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As sailors will do, we were sitting around talking about who did what in the 1984 season in Puget Sound. 48° North had published the Top 40 racing yachts starting in 1983 and as the new editor I wanted to carry it on. In those days there weren't the number of races there are now. Basically the big races were Seattle Yacht Club's Tri-Island Series, CYC Seattle's Center Sound, and the now defunct Great Equalizer and Around the Sound Races. Without that many races, it was possible to sit down with a couple of friends in '85, Greg Hedrick, Scott Rohrer, and a case of beer and figure out an overall list for the previous season. Unlike today, however, we figured in miscellaneous things like who was sailing the boats, ringers, etc. What the heck, it was just a fun deal. We picked 50 boats and put it in the February 1985 mag and the response was amazing. Of course, everyone had their own opinions which didn't necessarily agree with ours, and all the buzz was a lot of fun. Being competitors, it became a point of pride for boats to be on the Top Boats list. We quickly learned that 50 was way too many boats to include and that we needed a more statistical method. With the computer age it was possible to track more and more races so the list of races started to grow, and we finally settled on a group of races that were accessible to the most people. The number varied between 20 and 25 over the years but we've finally settled on 25 with the inclusion of some Canadian Races. The 48° North Top 25 list recognizes boats that have not just gotten the occasional bullet, but have consistently been at the head of their fleet, and who help the sport by doing a great number of races throughout the season. Just as sailors are continually updating their techniques and equipment, we'll continue to refine our selection method. Like boat rating systems, we know it will never be perfect, but always great fodder for round-table sessions at the yacht club. The following pages feature the Top Boats from '84 to 2005. Multiple top boats for a year mean they were tied for top spot. — Rich Hazelton ...continue to 48° Top Boats List ...back to 48° North title page |