Alacrity sailboat

Counteracting mast bend

2012-01-28T12:27:00.001+01:00

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

2012-01-10T21:33:00.001+01:00

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.

Sailing without a mast

2011-09-03T15:03:00.000+02:00

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.

Back for a sail

2011-08-08T14:02:00.001+02:00

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.

Little Grace blog

2011-05-03T21:08:00.000+02:00

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.

New Alacrity Blog: "My Girl"

2011-05-01T19:09:00.000+02:00

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!

Plywood Alacrity for sale

2011-01-31T20:48:00.000+01:00

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:

Sad news -- perhaps

2011-01-12T21:48:00.000+01:00

I am currently contemplating putting my boat up for sale. It won't be before the end of next season, hopefully giving me the chance to do some more sailing in Sweden first, but as I cannot see any way (or means) to keep my boat here in York (it's too far from the sea, the marinas on the river are too expensive and there isn't really a point having a sailboat on a river this small), I might have to be content with the kayak for a while.

I haven't decided anything definite yet, but if there is anyone out there who would be interested in giving Discovery a new home, I'd be open for suggestions.

French Alacrity Blog

2010-10-27T13:34:00.002+02:00

For those of you who are fortunate enough to understand French there's a blog about an Alacrity here. I have no idea where it is, but it looks nice. ;)

New "Little Grace" video

2010-10-25T21:21:00.000+02:00

David Appleby sent me this new video of his Alacrity "Little Grace".

Seawitch blog update

2010-10-18T20:16:00.000+02:00

Andrew French has updated his blog about the refurbishment of Alacrity "Seawitch". Check it out here.

Little Grace video

2010-09-26T13:54:00.000+02:00

David Appleby sent me this video of his Alacrity 'Little Grace' sailing. Looks good!

Well, I am still alive...

2010-09-24T21:10:00.000+02:00

OK, I went back to Stockholm for a couple of days this week and actually got the boat out for a short sail. There wasn't much wind but the sky was blue and the water was as it used to be, too. It was nice to be back, but well, my time here is ending and I've taken the mast down for the boat to be hauled out in October.

Oh, and I also found a fellow club member with a broken down engine so did get to do some good..

Next summer, hopefully, will ensue the adventurous task of getting the boat to the UK. So stay tuned.

Tidal sailing

2010-06-19T22:33:00.001+02:00

I am currently in England and have done some tidal sailing. Report here.

Season's first overnight trip

2010-06-03T20:02:00.002+02:00

The weather has been perfect these last few days, so I finally managed my first overnight trip of the season. I went to a place where I had been before, mostly because it's sheltered and nice and I didn't expect anyone else to be there on a weekday evening. It turned out there were a few others, but no one near enough to be trouble.

The sail started with, well not sailing. There was very little wind on Wednesday, so I motored the major part of the distance. It was still nice in the sun and very few other boats out. I met one bigger thing though, which I took for a sea scout vessel, but it later turned out to be charter vessel full of high school kids. How I know that? See later.

To get to the anchorage there's a nice narrow passage to be navigated, and it's that passage which prevents bigger boats to get in here at all, so it's very much a secret small boat haven.

I had a beer and a steamy vampire book.

Ravioli for dinner.

A lamp to read by although it didn't get really dark so near midsummer.

22.30

23.15

Then I went to bed. The night was perfectly still, not a sound, no wind, nothing. In the morning the wind got up, but the anchor held. I did move to the other side of the cove for a few hours later, though in order to get a little more peace and quiet.

Then I sailed home. There was enough wind to sail all the way, too. As I closed on the city, I was buzzed first by an ambulance helicopter, then a Coastguard fast craft. Ashore were fire engines. I later found out that it was the very charter boat I encountered the day before - which had been on fire.

Oh no - the pub has closed!

2010-05-22T18:52:00.001+02:00

Today I set out with my friend Mari for our traditional spring lunch at the pub on Storholmen. It was a warm, sunny day with light winds, but enough to get us there without motoring all the way. However, as we arrived, disaster struck. The pub was closed. And not only closed, but completely deserted, shackled up, shut down. Crunched by the credits, supposedly.

And we had no beer, no sandwiches, only water, coffee and the emergency rations. Mari also doesn't eat meat, so most of the pea soup and corned beef based things could not be served. Fortunately, there was beans, and there was tuna.

After our makeshift meal, we explored the surroundings. I had moored the boat in a cove opposite of Storholmen, a place I never visited before. There were several other boats there, it being Saturday, and also a group of sea scouts who had arrived by dinghy.

There were lots of green things, nice nature things, and some less nice things, mostlyt murder ants.

After having talked to a guy with a broken jetski who had been towed into the cove and abandoned there by someone who probably wanted to keep the channel clear from obstacles, we had coffee and then sailed home in almost no wind, motoring the last half an hour. It was still a very nice day. Oh, and the jetski guy did get help from another mobo, they passed us later with his contraption in tow.

Continuing the hydrographic expedition

2010-05-19T19:51:00.000+02:00

I've done a few day trips to small uninhabited islands around here and plotted them on foursquare. It's really just a geeky thing, but if other boaters go there and check, then the islands will show instead of having to be added manually. Now today I visited the third one, Västerskär, still within comfortable daysail range from my club (and there are a few more still...). The interesting thing is, this one lies in between some nice tricky shallows and I did previously not dare even go near it.

Enter the new chartplotter app on the iphone. With it I thought I'd give it a try. And it worked perfectly. It was also quite a revelation considering that my usually so trusted eyeball navigation showed to be quite some way off. I seriously begin to wonder why I haven't been running aground lot more earlier. Anyway, I guess I've just had a good safety margin.

Now, here are some pic. First I met this little ferry which confused me by erratic maneuvers ,while I was tacking, to such at degree that I was considering calling her up on the VHF, but then I realized it was training docking maneuvers.

Then, as I got the island in sight, the wind died.

I drifted for a while, but then started the evil engine for the last mile. Anchored, had lunch and took a video of some birds screeching. Not much of an expedition. But it was warm and I had a perfect following wind on my way back. Bliss.

Oh and here's the video.

More "Little Grace" pics

2010-04-27T12:34:00.009+02:00

David Appleby sent a couple more pictures of his refurbishing project.

Due to the extended and exceptional winter conditions in Finland (it is still freezing at night and it snowed again over the last few days) David Appleby has abandoned the refurbishment of Little Grace in favour of throwing everything back on and going sailing. He will use bathroom silicone sealant for the fittings and only round the holes where appropriate so they are easy to get off when work resumes next autumn. Hopefully – 20 will not be the norm for so long and the job will get done.

First daysail and geekiness

2010-04-25T15:39:00.003+02:00

The first daysail of the season occured today. I went out to an island, anchored and had coffee. Sailed home. Made a boring video. Almost froze my hands off when I hauled up the anchor line out of that ice cold liquid I was sailing in (or on). It was quite warm and sunny, though and the wind was good.

I have also tried out the solar charger and battery combination I was experimenting with lately. It's an old alarm battery from work connected to a small solar charger. So now I've a proper 12V system and can charge anything with a usual car charger. Charges the iphone in less than three hours. Not sure how long the solar thing needs to top up the battery after that, but shouldn't be longer than the iphone takes to run flat again.

Oh, and here's the video.

Launched!

2010-04-18T16:59:00.004+02:00

Hooray! I got an unexpected phone call today at lunchtime from the club's crane guy. He had found time to launch me ahead of the rest again this year. So I'm in. The engine took some extra pulls this time, but then the winter had been exceptionally cold. At last it started! Very very pleased!

As you can see, the rubrail is now white. It will probably not stay that way, but it looks very nice right now.

Awfully quiet

2010-03-14T22:01:00.003+01:00

Yes, I know, I've been awfully quiet around here. But simply, there hasn't been anything to say. We still have lots of snow and even today I could walk right over the ice at the club. Which might be a trifle worrying, with the traditional launch date only about six weeks off. Fortunately, the ice normally goes quite fast once it starts to go, and the air is already much warmer, especially when the sun is out during the day. So there might be spring after all.

The most important news else is that I've gotten one of those fancy iphones. There's lot to be said about them, but it does have a very nifty chartplotter application, which works great (yes, I've tested it on the harbour ferry...). The downside is only, those things have really poor batteries. So I have struggled for weeks to find a way to charge the thing on the boat. Now, I have been able to charge all my previous cellphones with various solar chargers, but the iphone just won't have those. Apple, being protective of only the gods know what, have built-in software which not only checks that the charging cable is, well - approved by the charging cable god, but also checks that the charging device does deliver exactly the right amount of milliamperes. That's really bad, because most solar chargers deliver less than an USB contact. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, charging would just take longer. But it is for Apple.
Anyway, I finally found a solution that works, an extra battery, approved by Apple, which can charge the phone, and, thank the gods, can be charged by anything else. All my old chargers suddenly work again.

Finally, I am glad to announce that I will be on extended leave from work from May until September this year. So there will be lots of time for sailing, and then it won't be as quiet here anymore. See you in spring.

The refurbishment of Little Grace

2010-02-26T09:31:00.003+01:00

David Appleby, who recently moved his Alacrity "Little Grace" to Finland is now going to refurbish the boat. He has sent some before-pictures and will keep us updated on the progress of his work.

More winter impressions

2009-12-27T13:40:00.005+01:00

I got this request for some pictures of the boatyard and my boat in its sorry winter state. Unfortunately, on the way there I decided to make a video instead, being, as alway, terribly inspired by Dylan Winter. However, I did not know that the camera's lense makes you look quite like a rabbit if you put it too near. That never happend to Dylan. Anyway, it's too late now and I will have to go through with this.

Getting into the yard wasn't easy as the lock had frozen. Expecting this I carried a small can of anti-freeze spray, which got me in, but did not entirely clear the lock on the inside so I wouldn't have gotten the key in if the door had slammed shut.

And here is the after-pic.

I did get out without trouble so I could take some more pics from the other side of the inlet.

Not sailing weather

2009-12-20T15:30:00.004+01:00

I took a walk to the boatyard today. It was snowing a little and there was about half a foot of snow on the ground. It would probably have been easier if I'd had a pair of skis. After having removed about a ton of snow from the boat's cover I walked home and it started to snow really good.

After having made it to the subway station the adventure got a bit out of hand. First there was a big bang and a flash of lightning, then the train stopped in the tunnel. A voice came on the loudspeaker telling us that the train probably had lost a current collector shoe and wasn't allowed to continue until inspected. However, a few minutes later she told us she'd try to back the train to the previous station. This succeeded and I was once again out in the snow. Shortly after I was hit by a lump of snow or ice descending from a roof. It missed my head by inches and bumped off my shoulder.

