Fairlie Yachts. Boats out of time and chorus born out of love for Fife

What if you love the work of the historic Fife & Sons shipyard so much that you create a line of boats inspired by them? Fairlie Yachts, modern classics out of time and out of the chorus, are born. Beautiful (pictured above: thel Fairlie P55, 16.8 m long and 3.5 m wide. At the waterline it measures 11.6 m. Soaring).

Fairlie Yachts, the modern classics inspired by William Fife

If you are looking for a boat that is out of time and out of the chorus, if you think that by building a boat outside of fashion it will never go out of style, there is a boatyard for you. It is called Fairlie Yachts, produces beautiful “custom-made” modern classics in Southampton and is represented in Italy by Casteras Yachts.

Duncan Walker’s Sense for Fife & Sons.

Many of you will have already caught the spirit of these boats in the shipyard’s name. Fairlie, in fact, is the name of a small village on the west coast of Scotland where the legendary William Fife & Sons shipyard, which between the Victorian era and World War II, made the world’s finest pleasure boats, was based.

The beauty of the hulls designed by the Fife, and specifically, by William Fife III, bewitched Duncan Walker, the CEO of Fairlie Yachts: “After graduating with a degree in production engineering, I was a sailor for a few years. I was fortunate enough to sail on an 89-foot Fife, then I was involved in the restoration of Altair (Fife III’s historic 1931 108-foot schooner, ed.) and I fell so much in love with these boats that, after founding Fairlie Yachts and spending 25 years restoring these masterpieces, I decided to pay tribute to them by creating a line of boats inspired by their designs.”

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There is nothing better than wood

This is where the “shipbuilding” adventure of Fairlie Yachts begins., which made its first modern classic ten years ago, inheriting important aesthetic elements from Fife and merging them with modern wood construction techniques (“there is nothing better than wood when it comes to building a boat“) and with up-to-date keel configurations and sail plans.

Voyager and Performance

To date, Walker told us, “there are two ranges in the production of Fairlie Yachts, although, in fact, each boat is unique and built using the best workmanship in Southampton. The ‘V’ series, where V stands for ‘Voyager,’ with 45-, 49-, 53-, and 65-foot models, ideal for long sailing in total comfort; then there is the ‘P’ line, Performance, boats that can also express good performance in racing-especially in modern classic events-as well as in cruising: P55, P66 and P77, the flagship of the range“.

Each Fairlie Yachts is a unique piece

Since these are unique pieces, Walker continues, “as a shipyard, we try to work with one owner at a time, so that we can follow the design and construction as closely as possible. At the design level, our partner is Paul Spooner, who shares the same love for Fife as I do“. A love that, try as we might, emanates from all Fairlie Yachts boats.

Eugene Ruocco

Learn more about Fairlie Yachts:

www.fairlieyachts.com
Casteras Yachts Italian importer, casterasyachts@gmail.com

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