A daysailer of timeless beauty, a designer’s legacy

Full and By — by Bill Schanen
Editor and Publisher
Sailing Magazine
April 2002

It was Carl Schumacher.

It was Carl Schumacher who designed what more than a few people will tell you is the most beautiful sailboat you can buy.

I omitted this fact in a column I wrote five years ago, and Ralph Schacter has been giving me hell for it ever since.

The subject came up recently when Ralph and I talked after hearing the sad news that Schumacher had died at the young age of 52. That beautiful sailboat, the Alerion-Express 28, is now Schumacher’s legacy.

I wrote in 1997 that the Alerion-Express was “the perfect wedding of form and function” in a sailboat. It was just a passing reference in a column about sailboat aesthetics, so the omission of the designer’s name wasn’t a big deal. Except to my friend Schacter. His sensitivity, though, was understandable—the boat was in many ways his baby, and it led to a friendship with Schumacher that endured until his death.

In the mid-1980s, Schacter owned an Express 27, one of the ultralight racing boats designed by an Alameda, California, yacht designer by the name of Carl Schumacher. Schacter loved the boat, but he was tired of racing. He didn’t want to give up the speed of the Express, but he wanted a boat that was easier to sail alone or with a few friends and was pretty in the classic sense, a boat that would evoke the spirit of Nathanael G. Herreshoff’s legendary daysailer Alerion. He presented the conundrum to Schumacher.

To say that Schumacher responded with drawings of a 28-foot daysailer that combined a traditional look above the water with a modern underbody would be accurate, but wouldn’t begin to explain the magic of the Alerion-Express.

Under the water, the design owes nothing to Herreshoff. In place of Alerion’s long canoe form with centerboard, it has a shallow hull with high-performance appendages reminiscent of the Express 27.

Above the water is where the magic is. The look is clearly derived from Alerion, but with no disrespect to Capt. Nat intended, the Alerion-Express is better looking than his 1913 daysailer. The lines, from the eager bow to the shapely counter stern, are a study in harmony and moderation. The fractional rig and the absence of stanchions and lifelines and other clutter add to the impression of perfect proportion. Even at anchor—just add an ensign snapping in the breeze—this is a boat whose looks stir the soul of a sailor.

It would be a mistake, though, to think of the boat as just an ornament. Beneath its comely skin, it’s a practical sailboat that serves its purpose efficiently—to sail fast and nimbly with little fuss and ample comfort for daysailing with a deep, spacious cockpit.

With Schumacher’s plans in hand, Schacter, then recently retired from his Connecticut construction business, went into the sailboat business. A backyard builder in Stuart, Florida, was engaged to build the prototype, with lots of hands-on help from Schacter and Schumacher. About a half a dozen production models were then built in Barrett Holby’s plant in Bristol, Rhode Island, before Everett Pearson of TPI Composites bought the molds. (Paying tribute to Schumacher after his death, Pearson, a pioneer of the fiberlgass boatbuilding industry, said that of all the boats he had built, “the looks and sailing qualities of the Alerion-Express were unsurpassed.”) Now under the stewardship of Garry Hoyt, the boat continues to sell steadily.

Though Hoyt praises the boat’s sailing ability to the point of it declaring it the best balanced boat he’s ever sailed (“steers itself on a reach”), I like to think a good many sales are made just because the boat is a thing of beauty. This is a bracing thought at a time when sailboat aesthetics have slipped a bit—understandably: With buyers demanding ever more homelike space, furnishings and appliances belowdecks, great looks can hardly be a top priority in production cruising boats. The lines of racing boats, on the other hand, are purely a function of the need for speed, and the results can be visually pleasing, though certainly not in the traditional sense of sailboat beauty. Even with their gauche paint jobs, the Open Class 60s might be considered pretty boats—in the way F16s could be considered pretty airplanes.

Of all unlikely places, the realm of powerboats is showing us that aesthetics can have commercial appeal. Unlikely because this is a place populated by objects that must rank among the most atrocious looking made by man. The bulbous forms of some popular contemporary powerboats tower over the water to absurd heights—perhaps in the manner of high-rise condos, to guarantee their owners the best views in the marina.

It is a blessed relief to the eye to find among these monstrosities, thriving like delicate blossoms in fields of nettles, examples of the stylish class of powerboats called picnic boats. Low and rakish like a Depression era rumrunner, these sleek vessels have, like the Alerion-Express, a practical side—a high-performance underbody with propless jet-drive propulsion. But I’m guessing that most people buy them—at rather breathtaking prices—for the look. So appealing is that look that Hinckley, the Maine boatbuilder whose reputation was heretofore based on building handsome sailboats, can’t turn out these handsome powerboats fast enough to meet the demand.

