Swansea Museum seeks new partner to operate Olga

Swansea Museum 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 have 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 organisation 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.  This means that 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 beds, the galley and a sail store.  In the main compartment, there are 4 beds plus the dining table, then further back there is a toilet, wet locker, chart table, skippers bunk and engine room.

On their Facebook page, Sailing Tectona said: 

"After careful consideration, our board have made the difficult decision to not renew (the loan agreement).  This has been a very hard decision for us to make as Olga has become an integral part of our organisation.  We have had a fantastic time looking after her for the last five years, and she has been so successful in providing sail training experiences for over 1000 people during her time with us.  She has won everyone's hearts and we will be really sad to see her go.

However, the time has come for us to focus on Tectona - to secure her future and get her sailing again.  The re-fit is coming along well but we need a real push to get it finished.  We are determined that Tectona will be sailing again as soon as possible and she will win over everyone's hearts as much as Olga has!"

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 have 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