S/Y BLUE LEOPARD Project 430

Blue Leopard was one of the most famous yacht design by Jack Giles and was a triumph of lightweight engineering in its day. Her design concept was revolutionary at the time, with a long, lean light easily driven hull and efficient high aspect ketch rig she could easily achieve 15 knots under sail. Fitted with twin Rolls Royce marine engines she performed just as well under power with a maximum speed in excess of 15 knots.

Her lightweight construction was achieved using quadruple mahogany laminates over longitudinal stringers. Principal web frames and bulkheads were constructed in aluminium and the deck was plywood sandwich. The whole vessel was covered with an external Cascover sheathing for protection.

She was with her original owner Desmond Molins until his death in the late 1980s, and has changed ownership a couple of times since then. The design has certainly stood the test of time, extensively refitted recently she looks and performs as well as ever. A testament to the man who’s name the company takes.