100-point boat test The UK’s most comprehensive yacht tests
Westerly Storm 33 PHOTOS: Lester McCarthy
Dick Durham tests a rugged offshore cruiser that lives up to her name
No anchor locker, so the bower anchor stows on the bow roller
Key features
used BOATS TRIED & TESTED
S
ometimes good yachts, like good politicians, get overlooked and miss out on promotion while less deserving candidates go forward. The Westerly Storm is one such boat. Launched in 1986, she was the first result of the company’s marriage with designer Ed Dubois in the search for the Holy Grail of a boat that offers both satisfying performance and comfortable cruising. Up until that wedding, Westerly had turned out solid – some would say stolid – cruisers with great success, but did not want to be typecast for reliability alone. Thus, the Storm was born. Her wide, level sidedecks, flared topsides on a narrowish waterline beam and inverted mini-scoop transom were certainly racy, yet she retained
the reassuring features beloved by cruising sailors: hefty teak rubbing strakes and coachroof grabrails, non-slip surfaces applied by paintbrush and enough cabin joinery to build the Kon-Tiki raft. Only 140 Storms were built before Westerly went bust in 1993. The Storm was still too much of a cruiser for those with a racing bent, and lacked the large living space of her main cruising rivals, the rather bulbous Bénéteaus and Bavarias of the era, which also undercut her significantly on price. Built in 1988, Kalessin of Orwell, a Westerly Storm owned by former motoring journalist Sam Brown, 70, and his wife Camilla Herrmann, has provided some long-distance family cruising for the couple and their two sons, Guy and Ben, over the last four years. In her they have crossed Biscay from their berth at Levington Marina on the River Orwell in Suffolk and sailed round Spain before returning via the French Canals.
Design
She has a fine entry and flattish sections aft for off-wind speed. The tiler-steered, semi-balanced spade rudder has an elliptical trailing edge. Her iron keel is a trapezoid shape with thicker sections lower down to achieve a low centre of gravity. Narrow windows and a painted blue band just below the rubbing strake cut down her apparent height. It’s a surprise when you get below to find the generous headroom.
She has a larger, more powerful mainsail than most masthead-rigged yachts of this size
It’s a shame we didn’t have half a gale, because the Storm is aptly named – a fairly average performer in light airs, but in heavy weather she comes alive. We left Levington in 13 knots of north-westerly breeze and were scooped down the Orwell between high, wooded banks. Sam, Camilla and their eldest son Guy, 20, a Yachtmaster, soon had Kalessin tacking upriver. Close-hauled, she made 5.8 knots at 45° to the wind. When we ran her off downriver, we managed 3.6 knots as the wind eased but then up to 5.7 as it went back up to 14 knots. Sam told me that she will carry full sail in anything up to a Force 4 or even 5 in flat sea conditions, but will need a reef thrown in after that.
Babystays can be an impediment when tacking, but this one isn’t
The mainsheet traveller, mounted aft of the cockpit, out of harm’s way, takes some getting used to
78 www.yachtingmonthly.com DECEMBER 2010
Performance
The spinnaker pole stows neatly against the mast
The split backstay is tensioned with a multi-purchase pulley system
The modest-sized sugar scoop provides a bathing platform without unbalancing the hull when heeled over
Lift up the companionway to access the engine compartment
The wide sidedecks are one of her best features
This sprayhood is one of the few I’ve seen that gives a good view forward
A chunky teak rubbing strake protects the topsides from abrasion
100-point boat test The blue band makes her profile look lower, putting the lie to her ample headroom down below
Living below
‘There’s enough solid timber in the Westerly Storm’s cabin joinery to build the Kon-Tiki raft’ photos: Lester McCarthy
