Looking for a cruising yacht with an excellent reputation, plenty of space below deck and a British work ethic? To this day, Westerly Yachts stands for cruising boats that can handle rough weather and heavy seas – and that's exactly why they're in such high demand on the used boat market.
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Westerly yachts, or what bilge keelers have to do with common sense.
Most popular boat models from Westerly
Westerly
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A British yard with plenty of history – which is now history itself.
Westerly was founded in 1963 as Westerly Marine Construction Ltd and, over the following decades, grew into one of the most influential and successful British series builders of GRP sailing yachts. The Westerly Owners Association lists a whole string of well-known designers, among them Denys Rayner, Laurent Giles, Ed Dubois and Ron Holland. In short: nothing that left the Westerly sheds was run-of-the-mill.
Bilge keels, plenty of volume, few airs and graces
Westerly became famous above all for rugged cruising yachts that coped well with drying out, tides and rough weather in British and other typical North Sea waters. The Centaur, launched in 1969, was an instant hit according to the Westerly wiki; its reputation as a sensible, safe and thoroughly built family yacht still explains today why it was – and still is – regarded in the scene as almost a people's boat. It was precisely this mix of accessibility, a solidly laminated hull and a usable interior that made Westerly big in Great Britain.
From family boat to cruising yacht
Later, the brand grew well beyond the pure coastal and family cruiser. Models such as the Fulmar, Corsair, Conway or Oceanlord show how Westerly developed from a compact bilge keel specialist into an internationally respected yard for larger cruising and offshore yachts.
Under sail? Better than its reputation!
Westerly was known above all for rugged construction. Accordingly, some models look rather ponderous. But that can be deceptive: the Fulmar, for example, is still praised in the specialist press for its seaworthiness and its good-natured yet agile sailing behavior. In 2015, Yachting Monthly even asked outright whether it might be the best and fastest yacht Westerly ever built.
Many models, many designers, a remarkably consistent signature
The Westerly model range stretched from small boats such as the Nimrod, Jouster or Westerly 22 right through to yachts such as the Ocean 43, Oceanmaster or Ocean 49. Over the course of the company's history, numerous designers worked for the yard. Ed Dubois and Laurent Giles were particularly busy at the drawing board. Despite this variety, the brand's core remained remarkably clear: solid GRP construction, usable deck and interior layouts, plenty of practicality and a very British attitude to seaworthiness.
The yard is history – the fleet isn't
Westerly Yachts stopped building boats a long time ago. The yard ceased operations around the turn of the millennium. Yet the brand's echo is enormous: Yachting Monthly wrote in 2010 that Westerly had built around 12,000 boats, and the Owners Association still counts several thousand members today. Westerly Yachts is a name for sailors who want an "honest" hull design, rugged construction and good sailing performance at sea. Many Westerly yachts look unspectacular at first glance – until you notice how many of them are still out there after decades. Could there be a better buying argument on the used boat market for cruising yachts?