I totally enjoy the boat and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn sailing without fear of capsizing. Our club now has 6 of these Seabirds and it has become very interesting to race them on Sundays ! May the tribe increase !
- Shiva Swamynath – Member – Royal Madras Yacht Club
“The new Seabirds are wonderfully designed. Our club is happy to own 6 Seabirds from XS Marines. Great improvement !”
- Deep Rekhi – Official H & M – Royal Madras Yacht Club
“XS Marines has revolutionized the construction techniques for the longstanding designs / models of the Seabird and the Lightnings being sailed in Bombay Harbour.
I have been sailing these boats in our waters since the Seventies ie. more than some 40 odd years and I can say that these new models / boats are a delight to sail.
The Lightning is ever so lively, it sails and handles like a dinghy. The seabird with its higher free board makes a drier sail and plenty of inbuilt buoyancy provides a much safer boat than the earlier version.
Some more positive features:
The lighter aluminium gaff too increases the boat’s stability.
The moulded one piece deck and coaming prevents the usual water seepage that occurs between the coaming and the deck joint in the older version.
The interior and the deck layout is well thought out so “there is a place for everything and everything is in its place” from the anchor to your sleeping bags and the cold beer.
The fittings are well placed and fixed on extremely ruggedly.”
On the whole both designs-the Lightning and the Seabird have been built with a very good finish and superb quality of construction.”
I have been sailing these boats in our waters since the Seventies ie. more than some 40 odd years and I can say that these new models / boats are a delight to sail.
The Lightning is ever so lively, it sails and handles like a dinghy. The seabird with its higher free board makes a drier sail and plenty of inbuilt buoyancy provides a much safer boat than the earlier version.
Some more positive features:
The lighter aluminium gaff too increases the boat’s stability.
The moulded one piece deck and coaming prevents the usual water seepage that occurs between the coaming and the deck joint in the older version.
The interior and the deck layout is well thought out so “there is a place for everything and everything is in its place” from the anchor to your sleeping bags and the cold beer.
The fittings are well placed and fixed on extremely ruggedly.”
On the whole both designs-the Lightning and the Seabird have been built with a very good finish and superb quality of construction.”
- Cyrus Heerjee – Royal Bombay Yacht Club
“As being a recreational sailor for the past 9 years in the Bombay Harbour, it has been an absolute pleasure to sail the XS Marines Seabird class boats. Both Ibis and Snipe have been my top favourite boats to sail. These boats are built solid and the finish quality is world class. The subtle redesign and upgrades by XS Marines has truly made these boats even better than before. I would highly recommend XS Marine and their boats to all, and look forward to many more such boats from their yard.”
- Kaiyan Mistree
“One of the best boat in Seabird High Free board Category and great speed on water as compared to other sailing boats in town. Thanks Sheri.”
- Rakesh Varadkar – President – Gateway Sailing Club
I sailed the new lightning MARLIN and following are my views on the same
Positive:
1. Outstanding international finish
2. Amazing speed and feel in spite of old sails
3. Very dinghy like response and need active inputs by Helm and Crew
Negative:
1. Rudder not as responsive as the boat performance. Boat feels like a dinghy but rudder response feels like the older boats, not feather touch feel.
2. The steel fittings on storage are sticking out and keep scratching the crew all the time, need to be magnetic instead.
3. The Main Sail sheet system again feels like old boat hence maybe the rudder response feel slow and heavy.
Overall 4 star out of 5
Positive:
1. Outstanding international finish
2. Amazing speed and feel in spite of old sails
3. Very dinghy like response and need active inputs by Helm and Crew
Negative:
1. Rudder not as responsive as the boat performance. Boat feels like a dinghy but rudder response feels like the older boats, not feather touch feel.
2. The steel fittings on storage are sticking out and keep scratching the crew all the time, need to be magnetic instead.
3. The Main Sail sheet system again feels like old boat hence maybe the rudder response feel slow and heavy.
Overall 4 star out of 5
- Sanjeev Chaudhari – RBYC Member
Having sailed quite a few of the boats built by your yard recently, I can confidently state that I’m very impressed with the quality of work put in and the attention to detail and finish in the boats.
Also evident is the innovative advances in existing designs, that better exploit their potential to the fullest.
Also evident is the innovative advances in existing designs, that better exploit their potential to the fullest.
- Shahid Bashir – RBYC Member, Several times National Sailing Champion
Dilbur has been a great investment and she is a joy to sail with.
We race on weekends here at RMYC and I also make it a point to go on a long cruise once a week in the evening.
