Rockport Marine has completed the technical launch of Ouzel, a 95-foot custom sailing yacht conceived as a long-range cruising sloop with refined performance and modern systems. After three years of construction at the Maine boatyard, Ouzel is now afloat and beginning mechanical and systems trials.

Designed by Langan Design Partners of Newport Rhode Island with interior design and exterior styling support from Mark Whiteley Design of Lymington England, Ouzel reflects a collaborative approach that draws on expertise from both sides of the Atlantic. Owner representation and project management were handled by MCM Newport, whose team coordinated closely with designers and builders throughout the process.

Built using Rockport Marine’s wood-composite construction method, the hull blends cold-molded wood with carbon fiber E-glass and foam coring. The approach is intended to deliver modern composite durability while retaining the tactile and acoustic qualities long associated with traditional wooden yachts.

“There’s a common perception that you can’t build a yacht like this in the United States any longer,” said Peter Wilson, president of MCM. “When the world finally gets to see what this team has created, they’ll quickly realize that you can build a world-class superyacht right here at Rockport Marine in Maine.”

According to the build team, close coordination was key. Designers builders and owner representatives met weekly by video conference and convened regularly in Rockport to review progress and full-scale mock-ups. That rhythm carried the project from raw materials to launch.

“It’s satisfying to bring a project of this quality from raw materials to this moment,” said Sam Temple president of Rockport Marine. “We have had a strong team and wise clients. Looking longer term, I am pleased but not surprised to see increased acceptance of wood-composite building, which delivers the advantages of wood with maintenance demands comparable to other composite vessels.”

Tom Degremont of Langan Design Partners said the project highlights how traditional skills and modern techniques can coexist. “We are seeing consistently brilliant work by the team at Rockport to blend ageless boatbuilding skills with modern materials,” he said. “It has been exciting to see the full package come together as Ouzel touches the water.”

From the interior perspective, Mark Whiteley noted that the construction method contributes directly to life aboard. “The quality of craftsmanship ranks alongside the world’s best,” he said. “The wood-composite structure enhances the aesthetic acoustic and even aromatic qualities of the interior. At this stage we remain focused on final systems testing but we are delighted to see her afloat.”With launch complete, Ouzel transitions from construction project to sailing yacht. Sea trials will validate systems and performance ahead of delivery, closing a chapter on a build that underscores the continued capabilities of American yards in the world of large custom sailing yachts.

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In an offshore race where waterline length usually rules, the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race delivered a head-turning surprise: a 36-foot production-based boat finished second over the line—beaten only by an 88-foot maxi. Even more impressive? The Beneteau First 36 SE Custom Rahan was sailed doublehanded.

The biennial Transpac stretches 2,397 nautical miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu, and this year’s edition brought unusually light winds, putting a premium on strategic sail handling and staying in pressure. Rahan’s co-skippers, Charles-Etienne Devanneaux and Frédéric Courouble, kept their foot on the gas the entire way.

Originally developed as a prototype for Beneteau’s new First 36 SE, Rahan was customized specifically for offshore performance. Devanneaux—owner of Naos Yachts—and Courouble worked with the Seascape design team to strip weight, fine-tune the sail plan, and optimize the rig, keel, and cockpit layout. The resulting boat, nicknamed “TP” for the Transpac, maintained the production model’s hull, rudders, and rig dimensions.

Despite being the smallest boat in the 53rd Transpac fleet, Rahan kept pace with larger fully crewed competitors early on and stretched her lead as the race opened into reaching and downwind conditions. She ultimately finished nine hours ahead of the next boat in her class, and just one minute off the corrected-time overall podium.

Throughout the race, Rahan logged daily runs over 270 nautical miles and clocked a top speed of 20.4 knots. Her average speed exceeded 10 knots over the full passage.

“It never felt like a small boat,” Devanneaux said at the dock in Honolulu. “This is what a modern planing hull should feel like—fast, fun, responsive. We were able to push the boat with confidence, even doublehanded.”

