Sarah Chen

About Sarah Chen

Sarah Chen studied naval architecture at the University of Southampton, graduating in 2012 with a first-class degree and a thesis on catamaran hull stability in beam seas. She spent the following three years working at a Dutch yacht builder in Makkum, where she was involved in the design and construction of production sailing yachts from the keel up — an experience that gave her an engineer’s understanding of how boats are built and why some perform better than others. Sarah holds an RYA Day Skipper certificate and has personally tested and reviewed over 200 charter yachts, evaluating each for beam, stability, deck layout, and liveaboard comfort across week-long sea trials in conditions ranging from flat calms to 30-knot Meltemi gusts. She served as technical editor at Sailing Today magazine from 2015 to 2020, where she built a reputation for reviews that combined rigorous measurement with plain-language explanations accessible to non-technical readers. Sarah joined ExploreYachts in 2020 as Gear & Boat Reviews Editor, and her boat comparison guides have become the site’s most-shared content. Based in Antibes, France, she has access to one of the densest concentrations of charter yachts in the Mediterranean and regularly visits boat shows in Düsseldorf, Cannes, and Southampton to preview new models before they hit the charter fleets.