Little Dipper is a 41’ LOA Starling Burgess cutter built by Joel Johnson in Bridgeport, CT in 1934.  With her plumb bow, slack bilges and sweeping sheer, Little Dipper could easily be mistaken for a 19th century English cutter but her dynamic hull shape, beautifully tapered ballast keel, high ballast-displacement ratio and Bermudan rig identify her as a thoroughly modern, forward thinking 1930s yacht.

She was drawn at the height of Burgess’s career, during the downtime between the design of successful J-class America’s cup defenders Enterprise (1930) and Rainbow (1934).  Burgess likely foresaw the eventual end of the big Universal Rule race boats on which he’d built his reputation and was already doing his homework, working on moderately sized, blue-water capable, cruiser-racers, when he was asked to draw Little Dipper. 

The commission came from Buckminster Fuller, an eccentric 1930s futurist author, architect, designer, and inventor.  The story goes that she was part of a ploy to get Burgess, one of the most talented aeronautical engineers of the era, to work on his revolutionary, aerodynamic Dymaxion concept car.  Ploy or not Little Dipper was built and her owner and designer’s fascination with aeronautics is fully evident on close inspection. 

Little Dipper is a rare package for yacht of her vintage: stately, pedigreed, exceptionally beautiful, but still comfortable, fast, seaworthy, and easily handled.  She is offered for sale in excellent structural and aesthetic condition following an ’09-’10 refit with a new interior, a recently reconditioned Yanmar from Billings Diesel (2012), and a beautiful new set of Gambell and Hunter sails.  A 2021 survey available on request. 

Asking Price: $109,000

Location: Stonington, Maine