Book excerpt: In this one-of-a-kind book, leading boat designer Roger Marshall walks you through the process of choosing the perfect boat for your sailing lifestyle. Along the way, you will acquire a deep understanding of the many factors that go into a boat's performance, comfort, and seaworthiness, and learn how to choose among them to meet your requirements and preferences. Best of all, you'll find Marshall's 12-page comparison table of production sailboats from all over the world, packed with information about 130 boats - length, beam, draft, displacement, ballast, sail area, fuel and water capacities, performance ratios, capaize and comfort ratios, and more, all tabulated for convenient and revealing comparisons.