NOVEMBER, 1957 YACHTING MONTHLY Alcyone II A steel muti-chine modern Pavilioenjacht BY M. F. GUNNING, M.I.N.A

LCYONE I, whose plans appeared in YM, January 1949, was Aan unconventional attempt to create a family-man’s cruiser. She was to have exceptional accommodation so as to be suitable for extended living on board, either just the two of us, or with ficient, take a lot of heavy handling and, anyway, are a danger in children and their fiancées, or any of our friends that happened to a seaway. The was placed far forward so as to be out have a couple of days to spare. She was to be easily handled by of the main cabin, and the balance was restored by a special rud- an owner in his fifties and his wife (and, at a pinch, single-hand- der assembly , which merits some attention, as it plays an ed), so as to be independent of crews, have shoal draught for important part in the performance of Alcyone under sail. The Dutch waters and good sea-going qualities for more extended is attached by means of the usual pintles to a skeg, which cruising. remains fixed in a fore-and-aft plane but can slide up and down, The design was based on various Dutch types, borrowing with the rudder, between knees fixed to the . It usually proj- from the schokker, the grundel and others. But, not very notice- ects 18in below the , and so works in undisturbed water, able to any but an experienced eye, she borrowed more vital which increases its efficiency by some 40 per cent. It can be characteristics from modern yacht design, concentrating her dis- hauled up by a small tackle, and will come up by itself when it placement amidships and fining her ends. Her rig was typically touches ground. Dutch (see YM, March 1952), with a loose-footed . In The combination of the fixed skeg with the rudder held at a light breezes, and when a crew is available, she carries a botter- small angle makes a primitive hydrofoil with a large lift. In fact, fok (now misnamed Genoa); otherwise a boomed staysail work- the boat will make but little leeway when close-hauled ing on a traveller. When tacking, nothing except the helm needs with the centreboard up, when a good breeze is blowing. She attention. Mainsheet and halyards are of wire, operated by self- then seems to be supported by her lee -wave and the lift of reeling . the rudder assembly. And she is very steady on the helm when A centreboard was fitted instead of , which are inef- NOVEMBER, 1957 YACHTING MONTHLY

running downwind in a seaway with the centreboard up. The skeg then bites deep into undisturbed water and holds her straight. Alcyone I did all that was expected of her, and more. She made three trips from Holland to the Solent, and one to the Baltic her best run being from Calais to Newhaven, 75 miles in 11 hours, with a full jib and a deep reef in her mainsail. It was blow- ing force 6 to 7 when we passed Dungeness (25 to 35 knots by the Dungeness anemometer), and the spindrift was flying and gale warnings out by the time we rounded Beachy . There was no lee from the land and a fairly high sea was running, but she was sweet and easy on the helm. Her movements were so smooth that an enameled jug of water stayed put on the tiled lava- NOVEMBER, 1957 YACHTING MONTHLY

