This custom Fontaine 40 was started a year ago and hit the water today. It appears to be very similar to the Fontaine 36 they built a couple years ago in the harbor which I posted several photos of.

If I were a boat designer, what happened here would be my MO. Take a nice 36' sailboat design, that's not overladen with living space below, has ample(wide) deck and (long)cockpit space, then simply-stretch the whole 36' to 40'-, without changing anything else(especially the deck and house height!). Suddenly, beautiful lines start to happen.

This stretched look was the case with the prettiest boats of yesterday and still happens today with a few boats.

I think this design miracle could happen in any size range-stretch 20 to 24, 26 to 30, 30 to 35, etc. Some clunky boats would suddenly become quite elegant(never mind the performance improvement which would be huge).

All it takes is $.

ARABESQUE has lots of rigging and sails to be installed for sea trials next week. Poor light tonight and the wrong side of the dock for good photos, still the boat is lean and sits nicely in the water.

One of the RM craftsmen(a Joel White grandson!)in the cockpit shows what a big 'sailing space' this daysailer has.