sea sprite sailboat

• New Sailboats
• Sailboats 21-30ft
• Sailboats 31-35ft
• Sailboats 36-40ft
• Sailboats Over 40ft
• Sailboats Under 21feet
• used_sailboats
• Apps and Computer Programs
• Communications
• Fishfinders
• Handheld Electronics
• Plotters MFDS Rradar
• Wind, Speed & Depth Instruments
• Anchoring Mooring
• Running Rigging
• Sails Canvas
• Standing Rigging
• Diesel Engines
• Off Grid Energy
• Cleaning Waxing
• DIY Projects
• Repair, Tools & Materials
• Spare Parts
• Tools & Gadgets
• Cabin Comfort
• Ventilation
• Footwear Apparel
• Foul Weather Gear
• Mailport & PS Advisor
• Inside Practical Sailor Blog
• Activate My Web Access
• Reset Password
• Customer Service

• Free Newsletter

Ericson 41 Used Boat Review

Mason 33 Used Boat Review

Beneteau 311, Catalina 310 and Hunter 326 Used Boat Comparison

Maine Cat 41 Used Boat Review

Tips From A First “Sail” on the ICW

Tillerpilot Tips and Safety Cautions

Best Crimpers and Strippers for Fixing Marine Electrical Connectors

Thinking Through a Solar Power Installation

Getting the Most Out of Older Sails

How (Not) to Tie Your Boat to a Dock

Stopping Mainsheet Twist

Working with High-Tech Ropes

Fuel Lift Pump: Easy DIY Diesel Fuel System Diagnostic and Repair

Ensuring Safe Shorepower

Sinking? Check Your Stuffing Box

The Rain Catcher’s Guide

Boat Repairs for the Technically Illiterate

Boat Maintenance for the Technically Illiterate: Part 1

Whats the Best Way to Restore Clear Plastic Windows?

Mastering Precision Drilling: How to Use Drill Guides

Giving Bugs the Big Goodbye

Galley Gadgets for the Cruising Sailor

Those Extras you Don’t Need But Love to Have

UV Clothing: Is It Worth the Hype?

Preparing Yourself for Solo Sailing

How to Select Crew for a Passage or Delivery

Preparing A Boat to Sail Solo

On Watch: This 60-Year-Old Hinckley Pilot 35 is Also a Working…

On Watch: America’s Cup

On Watch: All Eyes on Europe Sail Racing

Dear Readers

Chafe Protection for Dock Lines

• Sailboat Reviews

One of the oldest fiberglass boats, this traditional overnighter is long on looks, short on space.

The Sea Sprite 23 is a trim but rugged daysailer-overnighter from naval architect Carl A. Alberg that enjoyed a 25-year production run under several different Rhode Island builders, most notably Clarke Ryder. It’s a typical Alberg design—narrow beam, full keel and conservative ballast-to-displacement ratio and graceful lines. This is a boat that still turns heads when it sails into a harbor.

The origins of the Sea Sprite 23 go back to 1958 when the small American Boat Building company of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, wanted to expand its product line, consisting at the time of the Block Island 40. Carl Alberg, then in the U.S. Coast Guard, came up with a 22 1/2-foot, full-keel design. (We’re not sure what Alberg’s duties were in the Coast Guard, but they apparently left plenty of free time; besides the Sea Sprite, Alberg also drew the Pearson Triton and Bristol 27 while in the service.) The Sprite, incidentally, was first marketed as a 22; a later builder accentuated the positive and it became the 23.

American Boat Building employee Tom Potter Remembers being asked to test sail the new design. “We were terribly impressed by the boat, the way it performed.” It was, Potter said, typical of most of the boats Alberg would design over the years—”sensible boats you could take to sea.”

When American Boat Building dissolved during the early 1960s, production of the Sea Sprite was taken over by the nearby Wickford Shipyard, which built it for several years, after which the molds passed briefly to Sailstar, another small Rhode Island company, then to Clint Pearson, who was starting up his own Bristol Boat Company across Narragansett Bay.

