When John Hardy founded Hardy Marine back in 1976 he focused on the production of small motor sailers. So popular were his high quality Colin Mudie-designed craft, that in 1982 the company’s North Walsham, Norfolk manufacturing facility was expanded to accommodate demand. As the company grew, the focus switched to small but solidly built motor boats, including the evergreen Pilot 20 and popular Seawings range but in 1997 the company took a big step upmarket with the Andrew Wolstenholme-designed semi-displacement Hardy 36. This was followed by the Commander 32, the Commodore 42, the Hardy 50 of 2004, and ultimately the Hardy 62 in 2013.
NEW LIFE
Some years earlier, John Hardy had sold the business to Mark Funnell but Mark’s untimely passing in 2012 at the age of just 49 took the wind out of the company’s sails. In 2013 the business was sold to Windboats, which retained ownership until 2020 when Falmouth-based Cockwells Modern & Classic Boatbuilding bought the brand and started breathing new life into the range.
Hardy’s rugged construction, useful turn of speed and legendary seaworthiness means the popularity is used as a mobile test bed for its latest nav gear and can often be spotted in and around the Solent. While the power of association – the marketing mantra which asserts we judge each other by the company we keep – might lead you to think that these connections with the RNLI and Raymarine would push sales of the Hardy brand into the big league, the larger models at least remain strangely elusive. The Hardy 50 featured here, for example, is one of just six built.
