Westerly Sailboats

Westerly Sailboats Information

Westerly sailboats were built by Westerly Marine Construction, Ltd., a company that was founded by Commander Denys Rayner in the early 1960's. Rayner was a sailboat designer at heart with a passion for rugged little boats that could be taken to sea and brought home with little fuss. In fact, he wrote several books on sailing small crafts, and although technology has transformed sailing in the years since, his books and guides still manage to impart a timeless wisdom on the subject.

in the late 1950's Rayner collaborated with a local manufacturer of plywood caravans to design plywood dinghies to be offered along with them. This turn of events led to the founding of the Beacon Boat Company, where Rayner also began building and selling small sailboats with very distinctive designs which eventually led to the first Westcoaster. Rayner built and sold about 60 of his Westcoaster sailboats, and along the way began experimenting with a new process of building hulls with glass reinforced plastic, or GRP. In 1963 he moved his expanding enterprise of GRP family sailing boats to a new location as the firm of Westerly Marine Construction, Ltd.

Westerly Marine grew to become Britain's largest yacht building company and during the 1970's was considered a leader in family yachts. The Westerly 22 was the first sailboat produced by Westerly Marine and was based largely on Rayner's original Westcoaster design. The Westerly 25, 28, 21, and 33 followed as new models emerged, sometimes several per year, until Westerly Sailboats ceased operations in 2000.
 

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