats that comprised this year’s Pocket Cruiser/Daysailer ­division—the Tartan 245, ­­

J/Boats 28-foot J/9 and Beneteau First 27—is that each was fundamentally different than the others, designed with a specific purpose or sailor in mind. Our task as judges was to determine which boat best served its stated purpose. As a big bonus, all three boats were stout ­performers and a blast to sail. 

With no further ado, let’s have a look at them. 

Tough Little Tartan

My first thought when I peered into the cockpit of the 24-foot, Tim Jackett-­designed Tartan 245 was that it reminded me very much of my ­ancient Pearson Ensign, which debuted in the early 1960s. Like the Ensign, the 245 is an unabashed ­daysailer with a long, inviting cockpit; good stowage beneath the ­cockpit’s coaming; and a ­little cuddy cabin forward for ­stashing sails and duffels, and for a ­simple berth or head while camping-c­ruising. When I mentioned this to Cai Svendsen, who’d commissioned the design for use as a trainer in the Judd Goldman Center’s adaptive sailing program, he expressed his fondness for the Ensign and confirmed that he’d incorporated some of its features in the brief.

But the 245 is also quite different than the old Pearson in several important ways. First, it employs a lifting keel with 900 pounds of ballast—a significant number in a vessel that displaces less than 3,000 pounds. Draft with the board down is 4 feet, 6 inches; raised, it’s a mere 1 foot, 8 inches. With a kick-up rudder, this boat can traverse very skinny water and even nudge right up to the beach. 

Next, with his experience teaching sailing (novices are known to whack the occasional dock), Svendsen opted for a false, sacrificial bow that is bolted on. It can be quickly and easily swapped out if damaged (you can also spec the boat without what Tartan calls the “Crunchbow”). 

Finally, like its larger siblings in the Tartan clan, the boat comes with a carbon rig (deck-stepped on the 245, with swept-back spreaders). You can also order an optional retractable carbon bowsprit for off-wind kites or reachers. For motoring in and out of the marina, there’s a 4 hp outboard. The whole package can be easily towed by a small pickup or SUV. 

The profile is no-nonsense with just a hint of a sheerline, and with an open transom for safe and easy swimming (something I wish they’d thought of on my Ensign). Sail controls are atop the coachroof, and the cockpit is definitely roomy; it is meant to accommodate four students and an instructor standing aft. Available sail plans include a choice of overlapping headsails or a self-tacking jib. The whole idea is to make the boat simple and accessible, a fact underscored by its potential use in programs where a wheelchair can be rolled aboard. 

Svendsen was gracious enough to take us for an afternoon spin on Chesapeake Bay in a fitful breeze that never topped 10 knots. It mattered not a whit. The tiller-steered 245, with a simple tiller extension so you perch up on the rail with a grand view, was an absolute blast to sail, quite responsive, and surprisingly quick considering its diminutive stature. (The 245 shares this prowess with the many Jackett ­designs in the Tartan lineup.)

When we sailed right up to the dock and dropped the main, Svendsen left us with this accurate thought: “Little boats are where you have fun. Big boats are where you spend money.” 

He’s totally correct. With the Tartan 245, in the fun/cash quotient, the return on investment can be measured in miles and smiles. 

• $50,000
• tartanyachts.com
• 440-392-2628

Make My J

Everyone can agree on how ­awful the pandemic has been, but for fans of the sweet sailing line of J/Boats—designed and marketed by the Johnstone family for some 45 years now—the COVID-19 cloud had a silver lining. It was at least partially responsible for the creation of the company’s latest model: the simple 28-foot daysailer dubbed the J/9.

Company president Jeff Johnstone said that the inspiration for the J/9 came when the regatta season was canceled and he spent time sailing exclusively with his family on a 23-foot J/70, the only boat that was available. 

“It was the best summer,” he says. “No racing, just pleasure sailing. I rediscovered my joy for it. We got to the fall and started thinking about older sailors, this whole generation of baby boomers who might be getting out of racing but still want to sail. And we revisited the concept behind the J/100, a 33-footer that was ideal for a simple day’s sail.” 

The seed was planted; ­simplicity would reign.

As Johnstone says, all ­

J/Boats perform well under main alone. Having owned both a J/24 and a J/30, I can ­attest that the statement is without hyperbole. At first, the idea was to perhaps go with a boat driven solely by a mainsail. “But it didn’t take long before our sailing instincts kicked in and we wanted to go upwind,” Johnstone says. 

