Paja is a 30ft carbon daysailer designed by Paolo Bua for famously innovative owner Jack Setton. Olivier P\u00e9reti\u00e9 steps aboardThe appeal of many slim hulled designs lies in their traditional charm, but building an ultra-modern, super-skinny dayboat in 2020 is something else entirely.
\nPaja is beyond slender, she is closer to a blade than a board, with a beam of just 1.76m (5ft 9in). Her dimensions most closely resemble the Valhalla whaleboats that legendary naval architect and sailor Uffa Fox used to sail almost a century ago (with their LOA of 9.3m\/30ft 6in and a beam of 1.7m\/5ft 7in), and which he praises in his book The Crest of the Wave.
\n\u201cThose who have not sailed in a lightly-built whaleboat have missed one of the greatest joys of sailing,\u201d wrote Fox, \u201cfor such a boat fills one with the buoyant hope that springy turf imparts on a sunny day.\u201d
\nPaja is fitted with a folding bimini and an outboard engine, which are practical if slightly jarring with her slender aesthetic. All photos: Jean-Marie Liot
\nFox\u2019s whaleboat weighed just 385kg and had nothing under her thin bottom. By comparison, Paja weighs in at 1,100kg, which includes a 660kg keel with a deep lead bulb set. But while the whaleboat was designed to carry close to 500kg of gear and seven crew, Paja is designed to be sailed by just one man.
\nThat man is Jack Setton, famous for never following trends when it comes to yacht design. He has a reputation for inspiring designers to instead produce exactly what he has in mind.
\nA solo passion
\nIn 2010 Setton launched Ciao Gianni, a slender Frers-designed 60-footer created for single-handed day sailing. The yacht was named in tribute to the late Gianni Agnelli, \u201cThe only man on earth, except for me, to know what a pretty boat must be,\u201d Setton has said.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tR\u00e0n VII: On board the Stealth Bomber of the Fast 40+ class<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSome boats are the sum of their parts, but R\u00e1n VII is really the sum of the parts that aren\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tRevolver: Bruce Ritchie\u2019s gentleman\u2019s racer blends traditional and modern craftsmanship<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting this,\u201d said Michael Ritchie when his 83-year-old father Bruce showed him the lines he had drawn up\u2026<\/p>\n
Ciao Gianni was designed without downwind sails, but with a long waterline and deep draught keel for upwind performance. However, as Setton explains: \u201cI was not getting younger. So I needed a shorter boat, but a fast one, of course.\u201d
\nIn 2015 he developed his ideal daysailer concept further with Roljack, a Judel\/Vrolijk 36ft all-carbon design with no cockpit, only a single helming position inset into a flat deck, and planing downwind performance.
\nAbove all, Setton loves to sail upwind. \u201cRoljack is a joy of a boat, but she is a modern hull, with a flat stern, in order to surf and plane easily. The thing is, I love to be close-hauled and I hate boats which slam in the waves. So, I needed something else,\u201d he muses.
\nLegendary offshore sailor Alain Gautier takes the helm of Paja, with Yann Penfornis, CEO of builder Multiplast
\nHis \u2018something else\u2019 is the modern whaleboat Paja. Setton discovered the Sardinian designer Paolo Bua and was impressed with the pretty, sleek hulled yachts he was creating.
\nAn exacting brief
\nSetton commissioned Bua with a brief that was as simple as it was formidable: a radical open dayboat, very slim, very fast, very simple and very stable.
\nIt must be built strongly enough to beat into the short broken chop of the Bonifacio Strait in a near gale, and never, ever slam. It must be able to sail at 25\u00b0 to the apparent wind, be very stiff with only one crew, and remain very light on the helm when heeled.
\nThe dayboat also had to carry an outboard engine: Setton is adamant about outboards, their weight to horsepower ratio is one sixth of a diesel engine, and they create no drag when sailing because they can be raised out of the water. Last, but not least, the boat should be easily transportable by road, so it should have a removable keel.
\n\u201cWe must have studied something like 250 hulls,\u201d says Setton of the design process, \u201cwith 40 projects just for the deck design. Some had a conventional deck, even a short coachroof and a real cockpit, some were totally empty like the whaleboat I had in mind. I dreamed of a boat with no deck at all! I wanted to be able to walk to the bow safely, without any ugly guardrail.
