Mason and Salthouse combine
I’ve spent some time recently, searching for the boat to carry our family and friends on adventures over the next dozen years. We haven’t found the perfect craft yet. And this may well be a case where “perfect” is the enemy of “good”.
But one boat has stood out for many reasons. It’s based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, but has an unbreakable connection to this part of the world. She’s called MARNIE. There is so much right about her that I was sorely tempted. But at the end of the day we have to be realistic and accept that a heavy 62 footer is not ideal for a shorthanded live-aboard coastal cruising with the occasional blue water passage.
However, she’s such a beauty that I thought it would be worth telling a little of her story here in the pages of SWS.
MARNIE was originally built for Donald Dalziel a knowledgeable West Coast yachtsman and racer. Having experienced over eight Transpacs, Mr. Dalziel sought out Al Mason to design a fast and sea kindly ocean cruiser but one suitable to be sailed by a family. Al’s reputation is elite. He worked for many of the leading design houses of the 20th Centuary including S&S, Philip Rhodes and John Alden. Al frequently mentioned that the greatest praise a yacht designer could receive was the absence of his designs on the resale market. To him, this indicated how pleased the owners were with his designs. He noted that it was not at all unusual for people to have owned a particular design of his for ten, twenty, even thirty-plus years. Between Don and Al Mason, they chose John Salthouse in Auckland to build their design, hence the antipodean connection. She is triple-planked kauri, epoxy bonded, dynel sheathed, copper nailed, bronze screwed, with 15,000 board feet of kauri from one tree. She is perhaps the last largest yacht to be built from kauri.
MARNIE sailed her maiden voyage over 8,000 miles form Auckland, NZ, to the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco Bay. Below is a great retrospective account of the trip handwritten by John Murphy, a crew member. (click to enlarge)
Eventually age caught up with Don and he was forced to retire from the cruising life in 1999. This is when Walter Page became the second and current custodian. He writes…
I was inspired to sail her back to NZ just for the fun of it. We also spent six months in Brisbane and enjoyed exploring Australia. I have always cruised with just my wife and found MARNIE easily handled in all conditions by just the two of us. We spent about 20 years cruising and living aboard. She provides such a stable platform I have only put on a harness two or three times in 26 years. She sails like a dream, frequently logging 220+ mile days, and handles heavy weather comfortably with her 38 tons, and sails at 7 knots in a 12-knot breeze. She has always been cared for and upgraded to keep her ready to go to sea at a moment’s notice. She is an awesome vessel!
Year Built: 1985
Designer: Al Mason
Builder: Salthouse Brothers, New Zealand.
Length of Hull On Deck: 62' (18.90 meters)
Length Waterline Length: 47' (14.33 meters)
Beam: 17' (5.18 meters)
Draft: 7' 2" (2.18 meters)
Engine/Aux. Power: BETA 85
Lying: Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Asking Price: $435,000US
(Since these original plans were drawn the layout has been changed, adding a settee in the saloon to port, double berths in the aft cabin and the starboard forward cabin.)
For more information contact Walter Page directly.