Earlier, cousins Clint and Everett Pearson had obtained the rights to the Triton, which American Boat Building for some reason had not wanted. But when Bristol employee Paul Coble designed the Corsair 24, the rights to the Sea Sprite were sold to another Bristol builder, Clarke E. Ryder. This was about 1974, and Ryder continued to build the 23 until 1985 when his company folded.

Ryder built new molds for the boat, encapsulating the heretofore external lead keel and creating a self-bailing cockpit. Except for a few other minor changes and the introduction of hull colors besides white—bright red, blue and green—the Sea Sprite 23 built by Ryder (he began with hull #525) was fundamentally the same as the first off the line at American Boat Building. All told, the model reached a run of nearly 800 before Ryder closed the doors on this highly successful boat.

Like most of Alberg’s boats, the 23 is relatively narrow of beam (7′ 0″) and heavily ballasted—43 percent of its weight is in the full keel. Freeboard and superstructure are low, which makes for pleasing lines but less than spacious accommodations below. In short, this is a boat designed for sailing and not lounging around belowdecks.

With a waterline length of just 16′ 3″, the boat rated well (16.6) under the old Cruising Club of America (CCA) rules. It is intended to heel 30 degrees or so when underway (some regard this as initial tenderness), adding waterline length and increasing hull speed. The heeling angle plus the low freeboard—the rail gets close to the water—can bring an occasional dousing for the crew in a chop. But the boat is inherently stable, and the gentle sheer and distinctive overhangs add to its seagoing profile. The 23 draws only three feet, virtually shoal draft and less than many smaller boats.

Under the more modern PHRF rating system, which is a performance-based handicap system rather than a measurement rule, the Sprite has an average rating of about 270 seconds per mile—hardly a rule-beater, but reasonably fast for a full-keeled 23-footer. (One owner crowed about beating those “tubby” Cape Dorys—in all likelihood a competing Alberg design.)

The Sprite carries a modest 247 square feet of sail under main and working jib. (The newer O’Day 23, by contrast, is lighter by almost 300 pounds and has 246 square feet.) Early in its career, the Sea Sprite also came in a daysailer model, with an eight-foot cockpit instead of the standard six, and with two berths below instead of four, and no galley or icebox. Apparently few were made, which is understandable because the standard model has ample cockpit space and little enough room below.

Construction

The hull, deck and cabinhouse of the Ryder-built boats are solid, hand-laid fiberglass for a tight, sound body. One owner called the boat “overbuilt.” The hull/deck joint is a typical inward flange sealed with 3M 5200 and fastened with machine screws.

Most fiberglass boats older than 10 to 15 years show deterioration of the gelcoat and require painting. This will be true of many used Sea Sprites, too. None of the owners who responded to our survey reported gelcoat blistering, however. Some of the earlier models seemed to experience slight leaks around the mast step or chainplates; several of the Ryder boats apparently had leaking from the pulpit stanchions. Otherwise, the interiors are reported to be dry. Overall, the Sea Sprites seem to be structurally sound with no major repairs called for and few, if any, cosmetic problems. A 1983 model we sailed looked almost new.

The Sea Sprite was built as a top-of-the-line “sailing yacht,” as company literature described it. The quality shows in the non-skid surfaces on the deck and deckhouse, the standard bronze hardware, including opening portlights, and in the generous use of wood—mahogany coamings and backrest and teak grabrails above, and lots of teak trim below. Ryder introduced a full interior liner (previous models were painted fiberglass), and the judicious use of holly and teak helps offset the shiny white surfaces. We don’t know whether the Sea Sprite’s teak cockpit grids were standard on all models, but they are a nice touch.

The boats, at least the Ryder version, carry a 30- foot fractionally rigged mast by Hall Spars. The mast is deck-stepped and halyards are led internally. The small deckhouse makes for a roomy foredeck, which is reached via comfortably wide walkways.

Performance

Several of our readers say the Sea Sprite exhibits fairly sluggish light-air performance, which is a common complaint among smaller full-keel boats. Others have found that raising a 130- or 150-percent genoa in winds under 10 knots makes a definite improvement.

