Gunfleet 395, an attractive and innovative yacht design

The Oyster guru’s latest boatbuilding venture brings in talent from the other side of the world to start Gunfleet in Essex

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Oyster yacht brand guru Richard Matthews is an experienced skipper and sailor of both performance and cruising boats. So, having made a fortune from the creation of Oysters and then, last year, passing the product on, it didn’t take long before he decided to try again with a new brand.

Anglian yards including Norfolk’s Landamores and Windboats still build Oysters, as did McDell Marine in Ltd in New Zealand. And it is to the latter that Richard has turned for his new project.

Richard’s relationship with McDell, who eventually built 59 boats, helped develop and constructed the LD43 powerboat and the Oyster 54 yacht, began while he was in Auckland to watch the 2000 America’s Cup.

After Richard sold Oyster last year, McDell continued to work for them, but a lack of orders, unfavourable exchange rates and the global financial crisis meant that the Kiwis eventually closed down.

This they did in typical New Zealand fashion. On good terms with all their suppliers, bankers, contractors and ex-employees, they threw a party. After which Bill Howlett, head of McDell, decided to go and spend some quality time on the beach.

At that point he got a phone call from Richard: “He told me I’d get bored, that he was missing the boat building business and he wanted to start a small company in the UK, he’s a bit of a patriot.

“He also knows how much it costs to get a boat building business off the ground and yet he still wants to do it!” Bill spoke to fellow Kiwis Glyn Dixon, Tim Roberts and Mark Woodham. They were all fired up by Richard’s idea of creating “a substantial and sustainable building operation” and eventually ended up moving their families to Essex.

Why Essex? “Alongside the excellent road and water transport links, Richard knew that there had been a substantial and skilled boat building work force in the area. People who were not always in work, but who wanted to work.” A property became available in the Severals Industrial Estate, once an engineering fabrication workshop with an immense warehouse, loads of floor space and lots of heavy lifting equipment - essential in the production of modern yachts of 39ft or more.

Currently the team are juggling the creation of their first yacht - intended for launch at this year’s Southampton Boat Show (they will be attending the London Boat Show with an electronic preview), with the creation of an ultra efficient, bespoke, yacht-building facility.

The desire is to “jig up” a place where they can “design and build modern, innovative, world class cruising yachts and deliver an outstanding ownership experience.” “Eventually we hope to have the capacity to build up to 30 or more yachts a year.” Boats will be built to order and although they will be consistent, there will be room for the clients to specify certain features and configurations to personalise them. “One of the things we think about is what is going to matter to the owner?” That kind of production level means that they will eventually need at least 150 local craftsmen. A substantial number like that is an exciting prospect for the area and the industry.

“The expertise the craftsmen have will be refined and passed on to other workmen, and not lost due to lack of practise.” Gunfleet’s first yacht will be the 39, designed by Tony Castro.

Castro has been designing boats for 25 years and his creations have won the Superyacht Design award, Yacht of the Year, a variety of off-shore racing world championships, and the Admirals Cup in 1989. He also had a hand in the Blue Arrow, America’s Cup challenge.

The 39 foot cruiser will have wrap around forward windows, a centre cockpit, full aft stateroom and “everything people would want in a yacht twice the size.” Alongside the striking profile and innovative design, the team are concentrating on creating an efficient manufacturing method that leaves nothing to chance, “even when someone is away, someone else will know how to pick up the job.” But they also want to build boats of character and distinction: “The English don’t build as many boats as they could and not everyone wants to buy those pop-out production boats from Europe,” says Bill.

Recently, Richard, Bill and Tony Castro were sitting in the mould of their central cockpit, pondering whether everything was just right: “We are still fine tuning, we want it to be as close to perfect as possible.” A good example of this is the Problems and Countermeasures board by the staff rest area.

When a team member identifies a problem, he logs it and suggests a solution; the entry will remain on the board until the problem is solved.

It is this kind of forward thinking and purposeful management, mixed with the careful selection of a good crew, both from abroad and locally that bodes well for Gunfleet.

“It may seem like a strange time to embark on a new yacht building venture but with the combined experience of everyone involved, backed by the resources needed to create a world class building facility, I am confident that Gunfleet will soon become recognised as a quality British yacht brand of which we can all be proud.”