Sold on May 15, 2024, for US$3,373,000!

Wait, not the handsome cutter you see above, but the entire canvas below by Andrew Wyeth (it was just auctioned at Sotheby’s):

Rum Runner (To the Westward), 25” x 48,” tempera on panel, Andrew Wyeth, executed in 1944 and reworked in 1974

The subject is Walter Anderson, a Maine fisherman. One can’t help but notice that Mr. Anderson, depicted leaning against a dory, appears to be admiring the passing cutter for which the painting is named—a fast, nimble boat used for many things, including (in the past) rum running and (today) taking lucky teens sailing in Europe every summer.

FWIW: European fishermen often admire our cutters, too.

(*We don’t suppose various social media platforms would let us get away with using the derivative image below in our advertising?)

Our pilot cutters: before and after

The antifouling begins on one of our pilot cutters

One of our pilot cutters as antifouling wraps up

We’re happy to report that three years of crud have been scraped from the hulls of our two pilot cutters, a process known as antifouling. A lot of hard work has gone into getting the boats ready for this season after the horrific “COVID pause.” And look at that sky! How appropriate that, as we prepare to sail again, dark winter clouds have lifted to provide us with some spectacular weather.

Getting ready for the season

St-Malo, France. Wednesday 18 May, 2022: A bird’s-eye view of one of our pilot cutters. Between now and July, we’re working flat-out to get our boats ready for the season—new electronics, new varnish, new rope, new life boats, new paint, and soon—some lucky new crew members!

(“… Now, how do I get down?”)

Teens: Learn to sail on a QBE Pilot Cutter

If you want to learn how to sail, you should choose 1) a terrific instructor and 2) a great boat on which to learn. We’ve got both. You can join us this summer, in July or August. When you go home, you’ll be a proficient sailor—and navigator. Book your place now! (Watch QBE founder and director Will Sutherland discuss his boats here.

Pilot cutters: “the finest sailing boat design ever”

We tell people we take teens on sailing expeditions aboard two classic pilot cutters. And some folks just shrug: “Are we supposed to be impressed?” Well… yes, yes you are. All boats are not created equal. In our last post we featured QBE founder and director Will Sutherland talking about his cutters, built according to a 19th-century French design. But, in fact, our boats are very similar to the famous pilot cutters built to ply the treacherous Bristol Channel, about 200 miles north of Saint-Malo, our home port. Here’s the first part of a documentary by Tom Cunliffe about the history of one of Britain’s most storied boats.

(The first part of the documentary is 16 minutes long.)

“Many consider the Bristol Channel pilot cutter to be the finest sailing boat design ever. Fast, seaworthy and beautiful to behold, the pilot cutter is the perfect combination of form and function - a thoroughbred perfectly adapted to a life in one of the Britain’s most treacherous stretches of water. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe explores the life of the pilots and sails a perfectly restored cutter to find out just what drove these men and their wonderful machines.”
”

— From the video description

Will Sutherland talks about QBE’s charismatic sailing boats

“The boats look after themselves [...] and the boat looks after the crew.””

— Will Sutherland on why pilot cutters make the perfect boats for teen sailing

Several years ago, QBE founder and director Will Sutherland sat down in the galley of one of his boats to talk about the history of pilot cutters and how his two, Marie Claude and Yseult, came to be built. The video was not staged—people were coming and going—and there were a few technical “glitches.” But keep in mind It was just a kitchen table conversation that somebody captured on their video camera. Production imperfections notwithstanding, it’s an informative and interesting clip. What comes through loud and clear is Will’s impressive experience and deep expertise. The video is 10-minutes long.