Another way is what Thomas Gladius describes on his blog. He added some forward lower shrouds. This is obviously the more professional solution, but on the already cramped deck of the small boat it adds more obstructions.
Read his report here.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Counteracting mast bend
Another way is what Thomas Gladius describes on his blog. He added some forward lower shrouds. This is obviously the more professional solution, but on the already cramped deck of the small boat it adds more obstructions.
Read his report here.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
New Alacrity blog
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Sailing without a mast
My 2011 summer cruise, if it may be called that, was quite different from the last couple of year's sailing in the Stockholm archipelago. Due to the change my life has undergone recently I am now based in the UK, while my boat is still in Sweden. So after only a short visit there (see previous post), it was decided to do a proper holiday on a rented narrowboat on the Leeds to Liverpool Canal. The boat was called Cray and was one of the medium sized ones with four berths and not too big to be too awkward to maneuver. Well, sort of. Compared to a sailboat these things are extremely clumsy. Fortunately, however, they are made of steel and virtually indestructible so a little bit of bumping into stone walls seems to only do them good. Cray didn't even have fenders!
We collected the boat in Skipton, and the eager crew started immediately to feed the ducks. This was before they were aware of swing bridges and locks and other nuisances that would transform this trip into not quite what they had expected.
The inside of the boat looks like this. I was particularly fond of the fireplace, very few other rental boats we saw had them, but compared to the noisy diesel heating it was paradise in the evenings!
We received a thorough briefing of all the peculiarities of narrowboats, and were then sent off on our own with the promise that someone would be at the first lock to help us through. The cruise started smoothly as we slowly moved out of Skipton.
The first bit was easy cruising along a sort of semi-urban environment that slowly transformed into more ruralness. Industry and houses were soon replaced by grassy fields, cows and sheep. We had to stop for a handful of swing bridges and soon got the hang of that. Until we got to the last one before the first lock. That one was on a pretty flat bit of landscape and there was a strong headwind. When trying for the little quay in order to drop the crew off, I came in too slowly and the wind caught the wrong side of the bows. Soon we were wedged across the width of the canal and I was surprised how difficult it was to get the bow back through the wind on the right track. The wind was basically blowing the bows across faster than the boat would go astern. A real eye opener as for the clumsyness of the boat. Now, well, I can hear you argue, why didn't I just make for the other bank? There was barbed wirey things and stuff, OK?
Soon enough we arrived at the lock, got our instruction and just as we were going in, another boat arrived. It turned out to be Leyburn from the same hire company, skippered by a young couple from Leeds. It turned out that we stayed in company for the most part of the trip, which made the locking easier as we had both more crew to handle the stuff, but also, as the locks can take just two narrowboats, the vessels can't wobble around as much as when going in alone.
After that first lock we continued to Gargrave, a nice little village with another two locks and a coop-shop. There we purchased coal for the fire and then settled down for the first night, contemplating over our achy muscles and eagerly looking forward to another 20 odd lock passages.
The next morning we set off to make the ascend to the top bit of the canal, which would lead us through a chain of 6 locks as well as a couple of single or double ones thrown in. As for locking, this was the hardest day.
We did it however, with no incidents other than extreme tiredness and got rewarded with a beautiful bit of canal afterwards. And lunch. But no more locks or swing bridges for a long while. We went over a bridge over a river (which is weird).
Through lushyness.
Under nice old bridges
Until we got to a little place called East Marton, where we filled water. With three girls as crew the demand for water was somewhat higher than I'm used to, but then, my own boat doesn't even have a shower...
The white building in the background is a nice pub where we decided to have a meal on the way back. This is Leyburn btw, a similar boat but with a smaller, encased steering space and over all somewhat lower.
We continued a little further in order to get as close to the tunnel at Foulridge, after which we would have to turn around and go back.
We passed more romantic green stuff and a little bit of more urbanness at Barnoldswick which had loads of moored boats with angry women telling everyone off to slow down or they'd transform us into this:
Not really. Actually lots of boats do go a little too quickly past moored boats, but compared to what I have seen powerboats do in the Stockholm archipelago, I'd say it's a non-issue on the canal.
We stopped for the night at a place which name I've forgotten, we came in late and just went straight to tea and lit the fire. The next morning we only had 20 more minutes to the tunnel.