It really is much safer at sea!

Ah, and don't do this to your boat.

Little Grace to Finland

2009-11-30T08:26:00.005+01:00

A journey of the more unusual kind: David Appleby trailered his Alacrity "Little Grace" all th way from Coventry in the UK to Finland. He used a 1600 Ford Focus estate at max kerb weight, using a braked trailer and Bulldog stabiliser (the latter to reduce the risk of fishtailing). David writes:

"The car coped really well and the whole rig was very stable; having said that I stuck to a max of 80km/PH."

Here are some pictures.

"In one of the photos you can just see the stabiliser that I think helped a
lot. Another detail that may interest others is an easily obtainable elastic
net that fitted very well over the cockpit which meant that I was able to
fill it (the cockpit) without having to worry that things would fly out,
such as the step ladder you can see.

It was tempting to go faster and indeed the optimum speed for cruising
seemed to be 85-90 km ph but only on level and very smooth road surfaces.

The boat was loaded with a lot of my personal effects, as was the car, which
also carried two people and a Labrador. The heavy items were in the car, not
that the people or the dog are particularly heavy. Lighter, bulkier items
travelled in the boat. The car’s max tow weight is 1200 kg.

We set off at about 14:00 on Sunday and drove to Dover where we got the
ferry at around 10:15. When we arrived in Calais we drove through the early
morning to get away from the industrial/more built up areas. Stopped and
slept in the car from about 2am.

After breakfast we set off again once the rush hour traffic had died down.
The use of Tom Tom and sticking to the E roads made driving smoothly and
safely easier.

The only problem that occurred was when we got lost in a diversion and had
to stop quickly at traffic lights outside of Eindhoven. Stopping was not the
problem but the handbrake popped up and the retainer dropped into the
ratchet. Not knowing this we continued towing until the breaks overheated
and boat seemed to be getting heavier. Luckily we pulled into a service
station and reached a parking space at the same moment that the boat trailer
refused to move any further. After identifying the problem and anxiously
waiting until the beaks cooled down and proved that for certain that it was
not the bearings, which had been replaced the week before departure we set
off again. The retainer that had dropped into the ratchet was taped up so as
to prevent it causing another cardiac arrest.

The next stop in Germany was recreational and a chance to exercise the dog.
After a short stint the next stop was for a meal and sleep during the busy
traffic period in the evening. Driving through the night and luckily getting
through km after km of road works the next stop was at 3 am followed by a
short drive at 5am to the next services for more sleep then breakfast until
the rush hour was over.

We finally arrived in Rostock North Germany 10 hours early for the ferry we
were due to board at 00:00. This was as a result of choosing to stay on the
E roads and push on after the scare at Eindhoven rather than a more
leisurely approach, i.e. to give us time to deal with any problems, but
there were no more.

The crossing to Finland was 26 hours in a F10-11. At Helsinki at 8am there
was snow. The last leg at normal speeds is normally 1.5 hours. We arrived
home (my new home) at around 12.30 having stopped a couple of times. The
last few kms were on minor roads in the countryside that had settled snow on
them but not much. There was one minor but steep hill that was just a little
tricky and I had to get the revs right to avoid wheel spin but the car
managed the pull with enough grip.

Upcoming: 50th anniversary

2009-11-16T17:35:00.004+01:00

Next year is the Alacrity's 50th anniversary as a class. Designed in 1960 the boat was built during many years and upgraded a few times. However, the basic lines have been the same all the way back since the first plywood version.

Now, I have been asked if I would be interested in editing an anniversary publication which would be printed and sold by a publisher in Ireland. I said, I might do it, but I would want to check with the crowd first. I don't think I will have the time or resources to write everything myself so I would want contributors. I also would want good pictures in high resolution.

While most of the basic facts, history and technical bits already are present on this site, some of it would have to be rewritten and polished up some. There are articles that could be used, but where permission would have to be obtained from the original authors. As this would be a somewhat commercial project, it would have to be done correctly.

I am not saying you'll get paid, but there is a chance of it, even if it might not be much.

So my questions simply are: 1. would you be interested in buying such a thing? 2. would you be interested in contributing to the project. Please answer in the comments below.

A new Alacrity blog: Sea Witch

2009-10-31T12:20:00.003+01:00

Andrew French has just started a blog about his new Alacrity. I am sure he will have lots of adventures with her. Keep us posted, Andy!

A survey of "Limpan"

2009-09-26T16:52:00.004+02:00

No, not a boat survey, it's an island. In fact it's the nearest uninhabited one from my club, and despite having sailed past it lots of times I never had been ashore there. I had anchored in its lee a few times and seen other boats moor at the rocks, so I knew it was possible.

This week-end a friend and I decided to give it a try. There was quite a blow, with very gusty winds from the west, so we started with the small jib and a reef in the main. This worked quite well and with the wind mostly on the beam we made it to Limpan in record time.

When we came closer we saw that there was another boat already there, trying to find a spot to moor. So, we would not have the privilege of our own island - oh well. We did, however, find a nice spot to moor, out of sight of the other boat.

The island itself makes quite a good lee, despite the wind howling past it on both sides. On this picture the border of the lee can clearly be seen, where the water is darker the wind is blowing.

We had a little picnic and then made a thorough examination of the island. It's probably less than half a kilometer long and at most about 100m wide, so the survey was done quickly. A good thing was that there is almost no undervegetation, so it was very easily accessible.

View towards the island from its southern point.

And the narrow sound between it and the next little island to the north.

The northern one might be worth a visit as well, but it's not as easy to get to as the beach is very shallow at most places. We saw two kajakers however who went ashore there later.

Survey finished, we set off back home. As we had the wind dead against us in the beginning, we did use the engine for a while. Yes, I know, but I am not getting any younger, either.

Finally a video I shot on the island. It turned out in some Blair Witch Project style, which wasn't really the intention, but you can see a little of the island anyway...

Altoghether, a nice day trip and perhaps the last landfall on unexplored land of the season.

Afternoon sail

2009-09-18T20:09:00.003+02:00

The weather has been glorious here this last week and is supposed to stay that way through the week-end. Of course, I have to work the whole week-end, so there will be no sailing for me. But I did sneak out of the office at 3 pm today just to get a few hours on the boat anyway. There was not too much wind, but enough to sail around the nearest island.

I took a short video when passing through the narrow sound north of it. Someone there has bought himself an old military vessel, I'm not really sure what kind though.

New shelf

2009-08-23T16:43:00.005+02:00

There had always been unused space where the former owner had his stereo and switchboard. As I have removed those the space had been empty. Now I have made a new shelf where the stereo once had been. I used half an old washboard I had kept as a reserve, and ten screws. Easy job...

Summer cruise 2009 - Part III

2009-08-13T13:13:00.006+02:00

(If you have missed the earlier parts you may want to start reading from Part I)

The day my father arrived I sailed the boat to Finnhamn, only a short distance from where I was moored. It still took quite some time, in blazing sunshine and with almost no wind. When I finally was moored up I had to take a swim at once.

I was moored at Idholmen a 20 minutes walk from the ferry landing, but my Dad likes walking in the forest so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. Shortly after I arrived, a big Bavaria 36 moored closely next to me. But this is to be expected here, where it is quite deep everywhere and there is a shop and a restaurant as well. Still, the crew was nice and offered me a whiskey for compensation, which I accepted, of course.

An hour and a half later I started to walk to the ferry landing. When I got half way there I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, so no beer at the pub while waiting for the ferry... Anyway, my Dad finally arrived on this slightly less ugly ferry.

In real "Riddle of the Sands"-style he had not only a rucksack but a hard suitcase which may not have been the best choice of things one would like to carry through a forest - or onboard a boat. But we managed nonetheless.

I had offered my Dad two choices as for destination for the next day: a pittoresque fishing village with a pub or a deserted island with a view of the horizon. Knowing my Dad I was quite sure he would pick the fishing village. So we sailed to Möja.

Winds were very light and we managed to sail about halfway until they died down completely. We then motored the rest of the way, taking the shortcut through the Möjaström passage, which I had never done before. At the entrance to the channel someone was restoring this beautiful vessel.

And here is a short clip from the passage.

At Möja we went to the restaurant in order to book a table for the evening, only to discover that it was closed for restauration until 2010. Instad we had a hamburger at a grill at the ferry landing. Later we discovered that the café which only used to sell breakfast and danish pastry now had expanded and even served food. So we went there again in the evening and had very nice steaks...

Before that, we visited the little church. I had never been inside before, despite having been to Möja several times earlier. It is really nice. From the roof hangs a big model ship. Unfortunately I only had the camera in my mobile phone at the time and the light inside was too bad. When I got back the next morning with the proper camera, the church was closed...Oh well, another time.

Möja also has a new harbourmaster.

The next day we sailed in a little more wind to Lådna. It's a place I have visited many times and it is always nice to come here and have a swim. My Dad enjoying the water.

Afterwards he told me that this cruise was the best he had yet. Mainly, I think because of the much warmer weather (it did not rain even once!), but he also liked the food on board better. (Although I cannot remember the food having been worse last year...).

From Lådna we sailed on to Gällnö, another known place from my reports. On the last leg back to town it is a bit difficult to find new anchorages. This time, it being a week-end and very sunny and warm, the achorage was so crowded I did not find a suitable rock to moor at first. Instead I sailed the boat until the keels touched the mud and we could jump into the water and wade ashore. Coming back aboard wasn't as easy though...

We moved to a proper rock later.

Via a short hop to Hästholmen south of Grinda (which my Dad did not like at all as we were moored in shadow from trees most of the time), we sailed on to Getfoten. This time, however we took another route, through Lindalssundet. It's a shortcut, but usually much frequented by wash-making mobos, so I try to avoid it. This time it wasn't so bad and we could sail all the way through. Only the last part, through Vaxholm itself we had to motor against strong winds in an area with much traffic.

Shortly before entering Lindalssundet we met this survey vessel, moving some buoys.

And this nice Dutch boat.

At Getfoten we arrived at the same time as the garbage barge...no nice smell...

And the boat next to us, a mobo from Uppsala with engine trouble had fixed a tow to a boatyard that would arrive at 0600 the next day.

With rain (finally) in the forecast, I thought it was just as well for us to make an early start as well. And so we did, arriving at home just before it started to rain!

After all, this cruise was definitely one of the nicer ones. We did not have to sail in rain once. In the beginning, the winds were a little on the strong side, but as they were from the right direction we could sail anyway. The engine did us good service, and with the old Honda we might not have been able to make good the distace from Söderarm to Blidö in one day, so there is something to be said for a little more horsepower sometimes.