So the boat became a straightforward sloop with a furling jib. Hoist the main, ­unroll the headsail, and away you go. (A short, fixed sprit is available for those who must ­also fly a spinnaker.) 

As with the Tartan 245, the focal point of the J/9 is the cockpit, and it’s clear the team spent a lot of time considering it. (That said, the J’s interior is actually quite cozy, with a pair of settees and an optional V-berth forward; I could have a fun time aboard on a little camping-­cruising vacation.) Johnstone said that his team was enamored with and inspired by the Carl Schumacher-­designed Alerion Express 28, a fine little sailboat, but the Johnstones made what I consider a significant improvement by going with an open transom that airs out things aesthetically and makes practical sense as a perfect swimming/boarding platform. 

RELATED: 2022 Boat of the Year: Best Pocket Cruiser/Daysailer

The boat has a trio of auxiliary options: a basic outboard, an inboard diesel, or an electric Torqeedo Cruise 4.0 pod drive with a dual-blade folding prop that’s powered by a 48-volt, 5 kW lithium-ion battery with a 650-watt charger that can be plugged ­directly into dockside shore ­power. “It’s the first time in our ­history that we could offer an electric alternative at the same price as the diesel, not 20 percent more,” Johnstone says. “And talk about a simple ­installation.”

We sailed the J/9 on a cracking fall day on Chesapeake Bay in an ideal 10 to 12 knots, and man, it did not disappoint. As advertised, the layout is simplicity personified: one hand on the tiller, the other on the mainsheet. There’s no traveler, but the boom is controlled by an ingenious bridle ­setup. There’s a clear view of the B&G plotter on the coachroof, the solid Sparcraft vang aids in boom control, and lazy jacks for the main keep everything manageable. And the J/9 sails like a witch, notching just shy of 7 knots hard on the breeze, and topping that ­number cracked off on a reach. 

The joy of sailing, eh? Here’s your ticket. 

• $150,000
• jboats.com
• 401-846-8410

First Is First

When all was said and ­done, the winning entry in the ­Pocket Cruiser/Daysailer class was the Beneteau First 27. 

It was a tough call because the three boats were so apart from one another—not apples and oranges, but an apple, an orange and a pear. Yet the judges were unanimous in our choice, partly because of the Beneteau’s excellent fit-and-finish, and also because we felt it best-suited for what it set out to do. 

“The mission for this boat is shorthanded distance racing, and I think that’s really interesting. It’s probably the fastest-growing segment in the racing scene,” judge Tim Murphy says. “The idea is getting sailors in a competitive environment to really develop themselves as sailors. When racing, it’s not about comfort; it’s all about the sailor getting offshore and navigating and sailing overnight, and having the sail controls and layout set up to derive and maximize the power available in the boat, which is significant. It’s a tool for really becoming an experienced sailor. I think that ­mission is really strong.”

To underscore that point, our test sail aboard the First 27 was sensational, conducted in 10 to 14 knots of fine Chesapeake Bay wind, with speeds topping out at almost 8 knots hard on the breeze. We did 10 knots with the asymmetric kite up and drawing—it’s set off a retractable sprit—on a tight, close reach. The little rocket is a ball to steer, with a full-width traveler to dump the main in the gusts, and twin outboard rudders that really grip the seaway and offer pinpoint control. Remember, we’re talking about a boat shorter than 27 feet here. It provides the sort of performance usually reserved for craft with significantly ­longer waterlines. 

However, make no mistake—the First 27 is by no means a stripped-out, Spartan ­racing machine (well, at least the ­version we sailed; there are two models: one a dedicated racer and the racer/cruiser we tested). All the elements are there for real coastal cruising: a serviceable galley, head and berths, and a 15 hp Yanmar diesel. Yes, the boat was conceived for racing, but it’s also a quite adequate pocket cruiser as well. And on top of all that, it’s trailerable.

