New Swallowboats sailing canoes

[Brian Pearson]

I think I have badgered Nick and Matt at every Beale Park Show I have been to, to re-introduce a sailing canoe in their range. It was great to hear at the last Beale that the team were working on building sailing canoes for their own use, the details and ideas sounded just right for a lightweight car top quick to use sailing canoe.

Even nicer then to read of these new boats in Water Craft, in the Grand Design section.

The article mentions looking for a new name for the class. So here is my entry.

"Temminck"   A Temminck's stint is closely related to the Sandpiper, SB's original sailing canoe. Here's what the RSPB has to say

"Temminck's stints occur mainly by freshwater marshes, pools and lakes in the UK, although they also visit creeks and lagoons in estuaries. The species breeds mostly in the Arctic and is rare in this country"

Sound just like the new sailing canoes!

Brian

[Julian Swindell]

Those canoes caught my eye too. I don't know about a name, but I would fancy one of them fitted with a Hobie Mirage flipper drive system, so I could just sit back and pedal. I also like the idea of transparent floor panels so you can watch the fishes. I've only three boats at the moment (well, four really) so I need a few more...

[Jaap van der Heide]

Dear Brian and Matt,

Temminck or Sandpiper mk2 will all do for me. But is there any news?

Regards,

Jaap

[Matt Newland]

Hello,
I was hoping to be at Beale Park with the new canoe but as time goes by and Beale draws closer I am not sure it is going to happen. The trouble is she is a complete indulgence. Shes what I want, but she will never make any money. For this reason I am thinking of calling her Mistress.

What I mean is, the smaller the boat, the harder it is to make any money selling them, and for some reason it seems the public just dont get sailing canoes. I cant understand why, they seem to have so many advantages over trailerable boats. No trailer, easy to park, almost as good to paddle as your average Canadian Canoe but so much more fun with the sail. Enough room for the family and easy to take to the beach or launch from anywhere.

So to answer your question on availibility. I dont know. I havent promised any dates to any customers, because I dont have any!

Matt

[Julian Swindell]

So presumably Charlotte is going to call her's Toyboy?

[jonno]

Hi Andrew, re your sailing canoe, could you send me a personal message via this website so we can get in touch?

Thanks

Jonno

[Michael Rogers]

Each to his own. I must say I am one of Matt's 'the public' in not 'getting' sailing canoes. In John McGregor's Rob Roy days, there may have been a logic in terms of relative light weight compared with what would then have been a heavy carvel or clinker hull (plus heavy gear) for sailing. Nowadays, with modern materials, I personally don't see the point. Canoes (kayaks) are for paddling, and when you have the faff of adding outriggers to keep the sailing canoe upright, what's the point? And you wouldn't think of paddling a dinghy. Two fundamentally different types of boat, and too many compromises involved in trying to combine their functions successfully.

I hope that doesn't sound gratuitously negative: not meant to be. It's just a point of view and, as I said already, each to his own! De gustibus non disputandum est. Clearly Brian, apparently Matt also, and plenty of others won't agree with me, and I'll respectfully salute any sailing canoeists I cross courses with. It doesn't happen very often, but I have sailed in 'mixed' fleets including sailing canoes, whose performance compared with all sorts of other boats didn't mightily impress.

I'll keep sailing (and, when necessary, rowing) in a craft designed for it.

Michael R (Trouper 12 Cavatina)

[Matthew P]

This is my favourite sailing canoe(s).  Portable, paddled well and transported four of us most of the way from Fort William to Inverness!

My second favourite sailing canoe is a Mystery.

I would argue that motor boats are more practical and sensible than any sailing/paddling/rowing craft until you add the fun-factor.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys 

[Sea Simon]

To continue the slightly off-topic theme....

Much to my wife's disgust (she says one of the reasons for paddling is "the exercise") I have had good success using a golfers umberella as a spinnaker when in my sea kayak; she struggles to keep up.

Can't understand it!?!

[Rob Johnstone]

More off topic - one of these came to visit Riff Raff whilst at Mylor. It's an inflatable catamaran kayak.

https://youtu.be/H9VtBqy7Tb0

Makes trailer sailing seem a bit of an effort!

[Peter Taylor]

To twist this thread even more... my 14' OldTown Canadian Canoe is the best use I've found for my Torqeedo 1003 outboard; paddle, who said paddle?!
Peter

[andrew_hayter@yahoo.com]

Hi Folks, I've put my Swallow Sailing Canoe on eBay with no reserve.

Happy bidding!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Swallow-Sailing-Canoe-very-rare/123334789779