Alberg is not only consistant in his designs, but our little Ariel on paper (and in reality) is a world cruiser. The PO of A-24 told me a story that he was caught in a thunderstorm out of Bevery Mass. and the winds (verified later from those around him in the same vicinity with anemometers on board) were 70mph. He said he was motoring so his sails were down as he was about to enter the harbor and call it a day. The boat he said just heeled over 25 degrees and stayed there. He had enough sea room as the wind was off the land. He remembers being very impressed with how sturdy and predicatable the boat was. These types of incidents happen, not often, but they happen. In 1995 while running the launch at the AYC in Newburyport there was a microburst that hit. We had emperical evidence of 65+mph winds and hail the size of marbles. There was a Ty and a flicka on their moorings just off the dock and they were the only boats you could see as the others were shrouded in driving nastiness. Both were on their rail and the Ty had its coamings in the water at one point. They both road very sporatic riding up onto their moorings looking like their engines were on full tilt, then pulling hard against backwards even though no one was onboard. The Ty had some water in the bilge after the incident, but the Flicka was dry as a bone. The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes then there was sunshine. There was a regatta going on about 4 miles away from the club so we immediately called them on the VHF expecting torn sails and bent masts, or worse, as this storm literally fell out of the sky. They said they had a little bit of rain and increased wind speed, but it looked like black in our direction.These boats although designed as conservative coastal cruisers really do take the sea quite well from what I have read. In the future (2 years maybe) my family and I plan to do some sailing in the Canadian Maritimes and we want to do a staright shot from Mass to N.S. which should take 3-4 days. This will truly be an offshore passage as the Gulf of Maine can be a trecharous place and the passage will be more than 100 miles. Looking at the b
uoy data you can see waves in excess of 20 feet on occasion. When we decided on the Ariel we were also thinking about a CD25D or CD26, but quickly realised you would need to drop at least 20,000 bucks to get your hands on one. In comes the Ariel. Looking at the chart below you can see on paper it is almost identical to the much revered and world cruising 25D, one of the John Vigor picks to sail anywhere. We bought our boat on a trailer, bought a new engine, have a new dodger, new cushions, spinaker and gear, newer main sail and jenny, and tons of other equipment making this boat ready to cruise. I did need to do some repairs before she was ready to splash, and have been busy sprucing her up this spring. But, I'm still less than $5000 in and she will be a nice small cruising boat for a family of three with the same lineage as much more expensive boats. These Ariels are unbelievable values in the right hands. I'm glad I have one and I am ready to burst at the seams to get this thing in the water on the 16th and cruise with the family.
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