I do have to admit that I don't like it. Mostly perhaps because it made me think of what would happen if the engine died in there. Surely there wouldn't be a phone signal. ;) But also, because we actually had an incident on our way through. The tunnel is single file, with red and green lights to indicate when to go, but nonetheless, when we went in there was someone coming through from the other side. We were the second boat of four, so as the boat in front started backing and shouting, it got a little excited for a while. The main problem was the diesel smoke with backing and maneuvering and stopped boats, the air got really unpleasant to breathe. Fortunately it emerged that the offender was a narrowboat, too so we could pass him in the tunnel and were soon on our way again. If it had been one of the bigger barges we would have been in more trouble. Still, despite there being three shafts that let air and light into the tunnel, the diesel smoke didn't properly clear until we were through. Or perhaps it's always like this unless you are the first boat, which we were on the way back. That was a completely different experiene, at least for heart rate and cleanliness of air. But I still didn't really like it.
It takes about 15 minutes to sail through the tunnel and I do wonder how they did before boats had engines. Poles against the walls? That must have been really labourous!
We had a well deserved cup of coffee and a 45 minutes rest until it was time to go back trough. After that, we carried straight on to East Marton and the pub, locks now not being any more than a minor nuisance.
See, the stove works!
The next day, we had to go through all those locks again. But first some more nice scenery, and finally really sunny weather!
And while we sort of had thought, going down all those locks would be really hard and time consuming, it actually was less hard work than we'd thought. Not sure if going downwards is actually easier, or if we just had gotten more routine.
We spent one more night on the boat, but as we now passed the same stretch of canal I didn't take many more photos. Which is a shame, because I now realise that there are a couple of bits that were really nice where I don't have any photos at all. Well, you can't have it all.
In conclusion, we are all happy with the trip and will definitely do more in the future, I have heard there are plenty of canals in this country to keep us occupied a couple of more summers.
Oh and finally, a litte locky video.
We collected the boat in Skipton, and the eager crew started immediately to feed the ducks. This was before they were aware of swing bridges and locks and other nuisances that would transform this trip into not quite what they had expected.
The inside of the boat looks like this. I was particularly fond of the fireplace, very few other rental boats we saw had them, but compared to the noisy diesel heating it was paradise in the evenings!
We received a thorough briefing of all the peculiarities of narrowboats, and were then sent off on our own with the promise that someone would be at the first lock to help us through. The cruise started smoothly as we slowly moved out of Skipton.
The first bit was easy cruising along a sort of semi-urban environment that slowly transformed into more ruralness. Industry and houses were soon replaced by grassy fields, cows and sheep. We had to stop for a handful of swing bridges and soon got the hang of that. Until we got to the last one before the first lock. That one was on a pretty flat bit of landscape and there was a strong headwind. When trying for the little quay in order to drop the crew off, I came in too slowly and the wind caught the wrong side of the bows. Soon we were wedged across the width of the canal and I was surprised how difficult it was to get the bow back through the wind on the right track. The wind was basically blowing the bows across faster than the boat would go astern. A real eye opener as for the clumsyness of the boat. Now, well, I can hear you argue, why didn't I just make for the other bank? There was barbed wirey things and stuff, OK?
Soon enough we arrived at the lock, got our instruction and just as we were going in, another boat arrived. It turned out to be Leyburn from the same hire company, skippered by a young couple from Leeds. It turned out that we stayed in company for the most part of the trip, which made the locking easier as we had both more crew to handle the stuff, but also, as the locks can take just two narrowboats, the vessels can't wobble around as much as when going in alone.
After that first lock we continued to Gargrave, a nice little village with another two locks and a coop-shop. There we purchased coal for the fire and then settled down for the first night, contemplating over our achy muscles and eagerly looking forward to another 20 odd lock passages.
The next morning we set off to make the ascend to the top bit of the canal, which would lead us through a chain of 6 locks as well as a couple of single or double ones thrown in. As for locking, this was the hardest day.
We did it however, with no incidents other than extreme tiredness and got rewarded with a beautiful bit of canal afterwards. And lunch. But no more locks or swing bridges for a long while. We went over a bridge over a river (which is weird).
Through lushyness.
Under nice old bridges
Until we got to a little place called East Marton, where we filled water. With three girls as crew the demand for water was somewhat higher than I'm used to, but then, my own boat doesn't even have a shower...
The white building in the background is a nice pub where we decided to have a meal on the way back. This is Leyburn btw, a similar boat but with a smaller, encased steering space and over all somewhat lower.
We continued a little further in order to get as close to the tunnel at Foulridge, after which we would have to turn around and go back.
We passed more romantic green stuff and a little bit of more urbanness at Barnoldswick which had loads of moored boats with angry women telling everyone off to slow down or they'd transform us into this:
Not really. Actually lots of boats do go a little too quickly past moored boats, but compared to what I have seen powerboats do in the Stockholm archipelago, I'd say it's a non-issue on the canal.
