Leisure Yachts Timeline
1959 Brian Meerloo sets up Cobramold in a WW2 Romney shed at Stansted Airport.
1965 Cobramold revolutionises the design of traditional, wooden Broads cruisers with the GRP moulded, 39 foot, "Caribbean" type cruiser.
1967 Leisure 17 makes it's debut at the Earls Court Boat Show. Selling price £495, same as BMC Mini. Designer is Arthur Howard. The L17 Remains in production for 23 years until 1990. Over 3,500 built.
1967/68 John Adam sails a Leisure 17, “Eve”, to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and then on to Antigua in the Caribbean. Heading for Florida, John is wrecked off the Cuban coast and arrested as a suspected spy but later released.
1968 Practical Boat Owner (PBO May edition) produces a review of the L17
1970 John Adam launches "Windpilot"
1971 Leisure 22, designed by Graham Caddick is announced. L22 and L17 are now exported to Germany and Holland.
1972 The 1000th Leisure rolls off the production line and is presented to a Mr Hayes, a blind sailor.
1974 Leisure 23 designed by Frank Pryor launched.
1975 Leisure 20, designed by Horst E Glacier, launched and aimed at the German and European market where many inland waterways have a 20 foot restriction on leisure craft. Mr Glacier designed the hull and Brian Meerloo, the deck and cabin.
1977 Leisure Club Holland launched and is still going strong in 2024.
1977 Leisure 27, designer Frank Pryor, launched around November that year.
1978 -1979 SL models of 17 and 23 appear. Brian Meerloo redesigns the coach roof and windows to a modern looking "wedgie shape".
1978 German import agency, Leisure GMBH, from a new marina at Schleswig, import hulls for 43 and 46 foot yachts from Taiwan. Six are fitted out.
1980 Leisure 29 arrives, basically a Leisure 27 with a two foot longer cockpit. The original L27 moulds were reportedly re-cycled to produce the L29.
1980 Cobramold is forced into liquidation when funds within Leisure GBMH in Germany disappear, leaving parent company Cobramold owed many thousands.
1981 Brinecraft under Tom Winyard buy the Leisure moulds and take over production of the L17SL, L20, L23SL and is joined by Peter Meerloo, brother of Brian Meerloo, founder of Cobramold.
1982 The Leisure Owners Association (LOA) is launched by Geoff Godfrey on the South and Colin Shead on the East coast. First edition of Saltings aappears.
1983 Boating Scene of Basildon, Essex, act as distributors for new “Leisure Yachts” being produced by Brinecraft and also supply spare parts for older boats
1983 Lynx 29 is produced by Jaguar Yachts from the moulds of the Leisure 29 which were purchased from Brinecraft.
1986 Leisure 23 “Stormy” skippered by Danish sailor, Svend Billesbølle completes a solo, four year voyage around the world.
1987 A catastrophic fire in August at Brinecraft brings production of Leisure yachts in the UK to an end. Moulds and production of the L17SL and the L23SL are moved to Germany.
1987 Practical Boat Owner (PBO) produce a review of the L23SL
1988 Boating Scene of Basildon, Essex import new L17s and L23s from Germany and act as UK distributors of Leisure Yachts. Boating Scene advise the LOA that spare parts will be available but supply from abroad will be much slower.
1989 Leisure 27SL - Boating Scene "adopt" the Leisure name and use it to “badge” a Mirage 27 which becomes the “Leisure 27SL”. The Leisure 27SL is a fine sailing yacht but bears no resemblance to the original Cobramold Leisure 27.
1993 Boating Scene close down as yacht distributors, to concentrate on caravans. The import of new Leisures and spare parts comes to an end.
1993 Spare Parts provision: LOA appoint Peter Sewell as “Technical Advisor” to deal with enquiries over spares for Leisure yachts.
1994 Leisure 18 Cory Yachts, of Sandwich in Kent, negotiate the use of the Leisure brand name and produce two new designs, an L18 and a L24. Around twelve Leisure 18s are built but the 24 existed only in prototype.
1996 Leisure Owners Association Website launched by Colin Shead.
1996 Cory Yachts reportedly cease production of the L18 due to the cost of complying with the EU Recreational Craft Directive of 1994.
1997 The Leisure Association agree to finance the making of moulds to provide new rudders and skegs for Leisure Yachts, some of which are now 30 years old. Brian Meerloo is asked to oversee the venture, using Rice and Cole at Burnham On Crouch for moulds and glass fibre work.
1998 Leisure 22, Valkyrien, sails from Norway to New Zealand. http://www.krovik.com/Valkyrien/batene.htm
1999 Brian Meerloo is reportedly unwell and Peter Sewell once again takes up the role of technical adviser and contact for spares.
2001 Ford Motor Company agree to print Saltings as part of their “Ford In The Community” initiative. (LOA Commodore, Ted Perkins, is a Ford employee.) In lieu of payment to Ford, LOA would make a donation to a charity such as the Cirdan Sailing Trust. This arrangement continues for sixteen years until the end of 2017 and raises over £15,000 for charity.
2006 After nearly 14 years, the task of providing of spare parts for Leisure Yachts passes from Peter Sewell to Gerry Askham.
2007 Spares Contract. A contract is drawn up between Hurst Marine (Gerry Askham) and the LOA. The contract confirms that the LOA retain ownership of the detailed stock of Leisure moulds. Hurst Marine are granted a license to use the moulds when required to produce new parts.
2007 Twenty fifth anniversary of the Leisure Owners Association and thirtieth year of the Leisure Club Holland
2008 Leisure Owners Association website upgraded and re-launched.
2008 Owners Manuals first published for L17, L23 and L27
2012 A Turkish sailor in an L17, sails single handed from Bodrum in Turkey to Plymouth in the UK, crossing Biscay in October/November.
Laymar Marine buy the moulds for the Leisure 18 from Cory Yachts.
2013 Practical Boat Owner (April edition. No 559) publish a six page editorial on Leisure Yachts.
2017 50th Anniversary of the launch of the first Leisure 17 by Cobramold and 35 years since the Leisure Owners Association started.
Saltings magazine becomes available as a digital publication and printing by Fords at Dagenham comes to and end after 16 years.
LOA member Kevin Gilroy completes a solo sail around Britain in L27, Dark Star.
2019 Brian Meerloo and Graham Caddick: Sadly Brian Meerloo (founder of Cobramold and builder of Leisure Yachts) and Graham Caddick (designer of the L22) both pass away.
2020 Covid 19 pandemic causes a national “lockdown” and little sailing takes place. Colin Shead steps down as LOA Webmaster, a post he has held for 24 years since setting up the website in 1986.
2020 Leisure Time replaces the LOA magazine “Saltings” which was first published in 1982. The new publication provides a new name and a new look to the club’s magazine.
2022 40th Anniversary of the Leisure Owners Association. UK and overseas membership now stands at 770.
2024 LOA Website updated and relaunched.
East Down Yacht Club, Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland report 25 Leisure 17s in the club and receive the RNLI “Club Project of The Year” award
Note:
With most written records lost following administration in 1980 and the catastrophic fire of 1987, it has been difficult to compile a completely accurate historical record of boat numbers.
Most of the above dates were provided during a series of interviews with Brian Meerloo, the original co founder of Cobramold.
Others who actually built Leisure Yachts, such as Jerry Gilmer have been most helpful in tightening up on dates. Jerry worked at Brinecraft and double checked the date of the Brinecraft fire to confirm it happened in August 1987.
Many thanks also to long time Leisure owner from Holland, Anton Berkhout who provided very useful original brochures which helped confirm more accurately some dates in this Timeline.
Timeline compiled by Kevin Gilroy.