What makes a cruiser?

by John Curnow on 23 Mar 2016 Interesting hypothesis I hear you say? What’s your premise then? Well you could say that it used to be obvious and you certainly did not need to see the Chinese laundry hanging on the fence to be sure.

Now the type of boat was always a bit of giveaway. Sturdy and with a nominal rig, they could be as graceful as a Nautor’s Swan or quite ungainly, with the welds between their plates even more obvious than the aforementioned clothing clipped to the rail, blowing away in the breeze.

However, that really was then and this is now! Chines appeared about the same time as underwater lighting, or was that the other way around... The building materials and construction methods began to get nearly as light and airy as the ever-expanding interior spaces. Bulkheads literally only separate the staterooms now, and as the transoms got ever wider from the pinched little cheeks of yore, the volume below the waterline made its way into the bow section to stop the bum sending the nose up to wind.

Conversely and somewhat ironically, as all these racier cruising boats appeared, lazy jacks and furlers made their way back from dedicated cruisers to the zenith of ocean racing, in the form of maxis and mighty Volvo 70s.

The technology of the sails changed too, with taffeta and black carbon making a mark in a hitherto bowling club-esque sanctuary of bleeched white. You got to control those sails with powered winches and jammers, so the capstans were no longer the main focus in your primary area of engagement. The boat itself firstly got a bow thruster, and then with advent of the nautical equivalent of park assist, you pressed a button on the remote and it put itself to bed in its pen.

Navigation by chartplotter really was a seminal moment. Together with accurate meteorological intel, you did not end up in a howling gale anywhere near as often, and given your desire is to be at anchor having a nice wine and not donning your wet weather gear, you could only say this was a real boon.

Short-handed was thus no longer an issue and the size of boat also went up as a result. Alas it was not just LOA that shot off, but also beam. Yes, the era of the cruising cat had well and truly arrived. Their stupendous, copious and multitudinous living spaces, shallow draft and flat decks got many very inspired, indeed. For a lot of the new-to-sailing owners, their extra berthing and yard costs were not really the issue. After all, this was a lifestyle choice and sailing was not to be a chore.

So there’s the bombshell. The cruisers themselves have changed. They are no longer an old salt and they did want, nee fully demand, the comforts of home with full sized dishwashers and laundry gear. The cockpit was less of a command centre and more like the centre of attention. Multihulls had a lot to do with this, and they too have undergone change as more and more is wanted from them, especially in the sailing department. The latest iterations have dreadnought bows and look for all the world like pumped up Formula 18s, or dare we say it, AC boats.

I remember the case of the well-known racer, who at that time really only liked to do day racing, asking the cruiser where they were staying on the island. Somewhat incredulously, the cruiser just pointed to the boat. And now far more recently, a fanatical ocean racer, with many a thousand of nautical miles experience to draw upon, announced to me that they were just going to be cruising.

What does it all mean? I might not be entirely sure, but I can say this, the fjords of Norway, Stockholm’s archipelago or the islands of the Caribbean won’t have little 26-footers sailed from Great Britain and adorned with their owner’s ‘flags’. In their place there will be slick, stylish and powerful mono and multhull gems. Some of the brands you’ll know and others will quite possibly have come from other fields of endeavour.

You’ll be able to spot them by their submersible swim platforms, underwater lighting, al fresco living spaces, BBQ decks, large format TVs and as things go, maybe even drone rides for kids. Times are a changing! Keep a weather eye is more apt than ever!!!

So yes, just what is a cruiser? Can we simply say that it is someone out there seeing as much, or as little, of the world as best they can? Well that part is true enough, but perhaps it is also about finding out the vast spaces inside their own head or soul. Yes. There is absolutely still something in that.

Do you love being on the ocean? Well remember to love them back too. They need our help. Now more than ever!