http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/sparkman-stephens-39/163833 
I raced on her a few times and did a S2H on her.
Great boat, and yes needs a few crew with all those winches!
Possibly a bit overpriced in the current market, how much extra is "history" worth?
I have always admired Mark Twain and her sister Pilgrim since I was a kid.
It's not very often a piece of Aussie yachting history comes up forsale. It's a good point thou, one that I was only talking about with my good mate last week on " what price do you put on nostalgia/history".
I hope just hope the new owners appreciate the yacht she is. 
Select to expand quotestone said..
It's not very often a piece of Aussie yachting history comes up forsale. "what price do you put on nostalgia/history".
None!
Old cars ....... eventually become vintage cars .... but old boats ..... welllll they just become old boats at which you keep throwing bucket loads of money.
I don't entirely agree LooseChange. History may have some value to an enthusiast while to you and I it have none. But the actual cost of that bit of history will be subjective to the individual, and age (vintage) may not necessarily have anything to do with it.
For example, If I wrote a letter or my great grandmother wrote a letter it would mean nothing to anyone (not even likely a direct family member would care). If a letter was written by Munro, JFK, Churchill or Hitler for example, it becomes a worthless piece of history to me, but worth thousands if not 10s of thousands to others. I bet any car Peter Brock drove in a Bathurst became priceless the moment he died, but I wouldn't pay more for them.
To be honest, I don't know the history of this boat listed above, but if all it did was a couple of S2H, even if it had done well, its not worth a premium to me, but maybe it is to others.
She was originally owned and raced by Peter Rosethorn ,ex chairman and co- founder of Toll Transport, No expense spared .
Aside from sailed more S/H than any other boat (25)and having two seconds and a few thirds in division I cannot see how you would be buying a slice of history. Well known yes. Perhaps it is strategic that she is back in Melb. for sale.
Overpriced by a long way.
My last boat was a S&S 39 which I spent 40K on restoring.
Sold it for less than half what these guys are asking.
Dreaming !!!
Nice boat though Stoney as you know.
I looked at a few S&S39s when I thought of going up a size from MB. They are an outstanding yacht but probably no longer competitive for racing. The ones I looked at were all Prestige Yachts WA built. You have to be careful as I believe there are more than one S&S39 design. One isn't so good as the other.
Agree on the price. $70-80,000??
Rip all the racing winches and stuff off her. A furling heady and staysail and a main with 3 reefs and go cruising. My Fleming would fit nicely on the transom.
I reckon you would still need two crew, a handful single handed when the weather goes bad.
Nice yacht ! Those geni winches look like hard work all right not self tailing ! Plenty crew needed for the headsail !!!
Select to expand quoteLooseChange said..stone said..
It's not very often a piece of Aussie yachting history comes up forsale. "what price do you put on nostalgia/history".
None!
Old cars ....... eventually become vintage cars .... but old boats ..... welllll they just become old boats at which you keep throwing bucket loads of money.
Old race cars are different, there are categories for them and race cars with history bring ridiculously high prices. Yachts are different and old yachts are just old yachts. Until we have a circuit catering for IOR yachts for example then these boats will languish about or be converted to fast cruisers. Age adjustments on major races will account for some boats but there are just too many fine ex racers with history almost being given away. Davidson 34, winner of S2H, 28 grand!
