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Born from the classic yacht designs of the last 100 years comes the glamorous Rustler 24. A new contender into the day boat sector combining the traditional sea keeping and handling qualities of a long keel yacht with the practicality that is found in modern material and systems. Here is a real alternative to the ‘crash bang’ style of modern day boats – for those amongst us with a passion for elegance!

Great care has been taken in the design and layout. Even at 24ft. she oozes grandeur and elegance which is hard to achieve on a yacht of this size. The design idea came from Rustler Yachts interpretation of a 1960s David Boyd hull design and Rustler Yachts designed the deck plan and rig setup. She uses Rustler’s unique simplified sail handling system allowing her to be easily sailed single handed should you wish. Even on your own you can still achieve the full performance of this special day boat, all while feeling safe and secure in the deep roomy cockpit. She also has a very high ballast ratio aiding her feeling of a stiff and stable yacht that you will want to take out day after day.

Even though she is the smallest in the fleet she echoes the attention to detail and quality of finish seen on her bigger sisters. This level of detail and workmanship is something rarely seen on this size of yacht. Her hull is glass fibre and you can choose the colour of your hull to suit your style. The deck is laid in beautiful teak aiding her streamline looks. Her long keel is encapsulated meaning there are no bolts or weak points to worry about. All aspects have been carefully thought through and owners report a perfect combination between elegance, performance and practicality.

The Rustler 24 is capable of a great deal more than just looking pretty and she will certainly turn heads wherever you sail…

Available Yachts

• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 24
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 33
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 37
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 41 Motor Yacht   NEW
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 42
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 44
• Rustler Yachts - Rustler 57

Contact Details

Alan Baines Berthon USA Tel: (401) 846 8404 E-Mail: al*********@be********.com

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Rustler 37 boat test – Just your cup of tea?

• Toby Hodges
• March 1, 2015

Much as an old-fashioned teapot is said to produce the perfect cuppa, this traditional-looking cruiser is designed to appeal to the discerning cruiser. Can Toby Hodges taste the difference?

Rustler 37 – traditional-looking cruiser for two. Photos: Brendan Fitzgerald

They say the key to the perfect cup of tea is to use a good old-fashioned teapot. It brews the leaves properly and provides an altogether different tasting cuppa, more flavoursome and refreshing. The extra effort and apparatus involved pays off as a teapot blend is typically enjoyed in company, plus it encourages you to indulge in more than one cup.

When was the last time you used a teapot? It seems outdated in today’s era of suave continental coffee machines – a little like the Rustler 37 among today’s spacious, style-conscious European cruisers. The R37 is to a cruising couple what a teapot is to the discerning tea drinker: a timeless design that entirely suits its purpose.

And clients of Rustler tend to be discerning types. Rustler’s director Adrian Jones describes owners as typically well-heeled: “Range Rover drivers in their fifties, typically CEOs and fund managers.” As we saw from our August issue, the brand is even the choice of royalty. HRH The Princess Royal recently upgraded to a new Rustler 44 from the Rustler 36 she owned for 20 years.

The Cornish company has a loyal client base and an enviable reputation. The obvious question, especially during these times of frugality, is how? In an age when new boats offer increasing volume for the price, where does this appeal for traditional designs come from? This conservative new Rustler 37 is nearly three times the price of similar-sized mass-produced cruisers. Why pay so much for a moderate-sized yacht that looks as if it were designed in the last century?

These questions ran through my mind as I headed to Falmouth in August. But, given that the R37 shares a similar hull shape to her larger sisterships, the R42 and R44, I thought I could safely predict the answers – which were confirmed almost immediately when we took this first new 37 to sea in a Force 6. Ask most cruising couples who sail offshore what they want in a boat and a comfortable motion at sea will top their wishlist.

The classic West Country conditions we experienced on our test, a gusty south-westerly with a sharp sea outside the harbour, were the type that would expose the failings of a lighter, flatter-shaped boat.

There was no slamming aboard the Rustler. She has a deep canoe-shaped hull which, together with her full displacement, helps her part the seas softly.

The motion as we went through the waves was so comfortable, in fact, that we could have taken Cornish cream tea in the cockpit . . . from a teapot even.

Just for two

Designer Stephen Jones and Rustler set out to produce a yacht that is perfectly suited to couples. The highly regarded Rustler 36 is 30 years old now and has a long keel, so the new R37 immediately wins on space, speed and agility. In fact, she is comparable to the similar-looking R42, of which 30 have so far been launched.

