"High Treason"

The Miller family took possession of a Swifty 14 from Shell Boats this weekend. Alex has named her "High Treason" (he's named my canoe "The Black Pearl" ... one might accurately conclude at the age of 5, he's pretty big into pirates).

The design of the Swifty is quite attractive, and the original craftsmanship quite good. The boat was in need of some repair and the previous owner was in the midst of painting her, but decided to go the route of a new boat and knocked off the price considerably to make room.

Quoting from Shell Boat's homepage:

Docile and easily handled, the Swifty will plane on a reach in a good breeze - while you fly, you're dry! It has plenty of room for three or four people, but will perform best with one or two.

This design incorporates sealed flotation chambers under the front deck and all seats. The hull is constructed on a simple building jig and can be planked in one day. The single-sailed cat rig is leg o' mutton style using a curved sprit boom.

The Swifty 14 has the same hull shape as the Swifty 12, but has been scaled up. Increasing the length by two feet produces an increase in volume of over 50%. Although one person can handle it easily, it will sail very well with a crew of two, three or even four people. The 18' mast folds in half to stow easily in the boat.

Here are a few (albeit poor) pictures after restoration. My son and I have done a fair bit of driveway sailing just to have a bit of fun. She sails, however, much better on water :).

Related resources

• The Swifty 14 by ShellBoats
• Building a "Swifty 12" from Shell Boats by Steve Miller