The View from the Helm

When you build a custom boat as owner you get to choose everything, including the colors. Tim and Chris West got into it in a serious way as their York 32 neared completion. A month ago the starboard side looked like a checkerboard with vertical stripes of topside, boottop and bottom paint colors stretching from transom to amidships. Then when the decision was nearly made the idea came up- can’t we have a custom color for our bottom paint too? Nobody could think of a reason why not so the color you see here- sort of a muted aquamarine green- was chosen. I love it myself but this is a blog- let’s see some emotion out there in the blogosphere!

One of the great things about being a yacht designer is the vicarious pleasure you get from watching other folks’ dreams become reality.  It’s always a big day when the first coat of paint goes on.  Here’s NEW MORNING the day after her deck was sprayed.  We think she is the ultimate expression of the fast offshore cruiser.  Her owners have spared no effort to make her the best mid fifty- foot shorthanded cruiser ever developed.  I visited the boatyard this morning and a swarm of workers were putting the pre-finished interior components into place.  We hope that she will be launched by late May for her owners to spend the summer trying her out in Maine waters before setting off to see the world.

Art emailed me his latest painting this weekend. In my (biased) view there is no artist alive today that can paint water like my twin. I am painting too these days, trying to get ready for our annual show on July 18th in Tenants Harbor, Maine. And this despite the fact that the yacht design business is busier than we have ever seen it. As always your comments, or questions, are welcome.

New Zealand is a special place to build yachts. In many ways it’s similar to another small island nation whose maritime history gives its citizens a special affinity for ships and the sea. It’s just located halfway around the world from that tiny rock whence Captain Cook sailed in 1768 to search for the legendary Great Southern Continent, but rediscovered New Zealand instead. The kiwis combine a “can do” attitude with a first world infrastructure and love of sport- especially sailing, and their best boatbuilders are the equal of anything Holland or Italy or England or the good ole USA has to offer.

I first travelled to Kiwiland in 1983 for that year’s “Yacht Vision” world design conference. It was an eye- opener. Since then we have built four yachts there- two sail and two power ranging from 63 to 80 feet in length, all in welded aluminium construction. Oh, and let’s not forget my little gem in cold molded wood, the “Redwing 10 1/2”, a scaled down Herreshoff 12 1/2 that will grace the boat deck of Adagio. I’ll be in N.Z. in early June to sea trial Adagio and Redwing, if you’d like to join me.

We are exceedingly blessed! The 75 footer illustrated will be the fourth and largest sailing yacht of our design to be built at French & Webb in Belfast, Maine. Best of all this is a nearly carte blanche project. The owner has given us free rein to design the yacht primarily for its beauty and speed through the water. It will be built of epoxy cold molded wood, and we have been enabled to call attention to its wooden construction wherever we wish- he’ll happily maintain the varnish. The yacht is intended to buy the owner into the lifestyle of oceanfront living throughout the world. His captain will deliver it from port to port- Caribbean during our winters, Meditterranean Spring and Fall, Northern Europe in the Summer. The owner’s family will meet the yacht in the classic sailing venues and live aboard in splendid luxury.  Hey- where did I go wrong?

The York 45 is a twin jet express cruiser being built for a Florida gentleman. He saw Michael York’s 42 footer RANGITIKI and liked it, but wanted something just a bit larger. This 45 footer will combine shoal draft with a smooth ride at her design speed of thirty knots. Further information may be found in the “new commissions” pages of this website. Your comments are welcome!