First Sail of the Alwoplast Built
Atlantic 57™
June 17, 2008
Last Friday, "Espiritu Santi" the first of several A57's building by
Alwoplast, of Valdivia, Chile went out into the cool Pacific for her first sail.
Onboard was a large cast; the builders of course, the owners, the designer, the
delivery crew assigned to sail the boat to the USA, the owner of the next-to-launch
A57 and his surveyor.
As usual with the inaugural sail there was much to do and a little bit of confusion
as people unfamiliar with sailing this cat "learn the ropes". Having just finished
sailing another new A57 to Bermuda, from where I went directly to the southern
hemisphere winter, I was under dressed for the cold "fog"- a euphemism for an air/water
mixture which anywhere else in the world qualifies as rain. But during the south Chilean
winter, it seems the term rain is reserved for use only when about 50% of the air is
filled with water and it is moving mostly in a horizontal direction!
Wind conditions were quite variable, light and shifty until we got clear of the
Valdivia River then briefly some stronger gusts as a little squall passed then back to
about 12 knots of wind. I am always a bit nervous the first time the rig of a new boat
loads up- what parts haven't been properly secured, what running rigging items have been
mislead or not tied off, how is the mast behaving as load is applied- is it standing
straight? No significant problems were evident, so the sheets were gradually hauled in
as ES gathered speed and the apparent wind built. Typical for this design,
we were soon close hauled at 10 to 11 knots as she lifted gently over the 5 foot swells
outside the harbor.
The Quantum Sails from the Cape Town loft looked fine, everything fit well. Although
the mainsail outhaul needed further adjustment as well as the mast bend to pull some
draft out of the sail. Daggerboards went up and down easily and were quiet under way.
Rudders, steering and NKE instruments and autopilot all functioned normally- no surprises
there either.
The discomfort of my fog soaked cold feet was moderated by the broad smiles of owners
Santiago and Carolina Becerra who looked more like kids on Christmas morning than anything
else. The others on board were equally impressed by the speed and responsiveness of
ES so as they say- a fine time was had by all.
Mid way through the sail the dinghy was launched in order to get some photos. At the end
of the photo session we were headed back to the dock and rather than hoist the dinghy back
aboard we towed it in. I bring this up because it helps to illustrate the only surprise I
had in this sailing trial. The performance under power of the latest generation of A57's is
substantially better than the earlier sisters. The difference is due largely to the Volvo
D2-55 engines which have more torque then the Yanmar 56 HP engines that we had used
previously. There was also a change made in the propellers which may also have helped but
unfortunately it is difficult at this point to know exactly how much one contributes vs.
the other. In any case, we had 11.5 knots boat speed at max throttle and watching the dinghy
planning behind the cat was quite a sight. More importantly, at a low cruise around 2200 rpm
ES still had 9 plus knots. I noticed the same thing on the recent sail to
Bermuda on the new the A57 "Leopard" built by Aquidneck Custom Composites. We
had wind all the way to Bermuda so we never spent any time motoring beyond the harbor until
we dropped sail outside St. Georges. Then we turned "Leopard" up into the fresh
breeze and throttled up about half way as we looked for the channel marks in the dark. Still,
she was making 8.5 to 9 knots into 18 to 20 knots wind. This is about a 15% or better
improvement over the very good power performance of earlier A55 and A57s, and a pleasant
surprise.
With "Espiritu Santi" tied up at the Alwoplast dock, notes were compared on
what tasks still needed to be completed prior to hand over while the diesel heaters drove the
damp chill out of the pilot house and some fine Chilean vino tinto pushed some warmth back
toward my cold feet!
Another fine Atlantic 57 is born. Thanks and congratulations to her owners and builders.
|
