Author: Peter Johnstone

Sailing Tips from an AE28 Veteran

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

The most critical thing to remember when sailing an Alerion upwind is that you are trimming four foils. What you do with the sails affects the angle of attack of the keel by either increasing or decreasing leeway. Sail trim also affects the amount of helm on the rudder when sailing upwind. You always want to sail the boat upwind with minimal helm. Use your tiller extension, even if you are sitting in the cockpit. If you can’t easily steer the boat using two fingers on the extension, you have too much helm. The cramp in your fingers will be your first clue that you are not trimmed correctly. Here are a few basic tips:

1)     Probably the two most important strings on the boat are the backstay and the jib outhaul. The backstay allows you to control the power in the main. More backstay tension will yield a flatter and therefore less powerful main. If you have helm Pull in on the backstay! The jib outhaul allows you to control the twist of the jib and therefore the slot between the main and the jib.

2)     Never sail the boat upwind with the traveler centered. It should always be between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way down.  In lighter air it should be 2/3 down and the mainsheet relatively tighter in order to get the force vectors facing as far forward as possible.

3)     The aft end of the jib boom should never be inside the edge of the cabin top. If it is, you are guaranteed to sail slow. The slot needs to stay open to promote good air flow between the main and the jib. If you are carrying a big bubble in the main it could be because the main is too full, but more likely it is because you have the jib boom too far inboard and/or are carrying too much tension on the jib outhaul, thereby preventing the jib leach from twisting.

Ralf Morgan, Hull # 272

Sailing With Dolphins

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

Peter Primont, owner of Alerion 38 #17 lives his life driven by his passions.  When it was time to ignite his passion for sailing, this Long Island native new exactly where to turn.   Until 3 years ago, when Peter wasn’t managing his successful Music publishing business, he was spending his leisure time playing golf.  Since catching the sailing bug, he has yet to return to the golf course.  This past summer we had the pleasure of watching and supporting Peter and his wife, Sheila sail their Alerion Express 38, “Fancy Boy” in the Vineyard Cup.  His competence as a sailor was reflected in the race results.  He defeated a number of  fast sailboats to get sixth overall!  After the race, Peter and Sheila enjoyed a leisurely cruise back to their hometown in Manhasset, Long Island.  Peter emphasises that the single handed ease and large cockpit on the Alerion Express 38 compliments their lifestyle perfectly.  Having  the capability of sailing for an hour or cruising for a week on Long Island Sound is what enables him to pursue his passion for sailing.

 In addition to Peter’s delightful trip to the Vineyard last summer, his most memorable moment came rather unexpectedly.   Peter and Sheila were relaxing in their harbor in Larchmont, New York when they heard on the radio that a pod of dolphins had  surfaced nearby.  They quickly tossed off the mooring and sailed over to the location called out on the radio.  Upon arriving, they found themselves surrounded by more than 150 dolphins swimming and jumping out of the water as if they had always been there.  Those of you who are distantly familiar with the waters around New York City will agree that this is truly a rare sight!   Check out this short video.

 We wish Peter and Sheila more memorable experiences on the Alerion 38 and we’re looking forward to seeing them, as well as a few other 38 owners from New York at the 2011 Vineyard Cup.

Electric Alerion Express 33 keeps on sailing – Report from the owner!

Posted on by Peter Johnstone
  • A total of 756 nm sailed and motored (probably 75% sail; 25% motor) since the spring
  • A total of 2900 Ah consumed from the batteries
  • Average discharge was 54.3 Ah
  • Only 17 full charge cycles used (at this rate, I could put 89000 nm on the odometer before the batteries are used up (2000 cycles)!!)

For anyone with a sport boat, club racer, or who primarily does daysail/weekending, this is the way to go for sure. It is such a pleasant way to keep sailing more pure, both aesthetically and environmentally.  In BC, the environmental argument is that much stronger, since 70% of our electrical power is already renewably generated, and a full charge of the 8.6 kWh MasterVolt batteries costs about 65 CENTS Canadian!

