Our History

Traditional skills brought into the modern age of sailing

Here at Swift Boats,we pride ourselves on keeping alive a skill, that has been part of the history of this coast ,for hundreds of years. Skills that have been passed down from generation to generation. My own life has been one, that has been surrounded with the men,who worked with the traditional craft of the east coast of England. It is from these men that I learnt my trade.

My father owned the Cooks Yard at Maldon during the 70's, where I was often to be found holding on for the shipwrights or clearing the mud off the blocks ready for a Thames barge to come on for repairs. My life was one of small boats with borrowed and begged bits just to get onto the water, where I have been ever since !

From these beginings boats have been in my blood for good or bad ! Although a large part of my life has been skippering Thames Sailing Barges, my true love is the clinker built sailing workboats, that I now have the previlege of saving and giving them a new life of graceful racing machines that they are today.

We hope that you enjoy the stories of their rebuilds and keep an eye on their racing results throughout the seasons.
Gerard Swift