The Teifi Boat Club (TBC) is kindly making their facilities available to all Drascombe Association members and other owners of similar craft over this weekend of sailing. Good slipway, landing pontoon, showers, bar and catering available.  Friday evening arrival and / or Sunday evening stopovers welcome.

Gareth Rowlands, a local Storm 17 owner has again kindly volunteered to organise the event which will run on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th June 2010.
The plan of action is similar to last year, with an informal race on the Saturday (venturing up river if the weather is bad) followed by a cruise down the coast on Sunday. One important difference this year is that we intend to launch from Poppit Sands, a local all tide beach, hiring a landrover to facilitate this. This means we can make an early start, heading down the coast to Newport sands for lunch, and back up to the Teifi for recovery at the club. The coastline is part of the stunning Pembrokeshire coast path and we should stand a great chance of seeing dolphins and seals.

To register for the event, please email us matt at swallowboats.com and I will forward you a brief application form and more details.

We look forward to seeing you!

Hardly an exciting piece of news but we have been gradually trying to move offices from the old workshop site to the new. Both telephone numbers work though in time we hope to phase out use of the old number.

Old number: +44 (0)1239 615140
New number: +44 (0)1239 615482

The original Storm 17 has been sold for her asking price. This was the boat that convinced me to jump ship, give up my proper job and work at Swallow Boats full time. I would really like the new owners to get in touch if possible

You can read more about her on our forum

There were two important sailing events last weekend (26-27th June 08). The first was the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, organised by the Island Sailing Club. The second, of course was the Swallow Boats Regatta, organised and hosted by the Teifi Boat Club in Cardigan.

Conditions were a challenging force 4, gusting to force 6. Cardigan Bar at the mouth of the estuary, was best described as dodgy and the race organisers wisely decided to hold Saturdays race inside the Estuary.

A total of 11 boats took part: 2 Drascombe Luggers, a Selway Fisher designed Petite Brise, a Storm Petrel, a Storm 15, 3 Storm 17s and 3 BayRaiders.

The race was pretty informal and in the end was won in slightly controversial circumstances by our two apprentices sailing in our Storm 17.  The lads were slightly economical with the course but as no official protest was made, the good spirit of the event held sway and they accepted their trophy in the club house on Saturday evening over a pint and a barbeque.

On Sunday, the late tide gave us the opportunity to trail 6 miles up the coast to the comparative shelter of Aberporth beach, where rally organiser Gareth Rowlands had pre arranged a launch by tractor to get us over the soft sand. Winds were at least as strong as the day before, with considerable gusts and shifts. I sailed on a BayRaider with Jeff, one of the lads who works with us. Laughing in the face of these conditions we hoisted the un-reefed mainsail, declined to fill the tanks (they take a knot off your top speed) and pointed her out to sea.

A few minutes later reality struck as gust after gust hit us, the boat luffing up each time, but unable to stand up to full main. In the end we dropped it completely and still managed a respectable 5 knots with 6 down the waves under jib and mizzen alone. This combination is a huge safety feature and really emphasised again to me how useful this rig is. The other BayRaiders had done the same, and we hammered a mile or two out into Cardigan bay side by side with the swell getting bigger. There is something about sailing in company like this that is hugely enjoyable.

We headed shoreward to a sheltered MOD-owned beach for lunch - technically landing is prohibited but it was Sunday in West Wales... The sun came out and I got a few pictures.

After lunch we had to careen a few boats as their centreboards had become jammed with the shingle as we had pulled them up the beach on the rising tide. Luckily it was a simple job to unjam them and we set sail. This time we tried a reefed mainsail, but within seconds I had my closest near-capsize in a BayRaider as a huge gust seemed to come from nowhere and nearly knocked us flat! Down came the main and we carried on happily for another hour before it was time for retrieval from Aberporth beach.

The weekend ended with a high tea with scones and cream laid on in the Teifi BC club house before people headed home. A thorougly enjoyable weekend.

I would like to thank Gareth Rowlands who did the bulk of the organising and the Teifi BC, particularly Ian Carswell for race organisation and the Ladies who provided the food.

Next year will be even bigger and better, watch this space...

We are also exhibiting at Southampton Boat Show this summer, 12-20th September, and our new French distributor will be displaying our BayRaider at Le Grand Pavois in La Rochelle, 10th -15th September. Please contact us for more details.
Lastly, we will also have a BayRaider on display at Hanseboot, in Hamburg, Germany, from 25th October to 2nd November.
We look forward to meeting you there.

Writing this in the middle of a wet and cold January, it is great to imagine warmer weather and sailing events this summer. Top of your 2008 list should be our local event, organised by the Teifi Boat Club, on the 28^th and 29^th June. They have kindly invited all Swallow Boaters, Drascombers and traditional day boats to a friendly regatta and cruise over the weekend in the beautiful Cardigan Bay. The area is renowned for dolphins, seals, and sandy beaches with a host of other amenities for families to enjoy.

Weather permitting, we hope to be able to enjoy two days of excellent sailing with a friendly race on the Saturday and cruise in company down the coast (via any beaches we fancy for lunch) on the Sunday. On Saturday night the clubhouse (set in the sheltered sand dunes overlooking the estuary) will host a barbeque and bar for those that want to socialise whilst on Sunday there will be a high tea for hungry travellers. There are plenty of nearby campsites, bed and breakfast and hotels.

The Teifi BC is 5 minute walk from our new workshop, which should definitely be finished by then! We will be happy to show any interested parties round and we can provide overflow parking and overnight space for any camper vans (though we regret the ground will be a little uncomfortable for tents). 

If that is not reason alone to come to West Wales, Milford Haven is again hosting their maritime festival for traditional boats, SeaFair Haven, the week before our Teifi event. Milford Haven is about an hour south of Cardigan, the whole stretch of this Welsh coastline is just gorgeous, with hundreds of sandy beaches and stunning cliffs. SeaFair lasts from 18-25^th June and is a very relaxed affair. Participants can do the whole thing or just join in for a day or two. More details can be found on their website. http://www.seafairhaven.org.uk

Anyone interested in taking part in the Teifi Boat Club weekend should email the organiser Gareth Rowlands for full details and a registration form, or get in touch with me and I can pass you on. There is a £5 administration fee which covers launching and use of the club facilities. We do need to know numbers in advance, so please get in touch.