Sadler Yachts was one of the most successful builders in the UK during it's period of operation. Following the success of the Contessa 26 and 32, David Sadler set up with his son Martin a small boat building operation in 1974, and their first boat was the Sadler 25. Following his experience with the very successful Contessa range, the 25 was the forerunner of the Sadler range of boats. The 25 quickly became popular as a club racing boat and had many successes in longer races such as Round Britain and Transatlantic. This was a tough boat for seagoing, had the latest fin keel and skeg configuration, was robustly constructed and provided a safe, small family cruiser with wide appeal. Some 300 were built between 1974 and 1981. Boats built in the last two years were generally better constructed. These later boats had a well laid out interior, with GRP sub-mouldings and a slightly taller rig, which made the yacht even more competitive.
It was inevitable that David Sadler would extend his experience gained in the Contessa 32 into the Sadler range. This happened towards the end of 1979, when the Sadler 32 appeared and this was to be another success story. David built into the Sadler 32 a number of new desirable features which were considered lacking in the Contessa 32. The most important of these was a requirement for more accommodation, a stiffer yacht and one which would rate favourably under the current IOR rating rule.
The result was the elegant Sadler 32, which received immediate enthusiastic acclaim from the yachting press and clearly possessed all the desirable attributes of the modern cruiser/racer. The boat was developed with a straighter sheer line, more beam, increased freeboard, cambered decks and this gave greatly improved interior accommodation. The canoe type stern and small transom provided for a smooth water flow and easy motion at sea.
Just over 300 Sadler 32s were built between 1979 and 1989, when the moulds were purchased by Mike Slack on the East Coast, who went on to build about fourteen yachts. The moulds have now been bought by Andy Middleton (ex Sadler employee, telephone: 01202 631608), who is currently able to build new Sadler 32s to special order. Incidentally, he also has the Sadler 25 moulds and has built several of these boats for customers in the UK.
There was a major mile stone, (the millstone came later!) in the history of Sadler, when Martin having completed a yacht building course at Southampton College, developed the desirable notion of unsinkability as being a key factor in the decision to buy a family cruising boat.
The unmistakable profile of the popular Sadler 29, followed quickly by the 26, came to the market in 1981. This was the boat which gained immediate acceptance as a family cruiser with standing headroom right through the cabins, separate toilet, dinette in main cabin and this wonderful feature of "unsinkability".
The yacht was rendered unsinkable by bonding into the inside of the hull a completely separate interior moulding, which also provided for the galley, bunk bases, chart table module and all manner of features cleverly moulded in as an integral part of the hull structure. All the voids between the interior moulding and the hull were then filled with expanded polyurethane foam. This was inserted in liquid form and rapidly expanded to fill all the voids available.
This foam was of "closed cell" construction, thus rendering it impervious to moisture. Water was unable to progress through the foam - unlike many other smaller unsinkable boats, where the foam absorbed moisture.
Tests were in due course carried out on a Sadler 26, by opening all the seacocks whilst sailing off Poole in 22 to 25 knots of wind. The results were dramatically impressive and written up in several yachting magazines, since the boat could continue to be sailed, with the natural water level only coming upto the bunk bases. In fact, as part of the test, the little yacht was overburdened with water from a remote fire pump, which initially made the motion a little "groggy". However, the boat went off sailing again and the water attained its natural level (just above bunk base) and finally sailed home.
Nearly 400 Sadler 29s were built and about 200 Sadler 26s, so there are a fair number of Sadlers in service, giving owners this great feeling of security in the event of the unforeseen happening.
EVOLUTION OF THE SADLER 34
A natural development of the unsinkable design was to progress towards a bigger yacht and the Sadler 34 came to prominence in 1983. Some 260 of these cruising yachts were built until they ceased production twelve years later in about 1995.
Immediately popular with charter groups, sail training organisations and the Services, the Sadler 34 achieved many notable successes. Providing all the sturdiness and comfort of a larger cruising yacht, the 34 also had a fair turn of speed and excellent seagoing capability. With easy entry and a fair hull shape, the boat had a sea-kindly performance and provided an excellent motion at sea.
With full standing headroom right through, separate heads facility to one side of the companionway, separate aft cabin, substantial galley and a really comfortable main saloon, this yacht was widely acclaimed by the yachting press.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Sadler was among the "big three" boat builders and they launched into the unusually styled Barracuda 46. This was a big step for Sadler, to develop a new yacht with many technical innovations such as lifting keel, twin rudders, shifting water ballast and other ideas which were well ahead of all the other boat builders. This of course led to exposure through the national media, particularly as a result of the television series "Howards Way", when the Barracuda became the best known cruising yacht ever.
Sad to say, only 19 of these yachts were built and the "hype" associated with this boat and Howards Way, probably distracted senior management, to the extent that Sadler Yachts went into receivership in August 1988.
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