Pazienza
Pazienza is a classic ocean-going cutter designed by Jack Laurent Giles and built in 1956 by Cantiere Navale V. Beltrami in Genoa (Laurent Giles & Partners design No. 235). Conceived for comfortable, sure-footed passage-making in any weather, she pairs the elegance of a 1950s Mediterranean racer with the seakindly manners of a true ocean cruiser.
Construction
Pazienza's hull is exceptional. She is carvel-planked in solid teak of a quality no longer obtainable: her topside planks run a remarkable 40 feet in a single unbroken length, 8 inches wide and a full 2 inches thick. Old-growth teak of this size and grade is no longer available, giving Pazienza a hull that is genuinely unique — built to a standard that simply could not be repeated today.
The planking is laid over sawn acacia frames, with a bentwood frame set between each for strength. Principal deck beams are acacia with spruce intermediates, the superstructure is teak, and the interior is finished in mahogany and rosewood joinery. A plywood sub-deck overlaid with teak was fitted in 1996 and the decks re-caulked in 2010. She stands on a single traditional bolted lead keel of around ten tons.
Rig & Engine
Pazienza is rigged as a Bermudan cutter with stainless-steel standing rigging, a Douglas-fir mast by Noble Masts (2015) and a spruce boom (2008), set up with twin forestays and twin running backstays on original Laurent Giles levers. Below, a Perkins M135 C 135 hp diesel (2007) drives a Variprop three-blade feathering propeller (2010) through a refurbished Borg Warner gearbox, returning around six litres per hour at 7.5 knots.
Specifications
- Designer Jack Laurent Giles
- Builder Cantiere Beltrami, Genoa
- Year 1956
- Type Bermudan cutter
- LOA 60′ 7″ (18.47 m)
- LWL 45′ 0″ (13.71 m)
- Beam 14′ 0″ (4.27 m)
- Draft 9′ 6″ (2.90 m)
- Displacement 27 tonnes
- Engine Perkins M135 C, 135 hp
Accommodation
Below decks, Pazienza was planned for comfort rather than berth-count. A curved stairway descends to a deckhouse with all-round visibility; aft lies the owner's cabin with shower, while forward are the saloon, a compact galley and a cabin for two hands — light and airy throughout thanks to hull ports and skylights.
History & Provenance
Built by the Beltrami yard, Pazienza remained in the Beltrami family's ownership for some twenty years, maintained throughout by their own boatyard. She raced hard on the Mediterranean circuit of the late 1950s, winning the Giraglia in 1959 with Beppe Croce at the helm. In 1960 she served as an official yacht during the Rome Olympics, carrying distinguished guests said to have included the future US President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline.
In more recent decades she was owned by the musician Pete Townshend, under whom she took multiple wins at the Falmouth Classics. Her current owners, custodians since 2004, have raced and cruised her extensively — including the inaugural Transat Classique of 2008/9, where she took line honours on the leg to Agadir and a podium place on the Atlantic crossing. She has since been kept to an exacting standard on moorings on Devon's River Dart and Cornwall's Mylor Harbour.
From The Proper Yacht (1966)
Pazienza was featured in Arthur Beiser's classic survey The Proper Yacht (Adlard Coles, 1966). Her designers, Laurent Giles & Partners, described her there as “a good example of a comfortable shorthanded cruising boat with a first class performance under power yet able to take part successfully in ocean races.” Beiser admired her refusal to cram in berths at the expense of comfort — a genuine yacht built for two — concluding that she upholds “the quite correct dictionary definition of a yacht as a ‘sailing vessel for private pleasure.’”
Recent Refit (2024)
A comprehensive 2024 refit included full restoration of the topsides and underbody, refinished deck fittings, all brightwork revarnished in twelve coats, new spreaders and mast treatment, a new suit of sails, interior redecoration and a full service of all systems — leaving her in outstanding, ready-to-sail condition.