The Best Voyaging Yachts Ever Designed
Fads come and go. But the sea doesn't change. If you want a safe, stable, forgiving yacht- build or have built for you, one of these superb designs and it will change your life. The following pages illustrate designs that we sell the rights for you to build, or better yet have built by a local boatyard.
Chuck Paine cut his teeth on heavy, virtuous, long range voyagers of moderate size but with oceangoing capabilities. The mass market for these yachts has come and gone and their builders either out of business or moved on to the burgeoning trade in megasailors or virtually anything powered by engines. Most sailboats today are designed around their accommodations, to show well at boat shows and to "perform" well at marinas, and are built at low quality and even lower cost in slave labor countries. Regrettably, they are generally not up to the rigors of real ocean voyaging- for this you have to build something special.
In time common sense will once again prevail, in fact we are beginning to see the turnaround now. There's really no reason why a hard working man or woman should not aspire to putting sweat equity into a sturdy offshore voyager and setting off to see the world. None of the yachts illustrated can be had new out of a mold. So the economies of "mass production" are lost. We at Paine Yacht Design would love to see them built, simply because we know every one of them is an ocean voyager without equal. For many years we avoided "selling plans". But these designs are so superior to the modern production yacht that we feel almost an obligation to offer them to the rare individual that wishes to see the world by sailing yacht.
Most of the yachts shown have been built before. By all means if you can find one of these fine designs on the brokerage market, and if you don't mind spending some time with your head in the bilges, buy the boat and go sailing. But if you have energy and a forgiving wife and a heated shop and some nice tools, and you appreciate the wisdom of starting your voyage in a new yacht, go for it. Rest assured you cannot get finer design or engineering than the plans you will buy from us. When you launch the boat it will have a pedigree and real value if you ever choose to sell it. Chuck Paine built four small yachts with his own hands when he moved to Maine, and he was a skinny little guy who was designing yachts full time on the side. And he's still married to the same woman. So it can be done!
Carol
CAROL is a little sister to Chuck's most famous design, FRANCES. At 24 feet she's as small as a prudent sailor would think of taking to sea. But with patience and skill and a bit of guts you could take her anywhere. Down below there's sitting headroom, just. If you 've seen the wonders of the world living in a tent, and think it fun, see the wonders of the sea living in a CAROL. More info...
Frances
The 26 foot FRANCES was Chuck's first great design. Hundreds have been built all over the world. Despite her old fashioned styling she is really quite a fast sailor. Yet she's small enough to not represent a serious fiscal loss if she's left on the mooring for a weekend. It's nice to know that if the revolution ever comes you could scramble aboard with your partner and pet and sail off to greener climes. More info...
Jessica
JESSICA is a 38 footer that was Chuck's first "racer cruiser." She's done three Bermuda Races and many local Maine contests, and has won her fair share when she wears her 150% genoa jib as she's doing in this photo. But most of the time she's been Chuck's wife's family's cruiser, ranging from Maine to Labrador to the Bahamas and every fogbound stretch of Nova Scotia, year after year. She's the most stable design for her size on the Paine office datablase, and she'd take you through just about anything, which is why Chuck is still breathing. More info...
Annie
ANNIE is a 30 footer that despite her small size would take you safely around the world. Many were built by Tom Morris and a few more by other builders, and if you can find one that is in decent shape buy it and go sailing. Nothing in the world would bring more pleasure, though, than to launch a brand new one, bend on those sparkling new sails, and spend three or four maintenance free years cruising the Bahamas or Down Island. More info...
Harry Tabard
HARRY TABARD is a 42' fiberglass one-off, built for Walter Tower of Boston and still owned by him 25 years later. I s'pose he would replace her if he could ever find something better, but he knows he won't. Her detailing is authentically traditional, the down-below ambiance old- world right down to the coal stove glowing away in the main cabin. More info...
Leigh
LEIGH is a scaled up FRANCES, with a bit more performance potential. Her rudder is tucked under the canoe stern for one thing. She's 30 feet long and has an arrangement that could honestly sleep four very compatible folks. Over 100 have been built by either Tom Morris or Victoria Marine in the U.K. More info...
Morris 42
The MORRIS 42 is a very popular Morris/Paine collaboration and a “Boat of the Year winner in 2006! She combines many of the ultimate offshore voyaging characteristics and liveaboard space of the Morris 46 with a measure of the ease of handling and affordability of the popular Morris 38. There is simply no other yacht of this size that comes close to the combination of sweet sailing performance, expansive living space and unmatched quality of build that combine in this, the world’s finest 42 foot offshore voyager. More info...
Expannie
EXPANNIE is the name Chuck has chosen for his ultimate boat, the culmination of his long career, the boat he is slowly designing for his retirement. "Expannie", of course, because it is an expanded Annie. Having designed and sailed hundreds of yachts, he has distilled all he has learned into this one, final project done without the constraints of a client telling him what to do. More info...
Very simply, most of these designs are ones that are not currently "in production." But they are so superior that a sensible aspiring voyager will find a way to get his built, and go.