Chuck and Dan test fit the carlin
I stopped by to see Dan Shea in Bristol. He’s building a nice new Nat Herreshoff designed 20-footer but nearest to my heart is the fact that he has not one but two H-12’s in the shop for restoration. If you’re in Rhode Island you really should stop in and visit him in his shop on Burnside St. in the Herreshoff complex.
“SHOULD’A STAYED AT HOME
This painting is my remembrance of my first design, FRANCES. I sailed her singlehanded to the Newport Boat Show in 1975 and because it was so well received I was able to start my career as a yacht designer. On the way back I got around Cape Ann and the wind began to come on hard from the southeast. I was tired and thought I’d try to get into Newburyport and when I got there the tide was ebbing through the breakwaters that protect the Merrimac River bar, creating a barrier of some formidable breakers that I had to get through. I made it, obviously. This painting is one of the results, and as of this weekend it has found a new and happy home. It will grace the main bulkhead of Apogee 50, Hull numer 8, and I’ll be proud to have her there.
I’m washed up now as a yacht designer, but I can still paint. Have a look at my “other” website www.painefineart.com and tell me what you think.
I will speak and show slides of many of my sailboat design on the evening of Tuesday April 26 in Newport, RI at the IYRS. This talk will illustrate many of the traditional sailboats of my design. I spent my life designing yachts because as a child I lived on Jamestown, right across Narragansett Bay from IYRS, and saw fleets of beautiful, Herreshoff-built yachts every weekend in the East Passage. Paine designs continue to hold the high ground of custom quality yachts- come and learn why they are such highly valued designs. I will answer any questions you may have, show you slides of some of the most beautiful yachts ever built, and give you some hints of my upcoming enterprises “once the economy recovers”. I will of course have a few copies of my lavish new book on yacht design available for purchase.
I have just returned from Miami Boat Show. My only interest was the sailboat part, held at Bayside. I regret to report that it has hit a new low. There were so few sailboats that they didn’t even bother moving the normal berth-holders out of their slips, lest it look woefully empty. To my eye there was only one boat of any interest on display- all the rest were cheaply built, poorly designed mass production consumer junk- the last thing we need any more of!
Morris yachts were in Miami, but not at the show. They had their beautiful, truly valuable yachts on display over in Coconut Grove, as far away from the grind-them-out-cheap crowd as they could get and still be in Miami. If they can stay in business, there is still hope.
The one boat of any interest to me at the show was the Presto sharpie. I don’t love this boat, (too special-purpose) but I know the builders who are fine people and I understand that in a world of 100,000 perfectly good and severely depreciated used sailboats begging for owners on Yachtword.com the only way to sell anything new is to chase tiny unserved niches, like shoal draft in the case of the Presto. When will our wealthy begin paying the vast premium required to buy a new and well designed yacht rather than a used sailboat? If that day ever comes, I’m back in business!
I have just returned from London Boat Show. My primary purpose was to meet with the editor of ClassicBoat magazine, which will be publishing a series of articles about my classic designs. The show followed the recent trend of being smaller each year, though what was missing were the plethora of massive powerboats chasing the maybe two customers left in the world who would want such a thing. The ClassicBoat stand was once again the best part of the show… remember, everyone, that I predicted in my memoir that the world of boating would go full circle and that what will be left in the end will be traditionally shaped, aesthetically derived, small raceable sailboats made of a material that grows on trees. The other thing that was really fun was the huge new aquasport pool where I leaned against the railing and watched improbably tiny kids trying to get their floating windsurfers to the northern end of the pool against a fan-generated wind. This, and anything shorter than fifteen feet that doesn’t consume fuel, is the future of boating!
Helping out at Annapolis Sailboat Show
I just can’t stay away! I accepted the kind invitation of Cruising World Magazine to give a seminar talk at this year’s Annapolis show. Then the folks at Morris asked if I’d just help out a bit at their booth. The show was much better than last year- far more attendees, beautiful weather, even some folks honestly thinking about buying a new boat!
Mark Fitzgerald has also just sold a new design for a cold molded 36 foot sailboat to be built at French and Webb. He’s asked me to draw the lines for it, which is very much of an honor for me. So, as Mark Twain famously stated, “rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Petunia waiting for her Daddy
Here’s Petunia, patiently waiting to be taken for a sail this last summer. Never have we had such beautiful weather as this year. If this is global warming, BRING IT ON! I fervently believe that the future of boating is small, beautiful, extremely safe, ridiculously high quality and durable, traditional sailboats that consume not a drop of irreplaceable energy and appreciate in monetary value every year.
IF YOUR YACHT CLUB IS INTERESTED IN HEARING CHUCK SPEAK AND GIVE HIS BEAUTIFUL SLIDE SHOW, PLEASE EMAIL HIM AT paineyot@aol.com