The performance not only validated the design but directly influenced the launch of the new First 36 SE production model, which incorporates many of Rahan’s innovations.

Rahan wasn’t the only Beneteau to make headlines—Macondo, a First 47.7, won Division 8.

But it’s hard to beat a story of two sailors on a 36-footer charging across the Pacific and finishing just behind a canting-keel maxi. As Devanneaux said: “This boat, and this race, reminded us what modern offshore sailing can be.”

Doublehanded Offshore: What It Takes

Sailing across an ocean with just two crew isn’t for the faint of heart—but it’s increasingly common in races like the Transpac and events like the Global Solo Challenge. The right combination of preparation, systems, and seamanship can make a doublehanded passage not only possible, but also efficient. Here’s what successful teams like Rahan‘s Charly and Freddy rely on:

Autopilot is Your Third Crew

In doublehanded sailing, a reliable, well-tuned autopilot is essential. Offshore pilots must be able to steer to apparent wind, handle sail changes, and maintain course in heavy weather—all while conserving power. Many crews carry redundant pilots or at least backup drives and spare parts.

Watch Schedules That Work

Forget rigid 4-on/4-off shifts—most doublehanded sailors rely on flexible, sleep-when-you-can systems. Offshore veterans often use short rotating watches (e.g., 90 minutes to 2 hours) to avoid deep fatigue. The key is mutual trust and honest communication about when one partner needs rest.

Smart Sail Selection

Without the manpower to do constant changes, sail inventory needs to be both versatile and manageable. Fractional furling spinnakers, reefable mains, and easily reefed jibs are staples. Planning sail combos for expected wind angles—and knowing when not to push—is part of the strategy.

Pre-Race Prep is Everything

From rigging to power management, every system must be dialed in before departure. Doublehanded teams rely on meticulous pre-race checklists, preloaded routing plans, and gear organized so that any task—reefing, cooking, fixing gear—can be done solo if needed.

Emergency Planning

With only two aboard, you don’t get a second chance in a man-overboard situation. That’s why tethers, jacklines, and cockpit safety routines are non-negotiable. Top crews also train on how to handle medical emergencies, rudder loss, or dismastings without outside help.

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Lyra is our 1980 Reliance 44, and has a nine-year circumnavigation and several trans-Atlantic crossings under her belt. Additionally, we’ve been racking up an average of 2,000 nautical miles annually for the past 10 years on a rig that was last seriously serviced in the early 1990s while the boat was in New Zealand. It is a testament to her overbuilt design and uncompromising owners that it has held up well. With the rig out for the first time since we put the boat together after purchasing her 10 years ago, I wanted to address any issues before they occurred.

The furler’s aluminum-foil extrusion had to be removed from the headstay in order to inspect the actual wire; and in order to remove it, the ­Sta-Lok fitting on the bottom of the stay needed to be disassembled. Even though the existing stay passed a visual inspection perfectly, it proved to be a relatively simple and inexpensive process to simply replace the wire for future peace of mind.

Headstay and Foil Removal

Removing the furling assembly and turnbuckle allowed me to see the Sta-Lok terminator on the bottom of the stay. The two tangs on the outside of the fittings slid down after removing the two Allen bolts in the bottom of the titanium furler base (photo 1). Now the turnbuckle could be spun off.

I next removed the two large Allen set screws that keep the drum assembly attached to the foil and slid it off as well (photo 2).

Using two wrenches to take apart the Sta-Lok fitting, the lower terminator could now be removed. I had to use some heat in the form of a propane torch to break the Loctite in the threads, which was fine because all of the parts that will be reused needed to be cleaned before reassembly.

The foils were now ready to be disassembled. Four Allen set screws kept each connector insert in place inside the foil (photo 3). Mine were sealed with silicone sealant, which popped right out when a sharp screw was turned into it. Once removed, the sections slid apart and off the end of the stay where I had removed the Sta-Lok. Be careful using heat to free the set screws, so as not to melt the plastic bearings that allow the foil to rotate around the wire. I had to drill out a few.