When cost doesn’t matter, aesthetics flourish. Megayachts that look like early 20th century sailing ships above water but have state-of-the-art, high-performance hulls below the waterline are quite the fad in Europe. These are fabulous vessels to see, but even they, to my eye, do not capture timeless sailboat beauty the way Schumacher’s little yacht does.

I didn’t know Carl Schumacher personally. I’ve learned since his death that he was admired by many in the world of sailing not just for being a talented and imaginative designer but also as, in the words of Garry Hoyt, “a nice guy without a touch of arrogance whose enthusiasm for sailing matched his extensive knowledge.” Ralph Schacter, who will miss the sailing outing he organized every year with Schumacher and a Swedish sailor who was one of the first Alerion-Express owners, said of the designer, “If you knew him you had to be touched by him . . . his modesty, everything he knew about sailing.”

That’s how his friends remember him. The rest of us can remember him as the author of the lines of a sailboat that will always be described with one word—beautiful.

It is easy to get caught up in megayacht fever. Rare and exotic materials punctuated with gold fixtures and objects of art for ambience work skillfully together to remove any feeling at all that you are on a boat. Wait a minute! I thought we wanted to feel like we were on a boat. I wonder what goes through the head of a megayacht owner as he or she sits on the upper fantail and watches Russell Upsomerup zoom around the bay, singlehanded in his Alerion-Express. "Gosh, I wish I had one."

There's a lot to say for the feeling of power and megalomania that comes with steering a huge yacht in a breeze, but the best way to appreciate the joys of sailing is to reduce it to its basic elements. If you are a beginner, an El Toro dinghy can do quite nicely. I have to drape myself across the little 8-footer with my feet usually dangling in the lee wash.

Take it up a notch and you can tackle a Laser dinghy. You will get some wet lessons on how to gybe in a breeze and your tummy muscles will spring back to life. When the Laser begins to bore you I suggest a windsurfer. Now you are physically part of the hardware of sailing. The slightest change in body attitude will result in performance changes that you will feel from head to toe.

These simple approaches to enjoying life under sail will reacquaint you with the basics that probably were responsible for your initial attraction to sailing, i.e., working with the elements, self-sufficiency and that strange feeling that comes with mastering over wind and wave. Small boats are a good way to get back to basics.

The Carl Schumacher-designed Alerion-Express is a great example. The general aesthetic model for this design is straight out of Nat Herreshoff's 1916 design Alerion.

The gentle sweep of the sheer is balanced by moderate overhangs and freeboard that is low by today's standards. Beam is narrow, and the hull shape looks to be moderate in all aspects. The D/L ratio is 168. Below the waterline the design shows a modern fin keel and a semi-balanced spade rudder. To me this is the most exciting mix of design features. Take an attractive, dated topsides look and blend it with performance characteristics below the waterline. The result is a boat that has the romance of yesterday and the performance of today.

You could cruise the Alerion-Express. The accommodations are quite Spartan, but there is a head tucked under the V-berth. The first step into the cabin is the top of the icebox. A Yanmar diesel is available as an option.

The rig is a fractional rig with self-tacking jib. The mainsheet leads forward from the Harken traveler to a barney post in the middle of the cockpit. The SA/D ratio is 20.97. I think that this sail area coupled with a healthy ballast-to-displacement ratio will result in a stiff and fast ride.

The Alerion-Express is currently being built by Tillotson-Pearson in Rhode Island. All gear is first rate and the overall look is one of a sophisticated and refined small yacht.

Who Are Alerion Express 28s Really For?
In My Humble Opinion...
By the Fleet One Website Editor

I have sailed and raced all over the world for over 50 years and in doing so discovered that I might well be 'married' to a boat for a lot longer than I thought, so I'd better develop a very careful, very realistic list of specific criteria for my next boats along the way. Criteria suitable to my real usage patterns, age, financial circumstances, and sailing interests.

So when I sold my last big ego-vehicle ocean racer after 10 years of steady campaigning, and wanted to downsize and race with my wife and maybe another friend now and then, it took me 5 years of careful ongoing research and market-watching to find a boat that fit all my various steadily changing criteria exactly.

Everyone's criteria for their boats are different, of course. And my intent is not to argue that yours should be like mine. Or that Alerion Express 28s are better than your dream boat. But simply to set forth my own criteria for purchasing an Alerion Express 28 in the hopes they help you to evolve such a list of your own. And, if you find that your criteria come close to mine, maybe buy one.

And no, I don't get any kind of commission or support from the manufacturer or the distributor for this.

So who's the boat for...?

1. Cruisers who want a sturdy, well-designed, boat with outstanding handling characteristics to single-hand cruise in and around San Francisco Bay. Not too much boat, not too little boat for the Bay. There are several alternative ways of rigging so that safe, effective in-cockpit control becomes a reality instead of a consummation devoutly to be wished for but never really achieved.

