History of Holman & Pye
FROM: http://www.hustler-owners.org.uk/history/
TEXT:
History of Holman & Pye
This page is intended to provide an overview of the Holman & Pye design studio. A full comprehensive account of the Holman & Pye story is available at the Little Ships club website. I prefer to credit them and link to their excellent piece on Kim Holman rather than try to recreate it here. With this in mind I’ve created a brief overview with links to the full history towards the end.
An Overview of Holman & Pye
Kim Holman first started designing Yachts in the 1950’s with the yacht designer Jack Francis Jones at Waldringfield, Suffolk. In 1955 Holman designed a 20 foot sloop, Phialle designed specifically to win the 1956 Burnham week Regatta. Phialle won by a large margin and later on also won the Harwich to Ostend race.
In 1957 Kim Holman moved to Mersea Island where he bought a share in Gowens the sail maker located on the island. During this time he designed the 35 foot yawl Rummer of which several clones were built.
It is in 1964 that Don Pye joined with Kim Holman to form Holman & Pye.
Don Pye had previously worked as a draughtsman and was soon working on modifications to the Twister design in order for it to be adapted to the GRP construction. Shortly after Don Pye joined another designer David Cooper became a partner in the Holman & Pye design office.
Kim Holman left the partnership around the late 1960’s. However, Kim Holman’s legacy is that he created a design studio that has created some of the most beautiful yachts ever built.
A full biography on Kim Holman can be found here at the Little Ship Club website.
Kim Holman died on April 8th 2006 age 81. The Daily Telegraph published Kim Holman’s full obituary here.
Holman & Pye Designs from 1959 to 1998
- STELLA 26 – 1959
- ELIZABETHAN 29 – 1960
- STERLING 28 – 1963
- TWISTER 28 – 1964
- ELIZABETHAN 35 – 1965
- RUSTLER 31 – 1965
- VICTORIAN 27 – 1966
- CENTURION 32 – 1968
- SUPER SOVEREIGN – 1969
- HUSTLER 30 – 1970
- BOWMAN 36 – 1970
- HUSTLER 35 – 1971
- HUSTLER 25.5 – 1972
- PUMA 26 – 1972
- BOWMAN 46 CORSAIR – 1972
- SOVEREIGN 35 – 1972
- CORSAIR 45 (HOLMAN & PYE) – 1973
- WAUQUIEZ 33 – 1973
- PHILIPS 43 -- 1974
- BOWMAN 57/58 – 1975
- AMPHITRITE 43 (WAUQUIEZ) – 1975
- UFO 34 – 1975
- PUMA 24 – 1975
- BARBICAN 35 – 1975
- PUMA 34/341 – 1976
- UFO 31 – 1976
- AMPHORA (WAUQUIEZ) – 1976
- SEAMASTER SAILER 815 – 1976
- GLADIATEUR 33 – 1977
- OYSTER 26 – 1978
- SEAMASTER SAILER 925 – 1978
- UFO 27 – 1978
- OYSTER 37 – 1979
- RUSTLER 36 – 1982
- WORTH 40 – 1982
- LEISURE 26 – 1983
- OYSTER 435 – 1984
- OYSTER 37 HERITAGE – 1984
- OYSTER 55 – 1985
- OYSTER 46 – 1985
- OYSTER 406 – 1988
- OYSTER 70 – 1990
- OYSTER 485 – 1994
- OYSTER 42 – 1998
Practical Boat Owner ran a series revealing this History of Holman & Pye and a number of mini reviews of many of the designs listed above. The article was in two parts and appeared in the June 2009 and July 2009 editions. Hustler’s were mentioned in Part 2.
If you are interested in reading the article it can be bought online from YBW by clicking on the link below… Holman & Pye Classics A history Part 2 – Practical Boat Owner July 2009