ALVA
“First impressions are of a pleasingly simple 30ft boat”
TOM BENN
coachroof complete the ‘windows’ and make for a bright interior below. Forward of the mast is the usual forepeak hatch, raised a few inches to avoid the snakes’ nest of sheets, warps and bagged sails that inevitably congregate in this area. It’s a nice touch.
The mast itself is of hollow Sitka spruce, keel stepped and triple-stayed on each side. I wonder out loud if the backstays are really necessary and Ben replies that he has not yet found out – little knowing that we’d discover for ourselves soon enough!
Around the bottom of the mast is a pinrail made up of three sides of a square, for belaying the halyard falls from the mast. The halyards are on purchases, again negating the need for winches and keeping things clean and simple. On the foredeck itself is a Simpson Lawrence Sea Tiger winch in its handsome white livery, the two headsail stays (the jib is wire-luffed and is hauled up on its own stay when it’s used) and a dumb hawse hole for the anchor chain; simpler than a roller. The bowsprit retracts on a roller-and-track arrangement
– handy, as 8ft (2.4m) bowsprits are heavy and often end up being brought inboard just once a year for the benefit of the marina manager, negating the other great virtue of a retractable bowsprit – easier manoeuvring at close quarters. It transpired that Ben and I were the only ones on Alva on this gusty day, so instead of scribbling away in a notebook, sat in my favourite position directly in front of
CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2012 33
Above: Alva shows her broad workboat transom as she runs to her spiritual home of Falmouth in much fairer weather than we had! Right: Builder Ben Harris. Below right: Close- hauled off Pendennis Point
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