Commissioning of our new Enksail Orion 49 aluminum sailboat continues in the Netherlands! In this episode, the team from De Vries Sails/UK Sails arrives to bend on the boat’s brand new suit of sails. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions of the sailmaker, learn about the high tech sailcloth used and to see how these new sails are to be put on properly - the in-mast furling mainsail, Genoa, Code-O and storm staysail with anti-torsion furling system. This is the first time we have owned a storm sail like this and we try it out with step-by-step instructions and demonstration by the sailmaker.

Have you ever dreamed of building a custom aluminum sailboat? Follow along with the building of our custom aluminium Enksail Orion 49, Distant Shores IV. In this episode we explain the process of taking our design from plans to plates - the engineering, cutting of aluminum plates and assembly strategy for the hull using on location footage, interviews and time-lapse video.

Ever wondered about the pros and cons of a centreboard versus a vertical lifting keel? In this session of our design feasibility study with KM Yachtbuilders, we do a deep dive into keel options - how they operate, how each affects interior space and the importance of rudder depth. We consider a Bestevaer 53, look at features of a Stadtship 56 including telescoping rudders and study stability curves and polar diagrams.

We continue our design study for a 50-foot custom aluminium cruising boat with KM Yachtbuilders in the Netherlands who build Bestevaer and Stadship sailboats. In this session, we go over the details of a customized Bestevaer 49 and two Bestevaer 45's that KMY has built for other customers. All have features similar to the ones we're looking for and by the end we wonder if we should build a bigger boat.