Dear visitors to my new website:

On December 31 of 2008 that year’s financial collapse forced the closure of the C.W. Paine Yacht Design Corporation. After 35 years designing ever more expensive and opulent yachts, I have re-examined my priorities and moved on to other long-deferred interests, hence this new website.

I have written a fascinating memoir featuring many of the yachts that my studio designed. MY YACHT DESIGNS and the Lessons They Taught Me is an elegant and profusely illustrated treatise on the craft of high-end yacht design. You may purchase a copy via this website, on Amazon.com, or from The Woodenboat Store. SOLD OUT!

The demise of my former business was a wakeup call. I intend now to design a series of small sailboats of very high quality. It is the smaller, wind propelled yachts that I believe will enhance the lives of would-be nautical adventurers in an inevitable future of declining access to fossil fuels. All will be of wood/epoxy composite construction, as the majority of the construction material is so renewable that it literally grows on trees. As the designs are completed they will be added to the home page of this website.

I will be giving lectures at yacht clubs, speaking at boat show seminars, and offering to help would-be boat owners, boat designers, or boat builders free of charge via email at info@chuckpaine.com
We are privileged to occupy a defining period of transition in the pursuit of happiness. Our generation must focus upon consuming far less, and extracting greater happiness from fewer, more intrinsically beautiful and more durable, material possessions. I intend to devote my future and a lifetime’s worth of acquired maritime skills to designing a small range of sailing yachts that I hope will gain recognition as the finest such yachts in the 21st century.

The majority of my former design assets, intellectual property, and most importantly the rights to build from the existing C. W. Paine Inc. plans have been transferred to my former employee Mark Fitzgerald. Mark has started a new company called Fitzgerald Marine Architecture, Inc. Mark's experience at Paine Yacht Design dates back over 20 years. He will be able to help you with questions you may have concerning C.W. Paine Yacht Design, Inc. designs.

Another valued employee, Ed Joy, has also started his own design firm, Ed Joy Design. I believe that these two gentlemen are the most skilled yacht designers in America today, and they can be enormously helpful with any endeavor to develop and build a new yacht.
As for myself, I have begun to design a series of yachts of unimaginable integrity, durability and performance. Their monetary cost will be breathtaking, but life is short, and the true value of legendary classic yachts is obvious to all who gaze upon them. Most used fiberglass “yachts” are now intentionally declining to nil value, victims of planned obsolescence. Rare nautical art from the hand of an acknowledged master will always retain its value if properly maintained.

As with all creative persons, my thoughts of yachts, sailing, and adventure did not end in 2008. I stand ready to consult with my former employees should the need arise, at no cost if at all possible. And if you are that rare individual who recognizes that true talent is rare in the extreme, acquired only over a lifetime, and mortal, you are invited to contact me to discuss the creation of your own nautical masterpiece.

With kind regards,


Chuck Paine