I recently ran across the Westerly Owners Association, and email group (on yahoo). Already being a member of the Rhodes 22 group for several years, I decided that it's the best shortcut to learning about Olivias tasteful British engineering. First let me back up and say that I've owned a few other sailboats in my time (including a 30' Abbott piece of classic plastic, Canadian, bombproof), but the Westerly is perhaps the most thoughtfully engineered vessel I've ever had the pleasure to have found me (after all...one does not find a boat, rather a boat finds its owner). Everything form multi purpose interior furnishings to classic rigging, built to withstand the worst conditions.

Enough raving about Olivia. We all love our boats, and to us they're simply the best, everybody elses boats lack that certain something that makes ours so.... The email list seems to be mostly folks from the UK, and their insight and ingenuity reflect the boats. I'm glad they tolerate this cowboy on the other side of the pond. I've learned a great deal already, and it's a hoot to be able to increase the network of friends via the web. As a child of the 60's, and pre web, I wonder how we ever got by so isolated from the rest of the world?

Anyway,  I've tried to add a link to their webpage here, but for some reason (maybe my own lack of saavy), it doesn't seem to be showing up.

So, if you have a Westerly yacht, by all means check these folks out:

                            http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk

Also, the group addy is:

                            Westerly-Owners@yahoogroups.com

I'm going to add these to my other blog too, over at Eye of the Hurricane, which deals not only with sailing, but all things island and coastal here in deep South Texas, just this side of the tropics.

Weather is beautiful today, winds NNE around 10K, water and seas are calm, and fish are EVERYWHERE. I feel a bit of theraputic fishing coming on this evening, then a sea trial tomorrow offshore if things hold.

Cheers everybody.