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Golden Hind Sailboats

Explore Golden Hind sailboats and the details behind each model. If you are shopping for a Golden Hind sailboat, we keep an eye out for Used Golden Hind Sailboats.

Model ↕Listings ↓Year Built ↕LOA (ft) ↕Beam (ft) ↕Draft (ft) ↕Disp. (lbs) ↕Hull ↕Designer ↕Rig ↕Keel ↕
Golden Hind 3112 for sale196831.5 ft9 ft3.67 ft11,600 lbsMonohullMaurice GriffithsMasthead SloopTriple
Golden Hind 31 Mk II—199231.5 ft9 ft3.67 ft13,500 lbsMonohullMaurice GriffithsCutterTriple

Golden Hind sailboats: one designer's shoal-draft cruiser, four builders in succession

Golden Hind on a transom names Maurice Griffiths' shoal-draft cruising design, not a single company's mark. Griffiths, a self-trained naval architect, drew a 28ft6in single-chine cruiser that Hartwells commissioned around 1963/4; over the following five decades the design passed through Terry Erskine, Golden Hind Marine under Mark Urry, and finally Newson Boatbuilders, each leaving its own construction standard on the hulls while keeping Griffiths' shoal-draft form as the throughline.

Origins and ownership

Griffiths was born in 1902 in Ipswich, the second son of a traveling glove-and-underwear salesman. At 19, in 1921, he and a friend sold a cherished model railroad set and put the proceeds into Undine, a 50-year-old semi-derelict cutter - the start of a self-taught naval architecture career that produced pioneering shoal-draft cruising designs. He spent 40 years as editor-in-chief of Yachting Monthly, wrote 15 sailing books - including The Magic of the Swatchways, now a classic of British sailing literature, and, decades later, Sailing on a Modest Income, published as late as 1996 - and was awarded the George Medal for defusing mines during the Second World War. He died at 95 in October 1997.

Hartwells commissioned Griffiths for the 28ft6in single-chine cruiser around 1963/4, built in marine ply and mostly sheathed in Cascover; an owners'-group accounting later put Hartwells' total at 15 hulls, correcting a higher figure that had circulated. Terry Erskine, who had started out at Hartwells, took over the yard in 1971, moved construction to a fiberglass hull with a wood deck and cabinhouse, and built the bulk of the run - 235 Golden Hind 31s, by the same owners'-group count - before stopping in 1982. Mark Urry's Golden Hind Marine resumed production in 1995, coined the "Mark II" name, and redesigned the rig and ballast for a Category A rating; Urry built five more hulls, the last launched in July 2013, before selling the operation to Newson Boatbuilders. Newson has since closed, and the moulds are believed to have been lost or destroyed, ending the line.

Construction through the eras

Early Hartwells-era hulls were single-chine plywood sheathed in Cascover. Erskine's fiberglass 31s paired a solid-laminate hull with a wood deck and cabinhouse over cast-iron ballast. Golden Hind Marine's later Mark II boats, per WaveTrain, are built to a finer standard with a more modern laminate schedule and a redesigned rudder; three Mark II hulls, including the final GH256 "Sea Fever," used an encapsulated lead keel instead of cast iron.

Lines and generations

The 31 anchored the range throughout, growing from the original Hartwells hull into Erskine's fiberglass version and then the Mark II. The Golden Hind 26 came from a different line: an extra chine added to the mould for the "Athaena," a design produced for Bruce Roberts Designs. Erskine, alarmed at the first 26's stability, filled its hollow keel trough with ballast before building 14 more. Six Golden Hind 39s and six related Gulf Stream 42s rounded out the catalog at the larger end, in far smaller numbers.

Who Golden Hind is for

Griffiths designed for shoal-draft, coastal-cruising resilience, and the marque's ocean pedigree bears that out: Golden Hind 31 #199, HALE KAI, rode out the Fastnet Storm for 12 hours - knocked down twice, mast in the water - and went on to cross the Atlantic several times during a decade-long liveaboard cruise. A buyer drawn to the name is buying a small-batch, shoal-draft design proven capable of far more than coastal work, built to whichever era's construction standard that particular hull happens to carry.

Frequently asked questions

01Who designed the Golden Hind?+
Maurice Griffiths, a self-trained naval architect who spent 40 years as editor-in-chief of Yachting Monthly and wrote 15 sailing books, including the classic The Magic of the Swatchways. He drew a run of pioneering shoal-draft cruising designs, of which the Golden Hind, commissioned by Hartwells around 1963/4, was one.
02Who built Golden Hind sailboats?+
Four builders in succession, not one. Hartwells built the original plywood hulls; Terry Erskine, who had started out at Hartwells, took over in 1971 and moved construction to fiberglass; Mark Urry's Golden Hind Marine resumed production in 1995 with the 'Mark II'; and Urry eventually sold the operation to Newson Boatbuilders, which has since closed.
03What's the difference between an original Golden Hind and a Mark II?+
The earliest Hartwells hulls were single-chine plywood sheathed in Cascover. Erskine's fiberglass boats paired a solid-laminate hull with a wood deck and cabinhouse and cast-iron ballast. Golden Hind Marine's later Mark II boats were built to a finer standard, with a more modern laminate schedule, a redesigned rudder, and, on three hulls, an encapsulated lead keel.
04Is the Golden Hind 26 a smaller version of the Golden Hind 31?+
No - it comes from a different lineage entirely. The 26 was created by adding an extra chine to the mould for the 'Athaena,' a design produced for Bruce Roberts Designs. Erskine, alarmed at the first hull's stability, filled its hollow keel trough with ballast before building the rest of the run.
05Is the Golden Hind capable of offshore passages?+
One documented example says so: Golden Hind 31 #199, HALE KAI, rode out the Fastnet Storm for 12 hours, was knocked down twice with the mast in the water, and went on to cross the Atlantic several times during a decade-long liveaboard cruise.