Sailing Ship

The rig is called a Main Topsail Schooner. This type of rig was most preferred by Privateers, Opium Runners and Slave Ships dating back to the 1830's. These small sailing ships had to be fast on all points of sail in order to survive. Alvei now sails long Trade Wind passages using the old sailing ship routes. We can set 14 sails totaling 538 sq. meters (5800 sq. ft.) There are 139 lines of running rigging totaling nearly 7 kilometers of line. We use the main engine only to assist in getting in or out of ports which we can't enter under sail. At sea we use sail only and sometimes have slow passages.