Westaways sails ahead

It’s boom time both on and off the water for South Devon sail loft, Westaway Sails, exhibiting at Southampton Boat Show in the SHMI stand.
Not only are sails made by the loft travelling further afield – currently Westaways’ sails are heading off toward the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Pacific – but managing director John Pollard and his team on board Xcellent have recently cleaned up at Devon’s major regattas. Two boats were campaigned under the Xcellent banner, with one, a Melges 24 winning 13 out of 16 races and an X99 winning 12 out of 12.

John said: “I’m absolutely over the moon with our results. The X99 won the top IRC boat at Dartmouth out of 90 boats. All our hard work is paying off. This has come from a lot of effort from sail development and also the people who sail the boat.
“ The Melges won the prestigious Addison Gold Cup at Torquay for the second year.
Altogether sails from Westaways won six classes at Dartmouth Regatta, probably the biggest event in the South West’s sailing calendar.
And the success is more than matched by the loft’s performance – the number of sails being made has increased five fold since John took over the business around two years ago.
But despite the expansion, the loft, based in Ivybridge, is determined to retain its friendly ethos and personal service.
John said: “Although we are expanding and producing more sails than ever before – our sails are now seen in all the UK’s main sailing areas, especially along the South Coast – we pride ourselves on offering a first class service to our customers. Repeat business is very important to us, and sailors will only return if we give them what they demand.
“ We’re very much a local organisation. We have some customers who are second generation. It’s very easy to sell something but we offer a long term service. We make sure our sails are correctly fitted and maintained.”
As part of its determination to remain a friendly and easily accessible loft, Westaways has made it easier than ever to drop off and pick up sails for repairs, alterations or maintenance, with 19 points available from Exeter to Plymouth. These points can also be used to drop off sails for the loft’s wash, repair and winter storage facility, which last year looked after 3,000 sails for owners across the South West.
Another service which has proved highly popular is the loft’s overnight sail repair service at the local regattas. The service, started primarily for Westaway’s customers, this year carried out more than 120 repairs at Dartmouth, from spinnaker rips to mainsail repairs, damage mostly caused by spreaders. This is the third year the service has been offered at Dartmouth with twice as many boats taking advantage as last year.
John explained: “We had five people working through the night in order to get the sails repaired ready for the next day’s racing.”

For more information on any services offered by Westaway Sails, either give the loft a call on 01752 892560 or check out the web site www.westawaysails.co.uk

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