LeComte NE 38 stories of ocean voyages / circumnavigations?

[PAlter]

I own and sail "Sequitur", a NE 38 built in 1968 by LeComte in Holland. I have had her for 20 years and enjoyed and loved this boat and had many great adventures aboard.

I have been active on the LeComte Owner's site at times but it seems to have gone silent and my last few attempts to make contact with anyone has not obtained any response.

I am looking to find out if anyone is aware of long distance voyages or perhaps actual circumnavigations that have been successfully completed aboard NE 38 sister ships.

I would greatly appreciate any contacts if anyone has information or links to sites where I might find out more about successful long distance trips on these boats. I have used mine for coastal cruising along the New England shore from NY to Maine and it has been an ideal vessel for these trips.

My boat has a fully battened hoisting main, lazy jacks, and self tailing primary winches but I am thinking of selling and moving up to a 49' sloop for more space and comfort and with a few more mechanical sailing features like a furling main, center cockpit, and electric primary winches.

Hope to hear from anyone with more info on the NE 38. A picture of Sequitur at her mooring in Sag Harbor is attached (I hope), if I did the attachment correctly.

Thanks and best wishes,

Paul

[Orion Jim]

Beautiful classic yacht. Good luck.

[Bermuda Forte]

I’m sure you must know your sister ship BLUE across the way in Shelter Island. I don’t think she’s done any long passages but maybe before David acquired her. The Le Comte family still owns the yard and marina where the American boats were outfitted in New Rochelle but it’s gone through a lot of changes lately. The Trip design boats are very sea kindly.

[PAlter]

Bermuda forte

Yes - I know David and Blue and sail towards Shelter Island frequently. I first saw a NE 38 in New Rochelle Harbor many years before purchasing mine and I took note of the boat's good looks so it must have been a positive impression when many years later I bought one in Camden, Maine and sailed her back to Sag Harbor, These are great boats, very sea kindly and agile and comfortable even in heavy weather and I have had great fun sailing her in 35 - 40 knot winds with double reeled main and felt very secure.

Paul

[PAlter]

Bermuda forte

As far as the LeComte family owning the yard in New Rochelle, I don't think it was a LeComte family yard and to my knowledge, a man named Art Karpf was responsible for importing the LeComte boats to the US and he had a relationship with Dolf LeComte in Holland who built these boats. Art died a couple of years ago but I had the good fortune of having a chance to speak with him and learn about the NE 38 and the LeComte boats before he passed. He was an interesting man and very passionate about LeComte boats in general and he was a major resource to the many owner's that he facilitated procurement of these boats for in the US. If you google him, you can learn more about him, and the yard in New Rochelle, NY where he imported and fitted out these boats.
Are you based in Bermuda - do you have a boat? I will be taking a family trip to Bermuda at the end of April and look forward to it. I sailed in the Newport / Bermuda race in 2002 on a 52' Hinckley Southwester sloop and we came in 3rd place in the cruising division. Great boat, great race, great island.

Best wishes,

Paul

Best wishes, Paul

[Bermuda Forte]

Indeed the LeComte family owns the yard in new Rochelle & the Glenn Island Yacht Cub/West Harbor. I kept my boat there for many years, a Hinckley Bermuda 40. Art was a good and knowledgeable man who ran the business for the father on a handshake for decades. Some of the sons have taken over, that was before Art passed, tragically, at the marina, on his way to a dinner in his honor! We usually summer in Coecles Harbor but I’m up the Hudson River now. I did ocean passages on Hinckleys including the 49, 50 and 64. I had to have my own so acquired Aquila in 1986. I’ll look for you on Sequitur when I get back east. -Q

[PAlter]

Q -

Thank you for the clarification about the LeComte family heritage in New Rochelle. I did not realize they owned the yard and still have it. I would like to check it out one day this Spring.

