About Rowing Centre UK Limited and Swift Racing

From our origins as national and club-level rowers, Rowing Centre UK (RCUK) was established in 2005, to introduce a new brand of rowing boat to the UK market – Swift Racing Boats.

RCUK has since built its business around Swift Racing’s core mission that ‘Quality doesn’t have to come at a high price’, which has since formed the foundations of our relationships, service delivery, and aftersales care for our clients.

During this time our product offering has also expanded, and now comprises oars, boat and oar storage racking, and the widest possible range of rowing spares parts, tools and accessories which also fit many other types of boat from different manufacturers.

Our approach comprises 4 main values:

1. Quality and value over profit;
2. A focus on combining enjoyment with results;
3. Ensuring we help customers long after the sale;
4. Continual product development through real-world testing and listening to clients.

The bedrock of our approach is our wish for inclusiveness and enjoyment for our sport. Swift Racing boats range from fine boats, coastal/offshore and adaptive/para boats which compete at the highest levels of our sport, to training and recreational rowing boats, leisure/touring gigs and Dragon Boats. Whatever level you are at, there is a Swift Racing boat and supporting range of equipment for you and your crews.

To hear for yourself what we’ve achieved for our clients over many years we’ll be more than happy to put you in touch directly with longstanding clients, so that you can find out first hand what they think of our products and customer service. Get in touch with us here.

Swift Racing Boat Construction

All Swift Racing boats are manufactured in a modern, fully integrated factory based in southern China, using highly skilled craftsmen and proven industry-standard composite materials and production processes.

All boats are heat-cured under vacuum, using epoxy resins for maximum structural integrity and stiffness. All grades of boat use Nomex Honeycomb cores on the canvas decks and saxboards, and PVC for the seat deck and keel in order to provide additional stiffness whilst minimising overall weight – essential when meeting FISA and other governing-body specifications and regulations.

Sandwich construction (an inner and outer skin, with a core in between) is by far the most tried and tested construction type in modern rowing boat construction, and the methods used by all the top boatmakers throughout the industry are virtually identical: Carbon, Kevlar or Fibreglass cloths and a core material, such as Nomex honeycomb or Lantor Coremat, are treated with resin and then heat-cured under vacuum at high temperatures. The CarbonPro range of boats uses Pre-Preg Carbon to ensure an even more consistent quality of shell for the highest performance boats.

A core material such as Nomex Honeycomb is used to make a sandwich structure in order to increase hull thickness and strength while adding very little to overall weight. The thickness of a composite structure directly affects its performance, in particular its stiffness over its length, and its localised hardness. Lantor Coremat can also be used as an alternative core material, but because of its greater density, this results in a slightly heavier boat. Lantor Coremat does, however, provide an easier bonding surface than honeycomb, has better impact resistance, usually results in increased stiffness, and is easier to repair.