John Westell (11 March 1921 – January 1989) was an English

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

designer, who is noted for designing the 505 sailing dinghy and the Ocean Bird class of

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreati ...

s. Westell also designed cruising sailboats.

Biography

Born Woodroffe John Westell on 11 March 1921 in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, Westell dropped the use of "Woodroffe" in his name, which was a reference to his ancestry. By age 16, he was a champion dinghy racer. In 1939, he volunteered for the

Royal Navy Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

and helped deliver a

Bird-class minesweeper The Bird-class minesweeper was a class of naval trawlers built for the Royal New Zealand Navy and which served during the Second World War. A total of three vessels in the class were built: , and . All were named for New Zealand native birds an ...

to the

New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

. He returned to become a sub-lieutenant and train as a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was posted to a naval air station in Ceylon (which became

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1972). After the war, he returned to England, married and became father by 1950. He raced

International 14 The International 14 is a British racing sailboat, crewed by two sailors. The class was established in 1928. The boat is a developmental sailing class and so the design rules and the boats themselves have changed dramatically over time to keep ...

sailboats and co-founded the magazine, ''Yachts and Yachting''. He died of cancer in January 1989 at the age of 68, having retired from a position at Honnor Marine, a manufacturer of sailing craft.

Sailboat design

Westell's first boat design was a plywood, , scow-shaped dinghy. In the early 1950s he became interested in experimenting with the characteristics of the International 14 and the Flying Dutchman hull shapes to improve their planing characteristics. This led to the development of the 505 sailing dinghy. He first worked for a sailboat manufacturer in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

and later became a technical director of production at Honnor Marine at Totnes, Devon. In the 1970s, he became interested in cruising trimarans with his Ocean Bird swinging-ama design.

505 sailing dinghy

Westell designed the 18-foot dinghy, ''Coronet'', in 1953. This sailboat competed in the

International Yacht Racing Union World Sailing (WS) is the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) be ...

(IYRU) selection trials at

La Baule La Baule-Escoublac (; br, Ar Baol-Skoubleg, ), commonly referred to as La Baule, is a communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique departments of France, department, Pays de la Loire, western France. A century-old seaside resort in southe ...

, France, in 1953 for a new two-person performance dinghy for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Although the ''Coronet'' lost Olympic selection to the Flying Dutchman (even though its performance was notably superior), in 1954 the Caneton Association of France asked Westell to modify his Coronet design to create for them a 5-meter performance dinghy that would be suitable to their needs. Westell settled on a measured length 5.05 m to allow for boat-building tolerances of the day, and the resulting craft become known as the 505. The class achieved international status with the IYRU in 1955.

Ocean Bird trimaran class

Westell designed the prototype ''Ocean Bird'', which became a trimaran sailboat in the 1970s. It featured fold-in lateral floats on a webless steel-beam frame chosen to provide stability against heeling, yet allow a compact footprint in harbour.

References

External links

List of sailboat designs by Westell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westell, John 1921 births 1989 deaths Boat and ship designers English male sailors (sport) People from Totnes British yacht designers Sportspeople from Devon