BEST BR BY FAR?
In my opinion the BRe is about as good as you can get for a cruising dinghy with cabin. I often say that everything that Matt got wrong with the Cardigan Bay Lugger, he got right with the BRe. This statement is as misleading as anything the politicians have come up with recently but, like all good lies, has an element of truth.
The CBL came first, being based on the Storm 19 (a stretched Storm 17), but as “Four Sisters” was evolving on paper and coming together in the old workshop Matt already had a water ballasted 21 foot, transom-sterned dayboat in mind that became the BayRaider. It was the outcome of careful thought, good design based on sound principles and with some innovative features that raised it above the norm. It proved to be a very capable boat – fast, stable and versatile – and sold well.
“Why not put a lid on it?” someone said. Matt listened carefully to his customers, past and future and came up with something they hadn’t thought of, the BayCruisers 20. The hull was given more freeboard, the rig went high(er)tech and we got the best little pocket cruiser around – but it wasn’t a BayRaider!
After more prompting from various quarters, Matt went back to the drawing board and the BRe was born! This boat had the large cockpit for a family-sized day sailing crew, a carbon rig and a well designed, good-looking cabin, to sleep two in comfort, all on the BR hull. Brilliant!
All this comes at a cost, financial and functional, but it not only ticks all the boxes for an easily trailed cruising dinghy, (the damn things get everywhere), it sails rings around the opposition, too!
Criticisms?
• Of its performance as a cruising dinghy, none really, but it’s too expensive to be a “starter boat”. It’s popularity means it holds its price in the used market – not that you find many for sale. (A pity that Swallow Yachts have moved away from kit boats and the excellent smaller boats - S15,S17, Trouper, etc – but it was probably the right thing for the business.)
• Standard equipment might need beefing up to bomb-proof cruising spec.
• A good cruising option would be a less complex rig – no slides to jam, sails that drop instantly, that sort of thing. A fully battened (Chinese) lug would also work well.
....and Matt really should design a prettier, more interesting stern. After all, it’s the bit that the rest of us have to look at most of the time, damn it!