Sailing is great stress buster and if you own your own Seabird then its doubly pleasurable .
We race on weekends here at RMYC and I also make it a point to go on a long cruise once a week in the evening.
Sailing is great stress buster and if you own your own Seabird then its doubly pleasurable .
- Amit Kalra – Seabird Owner, Member – Royal Madras Yacht Club
Dear Sheri,
Kitty and I had the pleasure of racing Snipe, the modified Seabird, manufactured by XS Marines for the JJ Trophy to Mandwa and back on the 18th / 19th March 2012.
The boat is a delight to sail. As one steps into it one is immediately accosted by a spacious layout and apparently the boat seems to be larger ! This is due to the redesigning of the internal layout, by eliminating the bulkheads and repositioning the storage lockers under the side thwarts. The ease with which the boat handles and tacks is a distinct improvement on the older design.
“Snipe” can easily be handled by two experienced individuals. The fitting out is done in such a manner as to make this possible. Special mention must be made of the modified spinnaker rig which makes this large sail handling very easy and quick. The centre plate wedges is one more idea for which the XS yard should be complimented about. The deck and coaming is very smoothly moulded and this causes one to slip rather easily. It is recommended that some thought must be given to provide a non-slip surface at these places.
All in all my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend race in Snipe, with tindal Dinesh as additional crew.
Strongly recommend sailors interested in buying a new Seabird to contact XS Marines before deciding on placing an order for a new yacht.
Kitty and I had the pleasure of racing Snipe, the modified Seabird, manufactured by XS Marines for the JJ Trophy to Mandwa and back on the 18th / 19th March 2012.
The boat is a delight to sail. As one steps into it one is immediately accosted by a spacious layout and apparently the boat seems to be larger ! This is due to the redesigning of the internal layout, by eliminating the bulkheads and repositioning the storage lockers under the side thwarts. The ease with which the boat handles and tacks is a distinct improvement on the older design.
“Snipe” can easily be handled by two experienced individuals. The fitting out is done in such a manner as to make this possible. Special mention must be made of the modified spinnaker rig which makes this large sail handling very easy and quick. The centre plate wedges is one more idea for which the XS yard should be complimented about. The deck and coaming is very smoothly moulded and this causes one to slip rather easily. It is recommended that some thought must be given to provide a non-slip surface at these places.
All in all my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend race in Snipe, with tindal Dinesh as additional crew.
Strongly recommend sailors interested in buying a new Seabird to contact XS Marines before deciding on placing an order for a new yacht.
- Jimmy Bandorawalla – Commodore- Colaba Sailing Club
Sailing Ibis was an exciting, thrilling time for me, as I was sailing after a gap of six years…I tried my hand at steering and the ropes and the boat handled so smoothly; it was like I had never been away. The look and feel was one of comfort and space and the sail was an extremely enjoyable experience.
– Veera Bhacka
I have had several sails this season on Marlin (Lightning Sail Boat) I am very impressed with the handling of the boat and have had enjoyable sails.
a) Pointing: Marlin points very well into the wind. With the new Jib sail and Main sail attached it gives smoother movement and good pointing in to the wind. The aluminum mast and galvanized centre board would also help a lot during races.
b) Look : Excellent it makes one feel like your sailing a modern sail boat with fantastic colour scheme (white), front deck portion is less slippery then other new sails boats, lots of shelves in the sail boat to keep your personnel items . Amazing Speed and feel of the boat.
c) Tiller :The tiller was very sturdy and well hooked but I found the tiller was too long as compared to other lightning boats which was uncomfortable during tack/ jibe mainly when one has a guest accompanying on the sail boat due to lack of space being a smaller class of boat .
I wish XS Marines all the very best for all their future projects.
a) Pointing: Marlin points very well into the wind. With the new Jib sail and Main sail attached it gives smoother movement and good pointing in to the wind. The aluminum mast and galvanized centre board would also help a lot during races.
b) Look : Excellent it makes one feel like your sailing a modern sail boat with fantastic colour scheme (white), front deck portion is less slippery then other new sails boats, lots of shelves in the sail boat to keep your personnel items . Amazing Speed and feel of the boat.
c) Tiller :The tiller was very sturdy and well hooked but I found the tiller was too long as compared to other lightning boats which was uncomfortable during tack/ jibe mainly when one has a guest accompanying on the sail boat due to lack of space being a smaller class of boat .
I wish XS Marines all the very best for all their future projects.
- Shahazad Gandhi – Member – Royal Madras Yacht Club, BSA and CSC