Readers' boats: Heron update

Peter Anderson from Dunbar, Scotland posted some picture of his newly launched Alacrity "Heron" on his blog. She looks great.

See more pictures on his blog.

Counteracting mast bend

Due to the fact that the Alacrity does not have forward lower shrouds, the mast sometimes tends to get the wrong shape. This has recently been discussed on the Alacrity forum and some tips have been offered. One of them is to simply swap the deck attachments for the upper and lower shrouds, but this will bend the spreaders slightly backwards. Perhaps that isn't a problem though.

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.

New Alacrity blog

Here is a new blog about another Alacrity being restored. This one is particularly interesting as the owner is planning to change the rigging to a junk rig. Read about the progress here.