Performance improves noticeably as the wind pipes up and the boat digs in. Although the rail is near the water, the boat, once in its sailing mode, seems very stable and the steering nicely balanced with just a hint of weather helm. The low freeboard enhances the feeling of being on the water which, for a small-boat enthusiast at least, is worth the occasional spray in a head sea. And while the keel-hung rudder doesn’t respond as rapidly as a spade would, the 23 tacks smartly enough. One owner, who now sails a J/Boat, remembered his Sea Sprite’s tacking ability as “not unreasonably slow.”

This is a small boat that handles well when the going gets rough and goes readily offshore—no worries about early reefing here. One owner we know said he “never thought twice” about sailing his Sea Sprite to Block Island or Cuttyhunk. In fact, Ryder used to tout a transatlantic trip—60 days from Wickford, Rhode Island to Falmouth, England—made in 1974 by a 21-year-old singlehander as evidence of the boat’s ocean-going qualities. (The only damage—to the skipper—occurred when he tripped on the dock in England and broke his ankle.)

Moving under power, however, is another matter. A 4-hp outboard, which is located in a well aft of the tiller, will get the boat to hull speed; anything smaller is a strain, more than 6 hp and you may experience control problems. The outboard well is the usual nuisance and several readers surveyed either had banished the motor below or would like to. The best that can be said for the well is that it preserves the lines of the boat. Outboard performance is inversely proportionate to wind and waves. Having once fought a losing battle against gusting winds, tide and current, with ground speed reduced to about zero, we can attest to the Sea Sprite’s poor performance under power in these conditions. If only the channel had been wide enough to hoist the sails….

Ryder for a time offered an optional Yanmar Model 1 GM diesel. This would no doubt eliminate many of the headaches associated with the outboard motor and well, but the weight and expense of an inboard seems difficult to justify. None of the readers responding to our questionnaire own inboard models.

Down below, the cabin is light and reasonably airy with two opening ports and a smoked hatch. Despite some complaints about the lack of room (even Clarke Ryder says the interior is best suited for stowing stuff) we found there was satisfactory sitting headroom if you are under six feet. The 6′ 0″ V-berths are too short and have minimal clearance; the 6′ 3″ settee berths in the main cabin disappear quickly under the cockpit seats. This is an interior that is definitely not for the claustrophobic, but at least you won’t need lee cloths. The marine head (many owners have replaced it with a portable head) is located in a wedge at the foot of the V-berths where its virtual inaccessibility makes the privacy issue moot. To be fair, this is typical of the arrangements on most boats of this size.

To starboard, between the forward and main berths, is the “galley,” consisting of a sink and some stowage. To port, there’s an insulated icebox and more dry storage. The sink, fed by a 10-gallon fiberglass water tank under the starboard berth, drains via a through-hull. The icebox drains into the bilge. There’s more stowage, under bunks and here and there, but it’s basically covered openings to the bilge. On deck, there’s good storage space in a port locker and a fuel locker to starboard that’s sized for a three-gallon tank.

Conclusions

The Sea Sprite 23 isn’t for everyone. A lack of space and accommodations relegates it to the daysailer/occasional overnighter category. Although it lacks cruising luxuries, it is an exceptional daysailer—seaworthy and strongly built, and with a sailing range that belies its small size. Its stability and ease of handling make it a good choice for the older sailor who doesn’t need a big boat anymore, or for a small family primarily interested in day sailing.

We saw several Sea Sprites listed for sale this past fall (1991) in the $6,500 range—a good price for a well-built boat that’s going to be around for a while. Older Sprites originally sold for $5,000 (minus sails) with the later Ryder models going for about $11,000.

The Sprites can be said to have held their value well while still representing a bargain relative to what you get. As Clarke Ryder says, “They sail like a charm and they’re pretty. People who have them love them.”

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Log in to leave a comment

Latest Videos

What’s the Best Sailboats for Beginners?

Why Does A Sailboat Keel Fall Off?

The Perfect Family Sailboat! Hunter 27-2 – Boat Review

Pettit EZ-Poxy – How to Paint a Boat

Latest sailboat review.

• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell My Personal Information
• Online Account Activation
• Privacy Manager

Sea Sprite 23 Weekender $17750

Sea-Sprite 23-Weekender For Sale

(Newly Listed.)

Year: 1981 Price: $17750

Make: Sea-Sprite Model: 23-Weekender

LOA: 22.5 Beam: 7

LWL: 16.3 Draft: 3.1

Ballast: 1400 Lbs Displacement: 3350 Lbs

Rig and Sails:

This boat is a Sloop with a Fractional Rig, and 247 sq. feet of sail area. She has 4 Sails, Including Main Sail, Genoa, Jib.

She has a Full-keel. The Hull is Professionally Awlgrip, and is in Recently Restored condition.

1 Tohatsu Gas (Outboard) Engine, 6 horse power with Low Hours.

Mainsail with 2 reefs. (New 2011), Doyle Stack Pack (New 2012), 165% genoa in very good condition, 135% Doyle genoa (New 2014), Profurl head sail furling in excellent condition, Lewmar 16 self tailing winches (4), two Lewmar winch handles (New 2013), Outboard Tohatsu 6hp Sail Pro 25” shaft with alternator, Three gallon fuel tank (New 2012) Mounted in lazarette, Standard Horizon-Explorer Series GX1700 VHF black (New 2014), Depth Gauge Raymarine ST 160 (New 2012), Raymarine Wind Speed System T112 and T120 Solar powered (New 2014), Plastimo Compass on cockpit bulkhead, Focsle cushions w/ 5” foam, blue and in excellent condition, blue Sunbrella Quarter berth cushions with foam (New 2013), Halogen reading lamp in focsle, Head with holding tank, macerator pump, Jabsco manual toilet (New 2013), Cockpit cushions, Bottom Siders (New 2013), Origo alcohol stove Model 1500 singleburner Never used, Jib and main sheets (New 2013) All halyards recently replaced, Battery, Galley with sink, large icebox with drain, Two fresh water tanks Total 23 gallons, Hull Awl griped green 2010, Bottom painted 2014, Bruce anchor with tubular stanchion mount on the bowsprit 15 ft. chain and 150 ft. ½” anchor rode, All US Coast Guard required safety items including life preservers, flares, Docking lines and three fenders, Bowsprit with lifelines, new weatherboards,Bronze opening portals, opening hatch in very good condition, Winter Cover.

Now is your chance to be a part of Yachting history with the Sea Sprite 23 Weekender that has all the bells and whistles you've been looking for. That's because from stem to stern she has been upgraded to the max with the latest sailing gear and equipment. You will feel in total comfort aboard a real sea-going vessel, because this 22.5 foot Alberg designed sloop, final year of construction, is the quintessential compact passage-maker in under 23 feet. This Sea Sprite has been meticulously cared for and maintained to near perfect condition with her coastal cruising roots kept in mind. Her nearly new Awlgripped hull, along with four self-tailing winches, New Doyle Stack-pack, roller furling and countless other cruising essentials, will have you sailing to any destination. There is nowhere you can't go. Below deck you will feel in comfort and luxury. Her generous owner has accommodated her with brand new cushions and canvas. An Origo alcohol stove is at you disposal to prepare meals at sea, and a full head and holding means her crew will relax and enjoy being aboard for any extended period of time. Glistening teak bright-work adourns her on deck, the envy of cruisers all around as she sits at the mooring catching their eye. Her sail inventory is vast, and recently acquired. It includes a brand new 135 Genoa, 165 and a double reefed Doyle mainsail with a single season. Halyards and sheets are also recent acquisitions that add to the reliability factor that comes with owning a completely reliable and restored classic sailboat. The works are at your fingertips on this compact yacht. Her numerous upgrades and annual maintenance have made her the finest Sea sprite 23, as well as a rival for any well equipped yacht on the Long Island Sound. If you are looking for the finest cruising sailboat on the Sound, then look no further for this Sea Sprite 23 Weekender is the right choice for you. She sits on the hard in City Island, ready to make your cruising dreams reality.

