Hartley Laminates History
It all started when a pair of Kestrel sailors were anxious about the future of their beloved boat and refused to let such a marvellous boat die. The decision was made to invest considerable amounts of money back into the boat in an effort to redesign the interior and to bring the boat up to present day standards.
In February 1998 Roswell and Morrison (in particular Phil Morrison) set about the task of re-designing the Kestrel to make it appealing to both existing Kestrel sailors and new generations of sailors. All modifications were discussed at great length with the Proctor family and the Kestrel Class Association and since then they have never looked back.
Since 1998 we have moved on a long way. We have branched out to build the Supernova, which is experiencing a steadily growing fleet and well attended open meetings, and provides a very good boat for sailors who do not want to be involved with the other youth driven Olympic singlehanders.
In 2005 we produced our first Mk4 Osprey which was overhauled by Phil Morrison in the same manner as the Kestrel, to make it more appealing to the modern market yet not change too radically for it not to become accepted by the original Osprey fleet, and this has been a storming success. The fleet is now in a growth period and it is holding its own against the newer high performance asymmetric rivals.
Now, in early 2007, our latest development has been to take on the Wayfarer, Wanderer and Gull dinghies from Porter and we are also developing a high performance, lightweight, twin trapeze Hartley Skiff to be considered for ISAF selection for the Womens Olympic Skiff for 2012.
It all started when a pair of Kestrel sailors were anxious about the future of their beloved boat and refused to let such a marvellous boat die. The decision was made to invest considerable amounts of money back into the boat in an effort to redesign the interior and to bring the boat up to present day standards.
In February 1998 Roswell and Morrison (in particular Phil Morrison) set about the task of re-designing the Kestrel to make it appealing to both existing Kestrel sailors and new generations of sailors. All modifications were discussed at great length with the Proctor family and the Kestrel Class Association and since then they have never looked back.
Since 1998 we have moved on a long way. We have branched out to build the Supernova, which is experiencing a steadily growing fleet and well attended open meetings, and provides a very good boat for sailors who do not want to be involved with the other youth driven Olympic singlehanders.
In 2005 we produced our first Mk4 Osprey which was overhauled by Phil Morrison in the same manner as the Kestrel, to make it more appealing to the modern market yet not change too radically for it not to become accepted by the original Osprey fleet, and this has been a storming success. The fleet is now in a growth period and it is holding its own against the newer high performance asymmetric rivals.
Now, in early 2007, our latest development has been to take on the Wayfarer, Wanderer and Gull dinghies from Porter and we are also developing a high performance, lightweight, twin trapeze Hartley Skiff to be considered for ISAF selection for the Womens Olympic Skiff for 2012.