Built in Slovenia, the boat was originally marketed as the Seascape 27 before Beneteau acquired the company and rebranded the model as the First 27. Construction is top-notch: vacuum infusion with a PVC foam core, a laminate that’s light and strong. Nearly 1,350 pounds of ballast are incorporated in the lead, T-shaped bull keel (fastened to a steel blade), a significant figure in a vessel that displaces less than 4,000 pounds (the sail area/displacement ratio of 97 is not a typo). The idea was to instill super stability in a hull that planes, a concept that might seem diametrically opposed but works well in practice here. There’s even a little crash bulkhead forward. And all the related equipment is terrific: Seldén spars, Harken winches, B&G instruments and a Spinlock tiller extension, to name a few. 

There’s no question that this is an athletic boat to sail and operate, and plenty of adjustments in the rig and sail plan make it eminently tweakable. In other words, there’s nothing sedate about the boat underway. But the effort put in is returned with thrills in spades. For a certain brand of sailor, the trade-off and rewards will be more than worth the sweat equity involved.  

• $140,000
• beneteau​.com
• 401-990-0270

Herb McCormick is a CW editor-at-large. 

The post Boat Reviews of Pocket Cruisers and Daysailors: Tartan 245, J/9 and Beneteau First 27 appeared first on Cruising World.

From the very beginning, nearly 50 years ago, Cruising World has kept an open mind as to exactly what constitutes cruising. For some, it might mean circling the globe under sail alone. For others, lowering the mast and motoring through America’s rivers, lakes and canals to complete a Great Loop fits the bill. Some seek long bluewater passages, others are content to gunkhole along a lakeshore in a shallow-draft vessel, sleeping under the stars on a cockpit bench or tucked under a boom tent should it rain.

And likewise, since the inception of our Boat of the Year contest a quarter century ago, we’ve asked our independent team of judges to evaluate a wide range of boats and measure them against their stated design brief. It’s not every year that our experts have the opportunity to inspect a category of nifty, smooth-sailing vessels under 30 feet, but for 2022, there was a trio of modestly sized smart, cool boats to put through their paces. The only problem? Each model was designed and built with a vastly different purpose (and sailor) in mind. 

The Tartan 245 was originally conceived as a training boat for sailing schools. J/Boat’s J/9 is an unabashed daysailer, meant to provide exciting spins around the harbor, even under mainsail alone. And, the Beneteau First 27 is fine-tuned to deliver performance, and definitely lives at the racier end of the spectrum. 

The judge’s task? Decide which nominee came closest to fulfilling its stated purpose.

Let’s begin with the J/9. It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s a totally enjoyable, stress-free sailing experience that can be easily handled by any sailor looking to enjoy a breezy afternoon. And that’s just what the crew at J/Boats was striving for with their new 28-foot daysailer. 

In promotional materials, the company asks, “Is this the most comfortable cockpit ever?” And the answer, after sailing the boat on a blue-sky Annapolis day, would have to be yes. There is plenty of room for a couple of couples to sit comfortably. But the tiller and its extension also allow a singlehander to sit forward and easily reach the jib sheets, led to winches on the low-profile cabin top. Aft, there is even a small swim platform and ladder for when the time comes to douse sails and enjoy a dip on a hot afternoon.

Described from the get-go as a “daysailor,” a small cabin has room for an open V-berth, a couple of settees, a head, and space for a small portable cookstove and cooler. 

Underway in 10 knots or so of breeze, the boat was quite well mannered, even with the jib furled. Judge Tim Murphy notes, “The design writ started off with it being a mainsail-only boat, and then it ended up having a headsail too. But it’s really mainsail-driven. And the big drawing point is the huge cockpit. We sailed the boat under main alone, and sure enough, you could go out for an afternoon with just the main and have a time for yourself. The cockpit is perfect. It really is the strongest part of the boat.”

With the Tartan 245, longtime Tartan naval architect Tim Jackett, who’s now practically synonymous with the brand, was originally asked to design an easily handled, simply laid-out 24-footer that would be ideal for sailing lessons. 

What he came up with is a delightful little boat that does all that and more. Longtime aficionados of the Carl Alberg-designed Ensign will recognize several features from that classic daysailer (the sailor who commissioned the 245 had a soft spot for Ensigns). The long and spacious cockpit, the tiller steering and the handy cuddy cabin are all perfect. What separates the designs is the Tartan’s lifting keel, which makes it versatile and trailerable. 

If the J/9’s focus is on simple sailing, the Tartan’s aim is to give students the ability to tweak sails and rig to their hearts’ content in order to learn big-boat handling and racing skills. Numerous control lines are led into the cockpit from the base of the mast, and aft, there is a beefy backstay adjuster.