Still we did not use much more than six litres of petrol for the whole trip. As for improvements on the boat, I don't really think there were any this time, although I got a little better at reefing.

Finally the tracks for the last leg. First Finhamn - Möja - Lådna - Gällnö.

And Gällnö - Hästholmen - Getfoten - Home.

Summer cruise 2009 - Part II

2009-08-13T11:57:00.015+02:00

After the horrors of Fejan nightlife, we needed two quiet days to rest. This was beautifully accomplished at Långskär, one of those coves that are far too shallow for big boats. Thus we were essentially alone, except for two other sailboats on the other side of the cove. Those were great entertainment though as they had cats onboard, two on each boat. The smaller boat had two white Turkish Van cats which were running around ashore all the time, and mewing like crazy. The other boat had two black cats, which were quite the opposite. Almost never ashore and not saying a word. Unfortunately I do not have fotage of the cats, nor the boats. In fact, I did take almost no photos on that island, too busy relaxing I guess. Here is one though.

On Monday we had officially abandoned our plans to go to Åland. With still unstable weather and time running out we decided to sail into the Söderarm archipelago instead. This part of the Stockholm archipelago had been a prohibited military area for decades and only been open for leasure craft a few years. There are still some military installations, but almost no private houses and it is currently discussed to have the Archipelago foundation take charge of the whole area in order to prevent exploatation.

The downside of the area being relatively new to boaters revealed itself as we reached our anchorage. There were quite a few boats, and additionally no shore facilities at all. As we already had two garbage bags from our previous cove we felt a bit like a litter transport. Anyway, the place is well worth a visit.

On the way there, one has once again to cross the ferry lane to Finland. But then there are no navigational marks anymore except to a few military ones which purpose one has to guess. The island we visited, Inra Hamnskär, lies exactly opposite the one with the main military installation, a tall mast with a radar dome on top (at least this is my guess of its purpose).

Inra Hamnskär itself is very nice with tons of this mossy stuff they sell at quite a price to model railway enthusiasts, who paint it and make fake bushes of it. (Yes, yes, I once did that as well...).

Later, a British boat entered the anchorage anchoring in the middle of it. It had an interesting rig, with two unstayed masts, almost like a junk rig but not quite. Behind it the radar mast can be seen.

From the highest point of the island the view is spectacular.

The anchorage was even visited by a mink and I managed to catch it on video.

We stayed here two days, hoping in vain that there would be some east in the wind so we could get South without having to tack too much. But this was not to be. So we left anyway, with a SW wind more or less on the nose. In order to be able to get some southing in, we decided to sail straight through the islands, in an area with no navigational marks at all. I picked a course that would be reasonably easy to pilot, with most shallows being near visible islands or rocks. However, the wind did not really allow us to keep to that course.

Once through the worst of it without incident, we emerged in relatively open water, with quite a chop. But we could sail for some miles with the wind from at least a reasonable angle.

After an hour or so of this, however we had to turn more westerly and the wind came right on the nose. So in the end, we used the engine for about half the distance to Blidö. Still after five hours of sometimes quite wet sailing (in fact the motoring into the chop was really the wettest part), we enjoyed a meal at the restaurant at Blidö. When we finally got it. The staff was really unorganized and sloppy at the least.

We had been at Blidö before and while the restaurant has expanded its business a little, the food store had closed, which was a disappointment. There is a very nice old barge there, taking tourist out for day trips.

The next day we left Blidö for another island we have visited on an earlier cruise, Själbottna. However, this time we moored in another cove, one that is referred to as more difficult to get into and also shallower that the other one. It was indeed shallow, but we found a perfect spot all the way in that was easily defended against bigger boats. In fact, while there were about five other boats the first night, the second there was none at all.

As proof of the difficult pilotage into the cove, we clearly heard the bang of a fin keel hitting a rock once. But the boat was alright, except maybe some gelcoat work next winter... Oh, and the second night we had the place completely to our own. The island was completely overgrown by blueberries and I actually picked some which I had in my scrambled eggs the next morning.

By now the first two weeks were nearing an end and it was time to think of a place to change crew. After some checking of ferry timetables we decided to drop off my wife at Södra Ingmarsö.

The weather had now improved and it was warm and sunny with light winds. We still could sail all the way. This one was out as well.

According to the pilot book there was a new marina there, only 400m from the ferry dock. And so it was, the marina was very nice, but the 400m were not by foot but right across the bay! As we do not carry a dinghy this was a bit of a problem until I discovered that the marina has rowing boats that can be borrowed for the purpose. Very smart indeed!

In the marina. That evening we had a meal at the dockside restaurant. Not being a week-end it was nice and quiet and there was even some live jazz! The next morning my wife left on this quite ugly ferry.

For my own part I sailed the same day to a quite little spot called Stora Kalholmen. It's a small cove where the water gets quite warm and I stayed there two days, swimming, relaxing and preparing the boat for the week with my father.

That story will be told in the third part, but before, as usual some Google-tracks. First Långskär - Söderarm - Blidö.

And Blidö - Själbottna - Södra Ingmarsö - Stora Kalholmen.

To Part III

Summer cruise 2009 - Part I

2009-08-13T10:32:00.008+02:00

(July 20 - Aug 11)

Finally another year of work, winter and cold had passed and Discovery set out for her annual summer cruise. The setup was similar to the one of last year: first two weeks together with my wife, then after a few days alone, my father would join me for another week. This year we set out North, vaguely having in mind that there was a Small Boat Club meeting planned on Åland. If we would get there, we also would be able to visit my wife's uncle who has a summer house there.

However, to say it at once, there never was a crossing to Åland, and no boat meeting either. For our own part, the weather in the beginning of the cruise was very unstable, with strong winds, albeit from the right direction. So we still made it farther North than ever before and would have been only a day sail from Åland. However, when the weather finally was right for the crossing we would not have been able to get back in time to meet my father.

We set out from our home port a day later than planned, even this due to bad weather. When we finally left, it had stopped raining, but the winds were in the 24 knots range. As they were from the Southwest we could use them though, for a fast ride of about 25 nautical miles, through the inside passage called Furusundsleden all the way up to Siaröfortet. This took us about six hours and we were sailing with jib alone in the beginning, later with the addition of a reefed mainsail.

During our ride up Furusundsleden we met some ferries, as this is the route out to to Finland for the biggies.

Our first stop, Siaröfortet is a place I have wanted to visit for quite some time. It is a small island that is basically an underground fort from the First World War. Its construction was started in 1916 and it was finished in 1928, by which time it was more or less outdated already. Still it was in use until 1939, right in time for the Second World War. Luckily Sweden was neutral during both wars, so the fort wasn't needed really.

The fort is completely built under the rocks, using quite a lot of Alfred Nobel's dynamite, I guess. On top there are only two big gun turrets, some smaller ones and covered walkways for the crew.

Under ground the crew had their quarters and command posts. There were even big searchlights that could be hoisted up from below and rolled around above on small railway tracks.

While this is all very interesting, it is unfortunately practically a ruin. So much more could have been done to make it more living, with exhibitions and wax soldiers or maybe even real people in costumes. Or at least they could have turned on the heating. But I guess it would have been too expensive, after all there were not that many visitors.

The island has a small dock for boats that visit overnight. Unfortunately it is not very protected if there are strong winds from the SW. The chop in the harbour was horrendous. Still, at least there were moorings so we did not have to worry about the anchor dragging.

The night was thus very rough and we did not sleep that well. As the winds were the same, or even stronger the next day, we decided to make a short but fast run to Ängsö, an island with a good natural harbour in this wind as well as a reputation for great nature.

Getting out of the harbour, however, was a bit of a challenge. After watching a big German boat only getting out by a daring dash backwards while leaving a crewmember with a long line marooned ashore (they picked him up later though), I thought about maybe warping the boat out instead. But then a guy apperad and offered to help, so I placed him in a strategic spot for fending off if we would not be able to make the turn qick enough and went for it, succeeding as well!

This is the German boat, sailing happily with only a partly rolled out genny.

We arrived at Ängsö two and a half hours later. It's really a nice spot, with some traditional farm cottages and a great forest.

The sign in the forest says that it's a bird protection zone, but I am quite sure it's a cover up. In fact, they are protecting vampires. Just have a look at these mossy trees! It's just like in "Twilight".

Talking about vampires, this cruise was the worst yet as far as ticks are concerned. I got at least five, one of which between my toes!

We stayed at Ängsö another night in order to recover from the choppy night at Siarö. The anchorage was not very crowded, however it got close once when suddenly twelve black IF-boats sailed through. They chose another bay to anchor in though.

With the wind still strong from the SW we left on Thursday in order to make another dash North. This time we sailed with reefed main and small jib, except for a few miles when we motored into a choppy headwind in order to save some time (and be more comfortable). After four hours we arrived at Lidö, the most northerly point of our cruises yet. According to the original plan we would wait here (or on islands near here) until the weather improved enough for the crossing to Åland. On the way to Lidö we saw this interesting catamaran, with an a-frame mast.

In fact, the wind was not so bad for a crossing to Åland the day after we arrived at Lidö. Unfortunately there was a dense fog that did not lift before well after lunch and then it was too late for the crossing.

Here it has almost lifted...

Instead, we decided to sail to Fejan, another place we wanted to visit for a long time. It has a restaurant, which wasn't a bad thing by this time either. What we did not consider, though, was that it was Friday. And Friday night at one of the archipelago pubs is nothing to recommend if you want a quiet night. When we arrived the dock was already full of boats, but an Alacrity has it's advantages. So we could moor on the inside of the dock.

Fejan was used in former times to quarateen refugees from the Baltic countries. There are still some old, derelict and almost overgrown buildings.

While taking a walk I found this interesting vessel.

And an old ice cream lorry.

As well as dinner.

No, we did not have duck, but we ate at the restaurant and it was one of the better ones in the archipelago. At least until the loud music and all the rest of the Friday night life started. At about two in the morning I had to go up to prevent a leaving mobo from untying my docklines instead of his own. Twice!

So we did not get too much sleep here either. I the morning we had breakfast at the café and left for another quiet anchorage only a few miles away, Långskär.

Before we move to part II, here are the Google Earth tracks, first for the leg from home to Siarö.

And second from Siarö - Ängsö, Lidö, Fejan and Långskär.

Go to part II.

The Restoration of "Poppy"

2009-07-17T15:30:00.001+02:00

Another bump of an article from the old site. This boat is just too beautiful to not be admired once again...

by Simon Harison

Simon Harison's "Poppy" is the best documented wooden Alacrity I have ever seen pictures of. As can clearly be seen the means of construction make for big differences between this and the later fiberglas versions of the boat. Most prominently the differences can be seen in the keels. However, the fact that this Alacrity also has a skeg is due to her once having been fitted with an inboard engine and not the plywood design. And once in the water the differences almost disappears.

