I'm waiting for the P15 solo to be released sometime this year! Dragonfly 15 prototype (left) Prospector 15 prototype (right). 
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Happy 1st English Child Born in Canada (Jonathan Guy, 1613)! 🍁👶🏼
The new Swift Cirrus canoe
- Thread starter billconner
- Start date
It'd be interesting to paddle a shorter version of the Swift Cirrus, sort of a cross between a de-tuned Northstar Firebird and a sportier Swift Prospector 13. Plenty of stability with a touch of playfulness.
Exactly right, for a good reason. If you're in the business of selling canoes you need to offer what the buying public wants, and I'd guess that the majority of new customers don't have decades of experience augmented with lessons/training. When relatively inexperienced paddlers try out our Firebird (or even the Lady Bug) they'll say something like "it's fun, but not for me," usually because the canoes are a bit too lively. The alternatives tend to be longer and/or wider canoes that are much more stable but lose a fair amount of playfulness. I like the idea of de-tuned hulls that offer some of the fun with a bit more stability.
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I remember test paddling a Firebird at a demo day and the seat was so low (apparently to make it as stable as possible) that I could not kneel properly. After my test paddle I commented that "it's a kneeling boat with a sitting seat!" and the rep said "yep" and chuckled.
When I bought my used Bell Yellowstone the seat was set up for sitting and I'd bet that the original owner never felt comfy in the boat.
I am very rarely a kneeling paddler. I train and race sitting using a single blade bent carbon paddle, or trip/recreate with a version of a straight wood otter tail. I prefer to have an elevated seat for ease and efficiently of single side paddling. For the previous three solo canoes i bought in the past two years (PB Shadow, Swift Cruiser, SR Blackwater), I asked each builder to install a custom higher (at least 1.5in plus sitting pad)) than the normal highest stock seat option for me. Fit for my style.
How did they elevate the (presumably pack) seat in your Placid?
The dealer that I bought my Firebird from asked if I wanted a sitting seat or a kneeling seat installed. He mentioned that they come set up for more of a sitting position by default. With the kneeling seat there's plenty of foot clearance, it's a good height for comfort while kneeling, and there's good stability when heeling. It's still a fun canoe when seated but you have to pay more attention when heeling. We had a kneeling seat installed in the Prospector 13 and it has plenty of reserve stability even when seated. That's why I think it would be interesting to see if you could blend some of each boat into a de-tuned Firebird/souped-up Prospector 13. A bit of tongue-in-cheek there but other than the Curtis Lady Bug I don't know of another canoe that comes close to that blending of specs/performance, especially a Lady Bug with more stability. A scaled down Cirrus might be a nice little canoe.
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it is not a pack seat. it is a rail mount, able to slide fore and aft for trim (though actively not while seated). Joe made a few of them for racing, which he also uses on his own boat. It also has a slight degreee of forward tilt which is better for race paddling. He mounted an extra block under mine to raise it up almost 2 inches on my 2024 Shadow. I also have the same seat on my much older Rapidfire. Not even staking the stock 3 floor mounted seats were high enough for me, so Joe offered the custom seat that works very well for me, sometimes even with an inch and a half of gel seat (If I don't have to portage it).
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Do we have a price for these 2 new swift boats? And will Rutabaga have a Swift demo day like last year? Seeing the boats at Canoecopia is one thing but being able to test paddle brings it to another level.
The pricing is up on the Swift website - looks like $3750 CAD base for the Cirrus and $3895 CAD for the D-15...
I am heading up to Toronto Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the Outdoor Adventure shoe. I’m sure we could message Bill and he could bring that Wildfire and I can bring it to you. Lol
That is exceedingly tempting. EXCEEDINGLY tempting. But I think I need to hold off until I am done with my National Boards - I have already promised myself a new WildFIRE if/when I achieve (and I should be able to actually afford it if I achieve).
But it is still very very very very tempting...
I imagine you could find someone on this forum to fix that for you…
No canoe at Canoecopis, just the wood plug. Looks interesting. Maybe production models by June. Tariffs have them concerned.
Annoyingly, Swift names their new canoe "Cirrus" when there already is a canoe model named Cirrus. What makes matters worse is that Swift even had that first Cirrus in their lineup -the John Winters - Cirrus 18'.
I'm actually more curious about the Cirrus 18' which looks like a much more progressive design than the new Cirrus solo. Because of the name re-use any search results gets flooded by the new Cirrus solo.
Is there a shortage of names for new canoe models or is it simply a lack of imagination?
I'm not sure but that might actually be Bill Swift at the stern there. Cirrus 18'
I'm actually more curious about the Cirrus 18' which looks like a much more progressive design than the new Cirrus solo. Because of the name re-use any search results gets flooded by the new Cirrus solo.
Is there a shortage of names for new canoe models or is it simply a lack of imagination?
I'm not sure but that might actually be Bill Swift at the stern there. Cirrus 18'
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Could, certainly, be a lack of imagination but, more likely, they're trying to capitalize on any following that the original Cirrus may have had.
Sort of like Chrysler relaunching the "Gladiator" which looks like a yuppie-mobile & nothing like the 1960's AMC Jeep trucks. (unfortunately, I've been looking at a lot of trucks lately)
Sort of like Chrysler relaunching the "Gladiator" which looks like a yuppie-mobile & nothing like the 1960's AMC Jeep trucks. (unfortunately, I've been looking at a lot of trucks lately)
I ran into the same problem searching for "Osprey". How about Wenonah's Fisherman? Two very different boats from the same maker with the exact same name.
We could probably have a pretty good thread just about recycled canoe names.
Having paddled both, I can assure you that the D15 and Cirrus are quite different hulls. There is, of course, some overlap in potential mission profiles, but the D15 is geared much more toward long river tripping and performance paddling, while I’d say that the Cirrus is a great, all-around hull for paddling enthusiasts (meaning people who want to paddle vs floating with a beer cooler drifting next to their boats).
Glad to learn I was wrong in this speculation.
At 33:35 of the following Swift 2025 product launch video, Bill Swift displays and discusses the Flashfire, Wildfire and Starfire, and says the molds of all three are in good shape. Although none is in the current public price list, any of the three can be custom ordered. He also says the Wildfire has become a very popular solo canoe at their Algonquin test paddling facility.
Bill then goes on to tout the Cirrus, which he says has the exact same mid-section as the Wildfire, with the bow and stern each stretched 3" and a half inch of rocker taken out of the stern.
If anyone has the opportunity and is more than a novice solo paddler, I would encourage you to try to test paddle a Wildfire against the Cirrus because you may like the Wildfire better. From the specs and description, I remain of the opinion that the Cirrus is a slightly lengthened and de-stern-rockered Wildfire to make it less turnable/playful and a smidge faster and capacious than the Wilfire to cater to novice and/or capacious soloists.
A Wildfire can easily be paddled forward by canoeists with good single blade correction stroke technique, it is turny fun on twisty streams and class 1-2 whitewater, and it's been the most popular mid-size canoe hull for solo freestyle for 30 years along with its Tom MacKenzie/DY wood/Dacron clone, the 14' Loon Works Aria. The Wildfire is a time-tested and proven hull. The derivative Cirrus will probably sell well—like the derivative, asymmetrically rockered Bell Yellowstone did—because it has some slight benefits for certain circumstances and is the new bling-bling on the block.