The boat that the judges sailed in Annapolis was a demo boat for a local sailing school, and was stripped out inside, except for a cushion for the V-berth. But the owner’s plans included towing the boat back to his home in Florida, where he’s contemplating loading aboard a port-a-potty, cooler and stove, and possibly sailing it across to the Bahamas. Outfitted as such, it would be a sporty little vessel for exploring shallow-water venues between the cays.

With two boats that so closely hit the bullseyes described in their design briefs, there was one boat left to assess, and in the end, the Beneteau First 27 turned in a performance that insured it would sail away with the pocket-cruiser hardware.

Built in Slovenia and, before undergoing a branding and systems revamping by Beneteau, this sharp, tidy “sport cruiser” was known as the Seascape 27. By any name, it delivers thrilling performance in a compact, well-reasoned package. 

While the Seascape 27 was originally conceived as a major player in the ever-expanding world of doublehanded offshore racing—CW’s sister publication, Sailing World, tested and rewarded that boat—the cruisier version was reintroduced this year with several tweaks and the new moniker: First 27. And as a racer/cruiser, it boasts all the amenities necessary for weekend and coastal voyaging: a serviceable head, galley and berths, and a Yanmar diesel. In other words, a couple could easily liveaboard, rather than camp, for short periods of time, but they could also expect to be serious podium contenders should those outings involve a regatta.

In the end, it was the little things that swayed the judges. “The fit-and-finish for the price point is at a different level,” judge Gerry Douglas said. “The equipment level was higher.”

The post 2022 Boat of the Year: Best Pocket Cruiser/Daysailer appeared first on Cruising World.

Peter Whiting, Managing Partner, announced that Seattle Yachts International, is continuing its expansion and vertical integration with the recent acquisition of famed 60-year-old boat manufacturing operation, Tartan-Legacy.

Seattle Yachts has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Marine Manufacturing Group LLC (MMG) to purchase the assets of Tartan Legacy Yachts, a manufacturing operation that produces Tartan Sailing Yachts, Legacy Downeast Yachts, and AMP brand carbon fiber masts and spars.

Whiting explained that Seattle Yachts has been a dealer for both Tartan and Legacy yachts for several years and had a number of boats in the Tartan Legacy production pipeline when it became evident the Ohio-based manufacturer was experiencing financial difficulties.

“Look, it’s no secret that Tartan-Legacy had fallen onto some hard times of late and was struggling despite having a healthy order book and some nineteen boats in process on the production floor,” said Whiting.

“We could see that, with some needed recapitalization and the infusion of some heavy-duty boat building management talent, we could restore the brands to their historically strong positions in the market,” he continued “We also felt that would ultimately be to the benefit of everyone, including current and future customers, other Tartan-Legacy dealers, and, of course, ourselves, who had significant investments at stake, not to mention the 45 some people who work in the operation.”

Whiting explained further that when the urgency of the situation became clear, he retained well-known marine industry consultant and former president and CEO of Palmer Johnson Yachts, Phil Friedman, to help evaluate what might be done and, later, to consult in the acquisition.

Friedman, a long-time friend and marine business associate of Whiting’s, described the whirlwind of evaluation and due diligence activities that followed.

“To an outsider with little experience in the recreational marine industry, the speed at which this process moved might seem astounding,” Friedman said. “But in situations like this, accelerated decisions are the norm, not the exception.”

“The fact is, buying and owning a boat manufacturing operation is not for the faint of heart,” Friedman said. “Nor is it something for gentlemen hobbyists or bean-counters in pinstriped suits. It takes talent, hands-on experience in the industry, guts, and a fair measure of tolerance for risk.”

In turn, Whiting said that he was pleased to have Friedman available to help with the reorganization and relaunch of the Tartan Legacy operation because in addition to marine business management experience Friedman also has in-depth background in the construction of both sailing and luxury motor yachts 10- to 50-meter range.

Whiting also pointed out that he and Friedman are being joined on the MMG management team by long-time yacht production pro, Bill Macnab, who spent a couple of decades building boats and yachts in Asia at firms like McConaghy, Prout, Tri-Con, and Allegro — and who, before that, worked for many years at Westbay Sonship in British Columbia, Canada.

