The Cardigan Bay Lugger.
Designer:- Matt NewlandBuilder:- Swallow Yachts (2006)
Specification:- Length: 5.8m
Beam: 2.0m
Weight: 250kg 300kg in touring rig. Plus 90kg lead ballast (optional).
Rig: Balanced lug main, sprit mizzen.
Engine: Yamaha 4hp, 4 stroke
Accomodation: 2 berth
(The BayRaider Expedition was designed as an improvement on this boat but there’s life in the old girl yet! She’s still a good option for long distance touring.)
(Note from family.... “Whatever he says, he still can’t! Have we got THAT straight?”)
I wanted an easily trailed, seaworthy Cat.C boat to take on my annual August pilgrimage to Paxos , a drive of about 1300 miles each way, and the CBL/ Subaru Impreza combination did the job admirably for the ensuing six years. Rising fuel costs have put a stop to this trip – the ferries have almost doubled in price – and “Four Sisters” has been replaced in the Ionian by a Deben Lugger hybrid called “Wabi” (See Watercraft Magazine No. 97 ) which I towed out in 2012. There was no way I was going to leave “Four Sisters” out there sitting on a trailer. She was built to go places and go places she will!
This year (2014) we have enjoyed our third SeaFair at Milford Haven and she is registered for her fourth trip to the Semaine du Golfe in Brittany in May of 2015. I intend visiting Lake Bala, Ullswater, the Norfolk Broads and the West of Scotland, too, if time allows. I’d love to take her on the English Raid sometime but I have a previous engagement that month – as ever – in the Ionian.
Other places to visit abroad include the Baltic, Finnish Archipelago, the Netherlands , French Lakes (Aix-les-Bains) and estuaries (Bordeaux) – the list will last as long as I do!
All boats are a compromise and no boat will do all the things I have it in mind to do sometime but the CBL is a design that still has much to recommend it for versatility. She’s not as fast or seaworthy as a BRe 20, perhaps, but she is much easier to fit in a hotel car park. Just unhitch and shove her around like a wheel barrow. No problem for an OAP single hander! She even fits (just) in a single car space if you’re forced to unhitch.
No hotel? No need for a tent. You’ll be cosy in the cabin.
A tough, balanced lug ketch rig on unstayed masts means she’s rigged and launched in a few minutes.
The 4 h.p. Yamaha is maybe too much engine most of the time but it will power you anywhere at six knots in a seaway and has the oomph to tow a couple of other raid boats out of trouble, too. She’ll sail on a reach or a run at much the same speed with a capful of wind. She’s a double ender so won’t plane but I’ve surfed down the odd wave before now! ( I think I prefer to slow down a bit.)
A decent set of oars let you row all day at two or three knots on a calm sea.
Going to windward? Well, she’s no racing machine but I’ve out-pointed (badly sailed?) 30’ hired flotilla AWBs in the Ionian more than once, and the cabin keeps the cockpit dry in a seaway even without the sprayhood. A BR 20 would certainly do a much better job to windward, though, as most Bermudan rigged boats will outpoint most Luggers. Exceptions might be high aspect ratio luggers like Roxane and Romilly and “performance” luggers like the Goat Island Skiff.
Performance.
Light winds:- She’ll ghost along at three knots in an F1-2, leaving no wake. For an extra knot on a reach, unroll the jib for a brilliant slot effect. (You’ll have to furl it to tack, though, until I fit that bowsprit I’m always on about, as it overlaps the mast by c. 50% and catches on the yard.)
Stronger winds:- Sailing single handed in a strong breeze reminds you that the CBL is, at heart, a big-ish dinghy and I am more comfortable once the 90kg of lead ballast is put back into the boat, bolted down on top of the keel. Winds of F 4 will have you roaring around at hull speed and wondering whether to reef or not . (Which usually means you should have reefed 10 minutes ago! ) Put in one reef and you’ll lose no speed but everything feels less frenetic.
At F5+ you’ll certainly need that first reef, while pulling in the second reef (all done from the cockpit, by the way) keeps things calm. The mizzen will start to produce too much weather helm in the gusts, though. It might be a bit large for the boat, perhaps, or I should look at how I’m setting it. Off the wind there is some advantage to furling it away.
Incidentally, the standard “get you home” rig for most Swallow boats caught out by a big wind is very simple. Drop and secure the mainsail (how does that work on a BRe?) and continue under jib and mizzen. On the CBL you would still be over powered with this combination – her jib and mizzen give you 5 knots to windward in an F4 – so you are better off with the double reefed main. It’s much more controllable and doesn’t thrash around at all when you luff up to your mooring or pontoon....noise = sail wear! ...and, of course, you don’t have to work around all those sticks and laundry lashed to the cabin top.
Developments
• Must try a bowsprit to get the jib further forward so the yard doesnt foul it when you tack.
• Will try to set the mizzen differently so I can introduce some twist in the sail when it’s sheeted in hard. This will allow it to spill more wind when heeled and make it more user-friendly in a blow.
• Water ballast? I’m finding that humping the lead about is hard work and time consuming to the extent that I tend to leave it in all the time – losing quite a lot of performance in light airs. Retro-fitting water ballast seemed like the answer – being able to fill and empty the ballast tanks on the move would be a tremendous advantage. Matt and the guys at Swallow Yachts had a good go at doing just that but it couldn't be made to work and all their hard work went to waste.
• Mast in Tabernacle option. The mast, a beautiful piece of work, hollow, with birds-beak joints throughout, is my pride and joy. It looks so much better than carbon fibre....but the trouble is it’s still heavy enough to have a mind of its own when you are standing on the cabin top trying to post it through the mast partners down to the keel. It’s bad enough doing this on the trailer prior to launch. Trying to raise or lower the mast on the water is asking for trouble – one wave and you’re in the water - and having a mast around your neck that will certainly float is no consolation! This problem rules out cruising a number of areas, such as parts of the Broads, most of the river and canal networks, and the upper reaches of most estuaries. Anywhere with a low bridge needing to be shot on the fly, in fact. A great loss for a “go anywhere” boat like the CBL. The solution might be to replace the mast (sob) with a two piece version. A solid wood “plug” reaching from the keel, through the deck and up to a point above the cabin top. A tabernacle (basically a hinge) here would carry a carbon fibre replacement mast . The idea is that the lug sail, boom and yard could be dropped down past the joint, then the mast hinges back down across the cabin top and cockpit, at a height allowing the boat to be rowed , the spray hood to be raised– and, when on a mooring, a tarp to be thrown across to shelter the rear of the cockpit, a no-go area in the rain at the moment.
The theory is good but, in practice, that unsupported hinge of a tabernacle would have to be one Hell of a good piece of design and engineering to cope with the stresses.
• I really must get a decent cockpit tent made up. The spray hood keeps the rain out of the cabin - unless the wind's from dead aft and blowing hard - but it would be more comfortable to have somewhere reasonably dry for cooking and for removing wet weather gear without dragging it into the cabin. A hoop at the back of the cockpit and a couple of hours on a sewing machine should sort it out - finally!
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