History of the Celtic Longboat

History of the Celtic Longboat

Our boat Seafox is called a Celtic Longboat and is of Irish / Welsh origin. The history of the design goes back to the 1970's. Rowing boats have been raced on the Welsh coast for many years in what are traditionally called pulling races. There was always strong competition between the local fishing communities and some of the races offered cash prizes as an added incentive. In 1978 Tom Sutton found the remains of an Irish Curragh washed up on the beach. The Irish Curragh is a wooden framed traditional boat covered with skin or canvas and then painted with tar to make it watertight. Tom thought it would make a good race boat and with a couple of friends set about re-skinning the boat and making it seaworthy. The first race they entered was at Solva, against a fleet of other traditional boats, and they came second.

An Irish Curragh

They realised the boat was fast and had the idea of creating a similar boat in fibreglass which they hoped would be even faster. Following the shape of the original Curragh they made a mould and laid up a new hull in fibreglass. In 1979 they entered the Solva race again and won. Following their win the race organisers decided that it was not right to allow fibreglass boats to compete in future races since they had a distinct advantage over the heavier traditional boats.

Cwch the original Pembrokshire Longboat

However the new boat had generated a lot of interest and Tom was asked to make some more boats of the same design. A number of further boats were made and the design was named the Pembrokshire Longboat. The boats were raced locally along the Pembrokshire coast. One of their regular races was round Ramsey Island which is renowned for its strong tides and rough water. Some boats even raced across the Irish Sea. As the class grew a new league called the Pembrokshire Longboat League was started.

By the 1980's the original mould was getting old and a new mould was taken from one of the original boats. Interest in the class now extended as far up the coast as Cardigan, where the boats were now being made. Naturally everyone wanted their boat to be lighter and faster. Many of the boats were sold as bare shells and this allowed for a variety of interior finishes which meant some boats were lighter than others. Some hulls were even cut and modified to create narrower and faster hulls. In the 1990's the Welsh Longboat League was formed with the intention of trying to bring the class together and standardise the design of the boats. They wanted the new boats to be a single one design class of matched weight and dimensions.They also wanted the new design to be faster and as seaworthy as the original boats. In 1996 a grant was approved from the Lottery Sports Fund for Wales to produce a new mould and 18 boats. Dale Sailing in Neyland Pembrokshire,were chosen to manufacture the boats and after a period of design work the first prototype was produced. The design was approved and 18 boats were manufactured in time for the 2000 race season. The design proved very successful and the Celtic Longboat was born.

The Celtic Longboat Boat is 24 feet long and weighs 160kg. The boats have four fixed seats and take four rowers and a cox. Each rower has a single oar called a sweep with a Macon (tulip shaped) blade which is secured in a gate. The theoretical hull speed is approximately 6.5 knots and the fastest recorded speed is 7.9 knots which was logged during a crossing of the Irish Sea.

As well as being fast and seaworthy the boats are very easy to handle. Not everyone wants to race and the boats are equally well suited to leisure rowing and for both novice and experienced rowers. They also very low maintenance which means more time spent on the water.

Dale Sailing still manufacture the Celtic Longboat and the class continues to grow. There are 130 boats registered with Welsh Sea Rowing, and further number of unregistered boats. Most harbours in Wales will have at least one if not a fleet of Celtic longboats tucked away.

We cannot compete with the Welsh league, but there is a growing fleet of Celtic Longboats in Chichester Harbour and we have plans for our own Chichester Harbour Celtic Longboat race league. Chichester Yacht Club regatta

Clubs in Chichester Harbour with Celtic Longboats (Dec 2023)

• Dell Quay Sailing Club
• Itchenor Sailing Club
• Chichester Yacht Club
• Emsworth Slipper Sailing Club
• Langstone Cutters Rowing Club
• The Coastal Rowing Academy
• Emsworth Sailing Club (boat due to arrive Jan 2024)

Seafox our Celtic Longboat