SOLD – 40′ Cold-Molded Schooner (1993) Email Listing to a Friend

Inspired by a friendship with Lyle Hess, MAGIC’s owner designed this beautiful cold-molded schooner to be easily handled by a couple for extended cruising. Impeccable workmanship by Jespersen Boatbuilders, LTD of Sidney, BC.

You can CLICK HERE to see the Off Center Harbor video on MAGIC.

Vicky and Craig Johnsen were an anomaly among anomalies in 1993. They dreamed and conceived of a self-reliant, fulfilling personal lifestyle at sea aboard an engineless, stout and swift wooden cutter in the 1980s. Between the tall pines and cedars of the San Juans and the whale and Dorado-rich electric blue waters of the Sea of Cortez, they practiced the art of balancing sails and stitching chafe gear onto useful lines. Cooking, resting under the cooling shade of a loose canvas awning, living on a Lyle Hess creation, a Bristol Channel Cutter, in carvel planked beauty.
Their community of Lin and Larry Pardey acolytes were, and are, fanciful anomalies among a now-cluttered ocean sailing landscape. The schooner MAGIC, which Craig carefully shaped alongside Hess, when the master, playful designer was in the autumn of life and losing his vision, is the dream many in their community have had: a slightly larger, swifter, Hess design, carrying a couple far, in a comfort akin to your favorite cozy corner of a faraway cabin in the woods…with the most breathtaking views to keep one calm and inspired at the same time. Self-reliance of this sort, fills the soul with confidence and peace. It’s MAGIC that makes the Johnsen’s a true anomaly in the ocean sailing universe.
When considering the next steward for MAGIC, one must consider that no one in these subsets of sailors could afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars the Johnsens devoted to her birth through the eye and hands of master cold-molded builders Bent and Erik Jespersen and their crew in Sidney, BC. Simple-life sailors just don’t usually have six-figure jobs! But the rare birds they are, the Johnsens brought to life the dream craft of many in their global community.
Now she’s for sale, at a fraction of her build cost, having served a family of five so beautifully, in Maine, New England, and the Bahamas. The rhythm of sailing between coves, on the forecast of favorable breezes. The daily transfer of clear block ice melt into a jug, passed by small hands to fill a sun shower in the morning which rinses the dried salt from their skins in the afternoon through a warm cascade. Reefing the Shellback tender MAGIC’S SLIPPER to take one last inspired visit to a white-sand beach for shell hunting. A spirited game of family Uno next to the flickering Newport diesel heater until the day fades into sleep. Rhythm.
If it has to be explained to you the absolute confidence in maintenance and feel underfoot at sea of the monolithic, strength of western red cedar veneers and 9-ounce biaxial fiberglass, then MAGIC may not be your dream. Lyle Hess’ proven vision of ocean-mile speed combined with a supernatural, personal comfort in appointment on articulated settees, and the purposeful distribution of storing a companionway screen below the side deck, barely out of sight above an oiled cherry workbench is a clear sign to some that the art and practice of seamanship goes beyond halyards, winches, and drogues. If this purpose isn’t clear, that’s understandable, but MAGIC isn’t for those who only see what’s missing. Simplicity. Wash hands, body, and dishes with salt water, rinse with fresh through a foot pump. MAGIC is designed to take you across oceans and bays and arrive healthy, satiated and still able to sustain joy. She is floating happily on her mooring, ready to sail anywhere this fall.

Featured in WoodenBoat magazine and Classic Boat magazine.
Having Explored Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, New England, and the Bahamas.
Kept in Excellent ocean-ready condition. Please schedule an appointment to see MAGIC.

Located Rhode Island, USA
Asking: $148,000 USD
Offers Accepted

LOA: 51 ft
LOD: 40 ft
LWL: 32 ft 6 in
Beam: 12 ft 6 in
Air Draft: 55 ft
Draft: 6 ft
Ballast: 8,200 lb
Displ: 25,000
Windlass: Manual
Electrical Circuit: 12V
Total Power: 49 hp
Propeller Type: 2 Blade feathering
Propulsion: Perkins Prima M50 diesel
Drive Type: Inboard, Direct Drive
Cruising Speed: 6 kn
Max Speed: 8 kn
Range: 500 nmi
Fuel Tanks #: 2
Fuel Tanks Capacity: 66 gal
Fuel Tanks Material: Aluminum
Fresh Water Tanks #: 4
Fresh Water Tanks Capacity: 144 gal
Fresh Water Tanks Material: Stainless Steel
Holding Tanks #: 1
Holding Tank Capacity: 20 gal
Number of single berths: 2
Number of double berths: 1

Read More