Sail magazine announced the winners of its 2016 Best Boats Awards in the December issue.

Click here for online coverage, including editorial video of some of the winners.

Sail said its Best Boats competition has always been known to bring a few surprises, but the class of 2016 has provided more than any other, with multihulls figuring more prominently than ever.

After months of conducting sail trials and spending days poring over the fleet of 2016 during the Newport and Annapolis shows, Sail's expert team of Best Boats judges reported in a statement, "What’s not surprising is the creativity of the industry’s builders and designers, who continue to not just expand the boundaries of the sport, but do so in such myriad ways."

The judges this year included systems specialist Nigel Calder; Sail executive editor Adam Cort; Sail cruising editor Charles J. Doane; veteran boat reviewer Tom Dove; Sail contributing editor Zuzana Prochazka; and Sail senior editor Christopher White.

The winners of Sail's 2016 Best Boats Awards are:

• Flagship Monohull 51 feet or more: Jeanneau 64 (www.jeanneau.com)
• Cruising Multihull 41-50 feet: Bali 4.3 (www.bali-catamarans.com)
• Cruising Monohull 41-50 feet: Italia 13.98 (www.italiayachts.it/en)
• Cruising Multihull 31-40 feet: Bavaria Open 40 (www.bavaria-yachtbau.com)
• Cruising Monohull 31-40 feet: Marlow-Hunter 31 (www.marlow-hunter.com)
• Small Cruiser: Dragonfly 25 (www.trimarans.com)
• Performance Monohull under 30 feet: Fareast 28R (www.fareast28r.com)
• Performance Multihull under 30 feet: Whisper Foiling Cat (www.whiteformula.com)
• Performance Boat over 30 feet: Gunboat G4 (www.gunboat.com)
• Daysailer: Corsair Pulse 600 (corsairmarine.com)

Systems awards went to the J/88E (jboats.com); Gunboat G4 (gunboat.com); and Balance 451 (balancecatamarans.com)

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