The saloon is homely, spacious and warm, with well over 6ft headroom throughout. But it is also dated: louvred cupboard doors, a beige-tiled work surface and buttoned-down white vinyl headlining have not been around long enough yet to become ‘retro’. But she does have an astonishing four levels on stowage on each side: from top to bottom there’s a shelf under the wide sidedeck, then the louvred cupboard space, then a locker behind the seat backrest and finally, more stowage space beneath the bunk cushions. With two hatches and two windows each side, lighting is sufficient, but not dazzling. To port is a U-shaped dinette, which converts to a double berth. On the starboard side a single couch that, with the addition of a lee cloth, makes an adequate sea berth. There’s enough room for a crew of six to sit at the drop-leaf table. The galley, to port, comprises a gimballed, stainless steel oven with two burners and a grill, twin stainless steel sinks, a top-loading fridge and ample worktop space. To starboard is her forwardfacing nav station with a chart table that will take a half-size Admiralty chart. There is
Upright poles do not make up for the lack of grabrails
There’s plenty of space for chartwork but not much room for your knees
There is ample work surface and plenty of stowage
The forepeak is a cosy cabin, but the chain hawse pipe in the Storm’s stem suffers from leaks – rectified by this owner DECEMBER 20109 www.yachtingmonthly.com 79
100-point boat test The UK’s most comprehensive yacht tests plentiful instrument room and Kalessin has GPS, radar, VHF radio and chartplotter. There’s stowage for charts beneath the flat navigator’s seat. Legroom is tight, but that’s a bonus in a seaway as you can wedge yourself in. The forward cabin has a double v-berth, a hand basin to port and a hanging locker to starboard. There is 6ft headroom here, too. The poky aft cabin, to port, has a double berth and a hanging locker. The plump headliner has a doughy appearance, making the cabin rather redolent of a padded cell! The heads is well designed: there’s a grabrail alongside the forward-facing sea toilet, a plastic sink with double taps and a chunky fiddle, and a shower. For stowage, there is a cupboard and a fiddled shelf. Plenty of light comes in through a window that opens into the cockpit.
The Storm sports a rugged masthead rig with a big, overlapping genoa
Construction
She has full-length stringers for longitudinal stiffening, bonded into keel-supporting floors that are tied into a fibreglass frame, which takes the stress of the mast and cap shrouds. The deck is a balsacored sandwich with strengthened plywood patches around the fittings. The hull is hand-laid GRP with chopped strand mat, using both unidirectional and woven rovings. Bulkheads are bonded to the hull on both sides. When she was built, the keelbolts – 316 stainless steel studs – exceeded Lloyds’ specification by 50%.
Sailplan
Her masthead rig is deck-stepped and her three-point slab reefing lines run aft to the cockpit, but
She tacks well but is slow to pick up speed on the new board
Crew must go forward to attach the tack cringle when reefing
crew need to go on deck to insert the luff eyelets into the stag horn at the boom end. She has two sets of crosstrees on a mast supported by cap shrouds, intermediates, lowers and a babystay.
Deck layout
There’s no anchor locker on deck, so her Delta anchor lives on a stainless steel double bow roller and is hauled up via a manual windlass. The chain is fed though a hawse pipe into a chain locker. She has ample foredeck space, which continues over the sloping, forward end of the coachroof and her wide, spacious decks are one of her best features. Grabrails run the whole length of the coachroof. Her cockpit is shallow and a little exposed with the sprayhood down, but has the novel idea of a removable bridgedeck: a raised grating beneath which a liferaft is stowed. In port, the grating can be removed and the liferaft stowed elsewhere, creating a walk-
YACHTING MONTHLY’s 100-POINT RESULTS Under sail
on deck
PERFORMANCE
She tacked well, and though she did not pick up speed immediately on the fresh board she tracked well and when the power came on she was reassuringly stiff. This boat wants a blow to get her going, but she will look after you in heavy weather.
9
/10
AT THE HELM
Her tiller steering has plenty of ‘feel’. You can’t ease both parts of the double mainsheet instantaneously unless you stamp down on the fall to free them from the block jaws. Instead, you ease each side independently. Her sprayhood gives an unusually good view forward. /10
BUILD
DECK LAYOUT
An excellent feature for warping the boat into a berth are the four cleats each side: the centre ones being just forward of the dodger and just forward of the shrouds. She has admirably wide decks and good forward deck area for sail changing.
