CARMEN was the beginning of a unique collaboration between Ron and Wally, spawning an entire generation of boats stemming, from an original design.

Wally was an amateur designer with no particular interest in rating rules, rather, I believe his interest was to design a simple, comfortable boat with low resistance which was sea kindly and well balanced, with a modern efficient rig and 'fast for its size'.

Realising the opportunity to start with a very capable boat, Ron Swanson collaborated with Wally to design CARMEN. As Doug Brooker [11] puts it, "Wally provided the design methods, calculations and analysis while Ron provided an insight to the RORC scantling rules and construction methods and he was driven to compete. Wally gradually taught Ron how to design a boat, a skill he was able to use in later designs of his own such as the Swanson 36 and Swanson 38".   

In CARMEN, Ron added heavier deck scantlings to improve the rating, but she was stripped out, with no internal linings or creature comforts. Lightweight pipe berths and small fibreglass dodger instead of a traditional coach house, all of which turned this little cruiser into an all-out racing craft. She was splined down to the waterline each end, and the topsides splined using resorcinol glue, the bottom was caulked. Cadence & Cavalier were double planked topsides and caulked bottom which was pretty unique for the time, making the boat strong but quick to build.

Add to that a capable rigger, sailmaker, racing crew, and navigator, CARMEN immediately began winning races, just as Ron had hoped. Very soon he was back to Wally, with some practical modifications which became Cadence. The track record of CARMEN, CADENCE and CAVALIER in their first few seasons was incredibly impressive, taking the entire offshore racing scene by storm. They became the 'go-to' ocean racers of their time, which generated their popularity.