Sabre Yachts Celebrates 40 Years

 
Owners help Sabre Yachts celebrate its 40th anniversary.

By Peter A. Janssen

For a photo gallery of the festivities click here.

More than 250 people on 75 boats celebrated Sabre Yachts' 40th anniversary recently at Wotton's Wharf in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The company's founder, Roger Hewson, who started Sabre in 1970 in South Casco, Maine, came in his Sabre 34 sailboat. The company builds sail and powerboats from 34 to 52 feet under the Sabre and Back Cove brands. 

At the rendezvous, owners staged a boat parade around the harbor and held an informal rally to test their boating and navigational skills — in addition to dinners, dances and meetings with factory representatives. Boats came from all over the East Coast, including Linger, owned by Roger and Linda Pastore, who got the award for traveling the farthest, from North Palm Beach, Florida. Two Sabre 28 sailboats, which date to the company's origins, arrived from much closer.

A highlight of the rendezvous was the company's introduction of its new Back Cove 30, which replaces the Back Cove 29 that started that brand seven years ago. Back Cove is the single-diesel-engine powerboat division of Sabre that now makes models from 30 to 37 feet. Look for a full review of the new 30 in an upcoming issue of the magazine.