WESTRAY, No. 79
WESTRAY. © Tyler Fields Photography
Concordia Yawl #79 (39'10"). Built in 1960 by Abeking and Rasmussen (#5577).
Current Status:
Active - Owned by Juan Corradi and Christina Spellman.
Ownership Log: Purchased, Name of Boat, Owner, Port
1960, Westray, B. Glenn MacNary, North Falmouth, MA
1988, Westray, J. Thomas Franklin, Cambridge, MA
2001, Westray, John & Mary Melvin, Greenwich, CT
2011, Westray, Juan Corradi and Christina Spellman, Newport, RI
If the information on this yacht is inaccurate or incomplete, please contact us.
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Yacht Links:
From One Classic to the Next: A meditation
by Juan E. Corradi (from WoodenBoat Magazine)
The author and his wife, Christina, sold their classic fiberglass-hulled Swan 38, PIRATE, in 2010, after years of voyaging. They then embarked upon a search for “a boat beautiful and old-fashioned, a boat in which we could have peace and freedom away from gadgets and easy comforts, relying mostly on the old arts of seamanship.” The Concordia yawl WESTRAY answered that wish.
When we left PIRATE, the Sparkman & Stephens–designed Swan 38 we had owned for 22 years, in Finland in 2010, I asked myself “why?” My wife, Christina, asked the same question. We had a boat made for a lifetime. How can you be both determined and puzzled at the same time? I knew it was the right thing to do, but had not managed to articulate the reasons. When people questioned me, my only answer was a shrug. Now I think I can provide something resembling a rationale.
I had the feeling that our years on the boat, given the many miles we had sailed and the oceans we had crossed, had arrived at a point of completion. The Swan had given us all we wished from her, and then some more. Completion in this sense meant accomplishment, reaching a sort of existential destination—in short, a fulfillment. The time had come to let her go, but not in just any way, to anyone, in any place.
Completion, or closure, meant also homecoming for the boat herself. We had her restored in Finland, where she was born, in a place where classic Swans were produced, and surrounded by people who had shaped her hull and built her spars in 1974. READ ON:
Yacht History:
Featured in these issues of the Concordian [Incomplete list]:
Concordian #02 - 1986 Fall
Concordian #07 - 1989 Spring
Concordian #08 - 1989 Fall
Concordian #09 - 1990 Spring
Concordian #10 - 1990 Fall
Concordian #12 - 1991 Fall
Concordian #13 - 1992 Spring
Concordian #14 - 1992 Fall
Concordian #16 - 1993 Fall
Concordian #18 - 1994 Fall
Concordian #23 - 1997 Spring
Concordian #27 - 1999 Spring
Concordian #28 - 1999 Fall
Concordian #51 - 2011 Fall