A number of traditional features help promote comfortable cruising, such as a lead-ballasted, fully encapsulated keel, and generous stowage and tankage. A skeg-hung rudder was paramount. Rustler’s stance is that, however solid the stock, if the rudder strikes something hard enough, it can hole the yacht. A compromise between handling and safety was found by using a half skeg.

This belt and braces approach is what helped convince Tim and Mary Stevenson to take the plunge with this first 37.

“I considered 35-40ft to be ideal and wouldn’t consider mass-produced boats,” said Tim Stevenson during our trial. “I wanted to know that the boat would look after you whatever.” Stevenson is a typical Rustler owner; he predominantly sails with Mary or solo, he plans to compete in the Azores and Back Race next year and hopes to do the ARC one day.

The saloon offers a nice balance between good ambient light for the summer and cosiness for colder climes. Six can sit around the table and the starboard sofa converts to a pilotberth thanks to double trotter boxes

Bespoke production

Along with its seaworthy build, the custom capability of the Rustler yard remains its chief appeal. Where once dozens of Scandinavian yards offered hand-built glassfibre yachts with classic lines, there are few to pick from today. Rustler puts a bespoke focus on clients’ needs. “People equate us to Morgan cars,” says Jones, referring to Rustler as a ‘quirky small company’. And in common with those classic motors, potential clients favour the ‘country gent’ style of a Rustler.

Owners are encouraged to visit during the build. Rustler assigns one team to each boat so the owner gets to know them, making the project more personal. For Tim Stevenson this process was part of the reward of ownership. “I have literally watched it from the mould being made, which has been fascinating,” he says. He is also amazed at the level of custom details – down to taking his inside leg measurement to get the mast step height right.

In her comfort zone

It’s surprisingly rare to be able to test-sail a boat in the conditions for which she has been designed, but as you emerge from Rustler’s Penryn yard, where the yachts are built, you can be in the deep green water in half an hour.

In the relative confines of the Carrick Roads it was perhaps understandable that the R37 felt a little twitchy as we tried to find the correct sailplan to suit the conditions. We set full sail, predicting a Force 5, but with gusts over 25 knots barrelling down off the town, prudence demanded less canvas. Even with a few turns in the genoa she was pressed, encouraging a reef in her main.

The coachroof is flat with a good grip for walking to the mastbase

Once out in the clean air and consistent breeze, however, the R37 was in her element. This is not to say she is ungainly in flat water conditions – indeed she was obedient enough to tack through the trots to the maritime museum so we could sail past the moored tall ships – but she seems to relax into a more assured stride when at sea.

We decided to swap the genoa for a yankee, which further improved the balance. It made me question why a genoa is the standard offering, as the optional cutter rig suits the purpose and design of the boat more fittingly.

The deep cockpit remained bone dry despite having the sprayhood down. She never broached or overloaded on the wheel even with 30 knots over the deck. Her very high displacement:LWL ratio (330) and ballast ratio (35.9) offers comfort in stability. Her design promises to be kindly in a blow and stand up to her canvas. Once heeled onto her overhangs, this disp:LWL ratio diminishes and she slips to weather with surprising pace.

The conditions afforded a pleasurable few hours reaching in and out of Falmouth entrance past St Anthony Head. Speeds were steady, close-reaching at 7 knots, broad reaching at mid 8 knots, occasionally topping 9. But what shone out for me was her consistency. We maintained a steady 6.8 to 7 knots for over ten minutes in flat water upwind, despite 8-knot variance in wind.

Her long fin keel provides good directional stability. The R37 pointed relatively high and felt light on the helm. Even with the leeward deck awash, she didn’t feel overpowered and provided plenty of grip to feather off the gusts.

From the comfort of the cockpit quarter I felt reassured, with coamings at near chest level. I favoured the leeward helming position snuggled against the coaming, with good sightlines below the foot of the yankee. Perched to windward it is a bit of a stretch to the smallish wheel – but then I’m sure Rustler owners don’t ‘perch’ very often.

The galley feels commendably secure to work in at sea. It is larger even than the R42’s, while maintaining a seaworthy layout. There is good fiddled worktop and copious stowage

Seaworthiness before space

Rustler owners tend to be couples who sail together and occasionally invite friends aboard in port. The R37 is therefore perfectly proportioned for a couple below decks, with everything to hand.

Modern beamy designs will obviously feel more voluminous, especially aft, where they may even be able to offer a third cabin. But there are no big open spaces aboard the R37, and stowage is abundant throughout. Fiddles and grabrails are used intelligently and bracing is well-considered.

