Designer Nicholas Potter

Builder Wilmington Boatworks, CA

Date 1938

Length overall 62 ft 0 in / 18.9 m

Length deck 62 ft 0 in / 18.9 m

Length

waterline40 ft 0 in / 12.2 m

Beam 13 ft 1 in / 4 m

Draft 8 ft 4 in / 2.54 m

Displacement 0 Tonnes

ConstructionDouble mahogany plank over cedar

plank on oak frames

Engine Yanmar 4JH3 THE 96 HP

Location East Coast USA

Price Sold

NICHOLAS POTTER N CLASS 62 FT SLOOP 1938 - SOLD

Specification

SERENADENICHOLAS POTTER N CLASS 62 FT SLOOP 1938

These details are provisional and may be amended

Specification

BROKER'S COMMENTSDesigned by Californian Nicholas Potter - AKA the Herreshoff of the West, SERENADE was built by Wilmington Boatworks for the famous violinist Jascha

Heifetz and commissioned for the 1938 Trans Pacific Yacht Race. Her rare canoe stern and well proportioned low lying deckhouse contribute to the beauty

for which she is much admired. She is moreover powerful and fast. Around 2000 she was substantially rebuilt by William Cannell Boatbuilding in Maine.

Restored to her original detail and lustre including new frames, deck beams, deck, butternut joinery and much other fine craftsmanship, she was also fitted

out with new engine and systems. Originally designed to enable short handed sailing, the foresail rig in particular is configured to retain the ability to have

two headsails thus able to carry a large genoa hanked and ready to be deployed at any time – no need therefore to go bare headed.

© Sandeman Yacht Company Limited 2020. A member of the ABYA.

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VAT is unpaid on this yacht

SERENADE was designed by American West Coast sailboat designer

Nicholas Potter, who working from the late 1920s through the late \'40s; is

often known as the \'Herreshoff of the West. Commissioned by the famous

Lithuanian violinist Jascha Heifetz, she built by Wilmington Boatworks

California for the 1938 Trans Pacific Yacht Race (Los Angeles to Honolulu) -

the longest of the two oldest ocean races in the world. Other celebrity owners

have included

the Cousteau family and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Donald Douglas Sr. of aircraft

building fame often skippered her when he was not sailing his own Potter M

class yacht. SERENADE is noted in the Nicholas Potter entry of the

Encyclopaedia of Yacht Designers by Lucia del Sol Knight and Daniel B.

MacNaughton. A note on Nicholas Potter; he had willed that his boat plans

be destroyed by burning. In the case of SERENADE however there is a

surviving plan.

Built by the Wilmington Boatworks Company, California in 1938,

SERENADE’s hull is double planked mahogany over cedar, bronze screw

fastened throughout and has white oak frames, keel, backbone, deadwood

and floor timbers. Her original stem was mahogany. The cabin housing

is varnished mahogany with Dynel covered cedar coach roof. She has

Herreshoff binnacle and quadrant steering. SERENADE was rebuilt in 1999

and many of these original construction materials were then replaced with

top quality materials. A recent survey is available.

Please see interior diagram for complete layout. While that plan is mostly

accurate, there is no access to the engine room from deck but via two access

doors adjacent to the ladder below deck. Special attention was paid to the

joinery work during her restoration. The interior is the original varnished

butternut, the cabin sole is of teak.

SERENADE sleeps nine comfortably. Ample accommodation consists of 5

single, 1 double, 1 pilot and 2 pipe berths.

Aft of the spiral staircase is access to the guest stateroom: two berths to

starboard above and below, bureau, mirror, shower and head opposite.

Next aft is a double stateroom with berths to both port and starboard. This

suite has private access to the deck and its own head with shower.

Coming forward of the spiral staircase again leads to the roomy main salon.

Many original details exist in this lovely mid-ships space: fireplace, gimballed

drop-leaf mahogany dining table (seats 6) and semi-spiral staircase leading to

the deck. Also in the main salon: settee berths port and starboard, bookcases,

and storage cabinets.

Next for\'ard is the galley: full beam; sink and pressure hot and cold water

system with 15-gallon hot water tank; Paul Luke propane 3-burner stove with

oven, custom stainless steel icebox and Seafrost DC-5000 fridge.

Next for’ard are the crew\'s quarters with full width double V berth, 2 lockers

and beyond is the fore peak sail locker.

