Well it's taken longer than I ever imagined it would, but my second restoration of an oldie is finally reaching a conclusion. I got this as a quick refininsh and it turned out to be a job that's taken 8 months.
Swift 116 must have been built in 1961 or earlier (I've got letters from the asscoiation for 1961) as a Mk1 and was later mofidied for the larger MkII rig, by moving the hounds back a bit and scarfing about 2' 6" to the top of the mast. When new she cost a massive £243-11s-0d and I hope I won't be protested out if I replace the old jib with one that has an intact luff wire, because I think it may cost a bit more than the £10-10s-0d allowed under the original class rules.
All I need now is to refit the trapeze kit and add some water. Apart from the Nats, are there any other cat friendly event still to go this year? I'm going yto have to travel to use her anyway as our little pond at Haversham near Milton Keynes is not open to multi's.
Any advice on sailing cats v's monos welcome. After 30 something years of sailing a varied mix of boats, this will be something new for me.
Congratulations on a good looking restoration. As a teenager in the 70s I raced a Swift with my brother at Leigh-on-Sea. We also cruised it often across the estuary to Kent and also up the coast to Brightlinsea and Maldon, sleeping on the bridge deck with a tent over the boom. Ours was a Mk2, but my friend had a converted Mk 1 that looked very similar to yours.
I'm afraid the only advice I can give you on sailing is don't bother sailing it inland. They're great boats on the sea but I think inland waters and cats don't go.
Very nice!
This year our open water events are a little limited, but 2007 I hope will see 3 sea events, if all goes to plan. It may be worth asking DavidH and Alan Price if they know of any cat events that you could join in with on the South Coast.
Your Swift looks great, I'd love to see a picture of it afloat and doing what Cats do best (lots of wind and spray).
I too spent time in a Swift, at Netley Cliff Sailing Club (the Civil Service Sailing Assoc place on Southampton Water) and found it great fun. At the time the competition was a Yachting World Cat and some Rivercats (plus one really old Jumpahead but that was so shot even then it didn't count) so the Swift was quite a 'star'.
I'd suggest that the same applies now - against cats or dinghies of that era (wooden masts etc...with or without your new jib) the Swift will be a good performer. I'd not expect you to get a lot of change against the modern dinghy though.
An idea is 'building'..... as well as the Wotnot Merlin and (hopefully) Unit 7 at Netley we've a couple of Condors..... could we bolt together a Dinghy AND cat event sometime next season?
Interestingly, I met 'Roger the Hornet' yesterday, sadly he wasn't sailing his old planker but it was good to see meet him and catch up on a few shared moments from the sailing history on Soton water.
It was sad to see the failing numbers in the Hornets (only 9 at Netley - there has to be some writing on the wall there) - but maybe we could push up numbers a bit with a mix of cats and dinghies and have a belter of an event on the central south coast.
The Roadford event has always had a mix of Cats and dinghies, and they have worked well together, with the odd moment of panic here and there! I think Clywedog will allow cats too? A joint event at Netley would certainly go down well, I feel.
The main problem the Hornets have I think is that the remaining fleets are a long distance apart. Only one boat from Port Dinorwic travels now. The Fastsail events are aimed at increasing numbers of boats racing with mixed fleets and this seems to work well. Unfortunately the Lymington event was forecast as heavy gales which put of quite a few boats.
I think the travelling community (not the ones in old coaches and ambulances) is dwindling as fuel and time become more expensive and with more classes diluting the numbers per class we will continue to see smaller fleets.
Netley is a great piece of sheltered water and very welcoming club. The only hassle this weekend was the "speed bumps" caused by the motor boats but they were never a real problem. The lack of wind yesterday was disapointing but Dave made the right decision to abandon at 2.0 oclock knowing people had a long drive home.
Cats and Hornets were never a problem on saturday and I see no problem with a joint meeting for us.
Jools Shearwater have an informal event at Roadford this weekend 10/11th and you would be welcome there as would any other CVRDA peeps. Maybe Alan will drag one of his out of the nettles for you to sail with.
As for handicaps you will have to ask on the day but its an informal and very unserious attempt to get other people out on the water.
An idea of numbers would help please. We will have a barbecue on saturday but bring your own meat to singe.
I'd love to have popped down to Roadford. Sadly, Kathryn is in Boston, and on the Sat night I have 4 kids to mind (ours and a friend each) so taking them camping at Roadford didn't seem like the easy option! I'm working on Frensham and Chippenham cvrda events currently, towards the end of July, so hopefully will see you all there.
Well, if you will have your event on the same day as the Round the island Race.... (when all the stinkboats come out to watch), the Old Gaffers at Yarmouth, the day after the Volvo's departed - and on the first really 'nice' day of the summer what else do you expect?????
Joking aside - Saturday was Netley at it's best! Free camping, light to moderate breezes, salty water and then LOTS of people suffering from an abnormal fluid intake.
Those brain cells not destroyed on the Saturday night were sorely tested on the Sunday. It's not helped by the sunburn......the Committee boat has been 'cleaned out' of sun tan cream!
But of course you're right - too many events, too strung out and too many 'other' things to do with the time that work allows us for sailing.
Keep spreading the word about Netley - if we can get the numbers up it could well happen!!
Hi Jools
Welcome to the CVRDA we have a Cat group and I'm the rep for the Cats. If you could e-mail me at [email protected] with your snail mail address I'll send you a set of the cat group news letter's.
Regards Alan Williams Shark41 Finn 340 Nacra 1879 etc.
Alan/Jools and anyone else interested in those funny boats that, like football, come in two halves. yes, it's cat time again!!!!!
Okay - have got interest in something on 'lost' cat classes so does anyone out there have any good stories, info, details but most of all PICTURES of any of the following.
Swift
Rivercat
Jumpahead
Condor
Hydra
Thai
Yachting World cat
plus any others that are no longer with us.
If so please let me know, there will be a tag line at the end of the article referring interested parties to the Association( or should that come straight to you Alan?)
Hi there!
Have you seen my Swift MKII Catamaran in perfect condition on the For Sale Boards? If you have a friend who might be interested in raciing you against yours let me know! 07801 098718 Natalie
Hi Swift Sailors
Try and get down to Roadford it,s plenty big enough for Cats. I sail a twenty foot B Class Shark which does cause Rupert to be a little uneasy when it,s out due to the pace it covers the ground. I intend to race the Shark at the Nationals this year so please come along. Bob is going to try and make it with his Cheeetah and hopefully we may be able to get John out in the Thai and some more of the Cat Group to come along.
Cheers Al Shark 41 Finn 424 etc.
Not to mention the random directions you go in it, Alan!
They are (and i'm not the only one who thinks this!) a little worrying on the start line and when they come blasting down on you when going upwind, as they don't point too high, but I think they add an enormous amount to the Roadford event, and having more of them would actually make life both easier and more fun, as they would then be able to have their own start! I loved my sail in the Shark - the feeling of power is just great!