Seaworthy design elements abound. The engine is mounted centrally over the keel. There are access covers for maintenance and the whole box can be removed for full service. The calorifier is mounted on an A-frame to one side, making its plumbing accessible. The engine housing also includes an aft-facing seat so crew can remove foulweather clothing at the base of the companionway. And there is a dedicated wet hanging locker beside the steps.

The forward cabin is designed for owners, with a wide berth and lots of deep usable stowage. I particularly like the full-size chart drawer below the berth and the bedding stowage space behind the headboard. There is also the option in here of a second compact heads with fold-down sink, despite the layout focus being on couples

Craftsmanship and attention to detail stand out. A small forest of solid oak has been used to create the interior (European oak is standard), fitted and finished by skilled cabinet-makers. Brass washers behind every screw prevent damage to the fine-finished timber, and bronze skin-fittings are employed throughout. The R37 also feels reassuringly rigid. Bulkheads, sub-bulkheads and furniture are bonded to the hull and/or deck. A benefit of an encapsulated keel is that large tanks are incorporated in the bilge.

The more time you take to explore the Rustler 37, the more the words ‘brick’ and ‘outhouse’ spring to mind.

Specifications

LOA 11.28m/37ft 0in

LWL 9.07m/29ft 9in

Beam (max) 3.76m/12ft 4in

Draught 1.91m/6ft 3in

Disp (lightship) 8,845kg/19,500lb

Ballast 3,175kg/7,000lb

Sail area (100% foretriangle) 69.30m 2 /746ft 2

Engine 38hp Nanni shaft drive

Water 500lt /110gal

Fuel 318lt /70gal

Sail area:disp 16.5

Disp:LWL 330

Price (ex VAT) £262,500

Designed by Stephen Jones

www.rustleryachts.com

Polar diagram

I remember discussing the pre-launch renderings of the Rustler 37 with some fellow journalists who write for other European yachting titles. ‘It’s a bit old fashioned’ was their dismissive view. This is perhaps understandable coming from my cappuccino-drinking counterparts – to them the R37 is as trendy as corduroy trousers.

The interior is more library than club lounge and she might seem to have a slightly self-satisfied air of old money about her. But despite today’s focus on innovation, old-fashioned can still be a good thing when you’re expecting kindly behaviour at sea.

Although the first of a brand new range, the R37 immediately inspired confidence in her handling and instilled the comfort and security to make me want to head offshore. She rewards rather than exhilarates – a pedigree yacht with manners to match.

If you want a spacious yacht for sailing with friends, complete with an array of modern gizmos, don’t choose this boat. But if you seek a tried and tested design to look after you and your partner, then the Rustler might be just your cup of tea.

Out In The Open And On The Move In Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian Forces Are Vulnerable—And Losing Lots Of Armored Vehicles

But the losses might be worth it, if Ukraine can seize and hold a big portion of Kursk.

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A Ukrainian gunner with the 45th Artillery Brigade.

Eleven days in their invasion of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian troops firmly control 200 square miles of Kursk—and contest an additional 350 square miles.

But the galloping advance has cost the Ukrainian invasion corps—made up of around a half-dozen brigades and a few independent battalions plus supporting units—a significant number of precious armored vehicles plus potentially scores of troops.

Russian forces have lost only a few vehicles but their bewildered infantry have surrendered to the attacking Ukrainians by the dozen.

The ratio of equipment losses—heavy Ukrainian write-offs compared to relatively few Russian write-offs—is unusual. On average throughout Russia’s 29-month wider war on Ukraine, the Russians have lost many more vehicles than the Ukrainians.

Whether the high losses are worth it to the general staff in Kyiv depends on the invasion’s objectives—and whether the loss ratio flips as the Kursk campaign develops.

On an average day in the 905-day wider war, the Russian military loses nearly four tanks and nearly eight infantry vehicles, according to a running tally by the analysts at Oryx. The Ukrainian military loses just one tank and three infantry vehicles on an average day.

Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk has not been average. Rolling across the border through gaps in Russian defenses on Aug. 6, Ukrainian forces restored maneuver to a war that, for many months, has been static: both sides fighting from trenches and struggling to advance more than a few hundred yards at a time.

But the Ukrainian maneuvers have exposed their tanks and infantry vehicles to Russian drones, artillery and ambushes . In the first nine days of the invasion, the Ukrainians lost four tanks and 41 infantry vehicles, according to one Oryx analyst. The losses have included a rare British-made Challenger 2 tank and several American-supplied Stryker fighting vehicles.