- 7/8 sloop rig

- Varnished hollow keel stepped Sitka spruce spars (1985)

- 2 x Spinnaker poles

- Boom

- Snatch blocks

- Genoa tracks

- Complete set of sails custom made by Doyle of New Zealand in 2000

- Jib is self tacking with dedicated forestay, traveller and sheet winch

Specification

VAT

Specification

HISTORY

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CONSTRUCTION

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ACCOMMODATION AND DOMESTIC EQUIPMENT

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RIG, SPARS AND SAILS

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HERITAGE, VINTAGE AND CLASSIC

YACHTS +44 (0)1202 330 077

NICHOLAS POTTER N CLASS 62 FT SLOOP 1938

- Full complement bronze working sheet and halyard winches

- Original Wilbo winches including cable halyard reel winch kept in storage

- Original dinghy boom with light

- Cockpit cover

- Plumbing for deck wash hose

- Original bronze Herreshoff vertical windlass converted for manual and

electric power

- Removable bow roller

- Original fisherman’s anchor

- Secondary anchor and rode

- 12 V lighting & starting system

- Amptech 160 A & 75 A alternator

- Balmar Max-Charge alternator / regulator

- 110 / 220 V 50/60 Hz shore power

- Master switch

- Link 1000 battery condition monitor indicator.

- 3 x 12 V 4 d house batteries

- 1 x 12 V Optima starting battery

- Circuit breaker panel

- Freedom 25 2,500 watt inverter

- 130 A charger

- Heart Echo charger (emergency battery charging)

- Espar hot water heater

- Fuel tanks: 1 x 50 and 1 x 30 total 80 gallons

- Fresh water tanks: 2 x 40, 1 x 20 total 100 gallons

- Fibreglass holding tank

- Compass in original Herreshoff brass binnacle

- ICOM VHF

- Brooks & Gatehouse depth sounder

- Apparent wind / speed indicator

- Close-hauled indicator

- Masthead wind indicator

- Simrad radar

- Simrad / Roberstom AP-21 autopilot

- Simrad GPS / chart plotter

- AM / FM radio cassette CD player

- 2 x B&G Hydra repeaters (back, aft cabin)

- 1 x G&G repeater (engine/ electrical panel area)

- Engine-room bilge blower

- 4 x Fire extinguishers

- Air horn

- Manual bilge pump

Between 1999 and 2000 SERENADE underwent a restoration by the fine

craftspeople at William Cannell Boatbuilding in Camden, Maine. The project

took almost one year of intensive work that included removing the deck, all

of the interior, and replacing every frame. Particular attention was paid to

retaining all original hardware, butternut interior panelling, spiral staircase,

brass fireplace, Herreshoff windlass and compass binnacle. Her restoration

included the following as new:

- Solid teak deck

- Stem

- Stern stem

- All fastenings

- All frames

- Deck houses and hatches

- Hull planking (partial)

- Systems

- Engine Yanmar 96 HP 1999

- Mast step with bronze mast partners

- The interior joinery was not totally replaced but repaired and restored

\"There are no sail tracks on the boat as we use the fact she has two tack

downhauls to position the lead. This combined with several leads on the deck

enable us not to have a genoa track; the original did not have either. She has

lazy jacks for easier sail handling. The original wire reel halyard winch has

been removed (but kept in storage) so that we can use a self tailing Bronze

Lewmar. The original owners - the Heifetz family - wanted to achieve that

configured self-tacking jib. The boat was originally configured with two

headstays: one for the self-tacking jib which is regularly hanked on, and the

other one ready for any headsail change. This insured that the boat is not

sailed bald-headed. While this is convention today, it was not the case in

1938. In addition, she has 2 spinnaker poles - the spinnaker pole

attachments on the mast are off centre. This was to accommodate the fact

DECK EQUIPMENT AND GROUND TACKLE

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MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL AND TANKAGE

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NAVIGATION COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS

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SAFETY

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RESTORATION

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OWNERS COMMENTS

difficult combination in a yacht: a competitive race boat while at the same

time a comfortable cruising boat for the family, all packaged in an attractive

shape. In order to take advantage of the active racing fleets on the West

Coast, he specified that the boat be built using the Universal Rule as an N-

Class racing sloop. Other boats of that class included the Herreshoff NY 40s.

He also specified that the boat be able to accommodate guests properly and

so the boat has 6 feet of headroom throughout. In addition, a separate guest

cabin was configured which is unusual for a boat her size. When cruising

short-handed, she is sailed with an original

that the Transpac is largely a reach as in many offshore races. As a result,

SERENADE gybes her large spinnaker by simply raising the new spinnaker

pole to meet the new luff. In effect, you gybe with two spin poles rather than

the dip pole gybe. Finally, in an effort to take every precaution regarding his

\"insured\" hands, all sheets were led to the middle of the boat. Thomas

Skahill, the noted West Coast yacht historian notes that Elsa Potter tells of a

race in which she was aboard along with Florence Heifetz, who cautioned

her husband to be careful setting up a running backstay. He replied that each

finger was insured for one million dollars!\"

Disclaimer

These particulars have been prepared from information provided by the vendors and are intended as a general guide. The purchaser should confirm details

of concern to them by survey or engineers inspection. The purchaser should also ensure that the purchase contract properly reflects their concerns and

specifies details on which they wish to rely.

Specification

GALLERY

HERITAGE, VINTAGE AND CLASSIC

YACHTS +44 (0)1202 330 077

NICHOLAS POTTER N CLASS 62 FT SLOOP 1938