Is Aquila your Bermuda 40? My wife and I visited a small Italian city named Aquila in the Apenine Mountains about 2 hours east of Rome on a trip we made to a small hill town to visit Cast'del di Ari (excuse spelling - probably wrong but it means yesterday's castle). This little hill town had narrow streets and stone houses and it was the village the my wife's father was born in. One of her uncles still lived in the house and we slept in the very room her father was born in. We made this trip over 30 years ago but I remember it well. She still had some relatives in Aquila - and we had a home cooked meal in one of their homes and I remember that the entire city seemed to shut down for about 2 or 3 hours in the early afternoon and everyone went home to eat and be with their family. That was impressive.

Where on the Hudson do you keep your boat? I have a brother and two sisters who live in the Hudson Valley (brother and one sister in High Falls - the other sister just moved to an old house in the historic district of Kingston after living for 20 years in a house I designed for her in Olivebridge.

The Hinckley Bermuda 40 a beautiful design and well built boat and certainly a Bill Tripp special (he also designed our LeComte NE 38. Great boats.

Coceles Harbor on Shelter Island is a favorite spot in early Spring and late fall when not crowded. We sail over to Fisher's Island / Fisher's Island Sound and Stonington quite a bit but we will see you in Coceles or Sag Hsrbor this Spring or summer...

Paul

[antoha]

We have a same vintage LeComte NE38 (happy 50th birthday to them, the 1968s!), in Mamaroneck NY, just a few miles from New Rochelle. Since Art was let go from running the yard after many years there, that place is not the same, and new owner doesn’t know what he’s doing or how to keep the good people or treat them right. I know folks who had kept boats there or had worked done under Art’s management, but left that marina or stopped doing business with them after LeComte Jr took over.

But the boats are beautiful, to my eye.

Anton

[PAlter]

Anton,

Yes, for sure, the NE38 has great lines and we get accolades and praise everywhere we go and people always want to know, who it the designer, who is the builder, what year? And they are always amazed when I tell them 1968.

I find the sheer and profile to be at a level of grace to match almost any boat and Bill Tripp really achieved something special with this design / great overall proportions and especially to have been able to integrate the tall cabin top and large fixed port lights which provide great light inside and excellent views and connection to the exterior.

How long have you had your NE 38 and where do you sail her? What is the underbody configuration - long keel and attached rudder or fin keel, skeg hung rudder? We have the cut away forefoot, fin keel and skeg hung rudder and our boat is amazingly agile.
She is also great in rough weather and I have been out on numerous occasions in 35 - 40 knot winds and 6 - 8 foot seas and with one or two reefs in the main, she handles such conditions easily, in great stride providing a very comfortable and sea-kindly motion.

After 20 years of owning Sequitur, I am considering selling and moving up to a larger boat in the 49' range. This will be a tough decision though I have been enjoying the research and learning - always learning - which is one of the great things about a life in boats.

If you are ever out sailing in the Sag Harbor area, let me know. We keep Sequitur on a mooring there right near the entry to the harbor and are around most Spring - Summer - Fall weekends unless we're on a cruise.

Best wishes,

Paul

[antoha]

Paul,

We bought our NE38 in late in 2010. She was Swallow then, wintering in Salem MA (and I think the hailing port was Pocasset MA on the transom). We sailed her from Salem during the last week of October (!), had more than 40 kts of breeze sustained (I think the gauge wouldn't go beyond that), and while we motored from Salem to Plymouth (leaving the dock in this weather was crazy enough, and we didn't know the boat at all - so at least we didn't test the rig with that much wind) and had all sorts of issues (electrical, with some old rotted out battery cables misbehaving; and fuel delivery, as the chop stirred up the old growth in the fuel tank) that made us spend a few day doing repairs, she didn't creak once during the voyage, and we are very happy with the way she handled the weather.

Our underbody sounds just like yours (except I don't think there's a skeg; the rudder is a balanced blade with nothing in front of it; the keel is a long modified cutaway). Sails are from the previous owner and while not new, they still have a few years left in them. The main is not fully battened (it's a 2+2), but the boom seems shorter than yours (only 12'), it ends just aft of the dodger), and I added lazy jacks and lazy cradle (bought from a fellow forum member a couple of years ago), which made handling easier. I also changed the main halyard winch (which used to be all wire), and installed an underdecks hydraulic autopilot: now that we're often sailing shorthanded, we view these as safety features and not just "good to have".

