Swansea Museum, the oldest museum in Wales, is seeking a new partner to sail the 1909 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Olga.  Their 5-year loan agreement with Sailing Tectona comes to an end this year, and the vessel will return to Swansea in September.

Sailing Tectona has decided to focus on the refit of their 1928 gaff ketch yacht, Tectona, and getting her sailing again as soon as possible.  In June 2023, the organization won £70,000 towards the community rebuild of Tectona from the National Lottery’s People’s Projects fund, voted for by the public. 

Olga is a beautiful original Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter that was built for racing out to big ships in 1909.  She is sleek and fast, despite her age.  She is laid out almost exactly as she would have been originally, both on deck and down below.  On deck, she has a big tiller for steering and everything to control her sails is manual.  This means everyone on board needs to work together to get Olga sailing to the best of her ability.

Down below, Olga is immaculately finished thanks to a full interior refit in 2011 by T. Nielsen & Company.  She has a forward compartment with 6 berths, the galley, and a sail store.  In the main compartment, there are 4 berths plus the dining table. Further aft there is a toilet, wet locker, chart table, skippers bunk, and engine room.

Swansea Museum is now seeking a new partner to operate Olga.  They told National Historic Ships: 

“We really appreciate the work the team at Tectona has put into maintaining this unique piece of maritime heritage whilst offering sail training experiences, for so many.  We are now looking to the next chapter for Olga and for a new partnership to operate this beautiful boat.”

If you are interested or have a proposal you would like to discuss, please email Museum.Swansea@swansea.gov.uk.

A video of Olga under sail.

Sailing Olga: Swansea Bay boat trips on historic Pilot Cutter

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.