Sailboat Reviews

The Sanford Boat Co. launched its first Alerion in 1978 and eventually built 20. Edward Sanford says there are still several around, and owners have included such notables as America's Cup winner Bill Koch and singer Jimmy Buffet. In the late 1980s Ralph Schacter commissioned West Coast naval architect Carl Schumacher to draw a boat that combined traditional appearance with modern materials and contemporary "go-fast" thinking. The result brought so many comments and inquiries that Schacter joined with Holby Marine of Bristol, Rhode Island, to build the boat on a production basis.

The Alberg 30 is an adaptation of a 30-footer Alberg designed for San Francisco Bay and was first built in response to a request by some Toronto sailors for a cruising auxiliary that could be fleet raced. By the time the first boat was built, a large group of Chesapeake Bay sailors had also commissioned a fleet. Today those two areas are still the hotbeds of Alberg 30 ownership with more than 100 boats represented in the Toronto association, almost 200 in the highly active and enthusiastic Chesapeake Bay association.

The Bristol 27 is a product of its era and of the traditional bent of designer Carl Alberg's thinking--that is, a combination cruiser and club racer. At 6,600 pounds displacement with 2,575 pounds of internal lead ballast in its full keel, the boat is fairly heavy by contemporary standards.

Cape Dory Yachts was, until its demise some years ago, one of the more conservative firms in the boatbuilding industry. With the exception of a brief fling with modern cruiser-racers--the Intrepid series--the company's stock in trade since the late 1960s was traditional, full keel auxiliaries and sailboats, most from the design board of Carl Alberg, the octogenarian dean of American designers.

Just a few years ago, the prospective buyer of a 25' sailboat knew that some serious compromises awaited him. His 25-footer would probably have little more than sitting headroom, might have four shelves that could reasonably be called berths, and probably had a head stowed under the forward berth. The galley? With luck, a two-burner alcohol stove, maybe a sink, and a water tank holding ten gallons. Auxiliary power? Usually a 6 hp outboard hanging off the stern or in a well in the lazarette.

In the sailboat industry Ericson Yachts was some-what of the archetypal production boatbuilder: trendy, performance oriented, colorfully advertised, and, for the most part, successful. The Ericson line started in 1965 with the enduring 32 and 35, simple and stylized boats that sold mostly to West Coast buyers. The model line then grew, aimed largely at racing sailors, but with models successively introduced to fill in the line and keep Ericson buyers in that builder's boats, eventually reaching a high degree of acceptance throughout the country.

A number of European builders, most notably the British builder Prout and more recently Prestige and Ohlala from France, import to the U.S. a handful of boats each year. None, however, has made a splash as big as Ian Farrier's F-27 trailerable tri, first launched in 1985.

The Flicka is unique. There are no other production boats like her, and only a few that offer the Flicka's combination of traditional (or quasi-traditional) styling and heavy displacement in a small cruising yacht. As the number of Flickas built by Pacific Seacraft passed 300 plus an indeterminate number built by amateurs early in its history, the boat seems to have become almost a cult object. High priced, distinctive, relatively rare but with wide geographical distribution and easily recognized, the Flicka invariably attracts attention and seems to stimulate extraordinary pride of ownership.

The funny thing about the Gemini is that it's an old design. Ken Shaw drew the lines in 1969. There's nothing particularly contemporary about it. However, by painting the cabin sides black (Euro styling), adding a swept-back fiberglass "pilothouse" and gradually adding length to the full-bodied hulls, the Gemini has always looked like she belonged with her contemporaries, whether that was the 1980s or 1990s.

The J/24's PHRF rating ranges from 165 to 174, depending on the handicapper. The J/24 is best suited for racing; there are many boats in her size range that are far more comfortable and practical for daysaiIing. However, the J/24 is a joy to sail under mainsail alone. Unlike most boats, she balances and sails upwind at a respectable speed, and her maneuverability gives her tremendous freedom in crowded harbors.