In March 2001 we took Poppy out of the water for a repaint. The topsides in the
starboard cockpit area were found to be damaged by rainwater running off the seat
and being trapped behind an epoxy fillet on the locker bulkhead. This was a poor
quality ‘repair’ carried out by a previous owner. This was rectified using Khaya
mahogany laminated into the hull and progressively overlapped onto the sound hull to
form a strong bond. The job turned into a full repaint of the boat including epoxy
coating the entire surface of the hull inside and out to fully protect the boat against
future water damage. All major equipment was either replaced or refurbished at this
time-see inventory. Below is a series of pictures showing the progress of the work.

When we re-launched we took a swinging mooring at Davis’s boat yard in Poole from
which we have enjoyed three seasons sailing around Poole, Swanage and
Christchurch. We have also been on two summer holiday cruises around the Solent,
staying on board for 12 days each time, visiting Christchurch, Yarmouth, Keyhaven,
Cowes, Bembridge and Port Solent."

Poppy’s trailer is custom made from a German Al-Ko caravan chassis and separate
launching/recovery dolly. This means that the trailer with its delicate brakes and
wheel bearings never has to enter the water. There are ramps on the trailer and a
winch, which allow the boat to be rolled into the water and pulled out under full
control.

An Alacrity with a lifting keel?

2009-07-11T15:03:00.003+02:00

This is one of the posts I am transferring from the old site. However, as I find it quite interesting, I thought I'd bump this post up a little instead of hiding it in the archive. Maybe someone has any ideas about this boat now...

I got an email from Nick Bamer from the UK telling me about the boat he bought. He thinks it is an Alacrity, but it does not have twin keels but a lifting keel. A further examination showed that the boat also has a well for an outboard engine in the cockpit. The mast has been moved aft by some two feet or so and is now located at the same spot where the original configuration has the cabin roof vent.

Now, this surely does look like an Alacrity, does it not? Except for the keel of course.

This is the outboard well.

The centerboard or liftting keel case. Now, this pic also shows that the bunks are made of fiberglass and not wood. This does, in my opinion, indicate that it could in fact be a Vivacity and not an Alacrity. Still the former owner did state the boat's length at less than 19 feet, which is Alacrity size. The Viv is to be 20 feet long.

The forward part of the cabin. A double berth, again, making a point for the Vivacity case.

Finally the liftting keel. This of course does not help to indentify the boat. It could still be a Vivacity (remeber that the Viv did come in a fin keel version as well, while the Alacrity did not). However, the boat could also be some totally different prototype by Russel Marine, that never got into production.

Now, if anybody has any idea or more information about this particular boat, or any knowledge about any other Alacrities or Vivacites having been made in a lifting keel configuration, please do tell us!

Archive posts

2009-07-10T19:24:00.004+02:00

Geocities, which hosts the original Alacrity site is shutting down in October. I am currently moving as much as possible of the original content here. However, I won't publish it as new posts. Instead it will all be filed under the "archive" tag as well as the relevant tag (cruise report, reader's boats and so on), in order to not clutter the blog with old content. The posts will all have a publishing date of 2007 (before this blog started).

There may be some content that is going to be lost, I am afraid. So have a last look at the original site, while you can!

24 hours cruise

2009-06-27T17:43:00.009+02:00

(<---- click to zoom) The weather has been warm and sunny for over a week now, so I just had to grab the opportunity. I left for the boat directly from work on Friday, 3 pm - by tube as it would have taken longer to go home first, get the car and drive to the club. However, the tube station is about a 20 minutes walk from the club so I got to the boat well exercised... The wind on my way out was mostly on the nose, but not too strong so I made good progress. Still it took some time tacking my way up to the narrow inlet into Kyrkfjärden, a very nice anchorage in almost any wind direction. The narrow passage itself I had to motor through. Its depth is 1.5 metres at normal level according to the chart, so I guess with the water level down after a week of high pressure, I may have had a little more than one metre of water under my keel. Here is a video from the passage itself.

When I got out on the other side I realized that the anchorage was full of boats. I have never been in here during high summer so I had not really expected this. Especially the spot where I ususally moor up was occupied by several mobos. However, as I looked around a little I found a perfect little spot, a rocky beach in miniature right in the reeds. Nobody was there as people tend to seek out big rocks where they can sunbathe or have barbecues. Not little rocky beaches in the reeds. However this one was perfect for my purpose. There was no wind either, so the boat did not drift at all when I carefully nosed up to the spot, stepped ashore and put lines to trees in the usual manner. I then hauled the boat out quite far on the kedge in order to be out of danger if there was any swell from mobos. And sure it was! When will they ever learn to go slowly when there are moored boats?

Anyway, I had reasonable privacy, next neighbour was a sailboat with a family of four (biggest sailboat I've ever seen in there, but it was a First so probably has a lifting keel), about 100 metres away. They indeed proved to be quite entertaining when father and daughter got their wind surfer gear out...

The night was calm, but in the morning the wind veered into the north and got up a little. This did not affect me, but probably had if I had gone to the usual spot. In fact quite a few boats left early. Myself, I stayed until lunch and then sailed home with a following wind so I did not have to tack at all. Well almost. I got back to the club mid-afternoon.

Experimental Twitter-feed

2009-06-26T08:38:00.003+02:00

I have set up an experimental twitter-feed for the tag #alacrity19. You can see it in the right column on this page. I thought it may be useful when I am on my summer cruise, as it's easy to update twitter by mobile phone.

However, if you are using twitter and want to share something, just ad #alacrity19 to your tweet and it will show up here eventually as well. Be aware though that updates are quite slow.

Deck painting

2009-06-21T15:22:00.005+02:00

It finally stopped raining so I decided to do som deck painting. As the boat is in the water I cannot paint all of it though, so I decided to start with the coachroof and an area around the mast. I even used masking tape this time in order to get a reasonably straight edge. (Which I did not do last time I painted the coachroof a few years ago...).

Now three hours later it looked like this. Then there were some drops of rain and I went home. I only hope the paint had dried enough in case it's raining more. Oh well...

You can see some white dots on the port side in the last pic. This isn't paint but old gelcoat filler. It may very well the next area that gets painted.

Rain

2009-06-14T20:49:00.002+02:00

It has been raining up here more or less continuously since Friday. I am sure this is because of me finally having become mentally prepared to paint at least parts of the deck. Oh well...

Alacrity in 20 knots

2009-05-30T20:02:00.002+02:00

Talking about youtube-videos. Here is one I found of an Alacrity sailing in 20 knots of wind. It's quite short, but the guy seems to enjoy himself. Looks like he has full genoa and one reef in the main on.

Self-tacking jib experiment

2009-05-21T20:18:00.004+02:00

I read this article in a boating magazine about how to rig a very simple self-tacking jib arrangement, so I just had to try it out. The system setup is like this: a long line is led through a block at the jib, then made fast at the winches. The idea is that when you tack, the jib moves to the other side of the mast and stops at about the same position on the opposite side.

First I tried it with the big jib and it worked quite well (see video). Later, I tried it with the smaller jib. Unfortunately this one extends a little too far aft of the mast, so the block tended to stick to the wrong side of the mast. Still, the boat did sail quite well anyway, especially if I adjusted the windward part of the sheet a little. Of course this arrangement does not work with a genoa. Another downside is that you are unable to heave-to with this arrangement in place.

Making tea hove-to

2009-05-16T16:03:00.004+02:00

I was out for a few hours today. As the wind was quite cold I hove-to after a while and put the kettle on. I just had to try another Dylan Winter-imitation video, but this wasn't very good either. Not much of what I am saying is comprehensible, I guess I need better equipment...

The conference cruise

2009-04-29T20:34:00.008+02:00

I just returned from a somewhat unusal cruise. Normally I don't sail longer distances this early in the season (in fact I normally would have launched the boat this week-end). However these last few days good weather co-incided with a work meeting at one of my collegues summer places on the island of Ljusterö, about 18 nautical miles out into the archipelago. We were four people attending the meeting and as it was to take place Monday-Tuesday I thought I might try to sail there instead of taking the car or ferry. I then would take a day off on Wednesday to sail back home.

Of course this scheme would need some co-operation from the weather gods, but as it turned out it worked perfectly altogether. In fact I did not have to tack once either on my way there or back.

Sunday came with unusually warm weather and a brisk south-westerly wind that propelled me nicely towards my destination. There was not much traffic on the water, first when I had passed Vaxholm castle and crossed the main shipping channel there were some ships and ferries.

These bastards normally are a swell-inducing nuisance, but this early in the season they are almost welcome. Some life on the water at last.

Another one. Note the sail to the left, some kind of high tech dinghy making very good speed. Myself I was making more than five knots on average, quite good for my little tub.

Here I am entering unfamiliar waters. I have not been to Ljusterö before, but the navigation was straighforward. The very entrance to the cove where I was to moor was unmarked though, so I was grateful seeing a small motorboat leaving it just as I arrived, giving me a bearing.

My collegues had just arrived and were waiting at the dock, beer in hand.

I was allowed to use a guest berth at the dock which was very nice and secure.

Now followed two days of budget meetings and strategy talks in this beautiful place...not bad!

After finishing work on Tuesday we climbed the highest hill on the island to get a view.

Up here was an old coastal artillery gun mounting. From here the gun could cover the main shipping route towards Stockholm from the North. All the ferries towards Finland pass here.

However, the gun is gone and the place seems to be used for barbecues now.
That same evening my collegues left by car. I had the house for myself during the last night, which was very nice considering it was getting colder as the wind veered towards the North. On the other hand, that wind was exactly what I needed to get home without a hassle.

I started at ten and encountered light winds from the Northeast which gave me about three knots on average. Thus the journey home took about six hours instead of four and a half on my way out.

However there was even less traffic and the trip was nice and calm. I did use the engine to get past some windless spots but did not use more than two litres of petrol during the whole trip. No idea trying to get a refund from work!
Finally the short video clip trying to imitate Dylan Winter-like commenting and not succeeding very well...

And here is the trip on Google Earth:

Original engine mount

2009-04-29T20:24:00.004+02:00

I have been asked to post some pictures of the engine mount which, on my boat, is the original one (at least I believe so). It seems to be designed to be able to slide up and down, but mine is definitely stuck in the down-position. Here are the pics:

The floating bridge - a land expedition

2009-04-13T12:38:00.006+02:00

Now this post is slightly off topic but when I encountered that floating bridge mentioned in the last post, I got just a little obsessed by it. I sailed there again (see not really off topic!) yesterday and shot a picture from the other side.

