Classic Boat July 2024 - Sample Issue

ALDEN’S MAGIC

Malabar rescued from the deep

PEN DUICK VI

Tabarly’s legend lives on RIVA IMITATOR

Sincerest flattery IS IT A CLASSIC? Westerly Centaur

SAVING THE MALABARS

Saving an Alden-designed Malabar was no easy task for Alex Child... particularly when you consider he was starting with a sunken wreck

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY LUCY TULLOCH

PASSING ON THE FLAME

Eric Tabarly’s ever-green Whitbread maxi Pen Duick VI never won a round-the-world yacht race... until now, when she was first over the line in the recent Ocean Globe Race. The skipper this time was his daughter – Marie Tabarly

THE RIVA BELIEVER

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as Carlo Riva himself acknowledged, when he compared the Arcangeli Commander to a Bentley, level with his own Riva Ariston – the Rolls Royce

TEXT GÉRALD GUÉTAT PHOTOS HENRI THIBAULT

BUT IS IT A CLASSIC?

Sir Robin’s first non-stop, solo circumnavigation, Abbey Road and the Moon landing can all be considered ‘classic’. What about Britain’s bestselling cabin yacht of all time, also born in 1969?

WORDS GARY O’ GRADY

The Centaur is a remarkable 26-footer and has garnered a following of owners and admirers who appreciate its practicality, versatility and charm. Its twin keels allow for drying out on tidal moorings, or for a day out on the beach. It offers a full height cabin with five berths and a good-sized head all within its tidy 26ft (8m). But it’s not just its practicality that endears the Centaur to us but how it makes us feel.

We all remember fondly the halcyon days of summer when, as a child, the days felt warmer, and school holidays lasted an eternity. This is how we remember the youthful carefree days of our childhood and also how we remember our first sailing adventures on a Westerly, most likely a Centaur. Whether it was Grandad taking us out for the day to anchor off East Head or running around the Earls Court Boat Show, playing hide and seek with our siblings while Dad excitedly emptied the savings jar at the Westerly stand buying the first family boat.

It seems whenever we see a Centaur, with that flared bow, happily bouncing along it brings strong nostalgic feelings to the surface. For the first time, real sailing in a real boat became affordable, the Centaur changed everything.

For so many the Centaur was their first boat, the most important boat, as it fashioned their sailing for years to come. Westerly democratised sailing like no other manufacturer before and brought so many more people to sea.

Sure, she may not be the most beautiful boat on the water, certainly not so beautiful as to make Uffa Fox salivate excitedly or Tom Cunliffe to leap out of his bath of Stockholm tar exclaiming his unrequited love for glassfibre (heaven forbid!). But the Centaur is all about how you feel, the emotions inspired of these golden days long past.

The Centaur is probably the most recognisable boat out there sailing. How many times have you heard a crew member remark after seeing a Centaur glide by, ‘we had a Centaur when I was growing up’ or ‘my uncle had a centaur’ there is always a story and almost certainly a family story. The Centaur like no other was, and still remains today, a real family boat.

Introduced at the London Boat Show in 1969 it remained in production until 1980 when it was replaced by the Griffon. The first design effort was a bit of a disaster, since Laurent Giles had come up with what amounted to a development of the existing Westerly 25, which David Sanders thought