This is one of those exquisite books rarely seen in today’s world of digital printing. You’ll want to remove the dust cover and place it proudly on your coffee table, where, instead of gathering dust, it will beckon to be picked up and relished time and again. For this is not the mere telling of a how the Paine twins, Chuck and Art, grew up in Jamestown, RI, but, in a sense, the reader will find their own stories as they turn the pages.

Throughout the telling, Chuck admits to being lucky. “By the time I was ten years old, I could freehand the profile of a yacht...for 40 years I had the good sense never to stop.” He gives credit to those who, along the way, participated in his luck: Bill Berky, who took the twins under his wing and introduced them to sailing at the East Greenwich Yacht Club; Charles (Chick) Street who mentored the boys, teaching them everything he knew about boat designs; his years working for Dick Carter where he learned that, “if you design racing yachts, you have to be able to make them win;” to British marketing guru Peter Gregory who “sold the sizzle, not the steak”; Tom Morris, a great builder who “made his (Chuck’s) designs look good”; countless others who contributed to his success; and his wife Debby who endured and stood by his side with encouragement through the good and difficult times.