The attrition of infantry vehicles—including tracked fighting vehicles and wheeled personnel carriers—has been especially acute for the Ukrainian armed forces. They’re losing these valuable vehicles at almost double the normal rate. And where the average loss rate is for the entire 700-mile front of the wider war, those losses in Kursk are occurring along a 50-mile front.

The loss of so much valuable equipment may not worry Ukrainian planners—provided, of course, the strategic gains of the Kursk campaign justify the material cost.

If Jack Watling, an analyst for the Royal United Services Institute in London is correct in his assessment, Ukraine wants Kursk Oblast as a bargaining chip. As a bargaining chip, the oblast might be worth—so far—a few dozen armored vehicles.

“Politically, the purpose of the operation is to build leverage ahead of possible negotiations,” Watling wrote in The Guardian . “If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidency in November, the threat of withdrawing military-technical assistance is likely to force Kyiv to negotiate. The Ukrainian government wants to make sure that if it has to enter that process, it has things that Russia wants to trade for concessions.”

“The Ukrainian military, therefore, must take and hold a sizeable chunk of Russian land for the duration of potential negotiations,” Watling stressed.

It’s also possible that, as the pace of Ukrainian advance inevitably slows, the loss ratio flips. “There is a limit to how far this force can push before it overextends, meaning it will need to dig in soon if the Ukrainians are to hold the ground until negotiations,” Watling explained.

“The best-case scenario for Ukraine is that its units dig in and Russia—feeling compelled to retake the ground—suffers inordinate losses in trying to push the Ukrainians back.”

In that sense, the fighting in Kursk could begin to look more like the fighting along the front line in Ukraine, where poorly-trained Russian troops suffer heavy losses trying—and usually failing—to defeat entrenched Ukrainians.

For now, however, the Ukrainians are out in the open and on the move in Kursk. That makes them vulnerable—and prone to lose many more vehicles than they normally do.

1. Deep State: https://deepstatemap.live/#10/51.1504940/35.4171753

2. Oryx: https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html; https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-ukrainian.html

3. Naalsio: https://x.com/naalsio26/status/1823520515543155060

4. Jack Watling: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/17/ukraine-offensive-russia-political-logic-but-high-risk-strategy

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What to Know About Ukraine’s Cross-Border Assault Into Russia

The incursion caught Russia by surprise and signified a shift in tactics for Kyiv after more than two years of war with Russia.

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By Andrew E. Kramer Constant Méheut Kim Barker Anton Troianovski and Cassandra Vinograd

Ukraine pressed ahead with its offensive inside Russian territory on Sunday , pushing toward more villages and towns nearly two weeks into the first significant foreign incursion in Russia since World War II.

But even as the Ukrainian army was advancing in Russia’s western Kursk region, its troops were steadily losing ground on their own territory. The Russian military is now about eight miles from the town of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, according to open-source battlefield maps . The capture of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian stronghold, would bring Moscow one step closer to its long-held goal of capturing the entire Donetsk region.

That underscored the gamble Ukraine’s army took when it crossed into Russia: throwing its forces into a daring offensive that risked weakening its own positions on the eastern front.

Whether that strategy will prove advantageous remains to be seen, analysts say.

On the political front, the offensive has already had some success: Ukraine’s rapid advance has embarrassed the Kremlin and has altered the narrative of a war in which Kyiv’s forces had been on the back foot for months.

Here’s what to know about Ukraine’s cross-border operation, which President Biden said last week was creating a “real dilemma” for the Russian government.

What happened?

Ukrainian troops and armored vehicles stormed into the Kursk region of western Russia on Aug. 6 , swiftly pushing through Russian defenses and capturing several villages.

Held by Ukraine

as of Aug. 13

Sverdlikovo

Sievierodonetsk

Area controlled

Zaporizhzhia

Sea of Azov

Ukrainian incursion

Source: Institute for the Study of War with American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project

By Veronica Penney

The assault, prepared in the utmost secrecy , opened a new front in the 30-month war and caught not only Russia off guard: Some Ukrainian soldiers and U.S. officials also said they lacked advance notice.

Analysts and Western officials estimate that Ukraine deployed about 1,000 troops at the start of the incursion. But military analysts say that it has since poured more troops into the operation to try to hold and expand its positions.

How far into Russia have Ukrainian troops advanced?

