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1: July 29, 2008; new boat ordered I have contacted Swallow Boats to ask them to build me a Baycruiser. I have never had a new boat before, let alone commissioned one to be built from scratch. I fell in love with the open Bayraider at the Beale Park Boat show. When Matt Newland of Swallow boats told me they could build a cabin version, I was lost. I will try to record here the progress of the project. |
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June 7, 2008 Beale Park Boat Show This is the Bayraider at Beale Park last June. It looked lovely sailing here and filled all our needs, apart from having a cabin;
I just had to say the word and they would build the Baycruiser, with cabin and all creature comforts. I've just said the word... |
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July 25, 2008 Cardigan Bay Going back a couple of days. I spent July 25 at Swallow Boats in Cardigan, meeting Matt Newland and his team, looking at the boat workshop and seeing how the Bayraider sailed on the sea. The boats are just beautiful and the new workshop is very impressive. They have been building in epoxy sheathed plywood for years, which is the material I wanted. I was impressed by everything and so decided to go for it. A long sail on a falling tide in the open Bayraider sealed the deal, as far as I was concerned. The slightly unnerving aspect of it all is ordering a significantly different boat, with a cabin, and wondering if it will retain all of the character of the Bayraider. We shall see. |
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Rigging the Bayraider: One thing that attracts me to the design is the rig. A gunter rigged yawl of a very modern form. Carbon fibre yard and mizzen and all sails fully boomed. The sprit boom of the main means it needs no kicking strap to hold it down. The mizzen sprit boom means it can really drive down wind and can swing the stern round when head to wind. The club footed jib means it is self tacking and doesn't flog in the wind. All big plus points for me. The YouTube video here shows the basic stages of rigging it all up. It can be done in under 10 minutes, but there was no rush here. This boat has a GRP hull and a carbon fibre main mast. The last option I might go for, for ease of rigging and reduction in high level weight. |
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Nov 2, 2008: Even more boats! Can we
have too many? In preparation for my BayCruiser, I have started to
restore my old Blue Peter dinghy to use as a tender. It is
proving a bigger job than I anticipated and I have been keeping a diary
of progress, to remind me what I had to do. If you are interested you
can see it here,