But I still hadn't got enough. So today I ventured on a land expedition to get a closer look. I even got the admiral with me. We volvoed out to the land side of the bridge.

As soon as we were on it I realised that it in fact is the floating docks from the island's marina. They still have the berth numbers on them...

There is a handrail added and real lightposts. Still it must be interesting to walk over it in a winter gale. Now it was a dead calm (no sailing today....).

We walked around the island for a while. There were some nice boats.

A few dogs, five cats. Lots of houses in different shapes and states.

trees...

some outboards in a bucket...

And a great view all around.

Would be nice to sail here a little later in the season when everything is green. However, there are no good sheltered docks or anchorages, all the boats are bobbing around frightfully in the swell of passing motorboats and ferries...

Oh and we were just in time...the bridge will be taken down this week...

First Sail of 2009

2009-04-10T16:29:00.003+02:00

Now, after having launched in record time I just had to use the first day of Easter week-end for a short test sail. The weather was actually sunny and warm enough so I did not freeze once.

It being a test sail, please don't comment on the fenders or the bad jib tension...the rigging wasn't really tuned in yet.

And I wasn't alone either! This sailboat did make an early start as well. When we met the sailor shouted "where are all the others?"

I tried to sail around the nearest island, as I often do, but this time i couldn't. During the winter the little sound is blocked by a floating bridge and it had not been removed yet. So I am really early!

Finally I shot a little video just to catch the atmosphere...

Launched!

2009-04-05T17:09:00.005+02:00

Today I got the boat into the water. Earliest ever! You can still see some ice on the left side of the canal. But there is good weather in the forecast so I am sure it will all be gone in a few days.

Wooden keel Alacrity

2009-03-27T09:28:00.011+01:00

Some time ago I had a conversation with someone (don't remember who though) who claimed there were fiberglass Alacrities with wooden keels. I doubted this. While early Alacrities were made of marine plywood and of course had wooden keels, the later fiberglass ones all had incapsulated fiberglass keels. However, now I seem to stand corrected. While on vacation in the South West of Scotland, a member of the yahoo-group came across this boat. According to him the boat looked like an Alacrity Mk II (and the coachroof on the pictures certainly does), but the keels were definitetly wood.

Now, if the owner of this vessel reads this or anybody else who hase a similar boat, please enlighten us with some more details! Is this a production Alacrity? Or a modification? I guess it cannot be outruled completely that it is a Vivacity as well or maybe another experimental design or prototype. Are there more of these boats out there? Please tell us!

Spring preparations

2009-03-22T11:14:00.009+01:00

It is slowly getting lighter and warmer up here. It is still a little too cold for painting, but when the sun is out the urge to get going with spring preparations is too strong to resist. So I went to the chandler's at least and bought some stuff. I am, however, trying to keep it to a minimum this year. Credit crunch style if you like. I will antifoul, touch up some paint and gelcoat (the new engine's prop took a bite out of the rudder going astern last season), but that is to be it this year. Or so I hope...

I also realise that I am not alone. Traffic in the yahoo group has increased quite a bit those last few weeks. Hopefully we will all have out boats in the water soon, looking forward to a good season. I am also looking forward to lots of pictures and cruise reports - so don't forget the camera!

PS: No this isn't a product placement for either Hempel/Blakes or Plastic Padding. However, I would take the money if they were willing! :)

Mast support modifications

2009-03-10T17:51:00.006+01:00

Different ways to reinforce the mast support beam were recently discussed on the Alacrity group at yahoo. Two owners have sent pictures that may be of interest. First out is Alacrity owner Peter Anderson from Scotland whos "Heron" had her mast support beam damaged by an encounter with another boat while moored at low tide. The beam was reinforced by a stainless steel bracing.

The second example is from a Vivacity, Ned Reiter's "Haiku". Her beam cracked at the port side knee and Ned reinforced it with a plywood solution. It has yet to be tested under sails though and I am sure Ned will report during the season.

The Hungarian refit

2009-02-15T18:05:00.005+01:00

On the old Alacrity site are a few pictures of "Bellissimo" the boat a guy named Oskar keeps on lake Balaton in Hungary. I just recieved an email from him where he tells me about the complete refit he has recently completed. He has uploaded more than 70 pictures to the yahoo-group documenting it, but here is some sort of summary.
As lake Balaton is quite shallow the probably most important change was that he cut 15cm off his boat's keels.

He also repainted the boat white.

The interior does look nice and fresh as well.

The boat also got a new name: Sail-Face, which is a play with the Hungarian word "szélfész", meaning a gale.

Alacrity #47

2009-02-12T09:52:00.009+01:00

I recieved an email from Ari Rocklin, Victoria, BC, Canada. It includes some old photographs of his Alacrity, with sail numer 47. He writes:
"Hi, feel free to publish these to your website. I bought it in 1976 and sold it in 1980 to a fellow in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada.
Looking at your website pictures, this would be the oldest one at sail #47. It was my first sailboat, and it took me to a lot of places, including a storm so violent that the coast guard came and offered rescue. I refused and sailed her home, no worries."

Thanks for the nice pictures, Ari. I'm not so sure though the sail number really makes it the oldest. Perhaps the oldest Canadian one, as I think the numbers are not global. Surely this one is older.

Vivacities in disguise on Hurley page?

2009-01-13T12:41:00.004+01:00

I just found out that there is a page about the Alacrity on the Hurley Owner's Association's website. Hurley did build the Alacrity for a few years and she was even marketed as "Hurley Alacrity" in 1969. The webpage does contain some info and a picture gallery which contains some interesting pictures that I haven't seen before on the web. Unfortunately, however, it also shows three pictures of what looks like Vivacities...declared to be Alacrities...

Tips for buying an Alacrity

2008-12-26T13:25:00.003+01:00

I have received some emails recently from people thinking of buying an Alacrity and asking for a list of typical things to check. This has even been discussed in the yahoo-group where I posted basically the same as below and did not get any opposition so I guess I have the rest of the crew with me.

As with all small fiberglass sailboats the things to check are the obvious ones. Most importantly of course the integrity of the hull. If the boat floats and does not leak the rest is fixable. :)
Next is rigging, that's mast, shrouds, stays, halyards and all that jazz and of course the sails. Sails are important to check as they are, together with the mast itself the most expensive things to replace. Shrouds, stays and halyards can be replaced quite easily for little money so should not be of great concern.
Finally the engine if there is one. As Alacrities generally have outboards it's not really a part of the boat and should not prevent anyone from buying the boat - but of course an old or unreliable engine should get you the boat for less money.

Sea Devil

2008-12-23T22:01:00.005+01:00

Sea Devil is another Alacrity, owned by Jesse Gibbons from Poughkeepsie, USA. He writes:
I just wanted to send you a picture in case you want to put it up on the site, I will try to get some more this spring, It will have new paint on it and I am putting in a forward double berth in place of the single. I will be racing it this next year so Ill be sure to let you know how it goes.

I am looking forward to it!

Another new owner

2008-12-22T08:47:00.004+01:00

David Appleby sent these pictures of his Davalon. He will soon start workning on her and I hope we will soon see more pictures documenting his progress.

Another Alacrity blog

2008-12-10T09:14:00.005+01:00

I got an email from David in Cornwall who just had found this site. This is his story (or his wife's really):
"I have just found your websites and have had loads of fun looking at all ofthe pic's and reading your tales and adventures. We have just got our Alacrity 19 or 18'6" with a sail number of 862. At the time we did'nt even know what sort of boat it was we just liked the look of it.

The boat is called Spindrift and must have lots of history as there is a log on board which shows over 21000 miles not far off once around the world. My wife owns the boat is an artist and illustrator of childrens books. She also keeps a number of blog sites about here work and life, we have now started a new blog about her boat and its new life with us."

Here is the blog about Spindrift.

Another innocent member of the crowd

2008-11-27T21:45:00.008+01:00

Carroll Owens just bought an Alacrity now named "Virginia's Dare", almost by mistake. Here is the story:

"I purchased an Alacrity 19 a couple of weeks ago not knowing what it was. There is a convoluted story connected to this event. The short version. I originally was searching for a 26 foot Westerly (twin keels specifically in mind). However, with limited sailing experience I decided to ease my way up from my current AMF Puffer to something a little larger before a substantial (for me) out lay of money. My wife and I could then see if we could handle the motivation, motion and maintenance of a daysailor/weekender. There had been a boat apparently for sale in side yard about 15 miles from our house. Quite a surprise finding it a twin keeler. I contacted the owner and, among other things, asked what model vessel it was. He said that he thought it was a Sterling.
Extensive web searching turned up very little on that score. I bought it regardless (against the advice of two sailing acquaintances) . I think the Sterling may have been the make of an outboard motor that is long gone. The fellow I purchased from got it from two others. Each had the intention of refurbishing. That didn't happen so now it is up to me.
Finally Googled "English twin keel sailboat", found some articles and photos so now I know what I have. I have looked at all 635 posts here and gained invaluable information. I am looking forward to the project and reading about everyone'sadventures posted here. I am located in Upstate New York about 40 miles inland from Henderson Harbor on Lake Ontario. Are there any Viv or Alacrity owners in this neck of the woods?"

Any other twin-keeler owners in the area are of course welcome to comment or drop a message in the yahoo groups forum, link to the right.

Sail plans and quotes

2008-10-20T21:32:00.005+02:00

Just found an extensive array of sail plans on the sailrite website. There are six different Alacrity sail options, a mainsail, two different jibs, a genoa, a spinnaker and an assymetrical dito. The website even offers quotes for new sails online.
Link to the website.

More on goosenecks

2008-10-20T17:47:00.004+02:00

Sue Jones sent me a picture of her gooseneck, or her boat's rather. It is of a different kind as mine. The boom has a built in rotating mechanism. A handle (not shown) is to be stuck into the hole in the boom. Inside a mechanism rotates the boom when the handle is turned. A better system as on my boat it seems, but then again it has to work, which Sue's apparently does not. Maybe the mechanism inside is seized.

Season over...

2008-10-19T16:44:00.002+02:00

..again.

The Fjäderholm expedition

2008-10-18T15:38:00.007+02:00

Tomorrow my boat will be hauled out for the season, but with the weather forecast for mostly sunny and nice weather, albeit a little cold I decided to mount a last-minute-expedition to the Fjäderholmen islands. I had already taken down the mast last weekend, so there were no problems to go under the bridge to get there. I would simply be a motorboat for a day. Together with a friend we cast of at about 1130 (it's quite quick to get underway if you are a mobo actually, no fussing with sails and things...).
First thing we saw when outside the canal where my club is located was a quite substantial floating log.

