Allan West

Allan’s involvement in sport and the outdoors has been a long and varied one. Like most young Kiwis, he was bought up on a diet of beaches, sun and sailing. The early years were spent sailing at the local yacht club and at the tough West Coast beaches of New Zealand where, as a member of Muriwai Surf Club he paddled surf skis, surf canoes and rowed in 4 man surf boats to a Gold medal in the NZ Champs, culminating in three seasons as a professional Lifeguard.

Allen WestWhile involved in the beach scene, Allan also rode off road motorcycles in NZ Enduro and Motocross events. Honda noticed the talented rider and sponsored Allan: he returned the favour winning the NZ Enduro Championship and sealed a sponsorship deal with Honda which would last 13 years.

After succeeding in New Zealand Allan moved to Australia and continued his off road racing with Honda Australia; winning numerous State titles and the Australian Open Championship. He also represented Australia at the World Championships in Czechoslovakia and later in Germany.

After working for Honda as a rider, instructor and sales rep, Allan opened his own dealership in Coffs Harbour on the East Coast of New South Wales. The dealership, which gained great exposure through his racing results, was a busy and successful one and Allan sold it after nine years so he could return to New Zealand and “change direction” back into the sailing scene.

After working on several cruising and racing yachts, Allan was fortunate to become involved in Ellen MacArthurs Kingfisher project and since then he “hasn’t stopped working on Open 60s”.

Ellen and her campaign made a great impact and was a huge lesson to all involved in how to run a professional sailing project.

Since then Allan has travelled the world working on various Open 60 projects, TP52s and more recently the winning Ericsson Volvo Race Team. His broad knowledge and experience of the Open class of yacht, combined with the Kiwi work ethic, has created a demand for his services.

In New Zealand, Allan is the “go to” man for Open class yachts and in the recent Vendee his services where required by no less than 4 yachts as they worked to repair the carnage.

“Working on Open 60s is a real pleasure, says Allan, and I enjoy the fact that these yachts are at the leading edge of monohull sailing technology. Combine this with the preparation and mental toughness required for solo sailing and every project becomes a very real challenge. Success is in the detail.”