\n\u201cAlso, I wanted some features like electrical winches that I could control from either side of the boat, for instance for tightening the jib sheet from the windward rail with a fingertip. I wanted a big rudder, because I hate rudder blades which fail in gusts, and two sails only, with a self-tacking jib, to keep things simple.\u201d
\nThe jib is self-tacking for ease of handling, the jib tracks are just 80cm long
\nThe result is a truly different boat, with a unique mix of traditional and modern features. Paolo Bua designed Paja\u2019s extremely narrow hull with a pronounced sheer, a slightly reversed bow, a lowered and undulating deck with raised bulwark and no guardrail, and an open transom (with the requested outboard).
\nUpwind fun
\nBuilt at the famous custom yard Multiplast in Vannes with the help of Technologie Marine, Paja utilises high-tech techniques and materials including pre-preg carbon-Corecell sandwich structures and a milled steel keel blade. She is equipped with a carbon mast and boom, electric Harken winches and lithium ion batteries for the autopilot. But Setton sails without electronics: keep it simple is his motto.
\nWesterly winds were blowing a good Force 5 with gusts of up to 23 knots when we sailed the boat from between La Trinit\u00e9 and Vannes. Paja delivers on her promises. We were a little caught out when, as soon as the main was up, we were hit by a strong gust without warning.
\nUpwind performance comes easy to Paja, with her fine bow all but eliminating slamming in waves
\nImmediately the boat looked like she wanted to lie flat, and seawater lapped over the leeward rail. While it reminded us of our dinghy sailing days, we didn\u2019t capsize: the deep keel did its job and proved this is a surprisingly forgiving boat.
\nNarrow designs surf naturally in the smallest seas, provided they\u2019re neither too heavy nor too deeply V-shaped in their hull. Their wetted surface is so minimal, they don\u2019t need much power to plane. With boats this slender and light there is no need to over-canvas. When we took in the first reef, not only was the boom no longer dragging in the sea, but the speed remained exactly the same.
\nIn light winds and flat waters she seems to glide silently like a seabird over the surface of the sea. Beating upwind is not a punishment; on the contrary, with the certainty of never slamming, you begin to look for the slightest pretext to sail almost head on into the wind\u2026
\nMultiplast\u2019s Yann Penfornis at the helm
\nBut above all, Paja is fast. We were easily reaching 11 knots in the gusts on a close reach. She surfed the waves naturally, taking off very smoothly. When we reached sheltered waters in the Golf du Morbihan, we were able to beat as close to the apparent wind as 20-25\u00b0 at 6.5 knots. The helm was light, and the sensation one of pure joy.
\nAn extraordinary fleet
\nJack Setton is a French businessman who has owned an ever-evolving collection of unique yachts, as well as one of the world\u2019s most extensive collections of supercars. He first drew the sailing world\u2019s attention in the 1980s when he launched Pioneer, an aluminium 78-footer that was based on the racing yacht Kriter VIII, and famously powered by twin 200hp outboards when not under sail.
\nBesides his sailing vessels he has also owned a 77m icebreaking ocean tug; the custom built 57m superyacht Senses; and a former shrimping vessel which he refitted for cruising, called Pink Shrimp. His most recent purchases include an offshore wave-piercing Safehaven XSV20, which has a top speed of 45 knots and 500-mile range.
\nAt last count, he also owns two Saffier daysailers, a 6-Metre, an F40 trimaran, a Dragonfly 32, and a Doug Peterson IOR Three-Quarter Tonner.
\nSpecification
\nLOA: 8.99m \/ 29ft 6inLWL: 8.15m \/ 26ft 9inBeam: 1.76m\/ 5ft 9inDraught: 2.40m \/ 7ft 10inDisplacement: 1,100kg \/ 2,425lbSail area: 32.1m2 \/ 345.5ft2Design: Paolo BuaBuilder: Multiplast
\nAbout the author
\nOlivier P\u00e9reti\u00e9 is a French journalist, author and sailor who has been cruising the Caribbean for the last six years.
\nFirst published in the November 2020 issue of Yachting World.
\nThe post Paja: Jack Setton\u2019s modern whaleboat is the product of a singular mind appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paja is a 30ft carbon daysailer designed by Paolo Bua for famously innovative owner Jack Setton. Olivier P\u00e9reti\u00e9 steps aboardThe appeal of many slim hulled designs lies in their traditional charm, but building an ultra-modern, super-skinny dayboat in 2020 is … <\/p>\n