Swordfish on e-bay

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Southern377
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Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Southern377 »

Nessa
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Nessa »

and in what way is it like a laser? I suppose they are both sailing dinghies....they have that much in common....
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Rupert
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Rupert »

Is it just me, or does it look more like an Applecore anyway?
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Nessa
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Nessa »

I read a little about it. Apparently the Applecore 'stunted the growth' of the Swordfish because it has the same hull shape but is lighter and has a larger sail area, therefore 'a little more sporty.'
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Rupert
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Rupert »

Indeed it did, but unless someone has plonked Alb decks on a Swordfish, and the pictures make the stern look different to real life, it isn't a Swordfish in the 1st place.

The Swordfish looks much more like a stretched Mk1 Firefly.

Just remembered the trusty dinghy database:

http://www.cvrda.org/dinghydata/Swordfish.htm
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Nessa
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Nessa »

oh yes, see what you mean! Does that mean it is an applecore? and if not, what?
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davidh
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by davidh »

Nessa and Rupert.....

Swordfish v Albacore!

Just before the untimely demise of DSM I was following up a story on this..... and making progress too! The short version goes like this....

The Swordfish was doing okay, good fleets around the UK, open meeting and Nationals circuit but there were issues with the boat.

For a start it was quite heavy and was not helped by a cast iron (later alloy) plate. This though was the least of the problem, for this was a 'pure' Uffa Fox design, a critic might well say that much of his thinking was still stuck back in the pre-war 1930s. In the aft sections in particular, he retained the pulled in transom that you see on the Firefly (Itself a 1938 design). Interestingly, when Fairey Marine were about to start building the Firefly, Charles Currey wanted to change the hull shape quite radically - flattening out the run and carrying more beam aft. (what happened next is another story...)

Back to the Swordfish, which shares a strong family resemblence to the Firefly and some of the sailing characteristics too. At the big sailing clubs on the Solent where the swordfish was established, these problems were well understood - a lack of freeboard and buoyancy aft. At Locks SC, based just inside of Langstone Harbour, this was crucial, as the 'bar' at the entrance there can be even worser than the one just along the coast at Hayling. The Locks members knew what they wanted and set up a syndicate to get it. Using the Swordfish hull as their starting point, the carried out some extensive modifications and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. Faireys were between a rock and a hard place on this - they already built the Swordfish and had to support it as the builder of a National Class - yet had a chance to build a superior product.

Back to the fleabay boat......

Fairey Marine produced 3 boats at around that time:

Swordfish - strict one design rules

Albacore - with the Mk 1 boats (sailed of course at Locks) having a stern deck to help when coming back up the run over the Langstone Bar.

Gannet - a decked 14.

Process of elimination - but there is a Swordfish expert just up the road that I can ask if this cannot be identified here.

D
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Rupert
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Rupert »

Its an applecore, David - the Gannet was a decked Fairey Mk1 14, and had Firefly style decks and the much shallower transom - altogether a prettier boat, or so I think! I guess, though, it came up against some pretty stiff competition in the form of the GP14, which, while being less racy and far uglier, would have been far, far cheaper and built fleet racing very rapidly.
You are welcome to correct me on those opinions!
Rupert
davidh
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by davidh »

Rupert,

No - with you 100% on the Gannet BUT....

If I had to place my money somewhere on the fleabay boat I would say a VERY early swordfish...... it might even be worth looking up under the gunwhale for traces of grey paint...as in Admiralty Warship Grey - as this is what Fairey's used to finish off the early boats...... (no - the all wood effect came a while later)

D
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Rupert
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Rupert »

Rupert
Michael Brigg
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Michael Brigg »

I have to say. Looks a real bargain. (No I am absolutely forbidden!)

Condition looks good. Dry storage for 15 years, (and perhaps in use up until then) and allegedly a sound hull.

Apart from finding a rig, would not need too much "complex" work, just a bit of tidying up, although probably would need a complete strip and paint.

I guess it would be important to find out what is original.
Michael Brigg
davidh
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by davidh »

Rupert,

there is one other consideration!

This boat is slap bang in the middle of the biggest concentration of Swordfish sailing in the UK - yet at the same time this is not exactly prime real estate for the Applecore crowd.

The location, the plate, the stern deck..... sorry, they all point (to my uncultured eye) as saying Swordfish - but I've been wrong before!!!

Okay - I'm going to refer this 'upstairs' to a wiser mind than mine and see what answers I get back!

D
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Rupert
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Rupert »

Swordfish (at least none I've ever seen) have a stern deck. And the C/B case looks wide enough to take a wooden board, rather than the narrow slot for a steel one.
Dunno why I'm worrying - I'm not in the market for either...
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Michael Brigg
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by Michael Brigg »

The thing that has struck me about the Swordfish is that the curvature of the rear edge of the fordeck has an almost semi-circular appearance. In The firefly the two arcs from port and starbord meet at an angle whereas the sworfish, being wider, allows the sweep of each arc to meet at the mast gate, pretty much tangentially to produce a more circular, almost "Gunner's Cockpit" feel to the front of the boat. In contrast to this, Rupert's Applecore here seems to have a straight edge to the back of the foredeck.

I agree the centreplate case looks wide enough for a wooden plate.

...but my bet is on Swordfish.
Michael Brigg
alan williams
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Re: Swordfish on e-bay

Post by alan williams »

Hi RE:Swordfish
Towed in many in my time as Dave says not alot of freeboard prone to swamping and a spinnaker as big as a Mirror 10. Applecore fantastic boat. Difference between the two why is the Albacore so popular answer great boat Swordfish not popular draw your own conclusion. I've never seen a Swordfish with a sterndeck either.
Cheers Alan
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