Swallow Yachts Forum > Home Builders' Area

Not a Swallowboat, but still a nice one

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Michael Rogers:
She looks beautiful, Julian (especially if I stand on my head to look at the picture). Very well done!

Your comment about 'not a great sailing summer' - well, the weather mostly hasn't been great, and you've been boat-building (it takes hold of you, doesn't it?), both of which may have contributed to our not having crossed courses around Poole. Actually, on Saturday and south of Brownsea Island I spied, far away to windward, the unmistakeable outline of a BC20 under jib and mizen (it was that sort of wind), and I thought, Aha there's Julian. I didn't fancy trying to catch up in a beat to windward, so I sneaked round the other side of Brownsea (which took quite a long time), and there she was, anchored off Furzey Island with her mizen set. Patrick O'Brien's characters go on about having the weather gauge, and I had it, with a vengeance. So I came storming down Whiteground Lake (which, according to the chart, becomes Blood Alley Lake further down towards Sandbanks), on a dead run with two reefs in a F5-6, planing in clouds of spray. It wasn't until I got close enough to read 'Jaunty' on the bow of the BC20 that I realised this wasn't Julian, but I shot past anyway and made some inane comment to the solitary sailor aboard who until then had been enjoying some peace and quiet. Unless he lends his boat, it must have been Jeremy Andrews.

So, Jeremy, if you get to read this, my apologies for disturbing your tranquility. I'll try not to do it again. And if it helps, those who know me will testify to my essential harmlessness. And Julian, it sounds as if any serendipitous rendezvous will have to wait till next year? I'll have to learn what an Oughtred Guillemot looks like, and - being around the same size as a Trouper - we can get competitive and have some races - ??

Michael        Cavatina (Trouper 12)

Julian Swindell:
Hi Michael
I haven't been down too Poole since the start of August. Not just the weather, there have been two family weddings getting in the way and a week in France as well. I hope to get down there for a day or so before she comes out, but that will be all I'm afraid. Hope to meet up with you next year. I did walk over to the NT centre on Studland Beach and I think I spotted Cavatina all tucked up in the far right hand corner.
Here's to a sunny 2016 with gentle breezes.

(PS This is what a Guillemot should look like when finished. Hope mine is as pretty)

Michael Rogers:
Julian, your photo is, if I'm not mistaken, from the Beale Park home boat building competition? You are aiming high - good for you! I believe you have a choice of rigs: I'll be interested to see which you go for.

That is indeed Cavatina in the far right corner of the Studland boat park - a snug and well-sheltered berth, I've been fortunate. She'll be there through the winter, so at least the possibility of the odd winter sail is there, weather permitting and with me resplendent (or mildly ridiculous-looking, depending on your point of view) in my Fladen immersion suit.

It's rather sad that this Home Builders slot on the forum is petering out with some pleasant chat about a non-Swallowboat (SORRY, Swallow YACHT) design. Presumably at some point, any discussion here can be covered by 'Technical', and we'll have one less area on the forum. Still, as Tony remarked, that reflects the changing reality of boat- building chez Newland.

I meant, but didn't get round, to taking Laura up on her suggestion that me might trip her up on the Swallow YACHTS name change with a Monday morning phone call in the early weeks. Did anyone try, and/or is Laura prepared to admit whether or not someone managed it?

Michael

Julian Swindell:
The boat in the photo was at Beale Park, but she is a professional build by Jamie Clay. So I have excuses if mine is not so smart. I am going for the balanced lug rig for maximum simplicity. Only three ropes, a stick for a mast and I am going to try and get two bamboos for the spars. Making the sail is beyond me so I will have to decide what to do about that. Amazingly, I am on schedule to get her turned upright before Daisy Grace comes home to her shed at the end of the month. Things will be a bit cosy after that.

Michael Rogers:
Approve the choice of rig, Julian, but I'll be intrigued how you get on finding bamboo for spas. In the early days of my interest in junk rig, and following Hasler and Macleod to the letter, I hunted for decent spa-size scantling bamboo in vain. Nothing in the UK except beansticks (plenty of those, though).

I meant to say that I enjoyed the genuine quick-go-with-the-broom-tidy-up look of your workshop in your photo. Very genuine. Some people have workshops which look like an advert in the Axminster Tools catalogue, complete with manicured shavings and laundered sawdust. Don't know how they do it.

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