In 1958 the Halvorsen brothers designed and built a timber sloop, 'Freya', then raced her to 3 consecutive victories in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Freya is still the only yacht to have won the event three times.

HMG (Halvorsen, Morsen and Gowland) built a sister ship to the same design as Freya, but constructed in steel. She has a canoe-shaped stern, a 3/4 length, deep V keel and flowing curves without any hard chines typical of most steel yachts.

Weatherly has a spruce mast with single spreaders and stainless steel rigging. Running backstays are used in choppy seas to ease pumping of the mast.

Roller furling on genoa/yankee headsails and inner staysail allows easy control from the cockpit.
A large, yellow MPS can be flown on light downwind courses. This sail can be quickly muzzled by a large sock and lowered by halyard.

The mainsail has 3 reefing points and full length battens. Lazy-jacks help collect the sail when reefing or dropping.

A 36hp Mercedes Benz diesel and ZF electric gearbox are light to operate from the cockpit.

Her displacement is 15 tonnes and draft is 6 feet (2.0m)

I bought Weatherly in May 1995 and spent 3 years preparing her and gaining experience on shakedown trips.

Other equipment I installed are wind-vane, solar panels, wind generator, radar, HF radio, GPS, 406 EPIRB, desalinator, effluent treatment system, safety equipment, sun coverings, 5 anchors and new chain, a dinghy and outboard.