“Our main goal at Tartan-Legacy is, in the short term, to improve processes and through-put of the operation, while maintaining the high quality of construction, fit, and finish for which these brands have been known,” Macnab said.

Tim Jackett, Tartan-Legacy’s perennial in-house designer and product development manager will round out the team going forward. “Tim represents the best of what makes the Tartan and Legacy yachts what they are today,” Whiting said. “He brings to the mix a genuine wealth of historical knowledge, solid design sense, and the appetite for constant improvement and innovation.”

The Tartan-Legacy manufacturing operation is being moved to a new 52,000-square-foot facility in Painesville, Ohio, about five miles from its current location. Although only slightly larger than the current facility, the new plant is, according to Macnab, much better laid out for boat building than what Tartan-Legacy has had for the last ten or so years. And the long-term lease at the new facility assures Tartan and Legacy brands will continue to be built in the heartland of America for a long time to come.

The post Tartan Yachts has a New Owner appeared first on Cruising World.

There are certain matters in life that are just sure things, where you go in realizing that professionals are involved and you’re in good hands. You walk into a theater for a Meryl Streep film, and you know the acting’s covered. You board a Qantas flight understanding there is zero chance it will fall from the skies. You cut into a steak at a Ruth’s Chris knowing that it is about to melt in your mouth. If only everything was this way.

In sailing, thankfully, there are lots of givens: Harken hardware, Edson steering, Raymarine electronics, LeisureFurl in-boom furling mainsails. Boats equipped with these brands have those items all figured out. And here’s one more nautical surety, as reliable as the sun rising in the east: When you step aboard a yacht designed by seasoned naval architect Tim Jackett, you do so with the realization that it’s been extremely well thought out, that there has been a reassuring attention to detail, that it will sail like a bloody witch, that it will do precisely what it was created to do.

Which brings us to the latest ­example of Jackett’s vision, the Tartan 395 (which, not coincidentally, is fitted out with all the gear previously mentioned).

Like many American builders, Tartan Yachts, which is based in Ohio, has had its share of ups and downs in recent times. But Jackett is now one of the principal owners, and judging from the introduction of its new 39-footer at last fall’s U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, the company has again found its footing.

As Boat of the Year judge Tim Murphy said after inspecting the yacht, “It’s really nice to see Tartan back again. This is an interesting boat. It really brings together some nice elements of craftsmanship. You step below, and the big deck cowls are bringing lots of good air through there, and it’s just very comfortable. And you sit down in the cabin with that light maple finish (cherry and teak are also available), and it just looks and feels good. You feel like some real craftsmen have put this interior together.”

One thing Jackett is loath to do is fix things that aren’t broken, and so the 395 boasts features that have proved tried and true on previous appealing designs. Chief among these is Tartan’s elegant and versatile CCR (cruise control rig) sail plan, composed of double headsails (a self-tacking jib on an inner stay, a code zero reacher on the outer), set off a light double-spreader carbon-fiber spar. This configuration is an effective, efficient way to shift gears quickly depending on changes in the breeze or on the point of sail.

Nor has Jackett fussed much with the lines of the boat; it has a handsome, traditional-looking profile, with a very gentle sheer line, a relatively long coachroof, and stout coamings framing a deep and cozy ­cockpit. If your taste slants more toward slab-sided, expansive Euro topsides and contemporary razor-sharp hull chines, look elsewhere. This right here is a homegrown product of ’Merica, son.

It’s also a well-constructed one. Several generations of Tartans have now been built in an infusion process employing modified epoxy resin (not polyester like so many of its competitors) in a laminate that is sandwiched around closed-cell foam coring in the hull and balsa core in the deck. Tartan eschews the iron ballast many builders use in favor of good old lead (there are three underbodies available, including an optional deep fin, the standard “beaver tail” fixed keel or a keel/centerboard). Thanks to the company owning its own autoclave, not only is the rig carbon, but so is the rudderstock. Bottom line? There’s no squelching on materials.

“The anchoring system was beautiful, with polished stainless-steel chain, a stainless-steel anchor and a big, beautiful windlass,” said BOTY judge Alvah Simon. “It’s a good old-fashioned interior layout that just works. The pushpit, pulpit, stanchions, lifelines and gates are all terrific. The deck hardware is of high quality and well-installed. The little things really add up on this boat.”

