Sailing World and Cruising 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.”
Sailing World nominated 14 performance-oriented models for its awards:
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
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
The 2015 awards mark the 31st anniversary of the BOTY awards for Sailing World and the 22nd for Cruising World.
