When art and naval architecture intersect, the result is obvious to those who prize boats with timeless lines and enduring appeal. The Cherubini 44 certainly meets those criteria.
In 1938, 17-year-old John E. Cherubini was a student of naval architecture in the Westlawn School of Yacht Design, one of the many schools then on the leading edge of distance learning.
Cherubini would subsequently go into aviation engineering, but he also built small outboard-powered boats at a family-owned business, which speaks to his breadth of talent. When he drew the lines for the Cherubini 44, the first of which was launched in 1977, he was already well on his way to becoming a successful designer. He had already designed the Hunter 25, which his friend, Warren Luhrs, had turned into the first Hunter production sailboat in 1972. Cherubini and Hunter continued their relationship for years, with Cherubini responsible for many of the Hunter designs that followed, including the 27, 30, 33, 36, 37 and 54.
The Cherubini 44, however, was not built at Hunter, but at the Cherubini family boatyard on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. It has been said that Cherubini took inspiration for the Cherubini 44 design from L. Francis Herreshoff’s Tioga II, later known as Ticonderoga.
From its modest bowsprit and curvaceous clipper bow, the 44’s beautiful sheer line finished aft in a curved and aft-angled transom. The helm was separated from the main cockpit, where the mizzen mast for the ketch rig was stepped. The long, low trunk cabin was well-lit and ventilated with watertight bronze portlights and included custom built-down lockers and cabins. Originally, the boat featured a fiberglass hull and a molded cockpit, with a cold-molded marine plywood deck and cabin top, plus cabin sides of solid mahogany. John Cherubini died in 1983, but in 2007, his nephew introduced the Mark II version of the 44, which featured a fully molded fiberglass deck and deckhouse.
Designed with serious cruisers in mind, the Cherubini 44 featured a 40-foot waterline with a theoretical hull speed of 8.47 knots. A narrow beam of 11 feet, 6 inches kept the boat long and slim for fast passages. An in-keel lead ballast of 12,000 pounds provided stiffness and stability when the winds increased. And a shoal keel/centerboard underwater configuration with a maximum draft of 8 feet, 10 inches, and a minimum draft of 4 feet, 10 inches, melded deep water performance with shallow water versatility for those headed to tropical destinations.
Cherubini Yachts built 35 of the 44s. Watching one of them glide through the waves on a modestly windy day is a sight to behold.
This article was originally published in the December 2023 issue.
