These Down East boats have a classic feel, but their Maine builders are keeping them up to date.

The beautiful and graceful Friendship Sloop evolved from hardscrabble fishing boats used to harvest lobster and fin fish in Maine.

Looking out over a Rhode Island field in 1995, Chris Hood spied the shape of what turned out to be the mold for a Wasque 26 — a sturdy, single-engine fishing boat designed and built on Martha’s Vineyard starting in 1969.

A tour boat navigating around a coastal lava flow in Hawaii this week was struck by a large chunk of lava, injuring 23 people. The basketball-size rock punctured the boat’s roof and covered its deck with volcanic debris

A Vineyard classic lives on in updated models from C.W. Hood

Felicity Ann, the sloop Ann Davison sailed across the Atlantic almost 65 years ago - is receiving a much needed restoration at the Northwest Boat School in Washington state.

Despite facing immense skepticism, 23-year-old Boyan Slat plans on ridding the earth’s oceans of discarded plastics. He is preparing to demonstrate his innovative Ocean Cleanup system in the Pacific Ocean by the end of the year.

Those who appreciate catboats – with their beamy, rounded hulls, un-stayed masts, gaff rigs and ultra-long booms – find that these traditional sailboats are hard to beat, when it comes to practical design and pleasurable sailing.