tory floor for an indefinite time. This, of course, was largely due s a modern cruiser-racer. She rated about 18ft under the old to her multi-chine construction, which damps out any movement RORC rule, and that seemed just about to fit, boats of the same except that straight forward. rating beating her when they ghosted away with nylon spinnakers One of her best assets was her ability to sail close-hauled, and and sometimes getting beaten in a good thresh to windward. She even to tack, under jib only. Thus her mainsail could be dropped sailed the Round-the-Island race in 1956, with a corrected time (‘dropped’ to be taken literally, for her gaff-mainsail has almost of 7.37.30, against the leader’s time of 6.30.39, but then she frictionless parrel lines and wire halyards), in a squall or when ambled round steering safe courses in very bad visibility, clear of reefing, while the boat jogged on comfortably some five points all dangers, which entailed her bucking the tide for hours a cou- off the wind under her jib. ple of miles south of St. Catherine’s Point. But the reportedly Several copies of Alcyone were built, improved by lengthen- rough seas off the Neeles, which caused about one-third of the ing her lines by 20in and slightly rearranging her cabin. One contestants to retire, troubled her not a wit. appears to be regularly cruising on the Atlantic seaboard between maine and the Bahamas. Another is stationed in Mombasa, and ****** earned high praise from the crew of one of the better-known recent circumnavigators for her seakindliness and ability to deal The question now arises: If she was so good, why build with a short, choppy sea. They pronounced her fit for unlimited another one? Well, a naval architect sometimes wants to have a ocean cruising. Incidentally, she proved quite cool in the tropics, completely free hand to try out ideas he cannot, as yet, foist on apparently because the steel carries away the heat from her his customers. Also, in ten years the requirements had shifted. and topsides into the water. (This, naturally, applies only to The cruises became less strenuous, more leisurely. More and small ships.) more time was spent moored or anchored in some pleasant spot, To sum up, Alcyone proved herself to be a very comfortable enjoying the scenery and the fascinating sight of the handling of boat, easily handled, dry, with good sailing qualities and soft other yachts. The cabin of Alcyone I, large and spacious as it is, movements in a seaway, but, as might be expected, not so fast a is not much use for this sort of thing, because one cannot look NOVEMBER, 1957 YACHTING MONTHLY out, except by getting up and gluing one’s eye to a porthole. And degrees moves the rudder through 90 degrees, from hard aport to finally, as the years slipped by, I was bound to realise that one hard astarboard. day, perhaps three, perhaps more years off, we should have to The little right aft is useful for stowing warps, a carry a paid hand. He would have to berth in the fo’c’s’le and bathing ladder and the like. It is very deep, and projects beyond that would not leave us with enough accommodation for our- the boom, so that one can stand there in perfect safety when reef- selves and our guests. Then a buyer turned up, and the yard made ing. an attractive quotation.... The forward part of the ship is exactly as in Alcyone I. So Alcyone II was ordered. I was very careful not to touch Perhaps its greatest asset is the lavatory, with its large wash-basin features that had been successful. Her lines, right up to her deck and six little lockers behind the mirror, one for each member of sheet, were unaltered, and so were her rig and the skeg-cum-rud- the crew for his personal gear. A gas ring for hot water and a bot- der arrangement aft. Nor did we introduce any , the tled-gas space heater (with flue) are fitted. There is plenty of arrangement of Alcyone I with cork tiles laid directly on to the space for a comfortable sponge-down; any water spilled on the cement covering the scrap iron ballast having served very well. tiled floor collects in a little sump, from where it can be pumped In fact, the whole arrangement forward of 13 was unal- overboard. Thus there are three separate cabins, each with stand- tered. ing headroom and plenty of room for suitcases. But aft the frames were lengthened and the deck raised, so No difference in performance has been noted as compared that full use could be made of all the space usually more or less with the previous boat, although the boats have not been actual- wasted abreast and aft of the cockpit; thus a large and roomy ly sailed against each other. The effect of the windage of the high cabin was created, with full standing headroom in the galley. Six poop appears to be small. The windows look dangerous, but one large windows were fitted, at the eye level both of the cook stand- gains confidence when one sees the builder smash his fist hard ing in the galley and of the others sitting on the slightly raised against them, and look ruefully at his knuckles but without any settee aft. A chart table to port (usually annexed by the cook effect on the glass. Anyway, the glass is where the cockpit-coam- when ditch crawling) and plenty of lockers are provided. Right ing was in Alcyone I, and we never shipped a drop of water there. aft is a wide shelf with place for a radio, a typewriter, a lot of So why worry? If ever the ship were to be prepared for an books and generally, all the things that one wants out of the way. Atlantic crossing - a most unlikely contingency - it would be a The passage forward below the cockpit is admittedly low, yet simple matter to fit light metal shutters. I find that I can come through easily with a tray with three or four cups of early-morning tea. The port quarter-berth was made to ****** hinge upwards to facilitate this, but we found this quite unneces- sary in practice. Underneath the quarter-berths two fresh-water Alcyone I’s looks were not to everybody’s liking, but her tanks are fitted, with a capacity of 90 gallons, well placed amid- younger sister has already received many compliments. She ships. The engine is placed in a watertight steel trough, welded seems to sit pretty on a smooth lake, her big ensign fluttering in to the baseplate of the ship, which retains all drippings of the a light breeze. It must be stated here that she was not designed stuffing box, oil and petrol. A bilge pump and an electric extrac- in any way as a copy of an old Dutch jachten. It was merely tor fan are installed and the fuel capacity is 30 gallons. desired to obtain a better utilisation of the available space by fit- The and upper sides of the trough are of wood and ting a stern cabin and centre cockpit. Many profiles were drawn, portable, so that the engine is at once accessible. A petrol engine but only one seemed natural and pleasing to the eye. That this (Ford 10) was chosen, partly for its low initial cost and partly proved to be closely akin to the old Dutch types merely proves because it is so much quieter than a Diesel. It is mounted on that similar problems lead to similar solutions. silent rubber seatings, drives the propeller direct, and gives a full However, this similarity allows one to name the type to which 6 knots. she belongs. She is obviously neither boeier nor botter, lemster- The centre cockpit is a success. It is somehow much more aak nor hoogaars, nor some other present-day type. She looks protected, and feels cosier, than the aft cockpit of the old boat. It more like the old yachts of the seventeenth century, so some gives more room, because people can sit all around it, on the interesting visits were paid to the Dutch Historical Maritime , the forward deck and on back-rests provides useful Museum in Amsterdam. There I learned that the seventeenth- stowage for fenders and a bucket, and two lockers have been pro- and eighteenth-century single-masted yachts used to be called vided there for tools. either statenjacht or pavilioenjacht. The first has a spritsail, later In place of a wheel she is steered with a form of replaced by a standing gaff; the latter were fitted with what was which is mounted on a horizontal spindle at the after end of the nearly a jib-headed mainsail, with a very short gaff at the top, cockpit. Wires are led from a drum by way of large-diameter without jaws and more like a headboard. This was later replaced sheaves to the quadrant. The gear is easy to operate, and as a part by the typical curved Dutch gaff. Alcyone II corresponds exact- of the whipstaff projects below the spindle one can steer either by ly to the latter type, and so is classified as pavilioenjacht. hand or foot or both together. Turning the whipstaff through 180