John Westell

John Westell (1921 – 1989) was an English yacht designer of considerable repute who is famous as a champion dinghy racer and designer starting in the International 14 Class and later developing the Olympic 505 class that he designed in 1954. He became technical Director at Devon boatbuilders Honnor Marine at Totnes. He died aged only 68 in 1989. He developed an interest in Multihulls in the 1960's like many pioneers. John pioneered a swing wing folding trimaran concept with the 40 foot Matamona that he entered in the 1966 Round Britain Race. A broken weld in a cross arm caused her to retire. The concept was that which saw production as the Ocean Bird 30 foot trimaran. The submersible floats were wave piercing and could be swung in to reduce from 22 feet bean to 15 feet. Rather looking like a stabilised monohull the design was a popular one and many cruised extensively. The boat in mark 1 and mark 2 guise was in production until the 1980's. However John also designed experimental trimarans like Tricia and a large 50 foot Ocean Cruiser called "John Willie" that he raced in the 1974 Round Britain Race. The craft capsized following the failure of a weld in the starboard outrigger beam connections but was later recovered and rebuilt with solid grp box section beams. This was about the same time that Derek Kelsall also switched from using metal beams after welds and tubes broke in FT, Three Legs of Mann and Trumpeter.