The #1 Story

Windrush 600#1... The Design Process

The Windrush 600 was conceived by Richard Macfarlane as a progression for those who had grown up with the surfcat scene, possibly married with a young family, and who wanted to continue developing their sailing experiences in a vessel with a similar ‘feel’ and performance. In an early handout, he outlines his philosophy.

Here are components of the original Australian brochure … front page, back page, stories, pictures, description.

Unfortunately incomplete, this review by Bob Lawrence in ‘Catamaran Sailor’ outlines the vessel’s characteristics.

Following the success of his smaller cats, the builder saw the broader scope available by making these boats available in Europe. He also responded to a suggestion to produce a wider version … this specification sheetfrom the UK agency outlines the differences.

So what happened to #1?.

To generate some publicity, #1 was sent to Europe to compete in multihull events. Although the boat in the previous reviews was the original narrow version, the ‘#1’ competing in Europe was the wide version, here shown in the European Micromultihull Championship in 1988, sailed by Brett and Hayden Burville.

The sails were made by a Dutch sailmaker Arjen Kooij, and show the ‘racing number’ 83, rather than W#1 After the race the crew bought the boat, refurbished it, and sold it to a Dutch importer. In 1989 the first Dutch owner set sail with the original ‘W#1’ sails made by West Coast Sails in Freemantle.

The latter information came from the boat’s present owner Sipke Diepbrink, who contacted me while trying to get information on the boats and was the inspiration for these pages.

Here is a recent photo of #1, flying a standard tri-radial spinnaker. Sipke is refurbishing the vessel once again, including a new set of sails from Arjen Kooij, who made the racing sails so many years ago.