9 10
80 www.yachtingmonthly.com DECEMBER 2010
/10
SAILPLAN
Because the mainsheet traveller is on the cockpit coaming aft, Sam found it impossible to fit a bimini while in the Med. ‘This was a drawback and we all wore big hats,’ he said. She has an adjustable backstay on a blockand-tackle rigged in Spanish windlass fashion. /10
9
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
She’s a solid boat, well built and purposeful with a pronounced rocker, which acts almost like a shallow long keel. This gives her stiffness. For a boat built over 20 years ago, she looks to be in remarkably good condition: a testament to Westerly build quality. /10
9
MAINTENANCE
The hawse hole for the anchor chain lets in seawater and this has leaked through the chain locker door, wetting the forecabin berth, so Sam fitted a cap on deck. Gearbox dipstick, stern gland and fuel filters is via the lift-up companionway or a hatch in the aft cabin. Shroud plates can also be inspected easily. /10
7
100-point boat test
Under power
She’s not the easiest boat to steer astern in a tight spot, as she needs a fair amount of way on before becoming predictable. We had a hairy moment getting out of her berth stern-first against the wind. That said, her two-cylinder Volvo 18hp diesel will push the boat along at a cruising speed of 5.5 knots, at 2,000 revs. Sam has fitted a three-bladed folding prop, increasing her boatspeed under sail by half a knot. W
Artwork: Maxine Heath
through to the companionway. The starboard cockpit locker will take a deflated dinghy, a full set of fenders and warps, a fire extinguisher and a kedge anchor. Her small sugar-scoop stern has a bathing ladder and the pushpit takes an outboard for the tender, a horseshoe buoy and antennas for Navtex and GPS receivers. She has Barient 24 winches for the halyards and self-tailing Antal 44s for the sheets. There is a draining gas locker to port and a fold-away cockpit table. The instruments are fitted in traditional fashion, over the companionway.
TECHNICAL
Westerly Storm 33 Price £30,000 to £37,000 LOA 10.11m (33ft 18in) LWL 8.21m (27ft) Beam 3.52m (11ft 5in) Draught 1.68m (5ft 5in) Displacement 5,130kg (11,310 lb) Ballast 1,910kg (4,210 lb) Sail area 48.61 m2 (523 sq ft) Engine 18hp Diesel 70 lit (15.4 gal) Water 70lit (15.4 gal) Designer Ed Dubois Builder Westerly Yachts Website www.westerly-owners.co.uk
n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
THREE alternative CHOICEs (Priced at similar specification)
1
Fastnet 34 (£16,000 to £29,000) A highly regarded cruiser-racer, from the early 1970s, she is spacious below decks, fast in light airs and has appealing lines.
2
Sigma 33 (£20,000 to 30,000) This popular ‘plastic classic’ from the late 1970s is a well-proven sea boat, surviving the Fastnet storm of 1979.
Below deck CHART TABLE
The Storm has a well-positioned nav station, secure and close to the companionway, with ample instrument space and within reach of the vertical grab pole for when the boat rolls unexpectedly.
8
/10
GALLEY
There is a commendable amount of stowage, a large expanse of tiled worktop space – great for hot pans plonked down unexpectedly – plus a tight and secure standing area. Seamanlike, unfussy and practical.
8
/10
HEADS
She has a good heads for this size of boat. Sensibly, it has a forward facing sea-toilet and enough stowage for beauty products without overlooking the all-important grabrail to counter that unexpected rolling lurch.
9
/10
LIVING BELOW
There aren’t enough handholds below decks for safety at sea. Sam had the fixed window on the port side of the cockpit made to open for extra ventilation in the Med. But she’s a roomy boat and would be comfortable for a crew of four, even on long cruises. /10
8
3
Westerly Fulmar (£25,000 to £32,000) Rugged, fast and easy to sail, she was considered a first among equals and production ran from 1980 to 1999.
TOTAL SCORE When she was launched, Westerly hoped it had created a boat to suit both the conservative cruising man and the performance-hungry sailor. This tough, no-nonsense boat almost delivered. She’s not great fun in light airs, but a family man looking for an offshore yacht with the ability to take some stick would be hard pushed to find a better second-hand buy at the price.
86 DECEMBER 20109 www.yachtingmonthly.com 81
