The Shearwater catamaran, one of the UK's most enduring and technically progressive multihull classes, celebrates its 70th year as a class, evolving from cold-molded timber to today's full carbon, foam-cored epoxy structures. That evolution continues with the latest Shearwater racing catamaran built by Zest Boatworks, under the direction of owner and boatbuilder Pete Jary. Built using advanced composite materials from Gurit, the boat represents the cutting edge of Shearwater design while remaining firmly rooted in the class's rich heritage.
The unfinished boat was displayed at the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show 2026, offering a rare opportunity to see the structure and materials behind a modern high-performance racing catamaran.
The Evolution of the Shearwater Design
The original Shearwater 1, launched in the mid-1950s, was conceived as a lightweight, fast catamaran built using the materials and methods of its era. Early boats featured cold-molded laminated timber hulls and timber crossbeams, pushing performance boundaries at a time when multihulls were still a rarity on UK waters.
As the class developed, Shearwater 2 and 3 designs refined hull shapes, beam geometry and rig layouts, steadily improving speed and handling. Crucially, because the Shearwater is a restricted development class rather than a strict one-design, designers and builders were free to innovate, allowing the class to evolve.
Over the following decades, plywood and timber gave way to composite construction and structural efficiency steadily increased. Today's Shearwaters are the result of this continuous refinement, and the latest in development from Zest Boatworks is a full carbon, foam-cored racing vessel designed to deliver exceptional stiffness-to-weight ratios while remaining unmistakably Shearwater in character.
Pete Jary, Owner, Zest Boatworks, says he has been using SP/Gurit materials for over 25 years building and fixing many lightweight racing dinghies, with Ampreg resins as his go-to for new or repair laminates, Spabond as a dependable adhesive for bonding operations, and Corecell M foam as his only core of choice.
Source - The Shearwater Catamaran