Then came the bridge. We decided to go under the main arch, 5.4 meters high and no problem without a mast.

We motored along nicely at 5 knots looking around. This is not the nicest part of the archipelago. In fact to one side it's Stockholm's industrial harbour. So here comes my chance to show that not everything around here is nice green island and summer houses.
Well, first there is Millesgården which is still quite nice, it's a art museum with lots of sculptures in the garden.

On the other side, though, is the biggest of Stockholms ferry terminals.

Then there is the oil harbour...

Having passed that we soon were to sight Fjäderholmarna. Someone was burning autumn leaves...

Finally we moored our little "motorboat" at the completely empty pontoon. There were some boats at the gas station that was still open and even the dock for local boats had three boats alongside but that was all. During the summer, this is the most crowded place with ferries from central Stockholm arriving every half an hour...

We got off and walked around a little.

On a wall there was a collection of fishy faces. Pike heads.

Discovery at the empty pontoon. All restaurants and shops were closed, the ferry service having stopped running since September 21st.

We made some tea and had some muffins and sandwiches.

Now the weather had changed a little, there were quite some clouds and the wind had picked up, but being a mobo we did not really care...we set sail..eh sorry, started the tohatsu-san and headed home.
On our way we met the big HiQ trimaran out for a sail.

Sorry for the uphill pic, I'll try to fix that later. We actually got some spray aboard motoring into the wind and it became quite cold without any sun.

This time we took the opening part of the bridge, which however hasn't been opened for years despite a court ruling it should..

After about three hours altogether we were home again. Quite a report for such a short trip, but it being this season's last it was worth it! Being a motorboat did feel a bit weird though. I guess it is OK for a short trip like this, but there is very little to do and I think I would get bored if I had to carry on like this days on end during a summer vacation...

New Alacrity blogg: Goblin

2008-10-13T08:32:00.004+02:00

Goblin is a 1965 Alacrity, recently acquired by Jeff who plans to sail her in the waters of Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands (Washington State, US). He has kindly offered to contribute with cruise reports and pictures, and he has also created his own blog about the boat. The picture is from the delivery trip (by road).

About roller boom reefing

2008-10-11T14:20:00.004+02:00

There has recently been a discussion on the Alacrity mailing list about how the original roller boom reefing system is supposed to look like. Apparently some boats have some kind of device with a handle that, when turned, rotates the boom and rolls the sail around it.
My own boat does not have this device. Instead the arrangement is the simplest possible. The boom sits on a pin that is round at the top but square at the bottom. The hole in the boom is square. Thus the boom cannot rotate when it sticks completely on the pin. In order to reef the sail you have to move the boom partially off the pin, roll the sail in and then stick it back. This can of course be a difficult enough task when at sea in a swell. I have myself only tried this once or twice, normally I use to reef the classic way with lines. However, I may try the roller some more as it has it's advantages. The reefed part of the sail is rolled tidily away for example. However, one disadvantage is that the boom drops lower at its aft end endangering the heads of everybody in the cockpit when tacking.

Beautiful interior refit

2008-09-02T16:27:00.003+02:00

I found this Alacrity for sale on a UK broker's website. It's a MK1 model with an inboard engine. The owner had the interior completely refitted in a stunning way. There are more pictures on this website.

4 Alacrities in the same spot

2008-08-29T09:15:00.005+02:00

Peter Anderson sent me some picture of this mooring field in Beadnel in North-
umberland, England that features no less than four Alacrities (and 3 Vivacities). Quite some concentration and perhaps even proof that there are far more boats still out there than we think.

More pictures here.

Hinged instrument panel

2008-08-27T09:06:00.004+02:00

Chris Schoonmaker sent med these pictures of the swinging instrument panel he made for his Alacrity. The idea is to have handheld VHF, radio, weather station and chartplotter/depthsounder easily available from the cockpit during sailing, but being able to easily swing them out of the way if not needed. A very tidy and nice solution indeed.

The depth sounder/chartplotter is flush mounted with all the connections on the backside, while the other items are held by cords/clips so they can easily be removed.

There are three positions for the panel: along the cabin's aft bulkhead, parallel to the companionway and across the companionway to be clearly seen from the cockpit. A bungee cord and ring/hook arrangement makes changing the position easy.

"Peanut" Pictures

2008-08-26T09:05:00.003+02:00

Reader Ken Patterson från Victoria, Virgina, USA sent me this report of his project Alacrity, "Peanut".

Alacrity project I have been working on since 2006! Slow progress my fault but hope to have finished by spring 2009. My father picked out the name for sailboat before he died “Peanut” (thin shell with 2 nuts inside). Will keep you posted on progress.

The first picture shows the boat newly painted. The following pictures document how it looked like when he bought the boat.

Finally the hull before the paint job.

2008 Summer cruise part III

2008-08-21T13:43:00.009+02:00

Another reason for the stop at Härsö was that my wife was to leave the boat and return back to town and work. This is very convenient for her to do by bus from Trinntorp, on the mainland opposite Härsö. So on Sunday I motored over to drop her off at the bus and get some supplies. I was now alone for a few days, socialising with the other club members at Härsö (there weren't that many once the week-end was over, though) and waiting for my father to arrive. He would then join me for another week of sailing. The weather actually was quite nice those days and I got in a fair amount of swimming (with some help of the sauna at times). The rain and wind had also effectively done away with the algae and the water was now clear as in spring.
My Dad was to arrive on Wednesday, at the same time as another, less severe gale was forecast, this time from the southwest. So I decided to meet him at the posh marina at Saltsjöbaden, head base of the Royal Swedish Sailing Association, which mainly reflects in lots of average white boats and really high harbour fees. Much shelter against the wind the place did not have. It was safe enough hanging on the dock with the bows, wind and spray coming right over the pontoon, but there are more comfortable places. Over all I find marinas often quite badly sheltered, it may be better to sit out those gales in small sheltered bays instead. However, then there are no pubs to get out of the rain into.

This is the place, with the famous hotel just visible in the background. In fact there were quite a few brits around, one big converted fishing boat from Jersey even. It's visible to the right in the pic above.
In the evening there was a regatta outside the harbour.

The next day the wind picked up.

Then my father arrived. At least it did not rain. Still the wind was a bit too much and also I had planned the next leg to be quite long so we started the cruise in the pub.
The next day the weather was fine, with light winds and only some clouds. I wanted to move the boat up into the northern part of the archipelago again, in order to be able to get home without having to lower the mast under that brigde. Also with the more powerful engine I wanted to take the opportunity to sail through Strömma canal, basically a shortcut to get from Saltsjöbaden to Sandhamn without having to go around the outer, less sheltered part of the skerries. Usually trying to sail as much as possible and with my wife liking open horizons more than narrow canals I never had sailed through there before. I am sure that, having seen the following pictures, Nigel will have to take his Super Anne through there next year as well.
The canal starts as a natural sound which eventually narrows. There are two bridges as well, the first is high enough for most sailboats.

Once under it suddenly a dockyard appears.

Then the inlet narrows yet more.

In fact, there are much nicer spots, but I had no time to take pictures as I was too busy navigating through. After a while the water opens into a lake-like inlet that can be sailed again. At it's end is the small village of Strömma. Here is a gas station, a restaurant and according to the pilot book even a food store. That, however had been closed for three years so we did not get any provisions there. We had a hamburger though.
In Strömma the short man made canal starts. Here also is the second bridge which has to be opened for sailboats to pass. Once again, sorrily enough no pictures, we simply forgot to take any until we were through already.
Shortly after the canal, the water opens again. From here we could sail comfortably in increasing winds all the way to our destination, Gällnö. Well, not all the way, as we had to make a little detour. About one hour before we normally would have arrived at Gällnö we were hailed by a small motorboat with engine trouble and occupied by a woman and her child. She asked us for a lift to the next harbour and I accepted, provided that it was OK we would tow them under sail, which is something I secretly dreamt of for years.

We towed them under sail at 3 knots for a while but when we neared the next headland the wind dropped and in order to reach our destination i reasonable time despite the 4 nm detour we had to ask Tohatsu-San for help. After having dropped her off outside the village of Sollenkroka where there is a dockyard and repair facilities, we set sail again and had a nice evening sail towards Gällnö. We arrived there at 1800 after almost 9 hours altogether (including the lunch stop at Strömma).
We felt a little tired so we stayed at Gällnö a few days to rest.

My Dad doing his best to lighten the boat by drinking the admiral's left-over white wine. The stay at Gällnö also was prolonged by persistent rain during the second day. Still, poor father walked the 2 km distance through the dripping forest to the store in order to buy a newspaper and get his football results. Of course I did not go with him! He brought some Danish and nice bread for breakfast though so there was some advantage in it.

Our next stop was Ekholmen, a private club which does accept visting boats. We had a nice sail there and the rain did not start until we were right outside the harbour. We were now in waters previously covered by my reports, so I did not take so many pictures. We then sailed in quite some winds, tacking most of the way to Getfoten. There, again is a restaurant where we had a nice meal and celebrated the last evening of the cruise.

The next morning a rescue helicopter was about early waking up people by hovering around for half an hour, probably not finding a good spot to land.

Getfoten also is very near the main shipping line into Stockholm and from it the big ship parade can be seen.

Our final leg home was some kind of anti-climax as we had to motor almost all the way due to light or no winds at all. It was sunny and warm though.

As every cruise even this one brought some improvements. The first one was a footstep I made during our first stop at Härsö. I probably am getting older, but this year I found the step up from the cabin to the bridgedeck a bit high...

The second one was roast bread. I cannot understand why I never before had the idea to just put slices of bread into a frying pan. It's quite obvious isn't it?
Gladly, even this year nothing on the boat broke. However, the flag pole has swelled tight in his base so I cannot get it out again...oh well.

2008 summer cruise - part II

2008-08-21T12:52:00.011+02:00

After three days in the lonely lagoon we decided it was time to head back into civilisation once more. In a few days we were to meet with Helinä from Finland and Nigel and Tommy onboard Marie, all part of the SBC (Small Boat Club's) Baltic section. The meeting was decided to take place at the restaurant dock at Ornö, mostly because forecasts now started to mention an end to the high pressure weather. There were even first hints of a storm coming through during the week-end.
However, before sailing to Ornö we wanted to visit Fjärdlång, an island on the outside of Ornö. We sailed there in light winds and some drizzly rain that started to become more intense as soon as we reached the anchorage. There were quite some boats inside and more were to come the next day. Then Helinä arrived as well. Jukkas catamaran can by no means be described as a small boat, despite him being a member of SBC. He and his crew dropped anchor just inside the inlet. Later they came to visit us with the dingy. We then decided to move Discovery and raft up to Helinä to share dinner in the cat's big saloon.

