The Alerion Express
History
Instead of creating an imitation of Old Nathanael Herreshoff would have designed over 70 years ago, Carl Schumacher used the ancient verities of good sailing-yacht design and developed them by using the newest, strongest and lightest of hull materials and new inventions made in recent years in keel and rudder designs.
Alerion comes from a name associated with Cap’t Nat in 1916. He is known for the 25 foot sloop Alerion. It is in display in Mystic, Connecticut. The Alerion Express was made from the ideas of Ralph Schacter, who spent many years involved in recreational sailing and racing. He came to the conclusion that the sailing world needed was a small, high-performed boat for club racing that could be handled alone, would have a big, deep, comfortable cockpit for day sailing and enough room for longer period of times on the sailboat. These ideas were applied to many of the Alerion Express sailboats including the most popular Express 27. The first prototype built was in Stuart, Florida, by Lost River Marine. As known from 1990 production is now at Holby Marine Company of Bristol, RI.
Construction of the Alerion Express is made on an aircraft-grade Baltek pre-impregnated end-grain balsa core, vacuum-bagged using vinyl ester resins and E-glass laminates. It has a little hull with slightly hollow waterlines. The cockpits are deep, wide and very comfortable.
Carl Schumacher died two years before Ralph Schacter at the age of 52, Schacter was 78.
The Alerion Express Today
Manufacturer of the Alerion Express is located in Warren, RI. The Alerion Express lines of sailboats are owned by Pearson Composites. http://www.pearsonyachts.com/.
As of September 1, 2007, Garry and Donna Hoyt (Newport R&D, Inc.), a large seller of Alerion Express sailboats are no longer selling Alerion Express sailboats. The builder, Pearson Composites, has made the decision to go from selling direct to selling through a dealer network.
Models
AE20
Designer:....Carl Schumacher (1996), 45 built
LOA:....20' 0"
LWL:....17'1"
Beam:....6'10"
Ballast: 780 lbs.
Displacement: 1,900 lbs.
Draft:....FB....3'6"
SA (sq.ft.): Main & Jib..219
Spinnaker:....245
Price:(FOB)....$24,500
AE28
Designer:....Carl Schumacher (1990), 115 built
LOA:....28' 3"
LWL:....22'10"
Beam:....8'2"
Ballast: 2,000 lbs.
Displacement: 4,400 lbs.
Draft:....FB....4'6"
SA (sq.ft.): Main & 100%FT..352
Price:(FOB)....$47,500
AE33
LOA: 33' 0" (10.06 m.)
LWL: 26' 4" (8.03 m.)
Beam: 9' 3" (2.82 m.)
Draft: 5' 0" (1.52 m.)
Sail Area (100%): 495 sq. ft. (45.98 sq. m.)
Disp.: 8,700 lb. (3,955 kg.)
Ballast: 3,300 lb. (1,497 kg.)
Disp. /L: 179
Designer: Garry Hoyt, Pearson Design Team
Price: $235,000
AE38
Designer:....Carl Schumacher (1997), 8 built
LOA:....38' 5"
LWL:....30'1"
Beam:....10'9"
Ballast: 4,200 lbs.
Displacement: 12,400 lbs.
Draft:....FB....5'10"
SA (sq.ft.): Main & Jib...699
Price:(FOB)....$159,900
Notes and references
- Goddard, John W. Alerion Express creator dies at 78. June 2005. Soundings Magazine.
- Schanen, Bill. Ralph Schacter's legacy of sailing beauty. June 2005. Sailing Magazine.
- Smyth, Pete. "Boat Reviews-Alerion Express 28." Cruising World Magazine: 107.