Come and visit our stand at the London Boat Show (6th-15th January 2012), stand SB03 and SB11 in the north hall, to see our new BayRaider Expedition and BayCruiser 23. We will also be on hand to discuss the new 26 and of course, the other boats from our range.

The New BayCruiser 26 from Swallow Boats will combine graceful classic lines with thoroughly modern performance and ease of handling. She will be built using the best materials and highest quality craftsmanship to deliver a yacht that will sail exceptionally fast, and will be easy to manage single handed.

Click here to see more information

This Autumn, Swallowboats will be at no fewer than 4 international boat shows:

• Southampton Boat Show, 16^th-25^th September (UK).
• Le Grand Pavois, 14^th -19^th September,  La Rochelle (en France).
• Newport International Boat Show, 15^th-18^th September, Newport, Rhode Island (USA).
• Annapolis International Boat Show, 6-10^th October, Annapolis, Maryland (USA).

At the Southampton Boat Show, we will have three boats on display this year. The brand new BayRaider Expedition (a BayRaider 20 with a cuddy cabin), the BayCruiser 23, with updated interior layout, and a BayRaider 17. We have a limited number of tickets available for the show so if you are interested in seeing us, please email charlotte”at”swallowboats.com who may be able to help you.

At the La Rochelle Boat Show, our French Distributor, St Briac Nautic will also have a BayCruiser 23 on their stand, in addition to a BayRaider 20. Please contact them using the “International dealers” link on the top left if you would like more information.

Swallow Boats USA will be at the Newport and Annapolis boat shows where they will be exhibiting the ever popular BayRaider 20. They will also be very happy to discuss the 23 and other boats in the range that we ship to the US. Please contact usa”at”swallowboats.com if you would like more information.

Swallowboats will be trailing their BayCruiser 23 various places in the UK this Spring/Summer in order for potential customers to have a go:

The first confirmed date is IPSWICH, Fri 13th - Sunday 15th May 2011.

We hope to arrive about midday on the 13th and should be ready for the first customers by about 1400. On Sunday 15th we would like to pull the boat out of the water at about 1400 in order to drive home, so last bookings at 1300.

If you would like to attend then please contact us (email) with your preferred time slot. We will work on roughly 1 hour sails, starting on the hour. Please let me know how many people will be in your party, as we may have to take more than one group out together. If you are able to make it on Friday you may get more of my time as I am likely to be busier over the weekend.

We would like to run a similar event on the South coast and are looking for suitable venues. We ideally want all tide sailing, a pontoon to exchange crew and a nearby slipway. At present it is looking like Chichester Harbour/Southampton Water area, but we are also interested in holding an event in Plymouth if there is sufficient interest. Please contact us if you would like to express an interest in attending, or if you have any suitable venue ideas.

We look forward to seeing you!

This boat has been sold

A unique opportunity to jump the normal build queue and get a GRP BayRaider 20 brand new at 2010 prices.

Hull is dark green with cream gelcoat under the waterline. She is being completed as I write and should be available by end of March 2011

Please contact us if you are interested.

This boat has now been sold

Swallowboats will be exhibiting a Cardigan Bay Lugger at the Stockholm International Boat Show in Sweden this spring.
The boat is being exhibited with the kind permission of her Swedish owner and we hope to use the show to find dealers (particularly for our GRP range) in Scandinavia.

Swallow Boats will be exhibiting at the London Boat Show in January, on their own stand for the first time.

We will bring our new BayCruiser 23 in GRP and the new BayRaider 17. The layout of the show has changed this year and we will be in the North hall at the eastern end, on stand number C108.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Swallow Boats will again be exhibiting at the Southampton International Boat Show, on the Wooden Boat Builders Trade Association stand.
Located right next to the main entrance, we will have a BayRaider 20 and the new BayCruiser 23 on display.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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.