2. Cruisers who want to double hand with significant others. Again, not too much boat, not too little boat. Many alternative ways of rigging so that in-cockpit control becomes a reality instead of a consummation devoutly to be wished for but never really achieved. Very practical and manageable two-person teams. Even if one of the two is a less-strong-or-experienced sailor. Accommodations are simple, camping level. 3 comfortable berths, a cooler, portable water storage, and a single burner camping stove are more than enough for a weekend's outing. And can be extended to a week on boat with some planning.

3.  Racers who have had enough of the big-team, big-crew list--requirement boat. And enough of the associated time requirements and expenses, the 15-20 person crew lists that have to be winnowed through for each race in the hopes of finding enough minimally experienced folks to balance out the inexperienced rail meat, etc.

4. Racers that have had enough of the vicissitudes and delusions of steadily declining PHRF racing and want one-design racing in a competitive, friendly, proactively communicative, helpful fleet.

5. Racers who don't want to race one-design and would prefer low-key, single-handed or 2-3 person crew PHRF club racing. SF Bay Alerion 28s are now baseline PHRF rated at 168. This baseline rating assumes the boat is racing with full-up equipage including genoas, spinnakers, etc. But local class rules prohibit racing with such items, most boats don't have 'em, and with PHRF "recommended ratings allowances" for the lack of such gear, SF Bay Alerion 28s are now being rated at up to 192 with the allowances applied by various local clubs.

6. Racers who simply don't have the time, skills, proximity, and/or financial resources to find, evaluate, repair and maintain the various in-the-water, old-technology, old-design, heavily tweaked/rebuilt, one-design boats on the Bay.  Most of which require 4-5 crew.

7. Racers who want a sturdy, well-designed, boat with outstanding handling characteristics and no longer wish to sail inarguably faster but uglier, and harder to handle boats. And are choosing a boat not based on how fast it goes or doesn't go, but on the strength of how they specifically intend to use it and on the dynamics and general warmth and sociability of the fleet.

8. Racers and crews who don't have the agility or raw strength to sail either the high performance ultralights or the bigger racing machines. And can't or don't want to absorb the associated beatings. There are several one-design classes  of boats that are really fun to sail. But are really for immortal youth. And several such classes are still rather more than less young men's clubs. I confess that I badly wanted to continue along in such boats, But a realistic midnight look in the mirror at my age and the fact that I wanted to sail and race with my wife finally mitigated against any more such muppety Peter Pan fantasies.

9. Racers that simply want competitive one-design tactical racing in the company of their wives, sweethearts, or maybe one or two good friends. This included me. My wife (mercifully) loves racing with me and I finally decided that I really wanted to do straightforward tactical, one-design racing with her only, that she'd have more of a role on the boat, and that I really didn't need the big crew experience anymore.

10. Sailors that want to one-design race, handicap race, and/or cruise the Bay in an affordable, arresting, breathtakingly beautiful state-of-the-art personal yacht. (Ah, but don't take my word for it...go look at the photos on this website...)

Thoughts About the Cost of an Alerion Express 28.

I have occasionally heard the perception that these boats are expensive for their size. So, are the boats relatively expensive? My answer is: Nope. Not for its niche or the purpose. And in any case, as a very wise old Turk once told me, "One should always buy the best and cry once."

Even casual evaluation of the new boat market will reveal that as new technology, new design boats they are no more or less expensive than other comparable boats. The issue is rather that that they are expensive relative to what can be had on the used market. Although the Alerion 28s themselves hold their market value extremely well.

It is arguably true that one can buy more new technology and a bigger boat for the same or less. But TPI, which also makes J-Boats, is not building for the volume-purchaser. They are building boats for a very specific type of knowledgeable niche sailor, who knows exactly how much boat they want, exactly want they want to do with their boat. Such a buyer has discovered through long experience and careful research that the Alerion Express 28 is simply the only boat that fits his or her exact interests and specifications.

I confess to being a racer first and a cruiser second. And the clincher for me was the eventual discovery that a local, one-design fleet had been formed. Once I had figured that out, I bought the boat without ever sailing it first. And, though I don't really recommend this approach, never regretted doing so. I could easily have purchased a lot bigger, more heavily equipped boat for he same money. One that required a lot more hgh-cost maintenance and crew. A boat I could even have cooked a turkey in an over on board!.

Wowie Zowie!  Then I'd be stylin' fer sure!

But I didn't want the big crew experience (or corresponding big time and financial load) again. Been there, done that. Nor have I or did I ever intend to cook a turkey aboard. Nor did I need to try to lure my wife aboard with the promise of being able to do so.

Bottom line: I could not have found a better, more appropriate boat for my needs.

-Ed.