{"id":43886,"date":"2020-12-08T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=43886"},"modified":"2023-05-06T17:42:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T21:42:43","slug":"hh-50-best-luxury-cruiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/hh-50-best-luxury-cruiser-2021-boty\/","title":{"rendered":"HH 50: Best Luxury Cruiser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/HH-50-Billy-1-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image\" alt=\"2021 Boat of the Year Best Luxury Cruiser Winner Hylas 60\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/HH-50-Billy-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/HH-50-Billy-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/HH-50-Billy-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/HH-50-Billy-1.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">2021 Boat of the Year Best Luxury Cruiser Winner HH 50<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Courtesy HH Catamarans<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n<p>At the upper end of the cost equation for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/boat-of-the-year-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2021 Boat of the Year<\/a> contestants, there were three boats with a price tag north of seven figures, which in our viewpoint puts them into Luxury Cruiser territory. The Southerly 480 was the outlier of the three\u2014very cool and versatile, but with older if proven technology\u2014which steered us into a lively discussion of the merits of two truly state-of-the-art sailboats, the HH 50 and the Hylas 60. So the question was, how do you choose between excellent and exquisite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>The similarities, apart from their rarified sticker prices, were rather striking. Both built in the Far East. Both with similar Boat of the Year pedigrees, having each notched victories in previous contests. Both marketed similarly. Both with strong support systems for buyers, including the services of pro sailors who guide you through the first days of ownership. When you buy either a Hylas or an HH, you\u2019re also buying into a quite exclusive family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"padding_vertical embed\">\r\n<section class=\"content\">\r\n<h2 class=\"heading | margin_centered bold\">2021 Boat of the Year Winners at a Glance<\/h2>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"padding_vertical\">\r\n\t<section class=\"content\">\r\n\t\t<div>\r\n\t\t\t<ul class=\"list | margin_centered element-ul\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/excess-11-boat-of-the-year-for-2021-boty\/\">Excess 11: Boat of the Year<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/x-yachts-x40-best-performance-cruiser-2021-boty\/\">X-Yacht\u2019s X4<sup>0<\/sup>: Best Performance Cruiser<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/island-packet-439-best-full-size-cruiser-2021-boty\/\">Island Packet 439: Best Full-Size Cruiser<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/hh-50-best-luxury-cruiser-2021-boty\/\">HH 50: Best Luxury Cruiser<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/hylas-60-best-luxury-cruiser-2021-boty\/\">Hylas 60: Best Luxury Cruiser<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/beneteau-oceanis-yacht-54-best-redesign-boty-2021\/\">Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 54: Honorable Mention<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/corsair-880-best-sport-boat-2021-boty\/\">Corsair 880: Best Sport Boat<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/sailboats\/5-new-sailboat-nominees-2021-boty\/\">5 New Sailboats That Were Nominees<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/section>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there\u2019s also a huge difference. One boat has a single hull, the other a pair. Neither is right, or wrong. So it comes down to personal taste and sailing style and ambitions. Island hopping or ocean crossing? Blue water or backwaters? At the end of the day, you can\u2019t go wrong with either one of these boats. If you have the wherewithal to buy one of them and you\u2019re a good sailor and confident in your ability to handle a big boat\u2014and these are both that\u2014then who are we to say that one is a better choice than the other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do think that these are two very good, very different expressions of cruising luxury,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThey represent the pinnacle of cruising luxury in 2021 as we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>We couldn\u2019t in good conscience choose between the two, so we didn\u2019t. Each is named 2021\u2032s Best Luxury Cruiser. Let\u2019s delve deeper, starting with the HH 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs I said earlier,\u201d Murphy continued, \u201cthe HH is one of the two best-built boats in the fleet. Unlike the X40, it employs thermal form construction, which means they take flat panels of Corecell foam core and heat it up to make the complex shapes of the hull so that there are no slits or kerfs in the foam. In the simplest terms, you\u2019re using that flat sheet to construct complex curves, and then you\u2019re using the best resin available, which is epoxy, in the laminate. This is infused epoxy construction, post-cured after the fact. So this is a very, very high-quality hull.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\n\nThe big question: how do you choose between excellent and exquisite?\n\n<\/p>\n<cite><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis may have been one of the more interesting boats I\u2019ve climbed aboard in terms of some of the gear choices that the owner made and the willingness of the builder to go along with them,\u201d Pillsbury said. \u201cFor instance, the auxiliary engine was a Beta Marine diesel. And on earlier HHs, I kind of scratched my head as to whether a couple could really handle a big cat like this. But on this boat, a couple without a whole lot of big-boat sailing experiences was handling it just fine. The Jeffa steering was rack-and-pinion and very sweet. The self-tacking jib certainly made the boat a joy to sail upwind. And for a cat, it could actually sail very close to the wind. I thought the daggerboard controls were brilliant. It was just a simple continuous-line Antal winch. Not a much could go wrong there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Designed by the veteran cat designers Melvin &amp; Morrelli, who brought the Gunboat line into existence, with the HH 50 they\u2019ve moved on from the forward cockpit that distinguished those boats, and brought the helms aft and outboard, further establishing yet another trend in the moving target that is boat design. The visibility is outstanding, and the sensation of steering this boat, even in light airs, is otherworldly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>This is sailing, quite frankly, that was once unimaginable in a cruising boat. But to paraphrase Teri Hatcher on an old episode of <i>Seinfeld<\/i>, as far as the HH 50 is concerned, it\u2019s real. And it\u2019s spectacular.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest multihull from HH Catamarans is an all-carbon-fiber couple-friendly rocketship. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Herb McCormick","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20201208","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"167","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"The Island Packet 439 is rich with features, including a new mainsail handling system intended for shorthanded crews.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"T5MTOO2I25DPDOOUX4NVKPDTRQ","arc_website_url":"story\/sailboats\/hh-50-best-luxury-cruiser-2021-boty\/","custom_permalink":"story\/sailboats\/hh-50-best-luxury-cruiser-2021-boty\/","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[1349,1432,211,517,1431,210,195],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}