Replacing the Headstay

With some attention to detail and the following items, I found that replacing the wire using the existing Sta-Lok ­fittings was well within the skill set of the average DIY sailor. The tools needed are a tape measure, hacksaw, masking tape, drill, Scotch Brite pad, wire coat hanger, a couple of wrenches, Loctite, silicone sealant, and new cones for the Sta-Lok fitting.

I sourced 54 feet of 10 mm high-end Loos wire rope from RigPro in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. With the replacement set screws for the foil, the bill came to $545.46. I was fortunate enough to have a spare Sta-Lok terminal, which I installed on the new wire. By anchoring the terminals in the ground with a screwdriver, I could pull the old and new wire side by side to get an accurate measurement of length (photo 4).

I wrapped the new wire in masking tape for ease of marking and to keep the strands together as I cut them (photo 5). The old stay was a half-inch too long, so I cut the new one a half-inch shorter. Using a sharp hacksaw blade to cut the new wire saves time; any burrs need to be filed smooth.

A wire coat hanger ­doubled around a piece of brown Scotch Brite pad and twisted back to the drill’s chuck is an easy way to clean out the inside of the old Sta-Lok fittings without damaging the threads (photo 6).

There is an insert buried in the fitting that should be removed for inspection and replaced if it is scored. I replaced the cones that slide over the wire and are captured in the Sta-Lok fitting. I had to keep in mind that the lower terminal installation would need to wait until the wire was back on the mast and the foil was reinstalled.

I had to pre-fit the lower terminal (photo 7). On the wire rope, I slid the top nut onto the wire. Then, I gently unlaid the outside layer of wire strands until the new cone would go in, leaving about an eighth-inch of the core strands sticking out the bottom.

Photo 8 shows the top ­terminal all gooped up and ready to thread together. The fitting was gently dry-fitted first, so the cone has moved down to its home and the outer strands are bent into place. Last, I added blue Loctite to the threads and put it together (photo 9). Sta-Lok says not to use too much force when tightening, so I went with a very firm feel. Sealant should (and did) ooze out the top. Wipe it clean (photo 10), and it’s all done!

Servicing the ProFurl

The ProFurl furler was in decent shape. There are bearings in the furler unit and top swivel that moved freely and had no play, so I opted to leave them as they were. There was some wear on some of the connector’s plastic bearing inserts, so I bought four sets of them and replaced as needed. The biggest job was to replace all of the original set screws with longer set screws with a post below the threads, an upgrade recommended by RigPro. The idea is that the stud would keep the connectors in place more effectively than the original friction-reliant, cupped set screws did (photo 11).

In order to accurately drill a hole in the connector to receive the stud on the new set screws, I had to make a guide. This was done by drilling out the center of an original set screw with a bit sized to the post on the new set screws. This allowed me to screw in the guide using an Allen wrench, perfectly centering the bit without damaging the foil’s existing set screw threads. The center measurements between holes drilled by the factory are not all the same, so it was important to keep each insert in place and oriented—easily done by dry-fitting the new set screws as I drilled. Once the project was completed, the foil was ready for a cleaning and reinstallation.

Before installing the lower Sta-Lok terminal, I slid each section onto the new stay and assembled the foil after screwing in the foil connector’s set screws with some blue Loctite on the threads. A dab of silicon sealant on top of each screw completed the process. Last but not least was installing the new halyard wrap stop on the new wire (photo 12).

Conclusion

The forestay is one of the most important structural items on your rig, and is subjected to big loads, constant cycling and a corrosive marine environment. Often encased inside a roller furling foil, it is difficult to inspect. While Lyra’s headstay passed inspection, we wanted to have the peace of mind associated with new wire. Given her Sta-Lok system, the headstay replacement was not a difficult process.

The other piece of the puzzle is the furling system. In our case, we expect our roller furler to work flawlessly, and the ProFurl is robust. By replacing some of the connector bearings and adding set screws with a post inserted into the connector, it should last for many more years.

