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Wally Ward
Wally & his son John on JANAWAY from SWS article

GenderMale
Date Born1888
StatusDeceased
Date of Death 1965
NationalityAustralian
HometownSydney
ClubMiddle Harbour Yacht Club

Wally Ward

Wally Ward was a yacht designer from 1937 to 1965

From SWS article below: Walter Roy "Wally" Ward (1888-1965) grew up in Balmain in Sydney and eventually moved to Mosman with his wife Eva and their son John. Wally designed his own house and even built his own plywood caravan and lap streak sailing canoe, as well as designing his own boat JANAWAY in 1937.

SWS Article

Wally Ward Designs And The CA's

                                                                                           By Ian Ward

This article describes the unique history and truly Australian story off Wally Ward Designed Yachts over a period of 30 Years From 1937 To 1965 and beyond. 

The Story Begins with His First Boat Janaway, through A Series of Yachts He Designed for Friends Such as Jasnar, Camira and Caress, to his Unique Collaboration with Ron Swanson.

The various design methods used by Wally are described, including the Metacentric shelf principle which resulted in extremely well-balanced yachts with a sea kindly nature.   

The impressive racing record of CARMEN, CADENCE & CAVALIER and later on, the larger CAMILLE and CAMELOT is told, which led to the widespread popularity of all these boats.

The wonderful adventures of CARRONADE are recounted, along with the many cruising exploits of several other CA's as they affectionately became known.

During the 1970's, after Wally's death, the rating rules changed and Ron Swanson went on to design and build his own stable of boats.

The legacy of Wally Ward designs remains strong today, through both the impressive race records and active involvement of many dedicated owners of his designs in restoring & preserving their boats while enjoying their intrinsic qualities.

Read more about his history in the link above

Cont. from article above

Very soon a whole series of boats were built by the Swanson Brothers for MHYC members including CALLIOPE & CARINYA. CASTERNET finished runner up to the famous Rainbow II in the 1969 Sydney-Hobart race was built by Lidgards in New Zealand.

Many sisterships to CADENCE were built, known affectionately as the "CA's" by their owners, with names such as CARINYA, CARRONADE, CAROUSEL, CASSANDRA, CASTERNET, CAREFREE, CARDINAL PUFF, CAROMA etc. Over 30 boats were built to this design and can be seen in harbours all over the world. The Swanson brothers licenced other builders such as Swarbricks in Perth and Lidgards in Auckland who made several boats locally, many others were built by amateur builders. Collectively they are also known as the 'CARMEN' class.

Sydney-Hobart Race results for Wally Ward boats: 

1950 JASNAR, 8th

1962 CARMEN, 8th

1963 CAVALIER 2nd, CARMEN, 5th, CADENCE 7th

1964 CAMILLE 2nd, CAVALIER 4th, CAVALIER 7th

1965 CAMELOT 2nd, CADENCE 3rd, MR CHRISTIAN 23rd

1966 CADENCE 1st , MR CHRISTIAN 4th, CAMELOT 16th, CARMEN 34th

1967 MR CHRISTIAN 7th, CASTANET 8th, CALLIOPE 11th, CAVALIER 14th, CAMELOT 35th, CARMEN 43rd

1968 CALLIOPE 21st, CAVALIER 29th

1969 CAMELOT 46th, CAVALIER 47th

1970 CADENCE 9th, CAMELOT 25th

1971 CAVALIER 41st, CADENCE 51st, JASNAR 75th

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