The Swallow Boats Association meet at Lake Bala.
2013
Extracts from the SBA
Forum:-
“Although this is
called an “association” ...there isn’t a formal structure, a club or any entity
at all and similarly there aren’t any officers or rules and no
constitution.
......if anyone
feels like going beyond cyberspace and meeting other people – perhaps for
sailing, then that’s great - but is done
as a group of individuals (who therefore take entire responsibility for what
they do) and not as the SBA, given that it doesn’t exist other than in
cyberspace and people’s minds.”
--o--
We didn't imagine the rain, though. THAT wasn’t all in the
mind!
Llyn Tegid (Lake Bala) is noted amongst Naturalists for the very rare mollusc Myxas glutinosa – or glutinous snail - and its very own “living fossil”, the Gwyniad , a type of fresh water herring that was trapped there after the last ice age, 10,000 years ago.
A very old fish.
On the weekend
of the 15th June 2013 its waters were graced by an altogether more
widespread , diverse and hopefully, less ossified species. A shoal (if that’s the right collective) of
Swallow Boaters turned up. As if prompted
by some age old spawning instinct they gathered for the week end, first,
quietly, in ones and twos, then in hordes,(if 15 boats constitutes a horde),
around the Pen-y-Bont campsite, Bala Sailing Club, the Bryntirion Inn and various other hostelries, there to consume quantities of Welsh
Black beef, Purple Moose beers and Penderyn whiskey ( or Wysgi, as the locals pronounce
it.)
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| BR20 Turaco III Often trailed to |
The reason for all this jollity? There wasn’t one. They just felt like it. There was a gap in the sailing
year between the Semaine du Golfe and Sail Caledonia in May and the English Raid in August so someone,
(I think we can safely blame Graham W),
announced on the SwallowBoats forum an intention to fill it in with a
trip to Bala. The rest just turned up at
Bala Sailing Club, paid their temporary membership dues to Ken , the Commodore, and got on with it.
Or not!
The Saturday was a bit of a
washout for the smaller boats and skippers of a nervous disposition (like
myself) The wind was measured as gusting to 28 knots on the pontoon and out on
the lake an avowed F7, making the heavy showers feel apocalyptic.
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| "Wet, wet, wet! " (Photo by Graham W) |
This didn't worry the BayRaiders (Not all Swallow Boats are BayRaiders! ) at
least five of whom hacked up to windward for a picnic on the beach at Llangower,
leaving the less seaworthy sucking their
teeth on the pontoon, which, by this time, was mostly underwater.
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Too rough for the safety boat?
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| Single handed in a BR20 “I’m sure the pontoon was here this morning!” |
These faint-hearted (or sensible, as we prefer
to be known) sailors had a pleasant afternoon
of “essential maintenance” and poking around in other peoples boats until about 3pm when the BayRaiders came hurtling back out of a rain
squall at seven knots or so, looking like Valkyries riding a storm and
frightening the windsurfers.
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| BR 20 hove to – We don’t want to frighten the windsurfers. |
They could
obviously handle the conditions perfectly well under jib and mizzen and with
water ballast tanks full but it all got a little exciting when “Alice Amy”
(BR20 Expedition) came whistling in shoreward in between the two pontoons,
being unable to round up into the wind because of a last second snarl-up with
the jib furler. As Reg struggled with
the jib a bit of quick thinking by Clive ,
his helmsman, ran her up the softest, muddiest bit of the beach and skilfully
avoided T-boning a 4x4. He later claimed
that as he was cold and wet, he was looking for the quickest means to reach the sailing club bar. When we finally
shoved her back into the water, no mean feat as she was more ashore than afloat
( see photo) and winched her onto her trailer, there wasn’t a scratch to be
seen!
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| "AliceAmy" comes in “hot” – jammed jib sheet! |
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| The result. Beached on good Welsh mud. (Nearly had the first “T”-boning of a 4x4 by a BayRaider!) |
On Saturday night the majority
found their way to the Bryntirion Inn where the events of the day were recounted
in ever decreasing degrees of verisimilitude under the benign influences of
honest cookery and Penderyn single malt. Old acquaintances were renewed and new
friendships blossomed (“You’re my best mate, you are!”) until “Time!” was called
by our genial hosts, Martin and Linda, who, having lived and worked on Lundy
Island, showed a perfect understanding of the spiritual requirements of small
boat sailors by leaving the bottle on the bar and tiptoeing quietly away.
By Sunday morning the rain had eased and the winds
had dropped to a three or four and even the tippy boats could come out to play
in the sunshine. Mind you, some of us had to row by 4:00 pm , the wind only returning, just to be
awkward, as we returned to the pontoons. Up until then there was enough wind for the
entire length of the lake to be explored, along with the various capabilities
of the different boats on all points of sail, pausing only for the inevitable
picnic at Llangower.
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“Turaco III” finds some wind
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| Beached at Llangower lunch stop |
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| Trouper 12 “ Cavatina” ( |
It was good to see some variations on the "out of the
box" Bayraiders; “Mehefin” a
home-built BR20 with a low cuddy; “Turaco III”
with a plank bowsprit; “Nona Me” a sturdy homebuilt BR 17 fitted out for
cruising . There were some non-Bayraider SwallowBoats, too. “Gefion”
a beautiful Storm 15; “Four
Sisters” the original Cardigan Bay Lugger ( who disgraced herself by running
aground while her skipper was fooling with his camera) ; but the most notable of these had to be Michael R
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“Cavatina’s” Junk rig is a great success.
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Each BR owner has an original view on the best way to rig ‘em.
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SwallowBoaters
tend towards independence of thought where rigging their boats is
concerned and anyone hoping to lay down
strict class rules will find herding
cats a more rewarding pastime. While owners are therefore denied the joys of a class association it means that the
boats just keep getting better and are evolving all the time....unlike the
aforementioned Gwyniad. Poor fish!
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| Not all Swallow Boats are BayRaiders! CBL “Four Sisters” and Trouper “Catavina" |
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| "AliceAmy" - BayRaider 20 Expedition - Not an out and out "win-at-all-costs" Raid boat (You need a SwallowBoats SeaRaider for that!) but certainly fast and capable. Possibly the best all-round rally boat on the market. (If I had the cash I’d buy one.....or maybe wait and see what the new Storm 23 is going to be like!) |
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