SADLER 290

Few production cruising yachts deserved more attention when they were launched than the Sadler 290. This was a boat the likes of which had never been seen before.

She was destined to be something special from the outset, and she lived up to expectations in every way. In fact, she exceeded them, and not only because the original brief had been for a boat that would be the modern equivalent of the Westerly Centaur.

As boats sometimes do in their formative stages, the Sadler became bigger and more powerful as the design evolved. And as a former Sadler employee turned yachting journalist who happened to know everyone involved in the project, I was in the privileged position of seeing that evolution take place. Having been involved in the development of the Starlights 14 years earlier, I had some idea of the potential in the design and I was more than eager to see how the new Sadler turned out.

Although the 290 was a Sadler by name, the new Sadler company was unrelated to those that had gone before. The design encapsulated many of the same beliefs and ideals nonetheless. It would be a sailing boat first and foremost: tough, fast, capable, comfortable and