Cruising World, Sailing World announce Boat of the Year nominees

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Cruising World and Sailing World magazines announced the nominees for the 2015 Boat of the Year (BOTY) awards at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Md. The awards recognize and honor the best and newest sailboat models introduced to the North American market over the past year.

Special nominating panels, consisting of each magazine’s editors examined the new sailboat models prior to the start of the show. The nominated boats will then move on to the judging round, during which the boats will be inspected and sailed by teams of independent judges for each magazine.

The Cruising World judges will focus on production boats laid out and equipped for coastal and offshore cruising and voyaging, while judges on the Sailing World panel will concentrate on boats designed and built with racing in mind. The 2015 BOTY winners will be announced in the January issue of Cruising World and the January/February issue of Sailing World — both set to hit newsstands in mid-December.

“This is a fantastic fleet of new boats for 2015, with everything from family friendly small cruisers to true bluewater expedition boats to the latest designs in multihulls,” said Cruising World senior editor and Boat of the Year director, Herb McCormick. “Our judging team will have their work cut out for them during the dockside inspections during the show, but the real fun starts when we get to take these boats out sailing on Chesapeake Bay. That’s usually when our view of each boat really comes into focus.”

Cruising World nominated 20 boats for 2015, with prizes to be handed out in multiple categories, including Best Domestic and Best Import Boat of the Year. The nominees are:

• Balance 451
• Bavaria Cruiser 37
• Bavaria Cruiser 46
• Beneteau Oceanis 35
• C&C Redline 41
• Dragonfly 32
• Dufour 560 GL
• FP Saba 50
• Garcia Exploration 45
• Gunboat 55
• Hanse 505
• Hanse 575
• Island Packet SP MkII
• Jeanneau SO 349
• Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600
• Marlow-Hunter 37
• Morris 48 RS
• Salona 33
• Salona 44
• Xc 35

Sailing World nominated 14 performance-oriented models for its awards, including:

• C&C 30
• C&C Redline 41
• Dragonfly 32
• Farr 280
• Gunboat 55
• Hobie T2
• Jeanneau 3200
• mx-Next
• RS Aero
• Salona 33
• Salona 44
• Seacape 27
• Topaz Argo
• Zim 15

The 2015 awards mark the 31st anniversary of the BOTY awards for Sailing World and the 22nd for Cruising World. For more information on the BOTY awards, visit www.sailingworld.com and www.cruisingworld.com.