Lifelong sailor Green Brett is a ­regular contributor to CW. During summers, he’s at the helm of Lyra and offering ­daysailing charters in Newport, Rhode Island, through his company, On Watch Sailing.

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Hydrofoils have been providing dynamic lift since fish sprouted fins. And people have been employing foils ever since they first put paddle to water, and certainly since adding keels and rudders to boats. But the modern, flying America’s Cup boats, kiteboards, Moth dinghies, shorthanded offshore thoroughbreds—these are all ­playing in a new world in which the terms “hydrofoils” or “lifting foils” describe those oriented to raise a hull or hulls from the water. In these racing realms, if you ain’t got foils, you ain’t got nothin’.

Lifting foils that allow these boats to sometimes home in on three times the wind speed might appear to be of little interest to cruising sailors, but with such common cruising features as self-steering and autopilots, self-tailing winches, rope clutches, fin keels and faster hull shapes all having been passed down from the racing scene, one must ask, “What promise, if any, do hydrofoils hold?”

Read on.

Lifted or partially lifted boat patents extend back to 1869, but workable watercraft took roots along with early flight. Italian Enrico Forlanini began experimenting with foils in 1898. In 1906, his 1-ton 60 hp foiler reached 42.5 mph. Alexander Graham Bell’s HD-4 Hydrodrome flew on Bras d’ Or Lake at 70 mph in 1919. And several sailing foiler patents began appearing in the 1950s. Notably, JG Baker’s 26-foot monohull, Monitor, flew at 30-plus mph in 1955. Baker experimented with a number of foil configurations, and at least built, if not used, the first wing mast. The first offshore foiler was likely David Keiper’s flying trimaran, Williwaw, in which he crisscrossed the Pacific in the 1960s.

By the 1980s, numerous speed-trial and foil-enhanced offshore-racing multihulls showed huge promise, and have since evolved into behemoth trimarans clocking 30 to 40 knots continuously for long periods, not to mention the monohulls in the Vendée Globe (and soon the Ocean Race) that are capable of speeds exceeding 30 knots. But as boat designer Rodger Martin once reminded me, “If you want a new idea, look in an old book.” He was right. The fully foiling monohulls that will compete in the 2021 America’s Cup will bring things back full circle to the foiling monohull Monitor.

Fluid Dynamics Primer

Any foil—a wing, sail, keel, rudder or lifting foil—redirects the flow of fluid (air included), creating high- and low-pressure areas on opposite sides of the appendage, while developing lift perpendicular to the foil’s surface.

Advancements in foiling science is due in part to the hundreds of foil shapes that were tested, with tabulated results, by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For the better part of a century now, aircraft and boat designers have been able to choose from a spectrum of refined foil sections that produce predictable amounts of lift and drag for known speeds of fluid and angles of attack, or the angle at which the foil passes through the fluid. Sections of efficient faster foils, as seen on jets or as we flatten our sails to go upwind or reach high speeds, have smaller nose radii and are thinner, with the thickest section of the foils farther aft, up to nearly halfway toward the trailing edge.

The most efficient foil sections at slow speeds are fatter, with the maximum thickness farther forward, and with larger nose radii, than faster foils. The angle to fluid flow or angle of attack also is greater. We see these slower foils on wings of prop planes and sails when off the wind or in light conditions.

Most sailors are familiar with traditional foils on boats, the teardrop sections of keels that produce lift to weather, reducing leeway, and of rudders, allowing them to steer. Even a flat plate can be a foil, but these tend to be inefficient. Such a shape is prone to fluid separation from the surface, meaning they stall easily, and they maintain poor lift-to-drag ratios. Even keels and rudders are somewhat lift-­compromised because they are ­symmetrical and have to work with fluid coming from either side, whereas lifting foils are more like aircraft wings or propellers, with asymmetrical sections honed for performance in a more stable, fluid flow.

