new boat test Hunter 20 Sport LF


Although David Thomas designed the hull of the Red Fox with twin asymmetric daggerboards in mind, there’s no reason why the latest incarnation of the boat shouldn’t sail perfectly well with a single, central board. She won’t benefit from the same lift to windward – a feature that made the original model really stand out – but a more obvious drawback in some people’s view might be the trunking in the middle of the cabin. It inevitably takes up space and makes the accommodation less open. If that’s important you can still choose either of the other two keel configurations.


Should you want yet more accommodation, you can also choose the full-cabin version with


its longer, higher coachroof and greater freeboard. Every combination of keel, cabin and cockpit is now on offer from Hunter Boats, so anyone who has ever liked the idea of a Red Fox/Hunter 20 is left with few excuses not to buy one.


21st Century Fox Despite being nearly 20 years old, this boat looks remarkably up to date. It would be ironic if it’s only now, nearly two decades after she first appeared, that she finally achieves the recognition she has always deserved – but better late than never. At a time when many people are


rediscovering smaller boats, one might expect to see queues


Practical Boat Owner 522 June 2010 • www.pbo.co.uk


forming outside Hunter Boats’ door, especially given the relatively small number of alternatives. Her most obvious competition comes from the cabin version of the Hawk 20, built just along the coast in Christchurch, and from Jeanneau’s Sun 2000. These great expectations, of course, are on the basis that she does what she ought to – so I went along to see if she did. Unusually I wasn’t too concerned by the lack of a decent breeze, because I have sailed earlier versions in plenty of wind and it was good to see how the latest incarnation performed in the light going. On balance she acquitted herself well, despite my long-held belief that the rig could be bigger, slipping


along at around 4.5-5 knots upwind in a breeze that ranged from 8 to 12 knots. Significantly but not surprisingly she seemed to point higher than the twin-fin versions: there was less need to foot off to get her going and we tacked through little more than 80°. Most impressively she made short work of a boat heading the same way – a French-built 20-footer that, being narrower and lighter and carrying a taller rig, I would have expected to be quicker in these conditions. If the Hunter has a weakness, I suspect it’s in light airs and a chop when the relatively full hull sections will work against her. For one brief spell the breeze


picked up to around 14 knots and that’s when she really got


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