Prospective Owner

[BobT]

Hi one and all. This is my first post though I have thoroughly ughly enjoyed browsing the forums over the past months. I am off to  Cardigan for a weekend trip with my good wife and we just happen to be calling in on Swallow Boats on the Monday. I have rather fallen for a BRe! I am a dinghy sailor looking to move to something a little dryer and when need be more stable but can still be rigged, launched, sailed and recovered single handed.
I have a long list of questions for Matt, many gleaned from the forums but I wondered if there were some nuggets held by those who have lived with a BRe for a while.
Regards to you all, I Bob. 

[David Hudson]

Good morning Bob

I took delivery of my BayRaider Expedition in January and I haven't launched yet but as I crawl through the hidden bits, the built quality is excellent.

You will see that the Forum is well supported and helpful: an interesting mix of practical experience and theoretical.

Looking forward to an April 2 launch.

Regards

[BobT]

David,

Thanks for the response.  We had a great weekend in Cardigan, walking eating and drinking, then a very productive Monday with Matt and his team looking round the set up at Swallow Boats and discussing numerous points. A very worthwhile visit now all I have to do is find the spare £££!

All the best for your launch on 2 Apr.

Regards

[Peter Taylor]

I too am a dinghy sailor who has sought out the comfort of a cabin, although in my case it's the "hugely spacious" BC20 version! Almost all my sailing is either single-handed or with friends who do not have sailing experience.   A short summary of my first year's experience of "moving up" is on my blog at
http://www.seatern.org.uk/SeaternDiaries/diary_2014.php .  With the ballast tanks empty, sailing my BC20 does not feel that much different to sailing a dinghy (despite all the weight I make her carry!).  A BRe will be even more dinghy like.

Before I bought "Seatern" I looked hard and long at potential  "dinghies with cabins" but am very glad I settled on a Swallow Boat!

Peter

[Ericciar]

Greetings everyone.  I am new to the forum but have been investigating Swallow Boats for about a year.  I am coming off the ownership of a 33' Endevour sloop in order to increase my actual,sailing time vs time on the boat working on systems.  I live on the Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina in Avery tidal area.  My mortgage is 1 foot at low tide and 3 feet at high tide.  With a fixed keel, one is limited to sailing in the ICW.  I would like to go into the back creeks but still have the stability for coastal,ocean sailing.  My question is this, can the centerboard on the BC23and BrE be PARTIALLY lowered to say 2.5 feet?

I am now looking T either of those 2 boats.  I would like to have the option to overnight so the 23 is first on my list right now.

[BobT]

Peter,
Thanks for the link and thoroughly enjoying your blog. I have taken note that moving up from dinghies whilst not difficult has a number of nuances. Having done much of my sailing in tidal waters and narrow creeks the issue of slower tacking is noted.

Ericciar,
Not in my knowledge set to answer about a Swallow but sailing with half plate is fine accepting that close hauled will be limited. With BRe the plate lowered provides limited additional righting moment as the water ballast is the main element? Over to the forum members.

Regards,
Bob (hopeful future owner of BRe)

[Peter Taylor]

  My question is this, can the centerboard on the BC23and BrE be PARTIALLY lowered to say 2.5 feet?

Hi Ericciar,

mainly I can tell you the situation for my BC20 which I sometimes have to sail in shallow water. The pivoting centre board has an uphaul and a downhaul with the latter held by a cleat which is designed to (and does!)  release if the plate hits bottom. Thus it can be set to any partially raised position as needed.  The BC20 centre board is weighted only enough to make it sink, not to add stability... I suspect that is also true for the BRe but the BC23 centreboard does have 70kg ballast (compared to 450kg water ballast). So for the BC23 some stability is lost by not fully lowering the centreboard - but probably not that much.  Of course, not having the board completely down will decrease upwind efficiency and alter the helm ballance as for any other centreboard boat.  However my BC20 will go upwind quite happily with the plate part lowered.

Something you may also want to think about is the rudder. On the BC20 (and I think the BC23) the rudder is angled forward rather than straight down. This is not ideal if you go aground since raising the rudder involves first making it go deeper. Again there is an uphaul and downhaul with the latter held by an auto-release cleat.  However sailing with the rudder part raised means it is angle out aft resulting in more weight on the helm. If I were planning to do a lot of sailing in very shallow water I would discuss with Matt whether a lower aspect ratio rudder blade (i.e. shorter and stubbier) could be fitted rather than the standard one.  Many years ago sailing dinghies almost all had shorter and rounder shaped rudder blades, nowadays they have long and thin ones for increased efficiency - however the old shape ones were better when used part raised in shallow water - and we were just as able to steer with them!

Peter

[Lara]

Hello Bob, it was really nice to meet you and your wife last week - I'm pleased you enjoyed your visit and we look forward to hearing from you again.  I'll leave you to receive the honest opinions of other owners and if there's anything we can help with further please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[SteveWD]

Shape of Rudder Blade
FYI, ref the comments on the shape of the rudder foil, older Wayfarers had shorter, rounder rudder blades but over the years the majority of racers moved to longer high-aspect ratio blades which worked better, the theory being that they projected further below the turbulence from a centreboard box which was then not permitted to be fitted with a slot gasket.

About ten years ago slot gaskets became legal under the class rules and pretty soon the longer rudders largely disappeared in the racing fraternity, as there was far less drag and turbulence and helms now prefer what is claimed to be the better feel of the shorter, rounder rudder blades.

Dagger Boards & Dagger Rudders
I believe that some dinghies have a rubber shock absorber or sacrificial fixing in the dagger board / dagger rudder slot to take the shock out of grounding in order to minimise damage to mouldings or foils. Maybe this is something to consider in the BC26 as it has a dagger board and twin dagger rudders.

[Peter Taylor]

Shape of Rudder Blade

About ten years ago slot gaskets became legal under the [Wayfarer] class rules and pretty soon the longer rudders largely disappeared in the racing fraternity, as there was far less drag and turbulence and helms now prefer what is claimed to be the better feel of the shorter, rounder rudder blades.

Nice to know that sometimes the old ways were valid!
Peter

[David Hudson]

On Hayling Island today, I met a gentleman and his wife who have just boat a Raider which I think is called gurgle.

More active "class" members!

[BobT]

Well my trip to Cardigan was great with good weather some good walking, fine food and wine. The time at Swallow boats was well spent with Matt being a great host. After the visit I was sold. Initially I was looking to go new but felt I should, to keep on the right side of my good wife, look at the second hand market and here I am now the proud owner of BRe Num 6 "Escape." Many thanks Rob.

For this season she will be based on her trailer in Bristol, anyone sail locally?