The point is, any foil can be employed at various angles to the surface to prevent leeway, produce increased stability, or help lift the boat out of the water. But those not required to work with fluid flowing from opposite sides can then be honed to maximize lift and minimize drag. Asymmetrical foils were used on boats like Bruce King’s bilgeboarders, including Hawkeye, back in the 1970s. And, designers, including Olin Stephens, had previously employed trim tabs behind keels to improve keel performance.

Sails, which are heeled airfoils, not only drive the boat forward, but they also produce downforce, actually increasing the dynamic displacement of the boat. To counter this and keep the boat sailing more upright, multihull designer Dick Newick first employed slanted asymmetrical hydrofoils in the outer hulls of his small charter trimaran, Lark, in 1962. A portion of the lift developed by the hydrofoil resisted leeway, while a portion worked to actually lift the leeward hull, keeping the boat more upright and reducing dynamic displacement and drag.

Anyone who has ridden on even a foil-stabilized boat will know how riding at least lightly on the waves, and especially above them, beats smashing through them. When boats lift off, everything gets a lot smoother, drag falls away, and the boat accelerates.

Cruising on Foils

But why would a cruiser want to whip over the sea? Wouldn’t this demand an inordinate amount of attention by the crew? Would lifting foils even be applicable to a boat that must have substantial displacement to carry crew and stores? Aren’t cruising-boat hydrofoils an oxymoron?

Maybe, but I believe our boats’ hulls are likely to sprout fins much as fish have as we orient foils to more efficiently resist leeway, add stability, aid steering, reduce drag, increase comfort, allow for shallower draft, and enhance wider ­variations in hull shapes.

Boats have gotten increasingly wide through the years to advance form stability, improve performance (primarily off the wind), and boost interior volume. But the downside is that fat boats tend to slam more upwind. What if you could reduce dynamic displacement of the boat and lift that hull even partially from the water? The result would be less slamming, especially upwind.

At the same time, what about narrower boats that are known for being more seakindly, especially when closehauled, but lack form stability to carry adequate sail area for powering upwind, and tend to roll badly downwind? Or shallow-draft vessels that are lovely for cruising, but again, tend to suffer from reduced stability? Foils can give that stability back.

Looking ahead, boat ­designers might choose to reduce ballast, making up for it with a foil. In short, lifting foils can reduce boat drag and motion while increasing power and performance.

Pitching also does no favors for speed or crew comfort. Foils can come into play here as well. Foils parallel to the sea’s surface resist motion up and down, and a lifted boat skating above chop also is less prone to hobby-horsing through waves. Multihulls have always been particularly susceptible to pitching for a number of reasons, but watching videos of multihulls sailing to weather show an obvious huge advantage that foilers have compared with nonfoilers. Offshore multihulls now routinely employ T-foils on the rudders to control the fore and aft angles of the boat (attitude), a feature easily adaptable to any vessel.

OK, so what’s the cost? Obviously, the more things sticking through the hull, ­especially if they are retractable, the more it’s going to impact the interior. There would be added weight, complexity and cost. Foils also create noise, and there’s susceptibility to damage from hitting stuff. And let’s not forget compromises with shapes, purposes and things not yet imagined.

As for damage, it’s possible to fold the foils back into the hull. Think swinging center- boards or actual fish fins. Daggerboardlike foils can at least employ shock-absorbing systems similar to the daggerboard arrangements found in many multihulls. This includes weak links that are outside the hull, so if a foil is struck, it frees the foil to fold back or to come off before being destroyed or damaging the hull. Or, foils might hang from the deck rather than penetrating the hull, allowing them to kick up (and to be retrofitted to existing boats). These configurations also relieve the interior of intrusions, and keep the noise more removed from it. I have no doubt that numerous talented designers will be exploring all kinds of options and compromises in coming years, finding ways to make foils both practical and more than worth the compromises.

Sailing more upright, ­shallower draft, speed, ­comfort—what’s not to like? Just what is possible? I have a feeling the cruising community is about to find out.

Steven Callahan is a multihull aficionado, boat designer and the author of Adrift, an account of his 76 days spent in a life raft across the Atlantic.

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