Here the doggy person, named Tinka, examines the rafting arrangements. Alongside Helinä Discovery really did not feel so big...

The second picture was taken the next morning when I took Helinä's dinghy out to take some photos of the boats.
That morning the winds were light and the weather was sunny, but in the afternoon and coming night the winds were to increase and develop into one of the quite unusual heavy summer storms.
We sailed towards Ornö quite early and in the beginning we took some pictures of the boats under sail. Not too much wind in the sails though. This is Helinä.

Doggy person in the famous position on the bow. And this is Discovery with her new high jib, taken by Helinä.

A few hours after we arrived at Ornö, Marie with Tommy and Nigel arrived as well, just in time for dinner at the restaurant while ouside the storm was starting to get up with rain and heavy winds. The storm in fact increased during the night and Discovery was bouncing around considerably at her mooring. I went out three times during the night to double the lines or secure things or just because I couldn't sleep and it felt good to be doing something. In fact I did realise that Marie's decklights were on but I put that down to them wanting to check their lines as well. However, the truth was they just had forgotten to switch them off, thus effectively draining their battery.
The next morning we found everything still in place, except that Helinä had snapped a mooring ring with bolt out of the dock thus even ripping out the beam it was attached to. Photo by Nigel.

After the storm finally abated Helina left for home while Marie and Discovery continued to cruise together some more days. In fact, we just decided to meet at Kymmendö, the same anchorage we visited during the first week of the cruise. Marie went around the outside of Ornö while Discovery first stopped at the next bay to collect a delivery of white wine ordered the day before. This was the first time I used the famous Trouville outboard I got from Tommy who did not want to have it hanging on his boat. Of course I gladly offered to relieve him of it, stowed the little Honda below and hung the big Tohatsu-San on the back, speeding away in 5.1 knots instead of the usual 3.5. The engine in fact was so powerful I had difficulties not to ram the dock at Vargvik the first time I used it. That it immediately tilted up when I put it in reverse did not help either. Otherwise it was a great improvement.
That evening we moored both boats to a rock and had a barbeque. It did not rain either.

The next day we decided to sail to Härsö again. There was lots of rain in the forecast and Härsö is a good place to wait out some bad weather. However we did not sail together. While Discovery sailed at once, Marie's crew first paid a visit to the Hamburger Bar at Kymmendö. Also Discovery sailed all the way in grand style, in rain, bad visibility (nav lights on even!) and a quite strong following winds. At one time we made 5.5 knots with only the mainsail up. Nigel and Tommy on the other hand, waited in the Hamburger Bar until the rain stopped and then just motored over. In order to charge the batteries. Yeah, right.
That evening, Marie missed dinner for some reason, but afterwards we had a nice chat over a quantity of whiskey on the dock. It got quite late actually (both Nigel and my wife retired in due time while Tommy and I bravely defended the place against the mosquitoes and the rain some more hour.)
The next morning Marie left.

Weather, at least then, was apparently good enough for crew to be almost naked.

Continue to part III

Three and a half adventurous weeks

2008-08-21T09:04:00.003+02:00

This year's cruise was probably the longest ever in time. I was living on the boat continuously for 24 days which is three days more than last year. Even this time I started together with my wife, who left the boat after two weeks. I then was alone a few days before my father joined me for another week. Weather wise it has been mixed, the first week was really hot and warm, but then the weather became more traditionally Swedish with lows coming through. This summer we also had a real storm, in fact the worst one I have been through on the boat (or any boats). But let's start from the beginning.
Our plan this year had been to head north through the main ferry lane. We usually avoid this because of the heavy traffic but after several years going out into the outer archipelago via the "middle route" we got fed up with it and decided to try something else. Of course this was not to be. Due to persistent northerly winds we decided to take the southerly route through Baggenstäket instead, this forcing us to have to lower the mast to get under the Lidingö brigde first. This bridge is a lifting one, but the town being responsible for it's maintenance finds it too expensive and has been dragged thought the courts for years while not opening the bridge in the process.
At first we had some trouble getting out the lower bolt in the mast tabernacle but after some serious wriggling it came out and the mast came down. After a short motor under the brigde we raised the mast again and set sail at last. Of course we discovered that the wind was not northerly at all. Having been overcome by the sea breeze it gave way to light southerlies instead. Still we made it to the entrance to Skurusundet by sail. There we had to start the engine and basically motor through the whole narrow passage of about six nautical miles. This passage is one of three ways to get out into the archipelago from central Stockholm and of course this made it paradise for wash-creating motorboats.

The picture shows one of the nice houses along the route. Unfortunately the camera did not work that well this season and some pictures have interesting color effects.
After having made it through the narrowest part we could set sail for about an hour and make way towards the next passage when we got a strong headwind again. By now it was late in the afternoon and the engine had to work again in order to make it to Harsö, our club harbour in resonable time. After seven hours of passage we finally made it there. We stayed there for three nights, enjoying the quieteness. For some time we even had the dock for ourselves.

The weather during that first week was really hot and sunny with only very light winds or the sea breeze. Unfortunately this had caused the algae to thrive in the Baltic and we had to cope with quite of it in some anchorages. However concentration was erratic and some places where completely free of the stuff.
On day four, July 30 we left Härsö and sailed almost all the way to Kymmendö in mostly light winds and sunny weather. It was no fast sail, but quite pleasant. Kymmendö is known as the island where one of Swedens more famous writers, August Strindberg, used to write his books. We stayed in an anchorage that is quite open towards the north but has good shelter against anything from the south.

The water really isn't that green, it's the camera playing up again.
Albeit the anchorage was nice enough there were quite a few boats so we decided to make for a more quiet place the next day. It started with some engine trouble which, however, soon was fixed by actually opening the fuel vent (oops). We then had another great sailing day in a little stronger winds, mostly on a beam reach and with bits of open horizon to the east. After about four hours we had found our quiet place, on the northern end of Jungfruskär. Two nights without another boat in sight. First we stayed on the northern shore but moved the next morning when the wind shifted into the northeast. The second spot was really perfect. A small lagoon with an entrance only about four metres wide. Inside the depth was one meter (1.3 according to the chart, but we had high pressure long enough to make the water level sink) all the way to the rocks. Mud bottom without a single rock inside.

This is the view from the inside of the lagoon. The narrow entrance is to the right.

And this is the view inside standing next to the entrance. That noon there was a partial solar eclipse which we actually saw. I even tried to photograph it but it did not work very well.

During the second evening a big thunderstorm passed right over us, I think there were lightning strikes on the island on the opposite side of the lagoon. Afterwards we got a nice evening. Just before sunset some sheep suddenly appeared on the shore...

Continue to part II

Discovery scrap album

2008-08-13T15:37:00.000+02:00

Here are a bunch of unused pics from the old site and other surplus pictures of my own boat.

Photobucket link.

Another mainsheet solution

2008-07-17T13:13:00.005+02:00

Tony from the UK sent me this picture of how he arranged the mainsheet traveller. His boat is a Vivacity 21, but the sheet arrangement is the same as on the Alacrity/Vivacity. When I first saw the picture I wondered what the benefit of the rope really would be as I reckoned the block would move almost in the same way as would a shackle on the iron bar. This is Tony's reply:

With the traveller it all depends on how tight the rope is, if it's longer and looser than the one shown then the block will travel further, but I found a length I was happy with and cut it to that length.
Funnily enough, it doesn't seem to travel very far which seems better. If it was tightened up even more it would remain more or less fixed in the centre position. But you are right, it is a similar arrangement to the original.

Now I think the main problem with the original setup is that in a beat you sometimes want the block (or shackle) to be to windward, not just in the middle. I am not sure if Tony's arrangement does make this possible.

Archived articles and cruise reports from the old site

2008-07-13T14:08:00.004+02:00

Around Britain in 19 feet

2008-06-23T09:47:00.003+02:00

OK, it's not an Alacrity, but I think this is still worth mentioning: British journalist Dylan Winter is currently sailing around Britain in a 19 foot Mirror offshore tripple-keeler. He documents it on video which he uploads on YouTube for all to see.
This is an ongoing project as he is working at the same time, sailing in his spare time and leaving the boat i different ports when back at work. There are currently 16 short episodes of the documentary, all very professionally done and definitely worth watching!

Mainsheet traveller solutions

2008-06-17T13:11:00.009+02:00

The Alacrity has, as her Vivacity sister, a very simple mainsheet arrangement. The sheet block and cleat just is attached to a solid bar via a shackle. The shackle can slide freely from side to side.
There has recently been a discussion on the Alacrity yahoo-group if this is sufficient or not.
While the shackle lets the sheet move relatively freely I did not find this a problem myself. In fact, if the sheet is sufficiently tight the shackle does tend to stick on the bar. This can be used to sheet the sail to windward in a tack. At the same time it is very easy to "unstick" the shackle in a gust thus slightly depowering the sail.
However, if a more professional, or "racy" approach is desired there are some solutions. The easiest is using a piece of rope (and maybe some blocks) to harness the shackle and make the sheet adjustable.
Or, you could remove the simple traveller completely and build a new one, for example as described in this article by George Bollenbacher. You will then end up with something like this:

New content: Alacrity and Vivacity really the same?

2008-06-11T20:19:00.001+02:00

This was sent to me by one Steve Henkel of the U.S. for publication in the Twin-Keeler newsletter. As it is delayed I felt it could just as well publish it here:

"I found your interesting magazine on your website, and concluded that if anybody knows the answer to my questions, probably you or one of your readers do.

I'm in the final stages of researching a book on 350+ small cruising sailboats, including their sail plans and accommodations plans. In doing the research, I have come across several marketers who exaggerate the length of their boats to gain consumer acceptance. I am wondering if the Vivacity 20 marketers fit into this category.

I have several brochure plans for both the Vivacity 20 and the Alacrity 19, and was struck by the similarities between the two, which led me to scale off the plans, using the announced LWL as the "known" distance. For the Vivacity, this gave me the following (in decimal form, NOT feet and inches):

Waterline length = LWL = 17.50 feet
Length on deck = LOD = 18.50 feet
Hull length ex rudder = 19.00 feet
Length overall = LOA (including rudder projection) = 20.75 feet

Note that NONE of these dimensions is within striking distance of, let alone equal to, the so-called "LOA" of 20.00 feet in the official specs, which some marketers use in place of the actual LOD and others use in place of hull length, and some even use as LOA, which it should be. As you know, LOD is the traditional measure of length when comparing one boat with another, so I am trying to determine the correct LOD for the Vivacity, and also for the Alacrity, which I am now beginning to suspect may be identical in LOD to the Vivacity. Can you advise if you have ever actually measured the LOD on your boat, and if so, what dimension you came up with? Also, can you comment on the same dimensions for the Alacrity?"

