Severn Sailboats was born out of Pete Bond's love affair with Fireballs going back to 1962/63 during a winter which brought his agricultural contracting business to a standstill (see Fireball Genesis).
Severn Sailboats were closely linked with Plycraft from this time; indeed David Miles is still involved as a consultant. To date, Severn Sailboats/Plycraft have produced over 2300 Fireballs. Pete Bond has owned thirty five fireballs and attended ten world championships in the days when you had to qualify. He is ever grateful to a wonderful class which has been a big part of his life for so many years. Such was the momentum that up to 1000 per year were being built in the seventies and Severn Sailboats was totally involved with the Fireball.
In 1978, a Laser agency was acquired which coincided with Pete Bond’s son maturing from optimists straight into Lasers.
Severn Sailboats marketed over one hundred Lasers per year up to 1985 when Performance Sailcraft was refinanced.
When all Laser agencies were closed, Severn Sailboats not only had to find a suitable single-hander to market, it had to satisfy the requirements of three sons who were amongst the best dozen Laser sailers in the UK.
Solo was the obvious answer, a class which had kept its rules and integrity intact. By 1989 both Solo and Fireball were mainly constructed in composite mode - both have proven to be highly competitive, beautifully built boats which maintain their value. Due to the use of epoxy on all woodwork, maintenance is no more than on all glass boats.
Severn Solos and Fireballls are renowned for their symetry, stiffness and speed with great attention being paid to their foils. We've never believed in having jockeys to win championships. All our successes have been achieved with people who have bought their boats. Nevertheless Severn Solos have a dominant record over the last ten years. Pete now only sails Fireballs occasionally but has won over seventy opens, area championships, regattas etc . . . with a variety of crews: Debbie Phillips, Graham Collett, Dick Booth and John Rhodes.
But we now realise to be a success in the Fireball fleet we have got to acquire at least one good jockey......
Applications with CV welcome!!!