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top commander, said last week that his army now controlled more than 80 Russian settlements in the Kursk region, including Sudzha , a town of 6,000 residents. His claims could not be independently verified, although analysts say that Sudzha is highly likely to be under full Ukrainian control.

Ukraine’s advance in the Kursk region has slowed in recent days, according to open-source maps of the battlefield based on combat footage and satellite images, as Russia sends in more reinforcements. The Ukrainian army appears to be trying to dig in along the border area rather than pushing deeper into Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine acknowledged that on Saturday, saying : “Now we are reinforcing our positions. The foothold of our presence is getting stronger.”

Why is this significant?

Kyiv has regularly bombarded Russian oil refineries and airfields with drones since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. It has also helped stage two other ground attacks in Russia. Those, however, were smaller forays by Russian exile groups backed by the Ukrainian army, and they ended in quick retreats.

Until two weeks ago, Ukrainian forces had not counterattacked in Russia. The gains in Kursk are the quickest for Ukrainian forces since they reclaimed the Kherson region of their own country in November 2022.

How has the Kremlin responded?

As Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into Russia, Moscow scrambled to shore up its defenses, and President Vladimir V. Putin convened his security services to coordinate a response. The Russian military said it was sending more troops and armored vehicles to try to repel the attack, with Russian television broadcasting images of columns of military trucks.

Military analysts and U.S. officials have said the Russian command had so far brought in reinforcements mainly from within Russia so as to not deplete its units on the Ukrainian battlefield, in what they described as a disorganized effort.

“Russia is still pulling together its reaction,” Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, NATO’s top military commander, said last week during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He described the Russian response as having been “fairly slow and scattered” as the authorities sorted out which military and security forces should take the lead.

And what about Putin?

The incursion has embarrassed Mr. Putin and his military establishment, prompting questions about Russia’s level of preparedness .

Underscoring how the attack rattled the Kremlin, Mr. Putin lashed out last week at the West in a tense televised meeting with his top officials. “The West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians,” he said, repeating his frequent depiction of the war, which he started, as a proxy campaign against Russia by the West.

Ukraine’s incursion has brought the war into Russia like it never has before, and tens of thousands of civilians have evacuated the border area.

What is the goal of Ukraine’s incursion?

Analysts say that Ukraine’s offensive has two main aims : to draw Russian forces from the front lines in eastern Ukraine and to seize territory that could serve as a bargaining chip in future peace talks.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser, said last week that Russia would be forced to the negotiating table only through suffering “significant tactical defeats.”

“In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade” Russia to enter “a fair negotiation process,” he wrote on social media .

The operation has offered a much-needed morale boost for Ukrainians, whose forces have been losing ground to Russian troops for months.

But military analysts have questioned whether Kyiv’s cross-border assault is worth the risk, given that Ukrainian forces are already stretched on the front lines of their own country.

How is it affecting the fight inside Ukraine?

Russian forces have been pummeling Ukrainian troops in the east even as Moscow races to respond to the incursion into Kursk , according to analysts, Western officials and Ukrainian soldiers.

Russia has begun to withdraw small numbers of troops from Ukraine, they said, to try to help repel the Ukrainians, but not enough to significantly affect the overall battlefield for now.

Senior American officials have said privately that they understood Kyiv’s need to change the narrative of the war, but that they were skeptical that Ukraine could hold the territory long enough to force Russia to divert significant resources from the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.

While Kyiv’s allies have in the past been wary that Ukrainian incursions in Russia could escalate the war, the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said last week that Ukraine had the bloc’s “ full support .”

Ukraine has used some Western-supplied weapons in the Kursk operation. But so far, the United States and Britain, two of Kyiv’s closes allies, have said the incursion did not violate their policies.”

What happens next?

As the Ukrainian offensive approaches its two-week mark, analysts say that Kyiv has several options, each with its own challenges.

Ukrainian forces could try to keep pushing farther into Russia, but that will become harder as Russian reinforcements arrive and Ukraine’s supply lines are stretched.

They could keep digging into the territory they now hold and try to defend it, but that could expose fixed Ukrainian positions to potentially devastating Russian airstrikes.

Or, battered by continual losses in eastern Ukraine, they could decide that they have made their point and pull back.

Thibault Fouillet, the deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, a French research center, said Ukraine’s next move would depend on how Russia responds. “The coming week will be decisive,” he said.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.

Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014. More about Andrew E. Kramer

Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people. More about Constant Méheut

Kim Barker is a Times reporter writing in-depth stories about national issues. More about Kim Barker

Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. More about Anton Troianovski