We stopped for the night at a place which name I've forgotten, we came in late and just went straight to tea and lit the fire. The next morning we only had 20 more minutes to the tunnel.
I do have to admit that I don't like it. Mostly perhaps because it made me think of what would happen if the engine died in there. Surely there wouldn't be a phone signal. ;) But also, because we actually had an incident on our way through. The tunnel is single file, with red and green lights to indicate when to go, but nonetheless, when we went in there was someone coming through from the other side. We were the second boat of four, so as the boat in front started backing and shouting, it got a little excited for a while. The main problem was the diesel smoke with backing and maneuvering and stopped boats, the air got really unpleasant to breathe. Fortunately it emerged that the offender was a narrowboat, too so we could pass him in the tunnel and were soon on our way again. If it had been one of the bigger barges we would have been in more trouble. Still, despite there being three shafts that let air and light into the tunnel, the diesel smoke didn't properly clear until we were through. Or perhaps it's always like this unless you are the first boat, which we were on the way back. That was a completely different experiene, at least for heart rate and cleanliness of air. But I still didn't really like it.
It takes about 15 minutes to sail through the tunnel and I do wonder how they did before boats had engines. Poles against the walls? That must have been really labourous!
We had a well deserved cup of coffee and a 45 minutes rest until it was time to go back trough. After that, we carried straight on to East Marton and the pub, locks now not being any more than a minor nuisance.
See, the stove works!
The next day, we had to go through all those locks again. But first some more nice scenery, and finally really sunny weather!
And while we sort of had thought, going down all those locks would be really hard and time consuming, it actually was less hard work than we'd thought. Not sure if going downwards is actually easier, or if we just had gotten more routine.
We spent one more night on the boat, but as we now passed the same stretch of canal I didn't take many more photos. Which is a shame, because I now realise that there are a couple of bits that were really nice where I don't have any photos at all. Well, you can't have it all.
In conclusion, we are all happy with the trip and will definitely do more in the future, I have heard there are plenty of canals in this country to keep us occupied a couple of more summers.
Oh and finally, a litte locky video.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Back for a sail
Actually went back to Sweden for a couple of days last week and got the boat into the water. It wasn't in too bad a shape considering a winter of sitting abandoned and not much maintenance having been done in the spring. So some varnish, a little wash and we were off for a sail last Thursday.
Also the decision is made to try and keep the boat in Sweden and go back next summer to hopefully sail a little more.
Also the decision is made to try and keep the boat in Sweden and go back next summer to hopefully sail a little more.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Little Grace blog
David Appleby, the man who moved his Alacrity from the UK to Finland, has started a blog of his own. There he tells the story of his project and his future adventures. Check it out here.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
New Alacrity Blog: "My Girl"
Randy Rain's blog about the restauration of his Alacrity "My Girl" is the latest addition to the list of Alacrity blogs. Randy's boat does look like it needs quite some work and we wish him all the best with his project!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Plywood Alacrity for sale
I got an email about this plywood Alacrity for sale.
Circa 1965 Alacrity, Plywood Construction, Currently lying in Shepperton, Middlesex
Deneb has been out of the water for some time and due to other
commitments we are now seeking a new owner to take on the work of putting
her back on the water where she belongs.
As you can see from the pictures she will take some work to finish. Major
items left to do are to finish strengthening the side decks and re-attach the
cabin top. She will then need a complete paint job inside and out.
We will supply all the wood that has been cut to size as well all the original
hardware, engine, etc.
This includes:
Refurbished Coventry Victor MW-2 Inboard Engine (approx. 3.5 HP)
Working Raritan Sea toilet
2 Mainsails and 2 Jibs
Any sensible offers considered, please get in touch for more details if you are
interested.
briansibthorp@hotmail.com
Pictures:
Circa 1965 Alacrity, Plywood Construction, Currently lying in Shepperton, Middlesex
Deneb has been out of the water for some time and due to other
commitments we are now seeking a new owner to take on the work of putting
her back on the water where she belongs.
As you can see from the pictures she will take some work to finish. Major
items left to do are to finish strengthening the side decks and re-attach the
cabin top. She will then need a complete paint job inside and out.
We will supply all the wood that has been cut to size as well all the original
hardware, engine, etc.
This includes:
Refurbished Coventry Victor MW-2 Inboard Engine (approx. 3.5 HP)
Working Raritan Sea toilet
2 Mainsails and 2 Jibs
Any sensible offers considered, please get in touch for more details if you are
interested.
briansibthorp@hotmail.com
Pictures:
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