Paine 14 Amelia
This year’s sailing season was framed by two boat shows, the Main Boatbuilders Show in the spring, held in Portland, and the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, over the long Columbus Day weekend. At both I ran into designer Chuck Paine, and both times he had news about his latest and very lovely creation, Amelia, the first in what he hopes will be a long line of Paine 14s. In the spring, Chuck announced that Amelia, modeled after the Herreshoff 121/2, was soon to be sailing, and not long afterward, photos of her launch arrived on my desktop. In October, the news was that French & Webb, fine craftsmen who hail from Belfast, Maine, would build a mold using the cold-molded Amelia as the plug, and plan to produce the boat in fiberglass. This is good news for Chuck, of course, but it’s good news for the rest of us as well, or at least those of us who live in a harbor lucky enough by be graced by such a pretty little boat. Though I’d rather be sailing one, of course, I wouldn’t mind a bit watching one sail by from time to time. Like Chuck, I hope the guys at French & Webb have a good long run with them.
