The Westsail story starts with the Kendall 32

Images courtesy of Jill Upchurch & Bruce Bird.

"Back in the dark ages ( the late 1960’s) , Larry Kendall and a group of 4 or 5 other boatbuilders wanted boats for themselves, but did not want to build wood hulls. They chose, instead, to pool their resources, make a mold, and build fiberglass hulls for themselves, each helping the others do the lamination, but paying for their own materials and a share in the cost of the molds. They picked the Atkins 32’ Thistle design, and had the naval architect Bill Crealock modify the lines slightly, and advise them on the design details.

The guys laminated their hulls, and started building, with flush decks. They were all lined up in a small yard in Costa Mesa, with an old house in front, used as an office, and a small garage, used for laminating and as a workshop. Other interested boatowners and builders would come by, and ask if they could get one of the hulls for themselves. Most of the guys only wanted a boat for themselves, but Larry was able to convince the rest to let him use the mold, and so the Kendall 32 was born. Larry also put a small ad in Yachting Magazine, and got a very big response. He was able to build about another 25 or so hulls, before the real world of trying to operate a business on a shoestring, and being a better boatbuilder than a businessman, caught up with him. The bank and the feds closed in on him, and he had to declare bankruptcy."  Bud Taplin - from Westsail Corporation

"W32 #37 Misty was the first of the four Westsail 32's built as production boats.  W#32 and W#33 were built as prototypes by Kendall for Westsail, and the sales were from orders that Kendall had for complete boats with a trunk cabin, instead of kits with flush decks."  Bud Taplin via email.

Depending on how you count, 36 Kendall 32 were produced before the first official Westsail W32 #37 was  built by Westsail.

Here is a list of the K32 original owners - from Bud Taplin.

Original Kendall owners that I got from some of the original records – Bud Taplin 1/10/2022.

K32  #1 Bill Sheehan – Sundance

K32  #2 Lon Woodrum – Jolly Tar

K32  #3 Woody Covington or Earl Ancell

K32  #4 Jim Doyle – Amigo

K32  #5 Bob Burns – Candace Star

K32  #6 John Kew

K32  #7 Roger Fowler - Scarab

K32  #8 Marcel Auger

K32  #9 Howard Conant

K32 #10 Bill Ruth

K32 #11 Jack Wilken - Hope

K32 #12 Jim Slatt

K32 #13 Mike Bectal

K32 #14

K32 #15 Bill Field

K32 #16 Jim Slatt

K32 #17 Dick Held – Fair Wind

K32 #18 Gene Soma - Senta To

K32 #19 E. R. Haberman

K32 #20 Jeff Douglas

K32 #21 Tom Mulcher - Kitrina

K32 #22 Glenn Reyonolds - Destiny

K32 #23 Unknown but maybe Jim Demko

K32 #24 Dick Jenness - Spray

K32 #25 Randy Palmer – East Orange

K32 #26 Greg Wood

K32 #27 Bill Beck - Tomorrow

K32 #28 Shirley Clark - Downbeat

K32 #29 John Golden – Irish Elm

K32 #30 Lew Knapik - Mischief

K32 #31 Jock Fugitt – Aquila

K32 #32 Dan MacMurphy – Mary Mac

K32 #33 James Johansson – Frida

Names but unknown hull number

Richard Gillett – Tenacity

Ramon Juncal

Hector Weise – La Independencia

David Francis