I must admit - I am a fan of Kiwi Steve Thompson's boats. I like the look, speed and concept of his work. So I was most pleased to have lunch at SDYC with Steve and Trice Bouzaid of T Boat. As you know, Thompson has designed a whole slew of really fast boats, and is at the point where T Boat can now really deliver their product on some scale.

Steve and Trice are here in the states visiting customers and also looking into some potential dealers for their boats. An amazingly nice guy, what's really great about Steve is his unwavering belief in his work, and his desire to conceive and deliver a really top-flight product.

Their latest boats, the 870, 980, and 1130 all follow a theme that I personally feel is the right one: light, simple, no runners, no-overlapping jibs, huge asso's and accommodations for the family, and very, very fast.

To my way of thinking, these new T Boats represent the J Boat concept for the performance sailor who does not want the mediocre performance of a J, but wants a reasonable level of comfort and versatility beyond racing.

I like Steve and his boats. And I think anyone serious about getting into something that will ultimately be much more fulfilling than a lot of what is on the market today owes it to themselves to check out T Boats. www.tboat.com

05/18/2002