The Passport 40 has all the sailing characteristics of a good passage-maker. They are beautifully balanced, fast, yet preserve crew energies by being seakindly with a soft easy motion. They perform quite well in light winds and really come to life when the weather picks up, especially on the beam. Downwind they track well enough for the speed lovers to fly spinnakers under self steering with no problems. You can expect routine 130-140 miles days in the trades, but with fair winds and 24/7 hand steering we hear of numbers as high as 190, even 200 miles per day have been clocked.
The Passport 40 project was kicked off in 1978 when Wendell Renken of Passport Yachts wrote from Taiwan to Perry commissioning a design for a 40-footer. The request as Perry recalls was for an interior based on his previous work on the Freeport 36 with Islander Yachts. It’s interesting to note that Perry accepted the commission by asking for a hefty upfront fee instead of the usual designer’s fee and commission arrangement after noting the dubious nature of the letter’s stationary, “Yacht Builders, Frozen Foods, and Eel Farms.”
The fee proved no impediment and the boat was duly penned and then built by King Dragon boatyard in Taiwan. It was after all the boom years for Taiwanese boatbuilding with exchange rates and cheap but good quality craftmanship favouring the exchange. The Passport 40 was introduced in 1980 and production continued for just over a decade through to 1991 with a final tally of 148 boats built before the design was tweaked into the Passport 41 with an extra foot incorporating a reverse transom and swim platform. The design was eventually massaged into the Passport 43 which had the stern extended even further and five extra feet added to the rig which was revised to two spreaders. Including the Passport 41 and Passport 43 at total of 163 boats were built.
Hull Type: Fin with rudder on skeg
Rigging Type: Masthead Sloop
LOA: 39.42 ft / 12.02 m
LWL: 33.42 ft / 10.19 m
S.A. (reported): 762.00 ft² / 70.79 m²
Beam: 12.67 ft / 3.86 m
Displacement: 22,771.00 lb / 10,329 kg
Ballast: 8,500.00 lb / 3,856 kg
Max Draft: 5.75 ft / 1.75 m
Construction: FG
First Built: 1980
Last Built: 1991
Builder: Passport Yachts Inc. (TAIWAN)
Designer: Robert Perry
