TEAM 747 RETURNS TO FAIREY SITE WHERE IT WAS BUILT

FINAL RACE PREPARATION UNDERWAYAY AT SWORDSMAN MARINE’S HAMBLE WORKSHOPS

With thirty days to the start of the third Round Britain Powerboat Race, BA Captain, Jonathan Napier’s Team 747 Spearfish, one of the last boats to be built in Fairey Marine’s Hamble shipyard, is temporarily back in its spiritual home.

Despite the Channel ports blockade by French fishermen, the 1500 kilometre delivery trip by road from Antibes to Hamble was completed on schedule by fellow Fairey Owners Club member, William Cadbury’s Cummins-powered ERF tractor unit, and the boat was taken over by Swordsman Marine, who will house it and oversee final preparations for its forthcoming marathon.

Completely renovated, brought back to as-new cosmetic finish and re-engined with twin Cummins QSB 5.9 380hp marine turbo-diesels, Team 747 has recently clocked over 40 knots making it one of the fastest Faireys ever built.

Portsmouth born Napier and his three crew members, Andy Fielding (Windlesham, Surrey), Mark Jealous (Sandbach, Cheshire) and Cormac Lundy (Belfast, Northern Ireland) are hopeful that this performance together with the legendary Fairey seakeeping will make them a real contender in the Historic Class contesting the 1400 mile trip around Britain next month.

 Swordsman Marine’s David Harle was on hand to see the Spearfish safely delivered and the check list of tasks to complete includes installing additional electronics and navigation equipment and longer range fuel tanks.

The boat’s crew, who are all commercial airline pilots with British Airways, flying 747s for a living, will be getting together in the next weeks to fine-tune their race strategy and get to know their boat better before setting out on 21^st. June on what Jonathan Napier describes as ‘a gentle cruise around the coast in a gentleman’s cruising boat’.   

ters of Swordsman Marine.