VESSELS VERSUS VACCUUM CLEANERS
Let me take this opportunity to talk a little about “value”. In all aspects of the production of material products, economists talk of the “economies of scale.” If you were to hand-build one of anything― let’s say for example a vacuum cleaner― machining or hand-carving its parts and assembling them using skilled human hands, that single vacuum cleaner would cost $500,000. But if you put ten times that figure into design, “tooling,” and robots, and then sell 10,000 vacuum cleaners… presto, each one becomes affordable if not downright cheap.
The advent of fiberglass made possible a similar phenomenon in boating, though the numbers were smaller, since not everyone could make use of a boat. My business partner Tom Morris would hire me to design a yacht, put in round numbers $200,000 into the design, hull and deck molds, ballast pattern, rudder mold and other jigs and fixtures, then sell 30 to 40 yachts of that design for, let’s say, $100,000 each. In so doing he reliably recovered his investment and made a small profit. We did this together 17 times in the space of 33 years.
Now consider the ultimate object that is hand-built, one at a time—a fine art painting. Claude Monet’s paintings sold in the late 1800’s through the Durand-Ruel gallery in Paris for prices on the order of a hundred dollars or so. Those same paintings today sell for $50,000,000. Why? Because there’s only one of each, they don’t deteriorate with time given minimal maintenance, and they bring joy to every eye that beholds them.
So where does my PAINE 14 fall? Is it a vacuum cleaner, or is it a painting? I can tell you pretty accurately what it will cost to build― between $40,000 and $70,000 depending upon the material of construction. It can’t be mass-produced in large numbers, for too few people will ever buy one. It will last a long time with minimal maintenance, and will bring joy to every eye that beholds it.
Anyone who has followed my career knows how much I love my 76 year old Herreshoff 12 ½ PETUNIA. It is a timeless shape that sails beautifully in lots of wind or next to none. My Pisces 21, Pentimento, Annie, Expannie, Anasazi, Gusto, Paine 26, York 18 and others are designs that represent extrapolations of the brilliant concept Nat Herreshoff first coined one hundred years ago.
PETUNIA
My clients know that one of my first pronouncements about yachts is that the words Yacht and Investment should never be used in the same sentence, paragraph, or month. But there is an exception—the classic, hand-built yacht. It is more like a painting than a vacuum cleaner.
When I was just back from two years in the Peace Corps in 1972 and still in my hippie phase, I decided all I wanted in the world was a Herreshoff 12½. I spent my summer weekends sleeping in the back of my VW van and looking at every available used H 12½ between New York City and Maine. I found PETUNIA in a mud creek boathouse on North Haven Island. Owner’s name was Bernard Smith but everyone called him “Bun”. Bun Smith knew an easy mark when he saw him. Asked $1300 for the leaky old bucket and this city kid hadn’t the cheek to settle for less than $1250. And dammit, everyone knows that the first H12’s sold new for $420!
Herreshoff 12½’s in similar condition to PETUNIA with the builder’s plaque intact sell today for over $50,000. I have tried stocks and never sold one for a penny more than I paid, bonds that barely kept pace with inflation, and property that is now worth a quarter what I parted with and headed south. The only investment I ever made in my life was that boat I paid way too much for. Which I bought fully intending it to be a foolish extravagance, purely for fun.
Will your PAINE 14 become an investment? Like a Herreshoff 12½ it sails beautifully, is lovely to look at, needs no crew, is built to last, will get you home in 30 knots of wind without a tow, and will never go out of style.
So you never know. Buy a PAINE 14 purely for the fun of it and plan on leaving it to your children. You’ll feel like a million bucks every time you hoist the sails. And with this bunch in Washington printing money like there’s no tomorrow, it might just take that much to buy one in a few years!
Tomorrow’s inevitable inflation will make this worth a million bucks!