 Sailing is a highly aesthetic pursuit, and one of the oldest most elegant technical disciplines we humans have. It always seemed horrible to me to have to ignite a smelly and noisy engine at the beginning or end of a great day of sailing, or when the wind was insufficient. Electric propulsion has SO many advantages over internal combustion engines– high efficiency, no flammable fuel on board, no risky refueling, no smell, no pollution, high instantaneous torque, compact size and more flexible placement options, regeneration potential under sail, and more. The ONLY disadvantage, in my mind, is limited range. But even that is now becoming less significant with lithium [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/user/AlerionYachts?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/Rr-_ZQ7yL6Q]battery technology. So for a boat primarily used for daysailing and racing, there is NO reason not to go electric!”

Attached is also a little movie I made today on my iPhone. The sound track is the actual barely audible sound of the motor (and a little wind noise on the mic), hardly disturbing a silent and golden late afternoon on the water.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr-_ZQ7yL6Q]

San Francisco AE28 Fleet gather for Alerion Fest 2010!

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

Can you spot the AE28 in this picture?

Reported by Ralf Morgan 

 

We held our Fest this year in Benicia. It is about a 3-4 hour sail from the main bay. The Fest was held on September 10, 11 & 12. We all sailed up on Friday afternoon. Well, actually it was in the middle of a heat wave, so we motored about 1/3 of the way; then those of us with kites set them and sailed the rest of the way. Only one boat without a spinnaker sailed the rest of the way. Nancy Rogers is over 80 and one heck of a helms person. There was no way she was turning the motor on! Benicia is a cute little town on the way up to the Delta Area. There are tons of restaurants and shops close to the marina. It is about the only slightly rural place that we can actually sail to; very unlike the great cruising areas  the east coast is blessed with. One of its greatest virtues is that it is about 10-15 degrees warmer than the main bay, so you get to take off the foul weather gear and sail in t-shirts and shorts for a change. While that may sound normal to northeasterners, for us it is a rare treat! We had a brief gathering on the dock and then all went out to dinner. We ended up with 8 boats that sailed up and three other boats were represented by car. Most of stayed at a local B&B

Alerion 28's tied up in Belicia

On Saturday morning I gave a talk similar to the one I gave at the Pearson Open House. I made it a bit more technical for our group and left out the spinnaker and the fleet stuff. It lasted two hours; everyone really seemed to get into it. Michael & Patti Land (Lizbeth #359) supplied Lox & bagels and chocolate zucchini bread. If you haven’t had Patti’s Chocolate Almond Zucchini bread (code name CZAB) you haven’t lived. Then most of us went out sailing up towards the Moth Ball fleet and paid our respects to the old battle ships like the Iowa, Liberty ships and various specialty ships that have all given their service to our country. There wasn’t much wind until the very end, so a few boats stayed out to play in the 8-12 knot warm (85-90 degree) breeze. It was delightful and we were able to practice some of the stuff we had talked about in the morning. Nancy Rogers & Mike Tomlinson joined me on Ditzy while Deb went shopping. Nancy didn’t want to quit, but eventually hunger prevailed.  That night we had a fabulous dinner at the Benicia Yacht club.

AE28 sails by the USS Iowa

On Sunday morning, after breakfast (9:30 leaving the dock) all of us headed out to catch the big ebb and the 18-20 knot breeze that had come up over night. It was a rollicking ride out the Carquinez Straits into San Pablo Bay. There was large chop from the wind opposing the current; the GPS was happily reading out about 7-8 knots true VMG across the bottom. (on pretty much of a square beat!) As we got about half way home the wind let up to about 10-15 and the tide gradually changed to a flood so the water flattened out and we were back to t-shirts and shorts, this time in the main bay, which never happens, except in late fall.

2010 Annapolis Rendezvous!

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

Last weekend, 20 members of the Chesapeake Bay Alerion Owners group gathered for dinner after a pleasant (but hot!) day of Alerion Sailing.   The breeze was light but luckily one race was completed.  Pat Burke and Scott Bryant from Alerion/Pearson Marine Group joined the group for drinks and dinner after racing.  Besides the t-shirts, hats and joke awards that were issued, the perpetual trophy gained another plaque to add to its growing list of annual winners.  For the complete story checkout the Chesapeake Bay Alerion website here.

