What is the best 33-foot sailboat for solo blue water cruising?

The best 33-foot sailboats for solo blue water cruising are heavy displacement, well-ballasted designs like the Contessa 32, Vancouver 34 and the Sadler 34. These boats offer exceptional directional stability, high ballast ratios and a seakindly motion that protects a singlehander from exhaustion on long ocean passages.

Contessa 32 and Vancouver 34

For heavy weather seaworthiness, look to older displacement designs from the 1970s and 1980s. They are slow by modern standards. However, they track beautifully and heave-to without a fuss.

• Contessa 32: Built by Jeremy Rogers, this proven 32-footer survived the 1979 Fastnet race. She features an encapsulated lead fin keel and a skeg-hung rudder. Her low freeboard guarantees a wet ride. Yet a 47% ballast ratio makes her incredibly stiff. Expect to pay £15,000 to £30,000 depending on condition.
• Vancouver 34: Designed for short-handed offshore cruising, this cutter-rigged yacht has a long fin keel and immense storage capacity. The cutter rig allows a solo sailor to balance the sail plan in rising winds. Good examples from the late 1980s or 1990s sell for £40,000 to £60,000.

Hallberg-Rassy 34 and Sadler 34

For better pointing ability and comfortable living space at anchor, look toward performance cruisers built with high-quality offshore joinery.

• Hallberg-Rassy 34: Designed by German Frers and built between 1990 and 2005, this yacht proves a fin-keel, spade-rudder boat can cross oceans safely. The lead keel bolts to a massive structural grid. A deep cockpit keeps you secure. Expect to pay £50,000 to £80,000 for a well-maintained model.
• Sadler 34: Built with a polyurethane foam core, the Sadler 34 is virtually unsinkable. The foam provides excellent thermal insulation to prevent condensation on cold night watches. She is a fantastic sea boat with a deep cockpit. Prices range from £18,000 to £28,000.

Solo Rigging and Gear

The deck setup keeps you alive and moving forward. Always rig webbing jackstays inboard of the shrouds. This ensures you fall onto the deck rather than over the rail if you lose your footing.

• Windvane self-steering: An Aries, Monitor or Hydrovane is non-negotiable. Electronic autopilots consume too much power. Their rams will eventually fail under the continuous strain of heavy following seas.
• Cutter rig conversion: For sloops, install a removable inner forestay with a Highfield lever. This allows you to hoist a hanked-on storm jib. It keeps the sail's centre of effort low and inboard when the wind pipes up over 35 knots.
• Reefing: Slab reefing led back to the cockpit with minimum 10mm lines and high-quality clutches (such as Spinlock XTS) is the most reliable system. In-mast roller furling mainsails can jam halfway in or out. This presents a severe hazard for a solo sailor.
• Power generation: Fit 200W to 400W of solar panels on a stern arch. Pair these with an MPPT controller and a 200Ah lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery bank to run your radar, AIS and navigation lights.