After years of building and sailing open camp-cruiser sailboats, my wife, Anne, and I had become less enchanted with crawling around under a tent at anchor. We were also noticing that over the course of our 30 years of sailing, conditions had changed: Canadian summers were hotter and midday winds were undeniably stronger. Spending time in our smaller open boats was no longer the simple, easy fun it once was and, while it might be hard to admit, we were no longer two sprightly 30-year-olds. It was time to look for a bigger boat.Gunkholers at heart, we didn’t want to give up sailing in the shallows. So, we were not looking for a fixed-keel boat. We were looking for a boat that could stay on a home mooring most of the time, but we still wanted to be able to trailer it for short trips away. Finally, we wanted a boat with a low-aspect rig and a comfortable cabin.

Matt Singer

Distinctly British in appearance with its wide lapstrake planking, straight stem, mild tumblehome, and traditional gaff-cutter rig, the Cape Henry 21 is nevertheless all-American as its title—it was named after the headland at the southern end of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Read this article now for free!

Sign up here (No credit card required) to finish reading your article now.

— OR —

Subscribe now for $29.99 a year! You'll have access to our new issues as they are published, and access to our entire archive of back issues, starting with our inaugural issue in September 2014. Subscribers can also post unlimited classified ads. This is an extraordinary value!