Marblehead NOOD Regatta

Posted on by Peter Johnstone
The Fleet gathers for dinner after racing.
Alerion 28's battle for position

There was no shortage of laughs and good times had by the Alerion Fleet this year at the Marblehood NOOD regatta.  Despite the heavy fog on day one we were still able to fit in 2 races.  The Alerion fleet was definitely the most comfortable group out of the  other 100+ boats while we waited for the fog to burn off.  The first race was taken by George Spiecker with “Sara Lee” taking second (sailed by Aleiron’s Scott Bryant).  The second race, although a short course was more exciting.  Everyone managed to be within a half-boat length for the start with George being 5 seconds early on the pin.  This made for an exciting up wind leg with all boats dueling for a position.  The competition stayed tight all the way to the end with Mark King taking the gun.  After a long day on the water, We gathered for our annual dinner at the Boston Yacht club where secrets and tactics were shared over drinks, food and of course a healthy dose of laughter!

Success at the Vineyard Cup!

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

"Fancy Boy" heading towards the finish line
Alerion Express 28 on the race course

We had a great time at the Vineyard Cup this weekend!  With several 38’s and a 28 in attendance it was hard to not see an Alerion sailing. AE38 hulls 17 and 18 and AE38 yawl  # 8 had great results in division two.  #8 took first place in the PHRF non spinnaker group with 17 and 18 coming in fifth and sixth place.  Not bad for 17 and 18 considering this was their first time out on the race course!  Most importantly, we all had a great time and couldn’t have asked for bettter conditions.  Vineyard Haven is a spectacular setting for a regatta; besides the favorable conditions and beautiful scenery there are many classic boats of all sizes to see.  The classic division of the Vineyard Cup brings a whole host of beautiful wooden boats that are hard to ignore.  Just another reason why this event is so much fun!

Alerion Sport 33 Launch

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

Hull number 1 makes a splash! On Friday at noon we launched “Monitor” the first Alerion Sport 33! Her sleek black topsides, red boot stripe and black bottom gave her a sophisticated attitude. We are looking forward to sailing her over the next two weeks before delivering her to her owner in Greenwich, CT. Please contact us if you ‘d like to make an appointment to take a closer look; she will be around until the last weekend in June.

The cockpit on this boat needs to be seen to be believed. It can sit over 8 people easily while maintaining the Alerion aesthetic. The convertible cockpit seating concept has turned out great; set it up for racing or daysailing with friends. The removable seats store easily in the cockpit lockers making room for extra daysailing passengers guests. The interior of the AS33 is noticeably open and airy. There is plenty of storage behind the cushions as well as under the companionway. The oversized opening into the head makes moving around down below a snap; the oversized storage area in the head for your “foulies” is easily accessed. Stay tuned for more news and sailing photos!

Custom AE38

Posted on by Peter Johnstone

Earlier this month we launched a truly exquisite Alerion Express 38.  Thanks to an imaginative client and his seasoned broker, this yacht had several unique features that were new to the AE38.  The most noticeable feature was the custom carbon fiber V-boom manufactured by Hall Spars.

This highly finished boom makes sail handling and stowing a snap.  The sail stores “inside” the boom with an integrated cover that prolongs the life of the sail.  Besides the function of this boom, it beautifully matches the Alerion asthetic .  The teak deck on this boat was also a beautiful addition.

Down below, the settee area converted from two single berths to two flip-up pilot berths and a modest “double” berth on the port side.  This satisfied the owners desire to do some gunkholing with his growing family.  The installation of a hybrid electric stove and microwave with inverter were also nice additions to this boat.  This was also the first AE38 to receive our own “corian” countertops.  Both the head and galley countertops were molded and machined using a specialized phenolic resin formulated by our in house R & D team.

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