Sea Sprite 23, an Alberg designed weekender adapted for family cruising

Alberg designed 23 foot Sea Sprite named SKY PILOT

Our previous sailboat had a flat bottom and a retractable center board. This had obvious advantages, but peace of mind in rough water wasn't one of them.

The Sea Sprite is something completely different: a classic full keel with cut away fore foot, drawn like only Alberg could. The lines, the sheer, the counter stern and sweeping bow is all coming together in a most beautiful way, and in the Sea Sprite is not marred by an overly big deck house. In fact, the mast is stepped on deck forward of a shortened cabin top further improving the profile.

Short round-up of specifications:
LOD 22'6", LWL 16'3", displacement 3350 lbs, ballast 1400 lbs, sail area (100% fore) 247 sq ft, aux power 6hp-4 stroke Tohatsu in a well aft of rudder post.

Here's pics and story from our 50 day cruise in 2011

Here's a write up I did for Small Craft Advisor, the magazine:

We sold the Nimble 20 after 5 seasons. Not because we were unhappy with her, just wanted to try a boat with a different hull shape. Flat bottom/center board/beamy versus narrow/low freeboard/modified full keel.

The Nimble, while bigger than most boats profiled in SCA, is closer to the core ideology of the magazine and it's readers: Easy to trailer, simple to rig and launch, float in a foot of water, beachable. The unique looks, with the bulky hull and tanbark yawl rig makes it easily recognized and as such has garnered a wide appeal.

The Sea Sprite (SS) is a small version of the classic yacht so ubiquitous maybe 70 years ago, with her full keel, short waterline and long overhangs. It's a type of boat that's not super practical for the trailer crowd, not appealing to mainstream cruising sailors because of the cramped cabin, not flashy enough to be a status symbol.

But what do you get in a Sea Sprite? In the right hands she's wicked fast and exciting to sail, but with a 'big boat' sense of stability and heft.
Think about it: A 30' mast with lots of sail area on a 16' waterline and displacing 4000 lbs. All from the drawing board of Carl Alberg, who knew a thing or two about sailboats.

In Turnstone (the Nimble), we were always the slowest boat out there in any conditions. Set us up with a short, steep chop and a destination to weather and we would never make it. The hull with its flat bottomed entry would pound and stop. Pare that with a low, smallish rig and there just wasn't any power available. The SS, on the other hand, loves slicing thru waves, points acceptably high and just goes. Pure joy to sail close hauled.

A Nimble is sailed upright on all points, a SS must heel considerably to lengthen waterline and gain speed. This is a huge difference for us, a relatively land-lubberish family. The first time on the SS when our lee rail went under and sent foamy water gushing around the winch we screamed of fear. Then we felt the acceleration and screamed of joy!! Later we had to go below and clean up the mess, as on Turnstone we were used to simply leaving last nights left-overs on the counter no matter the conditions.

Where Turnstone excelled was with the with wind aft of the beam. So far we don't have a lot of experience with the SS, but it seems like Turnstone sailed better and handled easier on a quarter reach. Maybe it just the low freeboard and hence the exposure to big following seas in the SS that affects my judgment at this point.

The stock rudder on a Nimble is weak, both in construction and steering. Motoring in a marina or other tight quarters is difficult. Add a little breeze and it quickly becomes an embarrassing affair. We thought it was mostly us being incompetent newbies, until we got the SS. On paper you'd think it opposite: Turnstone had the motor forward of the rudder (ideal, right?), while the SS has a keel hung rudder, and then way back on the counter stern is the motor well. But not so.

In terms of safety both boats have strong points and their own weaknesses. Turnstone supposedly had built-in positive flotation, while the security of a self-righting deep keel design can't be disputed (unless you're a die-hard Bolger aficionado!!)

I could go on, as I love both boats, and them being so fundamentally different makes for an interesting discussion.

Here's some questions and answers from a correspondance I had with another Sea Sprite owner:

1. The dog sails too?

Uhh, yes, but a very passive role indeed.

