Designed by Joel White, the Haven 12 ½ is a handsome daysailer based on the Herreshoff 12 ½ but modified for a centerboard.
The Haven 12 ½ is big enough to sail with four people, but is easily single-handed.
Thanks to the genius of N.G. Herreshoff and Joel White, the Haven 12 ½ has gained a reputation for being a versatile beauty.
The Haven 12 ½ is ideal for racing, family sailing, seamanship classes, and coastal
exploring.
Plans for the Haven 12 ½ are available from the WoodenBoat Store.
I sailed the Herreshoff 12 1/2 at the Wooden Boat School one summer. It was the most comfortable saiI I’ve ever had. Your Haven 12 1/2 is just as beautiful.
In 2014 I chose John Brooks’ Somes Sound 12 1/2, a close cousin to the Haven, to build. This was somewhat a leap of faith for me, having never set eyes on one, let alone having sailed one. But my courage was, of course, bolstered through extensive reading about both the H12 and the Haven. Knowing that many others loved those boats, was a great comfort.
We launched EMILY RUTH in the summer of 2015. Since then there has not been a time I’ve sailed her that I did not enjoy all of her characteristics. These boats are safe, fun to sail, comfortable, and a feast for the eyes. What’s not to like?
After a week-long course at WoodenBoat School back in 2015, a few of my fellow students and I took this particular Haven 12-1/2 out for a Saturday daysail. I mostly sail a keelboat, (I do also own an old 16′ fiberglass sailing dinghy and a project wooden OK dinghy) but I just loved the handling of this boat. It was indeed a memorable day of sailing. If I could just convince my wife that we need another sailboat, this would be it.
I am thinking about buying or building a Haven 12.5 or Vivier Ebihen 16 footer. I would like a boat that sails well off the coast of France which can have strong tides. I have seen the Chuck Paine Levant on video too and it seems to be very nice and very undemanding. I would appreciate any comments about the relative merits of each one as they all seem to be reasonably similar. The first two come with a gaff rig, the Levant with a sloop rig. My needs are simple, I like sailing but it must be for the purpose of getting to a destination, and I like it to be fun and fast en route but mostly upright with limited possibility of capsize. For me, it would be fun to sometimes have a bit of non serious social rivalry with other boats but mainly I would like to sail from port to port or around an estuary or bay, stopping of for a nice lunch or an overnight hotel stay. I would always keep a couple of fishing rods on board so that my wife and I could plan to sail to a fishing and picnic spot for the day and upon arrival use it as if it were a fishing rowing boat. I am retired so I would plan to put a number of batteries in it and use an electric outboard for up to 20-mile runs if the wind fails but mainly I would like it to be able to work with very light winds and rarely use the motor. So, while trailerable, it is more than a dinghy and also much less than a proper cruising boat.