User:Lord Jim 2004/sandbox

The Whiting Reactor is a modern NZ classic. These yachts were first designed and built in the late 1960s and during the 1970s by Paul and Penny Whiting of Whiting Yachts. They are strongly built yachts that have stood the test of time:  as well built hulls, as easily handled, safe yachts and as satisfying racing and cruising yachts.

Notable passages have been made to Australia, and there is a Reactor rumoured to be in the Mediterranean!

By modern standards the Reactor is heavily built in hand-laid fibreglass, however most skippers report the satisfaction that comes with sailing a solid hull that has an easy motion in a seaway.

One valued trait of the Reactor is their well-known resistance to osmosis, attributed to Paul Whiting’s study of American production boat construction at the time. Relatively few Reactors suffer from the dreaded blisters.

The Reactor incorporated some innovative design elements too – she was an early exponent of the ‘bustle’, a trick used by designers to carry beam aft, before an upturned stern.

The Reactor has aged well and continues to provide satisfying racing and cruising to owners old and new.