The Whisper 300

The launching of the first boat to a new design is always a nerve-wracking moment. Will the public like it? Will the reviewers be kind? Will it find a place in what is already a crowded market? The situation was particularly tense when the Welsh company Swallow Yachts brought their latest design to the Southampton Boat Show last September. The company, best known for its line of rugged sailboats, including the BayRaider 20 and the BayCruiser 26, was launching its first motorboat, the Whisper 300. But this was not a traditionally styled launch that was almost guaranteed to pull at the heartstrings of a classic-boat aficionado. It was a modern-looking speedboat powered by twin 70-hp outboard motors.

This bold move no doubt perplexed many of Swallow Yachts’ loyal sailboat customers. But perhaps the most surprising thing about the boat was what was hidden under its shiny turquoise exterior: the vast majority of Swallow Yachts’ existing range of boats are built of fiberglass, but this—arguably the most modern boat in the range—was built of wood, as all future Whisper 300s will be.

Swallow Yachts chose wood not as a romantic gesture but for sound commercial reasons. Since the 1960s, we’ve been told that fiberglass production boats are cheap to build and wooden boats are expensive. Yet here was a medium-sized commercial operation saying that building a production boat in wood (described on their website as “nature’s finest carbon fiber”) was the most economical option. I had to visit the yard to find out more.