ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET:
History might come to record 2020 as the year of Covid 19, but in boatbuilding terms, it’s been a vintage year. At most yards, work continued all summer long, without any pesky owners halting work with funny ideas about sailing, so the shortlist for this year’s awards is particularly strong, from the first Atalanta and Vertue (which has generated more letters than anything we’ve published), to a father-and-daughter team who built a rowing boat, to the cover yacht on this issue, an S&S yawl built by one man alone. Motor yachts have been strong too, many of them launched in time for the 2020 Dunkirk return that was deferred, while the appetite for modern, powered launches with old appeal shows no sign of abating. We started our awards in 2007, to commemorate the groundbreaking restoration of Lulworth, the 1920-built Big Class yacht. At 121ft on deck, she’s the largest gaff cutter in the world. Since then, our awards have branched out into many categories, with winners ranging from a 12ft clinker dinghy to the 300+mph jet-powered Bluebird K7. Enjoy the selection in this issue - and please vote!