Contact Fred for arrangements and info: 347 927 3350

Or email for more details: [email protected]

Photo Gallery: Sea-Sprite 23-Weekender

Boats For Sale

Freedom 30 $14,500, swedish sloop $25,000, express cruising albin 27 will thrill you, why buy a nonsuch 33 sailboat, what makes pearson 10m so fast and strong, why sail essential o'day 28 cruiser, yankee dolphin 24 $7500, a tall-rig catalina capri 22 can be yours, you can sport-fish party or live aboard carver 42, go exploring aboard a catalina 22 compact sailboat, well cared for cape dory 27 can keep you sailing, consider purchase of kalik 33 contention racer cruiser, a steady going albin 27 is a perfect family cruiser.

Great choice! Your favorites are temporarily saved for this session. Sign in to save them permanently, access them on any device, and receive relevant alerts.

• Sailboat Guide

Sea Sprite 23 (Daysailor)

Sea Sprite 23 (Daysailor) is a 22 ′ 6 ″ / 6.9 m monohull sailboat designed by Carl Alberg and built by Sailstar Boat Co., Beetle Boat Co.(USA), and C. E. Ryder between 1958 and 1986.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Sailstar Boats was the predecessor to Bristol Yachts. There are two basic versions of SEA SPRITE 23, the DAYSAILOR and the WEEKENDER. The DAYSAILOR cockpit is not self-bailing, the seats are wood, there are doors to the cabin, the mast is stepped on the cabin top, there is a traveler, the rudder post comes through the aft deck, and there is only one set of lower shrouds. The WEEKENDER has a self-bailing cockpit, the seats are molded in fiberglass, there is a companionway and stairs down into the cabin, the mast is stepped forward of the cabin, there is no traveler, the rudder post comes through the cockpit floor and there are two sets of lower shrouds.

Embed this page on your own website by copying and pasting this code.

Discover Related Sailboats

Sea Sprite 23 (Weekender)

• About Sailboat Guide

©2024 Sea Time Tech, LLC

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

SEA SPRITE ASSOCIATION

For sea sprite sailboat lovers everywhere.

Carl Alberg (1900-1986) Carl A. Alberg was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1900 and is the designer of the Sea Sprite 23.

“The harbor was always filled with ships and boats of all kinds and when we weren’t sailing there, the family usually vacationed on an island off the coast where my father, brother and I used to race each other in small sailboats.” He took two years of sailboat design courses at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In 1925, he moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, USA and worked as a rigger for General Dynamics in Quincy. He moved on to become a spar-maker at the Lawless boatyard in Neponsett. There, he met John Alden who hired him as a designer.

“I enjoyed working with Alden very much. He was a wonderful guy, pleasant, calm, never getting excited, and I learned quite a bit from working with him. His designs were conservative. He concentrated on seaworthiness, comfort and boats that would sail on their bottoms, and that’s pretty much what I’ve tried to do with my boats.” During World War Two, he interrupted his tenure at Alden to work for the Navy at the Charleston Naval Shipyard. After his return, he designed the U.S. One-Design. In 1946, he left Alden for good, starting his own firm. Another short period at the Charleston Shipyard during the Korean War led to a 10-year position with the Coast Guard as chief marine engineer/architect.

Toward the end of that period he met the Pearson cousins, who were kids just hanging around the boats. He asked them about building one of his designs in fiberglass, and, in 1959, both the Triton (28 feet, 675 built) and Pearson Yachts were born.

In 1961, a small group of Toronto sailors approached Kurt Hansen, then of Continental Yacht Sales, with an idea of a 30-foot fiberglass boat for class racing. Mr. Hansen contacted Carl Alberg late in that year.

The design was based on Carl’s design, the “Odyssey,” of which fifteen had been built in San Francisco in 1959. Intended for the heavy weather of the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the Odyssey had a heavy displacement and a 7/8ths rig. The original Alberg-30 drawings followed this design with 2000 pounds less displacement and 3 inches less draft. By mid-1962, the plans were complete and construction commenced.