2. What stove do you use - looks like it drops into the sink?

One burner Origo alcohol stove. You're right, it drops in the sink. Fits perfectly. Sink is corroded and holed and we don't have plumbing, so it's a really neat galley set-up.

3. What size is the anchor on the bow- do you use the hawse in the deck for the anchor line or just coil it on the deck?

The anchor is a Manson Supreme (the same basic idea as a Rocna) of a mere 25 lbs. A Lewmar roller of a particular type is needed for supporting its odd shape. We have 50' of 1/4" chain - 300' of 1/2 line. In the bilge are 50' of 5/16" chain and 300' of 9/16" line, for severe conditions. All in all this translates into a cash outlay of nearly $700, but I'm big on staying put when we sleep. I used the existing hawse hole, but had to remove the nice bronze thru deck fitting and install a swiveling vinyl cowl vent to allow the rode to pass down AND keep spray/rain from going below.

4. Do you tow a dinghy, what size and is it a significant drag while sailing?

Yes we tow. It's an 8' Achilles inflatable, with a flat soft bottom. It acts as a suction cup if towed conventionally on a long line. The only way we found works is to haul it tight until the bow is out of the water a few inches from Sky Pilot's transom. Hardly any drag then I'd surmise.

Here it is:

5. What do you do about drinking water?

The tank holds 7 gallons. As our sink doesn't work I also removed the counter top pump faucet thingy. Instead we have an inline squeeze type pump directly on the hose from the tank, which is stored in the locker. In addition we carry 10 one gallon jugs in the bilge. This gives us at least a 5-6 days supply. We also have a Katadyne backpacker's water filter. Most places are too remote to have facilities, let alone plumbed water, so we often carry the empty jugs up in the woods to fill at creeks or lakes, then filter the water on the boat as needed.

6. Navigation?

Charts, compass, Sailing Directions and common sense. Identifying land forms when going into an unknown anchorage takes off course patience, a steady hand with the bino's and some general ability to translate features from chart to the real world and vice versa. Our sighting compass together with a parallel ruler is used quite often to get a fix. I don't think I would want to replace such stimulating work with electronics on a daily basis.
Bjorn's handheld GPS has, I don't think, ever been used to solve a nav issue. We do use it extensively to check our speed/direction in areas of weird and turbulent currents, and when we paddle. I also use the anchor alarm feature on windy nights.

7. Radar?

We can't sail in the dark due to the amount of huge logs and deadheads floating around up here, and fog is generally easy to avoid, so a radar would be an unnecessary clutter and expense, at least for us.

8. Fog?

In many hundred days of sailing we have never been 'caught' in fog. Around here it form in the early, dark hours of the morning and burn off by noon or later. In other words, if we wake up to fog we stay put. I would think even with radar/chart plotter we would find it too dangerous to move about in fog.

9. Battery charging and on-board electronics/radio?

The battery is one of the smaller types, fitting in the locker in the cabin sole. We have a roll-up solar panel that gets rigged at anchor on layover days. Otherwise when we stop overnight at a marina (twice this year) I take the battery to an outlet and plug in a small charger.

The battery supplies power only to the following low amp applications: depth sounder, LED cabin lights and for charging camera/GPS/handheld VHF/cell phone.

The handheld VHF is the only radio. We pretty much just use it for getting weather forecasts.

The original nav lights on Sky Pilot had corroded beyond repair, so I have a set of battery powered LED lights that snap on the pulpits when needed. The biggest advantage to this was getting those noisy wires out of the mast so we can sleep.

10. And do you encounter any severe weather in the summer season? In the next 2 hours we will feel the effects of Irene, but it has been downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm.

No hurricanes, obviously. Most severe lows are well forecasted and happens on a frequency of once a month, with winds to 35-45 knots. Excluded here are places like Johnstone Strait where afternoon westerlies of 30-35 knots are common. Freakishly scary local events do happen out of the blue, though. The few times we have been in any sort of trouble were with a forecast like 'SW 10-15kn, wind waves 1-2 feet'. But these are short lived, and mostly caused by topography or big currents opposing wind.