I hope you can help.

(Photo shows Vivacity "Rhea").

Now, in fact I did not measure my boat according to those specs and think I am unable to as long as she is in the water.

The original sales brochures

2008-06-11T19:48:00.001+02:00

Here are some scans of the original sales brochures from Russel Marine.

Mast dimensions

2008-06-11T15:51:00.001+02:00

And finally the mast. Height over water is about 8 meters, the mast itself being 7m high.

Trailer dimensions

2008-06-11T15:49:00.001+02:00

And here are the dimensions for a typical Alacrity trailer.

Rudder dimensions

2008-06-11T15:47:00.001+02:00

There are at least two kinds of rudders for the boat, one of which has a slightly more rounded aft edge.

Sail plan

2008-06-11T15:45:00.004+02:00

I have been unable to find an official sail plan for the boat. However these figures should be about right. I have since ordered a new mainsail and jib for my boat and did not have any problems communicating to the sailmaker's what I wanted.

Edit: the figures in the pic are unreadable for some reason. They are:
I: 23.00 (7m)
J: 6.20 (1,9m)
P: 20.00 (6m)
e: 8.70 (2,6m)

A more elaborate sail plan is also to be found here.

Technical information

2008-06-11T15:28:00.001+02:00

The Alacrity looks very similar to the Vivacity sailboat. In fact they are almost indistinguishable. However, the Vivacity is somewhat bigger and heavier. The basic specs for the Alacrity are these:

Lenght overall 18´6'' 5,75m
Length waterline 17' 5,2m
Beam 6'11'' 2,10m
Draft 1'10' 0,55m
(twin keels)
Displacement 1450lbs 650kg
Keel weight 480 lbs (240 lbs each keel)
Distance between keels (outside): 1.23 m
Rig Masthead
Sail area main 9m2
Sail area genoa 8,4m2
Sail area jib 5,2m2

Go here for:
Mast dimensions
Trailer dimensions
Rudder dimensions
Sail plan
Original Sales Brochure Scan

2008-06-11T15:13:00.000+02:00

Welcome to the new Alacrity blog. This is an experimental continuation of the Alacrity website at http://www.geocities.com/jenku/alacrity.html . The site entails lots of information about this type of sailboat as well as cruise reports and pictures and stories from more than 40 owners from most parts of the world.

However, lately, the website has felt a little static so I decided to create a blog instead. All the old information will for the time being contiune to exist on the original site. However, I will transfer some of it here. Also all new content will exclusively be published here.

I do encourage all owners and fans of the Alacrity to comment on here.

Happy sailing!

The old reader's boats picture archive

2007-09-13T14:00:00.000+02:00

Alacrity pics: Patricia

2007-09-13T12:30:00.000+02:00

This is Dan McEachern's Alacrity "Patricia". Dan lives in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He bought the boat in June 2003. It has not been in the water since 1995. He is now restoring the boat to be launched next spring. Here is what he told me about his boat so far:
"Our problem out here in the great southwestern desert of course is heat and sun so good UV protection in any products you are using is vital. The sun is deadly on fiberglass and wood. Both must be either covered or cared for constantly. I have been re-oiling the teak for weeks and it still wants more! So far, I have replaced the front hatch and the companionway hatch, re-fiberglassed the entire cockpit area, and removed the pulpit for clean up, straightening and painting. The tabernacle was rusted and I am having a new one built. I have restored the rudder. I also have an original 3hp British Seagull outboard that the previous owner says runs perfectly. It came with the boat. My next big project is to build a cradle and get the boat off the trailer. The keels need to be re-glassed, then the bottom paint. Then its on to rigging and the interior, electrical, I am tired just writing this!"

Dan has promised some more pictures and comments on his project's further development as it goes along.
As a start, here are some more "before pictures" and some tips on fiberglass repais.

Alacrity pics: The Rose

2007-09-13T12:25:00.000+02:00

When Graham Bell bought this Alacrity it had been going up and down with the tide for five years and was covered in green mould. Now he has cleaned the bottom and sanded the hull which he intends to paint pale blue.

Graham has also cleaned the deck and has already purchased a 4hp outboard.

This is how "The Rose" looks in spring 2004. Graham has applied two under coats and two gloss coats to the hull. He also has painted the bottom, sanded the woodwork and put two coats of stainer on it. The boat looks really great.

Alacrity pics: Retrograde

2007-09-13T12:22:00.000+02:00

This is Mark Stipetic's Alacrity "Retrograde" which he has been fixing up after some Hurricane damage. Mark lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA.

His story:
"The guy I got it from - his dad bought it about 1973. He sailed it as a boy in the Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.
It had not moved or been sailed for 10-12 years (in salt water the whole time).
The boat was hit by many hurricanes -"Floyd" and "Fran" were direct hits on it. "Cape Fear" is right here. Lightning finally sunk the boat. It came down the shrouds and put two holes in port side and one in the starboard side. After much thought, I decided to salvage it. It was free. I estimate I put $750 and 2 years work into it to get it looking and sailing good.
There is no electrical system in it though. So no running lights yet. I'm working on that."

Alacrity pics: Greyhound

2007-09-13T12:20:00.001+02:00

This is George Bollenbacher's Alacrity "Greyhound". George sails on the Hudson River north of New York. The boat is named "Greyhound" because he also owns two "retired racing hounds".
The smaller picture shows co-owner Jacob preparing "Greyhound" for a sail at the Tarrytown Marina.
Edit: this boat now as a new owner.

Alacrity pics: At last

2007-09-13T12:18:00.000+02:00

Tom Meara's father bought this Alacrity in 1975. Tom learned to sail in her and she
safely got him through some heavy weather during a few "ill-planned voyages of his youth".
After 30 years in salt water, he totally restored the boat and fitted a completely new interior.

Alacrity pics: Britina

2007-09-13T12:12:00.000+02:00

This "Britina", sail no AY-65. The boat is now owned by Ulf Lange from Bremen, Germany.
The pics here have been taken by the previous owner, Dierk Thomsen. It seems to be an Alacrity Mk1 despite the double windows. Dierk also has a wooden Mast.
Dierk lives in Hamburg, Germany and sailed his boat in the Elbe Estuary.

Alacrity pics: Smurfen

2007-09-13T12:08:00.000+02:00

This is Leif Eklund's Alacrity. "Smurfen". Leif lives in Skelleftehamn in Northern Sweden and this makes it the third Alacrity in Swedish waters that I am aware of.
Update: the boat has now been sold. I do not have the names of the new owners yet.

Smurfen was built in 1966 and has only had three owners since.

Alacrity pics: Midnight Special

2007-09-13T12:06:00.000+02:00

Brian Bartlett send me this email about an Alacrity he bought in order to be restored by his children.
"A couple of months ago my family and I were driving around a local boatyard looking at boats. We already have an O’day 25 weekend cruiser. Sitting amongst the weeds was a small blue hulled bilge keeled boat, in pretty rough shape. My kids (16, 14 and 9) asked me to stop and promptly jumped aboard to check it out. They fell in love with the boat and asked if we could buy it. They wanted to restore it and bring it back to sailing condition. I agreed that I would check on it. I told them I wouldn’t pay more the $200 for the whole thing. I also made a pact with them that it would be their job to restore it, they would do all the work. In addition if I were to buy it for them they had to agree to:
· Do all the work.
· Keep logs of all time spent.
· Keep a journal explaining the steps and projects undertaken.
· Keep records and receipts of all Dad’s money spent.
· Keep a photo journal of the project.
· Create a web page from all the documentation.
In return Dad & Mom would:

· Foot the bills.
· Supply tools and materials.
· Act as project consultants and teachers.
· Find a way to get it home.
· Find a trailer for the finished boat .
· Transport or moor it with our other boat.
It turns out that they’ll let me have it for $100. I am going to pick it up this weekend and get it back to our farm to commence the project. It has no sails or rudder but those can be fabricated. After searching the web to see what it is I finally found your site and sure enough it looks like the boat in your pictures. I am sure it is an Alacrity 19. So any help you can send our way would be appreciated. We’ll keep you up to date on the progress too."

Alacrity pics: Naiad

2007-09-13T12:04:00.000+02:00

This is Leo Bingley's "Naiad", hull no 288. Leo and his wife live in Michigan, USA. The boat is currently moored in front of their place.
Najad under sail on Grand Traverse Bay.

Alacrity pics: Kindly Light

2007-09-13T10:17:00.000+02:00

This is Gary Jaggers' Alacrity "Kindly Light". Gary lives in Falmouth, UK and sails his boat on the Fal Estuary, Carrick Roads and the River Helford. Kindly Light is an Mk1. She is also the first Alacrity I have ever seen with a roller furling jib.

Gary took over the boat after his stepfather who had owned her since 1990. She is on regular use however needing some work.

As sailing costs continually increase, Gary likes this small boat's ability to dry out on cheaper moorings and enjoys "to barge his way in amongst the Bavarias and Benetaux."

Alacrity pics: Sabre

2007-09-13T10:13:00.000+02:00

This is Steve Meakin's Alacrity Mk1 "Sabre". The boat was built by Hurley marine in 1969. According to Steve she has "a furling genoa and tons of character." And quite a large crew, too.

Sabre has been sailing on Kielder Water in Northumberland, UK. It's one of Europe's biggest man made reservoirs. However, Sabre is soon to be transfered to saltier waters again. She will be happy to sail off the Northumberland coast.

Sabre also has the main sheet attached to the middle of the cockpit. This is quite ususal on Mk1 models it seems.

Alacrity pics: Scaramouche

2007-09-13T10:10:00.000+02:00

Tom Swenson bought this Alacrity recently. He lives in New Jersey, USA.
The boat his is first sailboat. The boat has a clearly visible hull number plate. Not very beautiful, though...

Alacrity pics: Mistral

2007-09-13T10:08:00.000+02:00

This is Steve Wardropper's Alacrity "Mistral". Steve bought the boat in 2001 and has since repainted her hull.
He sails out of Keyhaven in the Solent.

Alacrity pics: Mistral II

2007-09-13T09:56:00.000+02:00

This is Julian Davies' "Mistral II", AY 609. He bought her in 2005 from Chris Monniot who had painted her the summer before, but as he since had acquired a new boat he decided to sell her.