Whitby Boat Works came into being. Kurt Hansen changed the ballast from the designed lead to cast iron to hold down the production costs. In some of the early boats, the weight was insufficient and internal ballast had to be fixed in the bilge. Then, after the molds had been made, the syndicate of sailors who had ordered the boats decided they wanted a masthead rig. It was too late to move the mast step aft the 24 inches that was required, so, instead, the mast was shortened and the jib stay was raised. Carl Alberg wasn’t pleased with the decision, but later admitted, “It seems to have worked out ok.”

After several other designs, including the Ensign (22 feet, 1600 built) were launched, he retired from the Coast Guard in 1963. About this time, Andrew Vavolotis asked him to design a 28-footer for Cape Dory. He’d already picked up the mold for the Typhoon from a bankrupt boatbuilder. This began a long association and a period when Carl Alberg designed at least one boat a year. In all, Carl designed 10 boats for Cape Dory, ranging from 19 to 45 feet. Vavolitis says,

“I always asked Carl to design me the beamiest and shallowest boat possible. Then he’d go away and what he came back with was what we used. Of course, it was never as beamy or as shallow as we liked. He never compromised his design principles.” Carl’s own assessment agrees:

“Contrasted to the modern IOR boats where you have six gorillas sitting on the weather rail with their feet hanging outside trying to keep the boat upright, my boats are strictly family-cruising boats. In all my designs I go for comfortable accommodations and a boat you can sail upright without scaring the life out of your family or friends. I gave them a good long keel, plenty of displacement and beam, and a fair amount of sail area so they can move.” In 1979, while those modern boats were capsizing and sinking, an Alberg 25 on it’s way to England comfortably lay a-hull.

“It was really blowing and though they shortened sails and did everything else they could in order to keep going, they eventually took everything off, went below, battened down the hatches and just ate, drank and played cards. When it had blown over they hoisted sail and continued to England, where they were told they had just sailed through the same gale that had taken 16 lives in the Fastnet race. They had ridden out the storm by just sitting in the cabin while everyone else was capsizing.” “There are still some designers around who share my ideas about glass boat design. Everyone else is trying to conform to the new rules. My boats are more designed to follow the waves and stay relatively dry and stable.” Carl passed away on August 31, 1986 at his home in Marblehead Massachusetts. His 56 designs resulted in over 10,000 boats.

Bibliography: The Early Years, Bruce Beckner, 1984. (The Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 One-Design Association, Inc.)

“Carl Alberg – His wholesome designs sailed us into the age of fiberglass”, Sailing, Brian Hill, February 1984 issue, page 29. (Port Publications, Inc., 125 E. Main St., Port Washington, WI 53074; 414-284-3494; FAX:414-284-7764)

Editorial, Cruising World, Dan Spurr, November 1986. This information is from the Alberg 30 web site.

Alfred “Bill” Luders (1909-1999) Alfred “Bill” Luders was born 1909 and designed every Sea Sprite except the 23′.

Mr. Luders was a world class skipper in the 1930’s in the six meter racing class. Among the many famous yachts Mr. Luders designed was the sloop American Eagle, built for the America’s Cup competition. It was later owned by Ted Turner, the media tycoon.

Mr. Luders’ father founded Luders Marine Construction which produced more than 100 vessels for the United States during WWII. The company built minesweepers, patrol craft and submarine chasers.

After his father’s death, Mr. Luders continued to run the shipyard, building the America’s Cup boat Weatherly in 1958 to the design of Philip Rhodes. Weatherly was not a successful campaigner in that series, but after a redesign by Mr. Luders, she successfully defended the cup in 1964 with Bus Mossbacker at the helm.

Mr. Luders designed , and his shipyard built, many others yachts for owners such as King Olaf V of Norway, actor Yul Brenner, Nelson Rockefeller and the Pulitzer family.

The company closed in 1968 after changing technology and Fiberglass construction did not appeal to Mr. Luders. The last racing yachts designed and built by him were the 5.5 meter sloops, a class used in Olympic and international competition.

The Sea Sprite 34 was Bill Luders last design. He died January 3, 1999.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.