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History The classic English Shakespeare speed boats are named after their designer, William Shakespeare. William, or Bill, raced
powerboats from 1960 until 1971 when he was tragically killed on Lake Windermere while practicing for the Windermere Grand Prix. The year before, he had set the world speed record of 104 mph (90 knots). Take a look at
Bill Shakespeare's original 1962 Wooden Race boat found in the bushes of someone's back garden! In the beginning of his career, he started his own firm - here's a picture of the
Shakespeare boat yard. The boat business didn't do well without his direction, went through several ownerships and oil crises, and
finally collapsed around 1978. What happened after 1978 is unclear (to me) but a Shakespeare company must have been resurrected, since many boats were built in the eighties. Later, in 1990, a circuit racer called
Francis Whitley, current owner and director of Shakespeare Marine,
asked the designer (Lorne Campbell) of his boat to also design new boats for Shakespeare. Besides the name, there does not seem to be any other connection to the original Shakespeare company. In 1995 Francis Whitley let Brunello Acampora and Victory Design do a new range of boats and the 830 was the first outcome of this co-operation. Later a 600, 650 and a 960
have been launched. A company in Essex in England called Waverider, however, continued building the old Shakespeare models with model names such as Summersport, Magna, and Mustang. The company now trades using another name (Maldon/Morlan/Mayland? Boats) having been advised by local "experts" that the name 'Waverider Sports Boats'
wasn't an established brand name. They lost the Waverider moulds in a fire around 1997, but can supply spares like trim and windshield etc.
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