FLIBS 2022: Westport on Consistent Quality and the Yachting Superbowl

Westport Yachts has been dedicated to the construction of high-quality, luxury yachts since its inception in 1964. Over the years, the brand has led the way in pioneering innovative American yacht-building while fulfilling its commitment to deliver “on time, on budget, as promised”.

“This is our Superbowl,” says Daryl Wakefield, reflecting on the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. “It really is our opportunity to showcase what we’re doing, the latest and greatest. Unfortunately, this year we didn’t’ have any latest and greatest products available to put in the show. Plenty of it in the facility back home, but we’ve got a couple of brokerage boats in the show here. They’re a few years older but certainly showcase the great way in which they’ve held up over the years.”

The business model of semi-production yachts built on-speculation has enabled consistency of service and quality, while simultaneously benefitting owners through reduced lead times and the comfort of proven platforms.  

“For as long as I’ve been here, the model has been to build boats on-spec. Start everything on-spec, we sit down and project out for the next couple of years what ideally we see the market absorbing, we don’t always get it right sometimes we’ll change it in that time, but we’ll build that same number of boats.”

Onboard the Westport 112, delivered originally in 2011, it is clear to see the longevity of Westport’s build quality. The yacht oozes the same luxurious finish and performance as a newbuild. The lasting legacy of each Westport yacht is testament to both the skill of the shipyard, but also the value of its special network of trusted partners in the industry.

“These yachts go all over the world,” reflects Daryl, “and we want them to. At the same time, they need service. So, we like predictability. We don’t jump around on brands of equipment onboard. We want long-term relationships.

“It’s a sophisticated machine, things do go wrong. What you do about it is what matters. By having a real consistent supplier, we know if there is a glitch exactly what we need and we can get it to the boat to get it back up and running. We make choices of what goes in the boat based on our successes in the past.”

Though the halt to production during the pandemic was a significant challenge to Westport, the historic yacht-builder has come through with resilience and grace. The sale of a 50m during the pandemic helped to mitigate the impact, and now the yard is returning to a greater production volume.

“Like anything, you work hard at it,” answers Daryl when asked about the secrets to Westport’s longstanding prominence in the industry. “If you build consistency into what you are making, and you build a team around that, it makes it pretty easy to achieve.

“On time, on budget, as promised. That’s drilled into everybody at the factory. It’s what we strive for, what we stand for, and we do everything we can to meet that.”