Moving on, there’s a whole lot happening in the cockpit. In addition to the two pedestals for the twin steering wheels, there’s a third pedestal of sorts just forward of and between the helms, where the engine and lights controls are housed, as well as the Raymarine chart plotter. Built into the transom is a fold-down step to access a modest swim and boarding platform. The idea with the dual wheels and the transom door is to create a natural ergonomic flow from the companionway to the stern, but to be honest, it’s pretty busy terrain.

During our sailing trials, I absolutely loved driving the boat — it sailed great, like all Jackett’s boats, especially when we eased sheets in a nice Chesapeake Bay norther and the boat trucked along at an effortless 7 knots. However, the seats at the wheel seemed low, and I never could get totally comfortable. That said, I quite liked the German-style mainsheet that was ­double-ended port and ­starboard to big winches ­within easy reach of the driver.

Down below, there’s a tidy double cabin aft to starboard; a generous shower stall and head is to port. The forward-facing navigation station and a good-size galley are stationed to port and starboard, respectively, of the companionway. Comfortable settees flank a central dining table in the main saloon; there’s a second double cabin all the way forward. Eight opening ports overhead in the cabin emit plenty of welcoming fresh air. The Tartan 395 is not quite as beamy as the competing boats in its size range in the 2019 BOTY fleet, but resting there and taking in the surroundings, things felt snug and secure. Two words, ultimately, came to mind.

Proper. Yachting.

Herb McCormick is CW’s executive editor.

Tartan 395 Specifications

Tartan Yachts
440-392-2628
tartanyachts.com

Sea Trial

For a complete guide to ­Cruising World’s extensive online boat ­reviews and to request reprints from our older print archives of reviews, go to cruisingworld.com/sailboat-reviews.

The post Boat Review: Tartan 395 appeared first on Cruising World.

Later this spring Ohio boatbuilder Tartan Yachts plans to launch a new 39-foot sailboat that appears in drawings to be well suited for cruising couples who want comfortable surroundings and a generous measure of performance.

The new Tim Jackett-designed 395 is a two-cabin boat, with queen-sized berths in forward and aft staterooms, a perfect set up for owners who plan to have occasional guests aboard. Additional settees amidships in the saloon are to either side of a centerline dining table and could double as sea berths should kids or additional friends join the cruise.

There is a single head, located to port at the foot of the companionway stairs.

Like the others in the Tartan range, the 395 carries what the company calls its Cruise Control Rig – full-battened main, self tending furling jib and a reacher set on a roller-furler forward. Performance ratios show this Solent-style sail plan boosts downwind sail area/displacement to 26.9, up from 19.3 for upwind work. In other words, this boat has some get-up-and-go when the breeze moves aft. A German-style double-ended mainsheet is led to winches adjacent to the boat’s twin helms, as are the jib and reacher sheets, putting all sail control lines at the helmsman’s fingertips.

Tartan infuses its foam-cored hulls and balsa-cored decks with epoxy resin. The company also builds its own carbon-fiber masts and booms, which reduce weight aloft and should quiet the ride in any seaway. This is an option for the 395, though the standard boat carries an aluminum rig. Base price for the boat is $340,000.

A preview of the 395 shows a slightly overhanging reverse transom, an attractive sheerline and a low-profile house. It’s a good looking boat that should bring a fresh new option to the Tartan line, which ranges from the Fantail daysailer to the 5300 bluewater cruiser.

The post Tartan to Launch its 395 appeared first on Cruising World.

The design team at Tartan looked at what has worked and what hasn’t on their 37- to 40-foot sailboats over the past six decades. The result, they believe, is a 39-foot-6-inch cruiser with just the right number of features to sail well in comfort, but without any of the unnecessary bits that can drive up cost.

Find out more at www.tartanyachts.com.

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LOA 26′ 0″ (7.92 m.)
LWL 22′ 2″ (6.76 m.)
Beam 8′ 5″ (2.57 m.)
Disp. 3,050 lb. (1,383 kg.)
Sail Area 352 sq. ft. (32.70 sq. m.)
D/L 203
SA/D 26.7
Engine 6 hp Torqeedo electric outboard
Designer Tim Jackett
Price $96,000

Tartan Yachts
www.tartanyachts.com
440-210-2628

Click here to read more about the Tartan Fantail. Click here for more photos.

Click here to read more about Tartan Yachts.

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