(1943–1997)

Denis Ganley specialised in designing safe, easy-to-build cruising yachts for construction in steel.

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Natural sailor

Denis Ganley was born in Hamilton and grew up by its lake. He helped his father build a Frostbite dinghy and later raced P Class and Q Class boats. He did a marine engineering apprenticeship in England before returning to New Zealand to work as the designer for Marine Steel.

Ganley built his first design in 1968 – the plywood 24-foot (7.32m) Lone Gull. His daughter’s birth in 1970 prompted the family to spend ‘one glorious year’ aboard the yacht.

‘Steel away’

In 1974, Ganley set up Denis Ganley Yacht Design Ltd, advertising the business with the catchline ‘Steel away with a Denis Ganley yacht design’. The misspelling was intentional – Ganley had discovered steel and believed it offered the greatest strength and safety for serious cruising.

Ganley designed easy-to-build cruising yachts for amateur and professional builders. His designs ranged from plywood 22-footers to all-steel double-enders.

Cruising to success

Ganley’s most successful design was his Caique cruiser (1979/80). He set himself a challenge to build a boat of reasonable size in 10 weeks for less than $1500. The 24-foot (7.32m) Caique came in at $1352.

In 1986, Ganley won the Steel Award (Consumer category) for his Pacemaker 40 design. The award, which had never been given for a boat before, recognised ‘the innovative use of steel in a commercial manner’. It proved that performance yachts could be produced from steel. Ganley also began designing steel powerboats around this time, from trawlers to cruisers.

In 1997, Ganley was tragically killed with his wife in a car accident. At the time of his death there were more than 1,000 Ganley-designed boats sailing or being built around the world.