Several years ago, I was standing on the banks of the River Thames watching a boat sailing by at the annual Beale Park Boat Show. It was a small, double-ended dinghy obviously inspired by Scottish workboats but built of modern materials. As a longtime enthusiast of Iain Oughtred’s double-enders, I was mesmerized by this little boat that seemed to encapsulate the essence of a salty workboat, pared down and reduced to its bare elements. The Storm 15, first offered as a wooden kit and then reproduced in several sizes in fiberglass by Swallow Boats in Wales, was almost brutal in its simplicity and showed how traditional designs can be successfully reinterpreted in a modern style.Ten years later, standing on the deck of a camera boat on the south coast of Devon, I was similarly struck by the latest offering from Swallow Yachts, as they’re now called. There was that strong sheer, plumb stem, and dramatically raked sternpost, combined this time with a fully battened, square-headed Bermudan mainsail. Tacking off the timeless, craggy coast of Devon, the Storm 23 looked decidedly unconventional, even kooky, and yet there was something about her that inspired confidence: a purposeful air, a look of intent, almost of defiance. And, while there was no one else on the water that late autumn day, there’s no doubt that in any fleet of boats, the Storm 23 would stand out by a mile. She’s nothing if not striking.

With the ballast tanks empty, the hull rides higher for less wetted surface and better performance in light winds.all photographs by the author

With the ballast tanks empty, the hull rides higher for less wetted surface and better performance in light winds.

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