The original boat's name in 1968 was Blue Chip, if I remember correctly from talking with Art Karpf; it turns out this was the first boat he worked on when he joined the LeComte yard, small world. She is now Linda (since 2011), moored in Mamaroneck NY at Orienta Yacht Club. We have so far only sailed to Martha's Vineyard, spent a summer weekending out of Montauk and North Fork of Long Island (going to Block, Cuttyhunk, 3 Mile Harbor, and a few places in CT and RI), and just up and down Long Island Sound.

We are currently spending less time sailing: last year it was about 3 hours a week, once a week, during the summer, just in and out of Mamaroneck; our daughter isn't yet interested in longer trips, but the hope is that in a few years this would be more exciting for her.

Thank you for the invitation - we are always happy to chat with fellow sailors (especially of sister boats, you don't see them very often), and you're welcome to stop by whenever you're in Mamaroneck. I just hope we make it out that far sooner rather than later!

Fair winds, and enjoy the search of a larger boat. (There was, btw, a 1968 LeComte Fastnet yawl for sale in Manchester, MA, I don't see it on yachtworld anymore; and there's a 1970 Fastnet sloop in Falmouth MA now, unless you want to upgrade to smth more modern) And of course sailing the Sequitur in the meantime.

Anton

[PAlter]

Bermuda Forte, Anton and other members,

Does anyone know if the LeComte Owner's Site is still active or what happened to it? Last time I tried to log on or post something - there was not answer and it seems like it may be dormant.

Great boats and too bad if this site has been abandoned.

[antoha]

Paul - from what I remember Douglas Heckrotte was an admin at some point, but then they donated their boat to the naval academy in Annapolis (I think; couldn’t sell in the time frame they had to), he stopped admin’ing, and the site is now more or less neglected. It was a collective effort, then a one man effort, and you know how it usually ends then. Shame, but I wouldn’t have the time to maintain it either, it’s a lot of work.
Art Karpf passed a couple of years ago, so now there’s pretty much nobody who really knows these boats intimately anymore.
Anton

[PAlter]

Anton,

Thanks for the update on the LeComte Owner's site. Too bad it has gone dormant but I understand it would be a lot of work to administer such a site.

Do you still have your NE 38?

In terms of next potential boat for me, I am thinking about a 44' Hylas with an aft cabin, separate head for master, and a forward V berth cabin with separate head up forward and nice salon in center of boat with good light, forward facing nav station, and good dinette, settee berth and storage. These are a German Frers design and sail well / good upwind performance and they have a low profile center cockpit / pretty nice sheer line and overall quite nice looking - however, I am not mobilizing on next boat until Sequitur has been sold.

Best wishes

[antoha]

Paul,
Yes, we do - and the plan is to keep her (for the foreseeable future), we’ve only had her for 8 years, and haven’t really cruised in her as much as we wanted. We’ve been mostly daysailing for the past 2-3 years, before there was a 2 year hiatus, and prior to that we did do some cruising. I look forward to spending more time on the water, I don’t feel we’ve outgrown this boat yet - not yet planning to cross oceans.

[SY-INA]

hello community,
I am a german boatbuilder living on a North east 38 MK II an I really agree with you that its a nice yacht!

The last two Years I spend every euro and every minute in restaurating my INA. Abot one year of living at the Boatyard on the Boat at land and working nearly every day at her brought up a really close relation to her.
Last summer we did a baltic tour about denmark, poland, lithuania, lettland, estonia, norway and sweden it was great!
Next juni a friend and I gonna start to the canary islands and maybe much further.

I am sorry if my written english is not the best but i just wanna say that its a great classic yacht with a well seaworthiness and hopefully there will be one circumnavigating the world in the next Jears
To the seaworthiness: we had a situation in the eastern baltic sea when a wave came over from behind so that the lifejacket of my steering friend was activated. The sensors get triggert by water pressure not only by water contact.

i try to put photos of the restauration and a boatlift in poland aswell as a picture from norway to this post

greets from the saloon tabel its about 10 degrees even with the webasto heater