I first want to welcome Larry Weese from Traverse City, MI to our class
(USA 070). Larry is our 71st class member.
Had a great day sailing Swifts with Chris Wickham. The wind gauge said 5 to
7 knots but since we were often low trapping to weather and always sailing
heated up to leeward, I suspect that we were seeing 9 knots a lot of the time.
I tried sailing low and soaking down on one downwind leg and Chris took me to
school by sailing high (heated up). Chris sails 49ers and is considering a
Swift and considering joining us in Florida. He stepped into USA 002 today
and gave me a go right out of the chute. With some more boat handling time,
heâs going to be trouble for âUnfortunate Eventsâ. Itâs clear that
Iâm
going to need to help him with some âspecialâ tuning advice in the near
future. 49er sailors just seem to do well in the Swift from the beginning.
Iâll
twist Chrisâs arm to get him to give us his observations about the boat.
Another Seattle sailor approached me today and he and his crew are looking
at joining the âgroup buildâ that is going to start here soon. All of
these
guys are active sailors in other classes and the prospect of having 10
Swifts sailing in Seattle by late next summer is looking more probable all
the
time. When we reach 10 on the starting line, I believe we will have little
trouble getting 30 a couple of years later. We experienced this phenomenon in
the 70âs when we built the original 505 fleet.
We should soon have fleets in Seattle, Vancouver BC, and New York City. I
know that Christian is twisting some arms in Virginia and hopefully the ice
boaters in Michigan will get going this winter. Realistically, Europe and
OZ are likely to take a couple of years to get the kind of exposure weâre
getting in North America. As soon as we get 5 boats in either, weâll work
on
getting sponsorship for shipping eight or sixteen boats from North America to
a
regatta in those parts of the world.
Iâve recently been asked by several class members what can be done to help
the class grow. For now, the most important thing you can do is to simply
sail your Swift in areas where other classes are sailing. Donât
underestimate
the affect that the beauty of the work youâve done building your Swift, your
enthusiasm, and the speed of the boat have on others. Eventually youâll be
able to get others to join a group build and youâll have the start of a
fleet.
We are likely to have a big showing in Florida this winter and that is also
really important. The world is watching and waiting! With your help, I
believe we are on the cusp of something really big.
Best regards,
Bram
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