Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

to expand and flow smoothly,

Dubois continued to enhance his

reputation in the one-off racing

boat field. In the 1970s and ’80s,

this was the best way to make

your name as a designer and

pick up production boat

commissions. Like Ron Holland,

Doug Peterson, Michel Dufour,

Jean-Marie Finot et al, Dubois

spent a lot of time racing on

his own designs and evolving

his ideas.

His next big break came with the

12.8m (42ft) Two Tonner Police

Car, part of the Australian

Admiral’s Cup team that won

this holy grail of offshore racing

in 1979.

While every other boat in the Two

Ton fleet had a masthead rig and

plenty of freeboard, the prettier

Police Car boasted a fractional rig

and relatively low freeboard. It was

little short of revolutionary. ‘A big

risk,’ Dubois said. ‘But it worked.

It was just electric in a breeze.’

After the Fastnet Race tragedy

of 1979 (15 sailors died in a

fleet-decimating freak storm)

that concluded the Admiral’s

Cup, Dubois picked up a lot of

new business.

‘It was a weird feeling,’ he said.

‘Part of me was happy and elated.

I knew I was off and running

career-wise. But I also knew that

there were families who lost

people, going through hell.’

Production boats

Meanwhile, Dubois’ portfolio of

production boats continued to

grow. His attractive Quarter Ton

cruiser-racer the Starflash (7.68m)

came out in 1978 then Trapper

Yachts bought the moulds and

developed it into the fin-keel

Trapper T250 and successful

lift-keel Trapper TS240 in 1980.

It remains a popular club racer to

this day and makes an excellent

and versatile family coastal cruiser.

Colvic also offered Dubois’ sleek

Liberator 35.

Then, in 1985, Dubois took

on a decidedly ‘upmarket’

marque of production cruisers.

He told me: ‘I was very pleased

to get the work for Wauquiez

in France. Henri Wauquiez

was something of an Anglophile

and had built Holman & Pye

designs before.

‘Then he came to me after the

success of our Admiral’s Cupper

Victory of Burnham in 1981. The

first boat was the Centurion 47.

He hoped to build 25 of them, but

in fact over 80 were sold! This led

to the Centurion 42, the Centurions

40, 38 & 36 and then later the

pilothouse boats, the Wauquiez

48, 54 & 60.’

Waiquiez’s UK distributor,

Charles Watson, told me:

‘Wauquiez built its reputation on

high performance, high-quality

construction and attention to detail

and finish. They were then seen

as the French equivalent of

Camper & Nicholsons or Swan

and had a strong following in the

UK. The 48 has always been my

favourite. Built as both a Centurion

and as a Pilot Saloon, it’s a

powerful cruising boat that eats

‘While perhaps a little stubby in

appearance, I think the proportions

(for what she is) still look pretty

good – vertical transom-hung

rudder and all. She does the job

she was called to do very well.

And she sails well!’

Westerly sold around 1,000 of the

Griffon’s various manifestations,

and Dubois received a fixed royalty

of 1% of the selling price – which

was very handy in those days. This

stream of royalty income helped

Dubois build his business,

covering overheads while he

sought out new clients looking for

more exotic one-off designs.

‘The success of the Griffon led

to the Fulmar, another favourite.

In all, we designed 17 different

models for Westerly over the years

and I guess, therefore, that the first

one – the Griffon – was a big

landmark for me.’

An eye for the one-offs

While this new Westerly stream of

production cruisers was beginning

Boats – Designs of Ed Dubois

BOTTOM

Wauquiez

Pilot Saloon

43: available

second-hand

from £109,000

BELOW

Wauquiez

Centurion

47: available

second-hand

from £46,000

LEFT Trapper

TS240: available

second-hand

from £6,000

Sailing Scenes

Sailing Scenes