Posted by ajlorman (ajlorman@…>)
I went to the Annapolis Boat Show yesterday and had the pleasure of
meeting Garry Hoyt. He was showing hull number 1 of the Alerion
Express 38 (not to be confused with the Alerion Express 38 of 1998,
which is a yawl).
The 38 is an expanded version of the Alerion Express 28, and is part
of the trend to big and very expensive day sailors. The 38 is made by
Pearson Yachts (or maybe Pearson Compsoites), formerly TPI. Besides
lacking overlapping headsails, what most of these new $200K and up
boats have is what most Freedom owners already have: the ability to
control everything from the cockpit. The one innovation on most of
these boats is the use of under deck space to lead the lines back to
the cockpit (so you don’t trip while walking about with your gimlet?),
and leading them to winches and stoppers on islands next to the
helmsman, rather than to the back of the coachtop.
Al Lorman
F30 Ab Initio