VOYAGER

Description: Gaff fore and aft schooner designed by John G Alden, built in 1929 in Thomaston, Maine at the Charles A Morse yard.

LOA 20,11 m

LOD 15,25 m

LWL 12,16 m

Draft 2,30 m;

Beam 4,26 m

Request 540.000 €

Voyager is one of the 9 boats of the 390 series. She is an iconic Alden schooner with her knuckle bow and pronounced sheerline, inspired by the Gloucester fishing schooners. Drawn by Aage Nielson when he worked for John Alden, she has full waterline aft and a slightly hollow entrance. The high bow helps keep the foredeck dry in rough seas.

New hull rebuilt in Lunenburg Nova Scotia 1972-73.

Near complete refit (90%) Phuket, Thailand 2002-04 using the finest local jungle woods available and skilled shipwrights, architect-owner supervised (see Construction Overview).

Comments:

Voyager is one of the finest classic yachts of her size, with a history that includes six Atlantic crossings and a remarkable 15-year circumnavigation with the same owners since 1962.  Her powerful, yet simple rig makes her easy to handle with a crew of just two.  She has successfully weathered fair and foul (including hurricane and monsoon) conditions under the caring custodial watch of owner-captains Peter and Jeanette Phillipps.  Voyager’s elegant simplicity never fails to turn heads wherever she goes.

John Alden designed his yachts for seaworthiness, comfort, and speed, in that order.  Voyager has proven herself in all categories, taking home her share of silver in classic yacht regattas at home and abroad, including the Tall Ships Race in 1976 where she placed third in the Non-spinnaker Class from Bermuda to Newport.

Construction:  

Voyager is more solidly built than most schooners in her class.  Originally designed in 1929 for coastal cruising, she was carefully refitted in exacting detail to become a home for the Phillipps in seas across the globe.  The first rebuild in Nova Scotia, 1973, was well documented in WoodenBoat magazine and to John Alden's original design specifications.  In the succeeding years of heavy sailing and fastidious maintenance, her owners learned a great deal.  All of this acquired-through-experience knowledge has gone into her most recent and near complete rebuild, in Phuket, Thailand, 2002-04.  She is now ready for another half century of ocean sailing or more.  

Her 50-year journey with the Phillipps has been well published internationally in books, magazines, newspapers, her restorations described in technical articles and by many photographs and drawings.

Quoting from Peter Phillipps article on the refit in Thailand:

"The pace continued to be exhausting yet exhilarating.  Jeanette and I worked alongside when we could, but with four crew on deck, four below, and six on the hull, we found it more important to focus on supervision.  Of the three participants in the making of a yacht:  designer, builder, owner, the owner has but a small voice.  During our first rebuild, I lacked the confidence to challenge the shipwrights.  But I now realize that none had ever been to sea, none had experienced a full gale or the forces that wrench and batter their work, or slept in a wet bunk under a leaky hatch.  John Alden sailed his schooners offshore, and may be unique in his day as a designer/sailor.  Jeanette and I combined have seventy years of experience with the maintenance, construction, and sailing of Voyager.  Boat repair provides an excellent education in boat construction method