Description  NEW ADDITION: HOTWATER NOW ABOARD!

The Challenger yawls were John Alden's answer to the Concordia yawl.  The Challengers were designed not only to outsail the Concordias, but provide a more comfortable cruising platform as well.  She is both a racer and a cruiser, with little compromise on either count. Her keel-centerboard design makes her ideal for gunk-holing and her full-keel shrugs off pots that would foul exposed props and spade rudders.

The Challengers are classically beautiful boats.  When we tie up in Northeast Harbor, which is loaded with lovely boats, people still gather to admire and comment. Aria was the ninth in the Challenger series (only 54 were made).   She was built for one of the Alden architects who had her finished out in the Morse yard in Thomaston using the best materials then available (the owner was also a part owner of the Morse yard). The yawl rig was favored for racing in the period of her construction, but the yawl is a superior rig for cruising, too.  It allows the boat to ride into the wind while rigging or reefing. It allows a variety of sail configurations not available to the sloop and provides several easy ways of reefing.

Aria was built in 1962, but has been carefully upgraded over the years.  In 2003 she received her third engine, a 40 hp Yanmar® diesel, in 2005 new genoa and mizzen, a new radar and dinghy in 2006, a new main and lazy jacks in 2011, a new transmission in 2012, a new VHF radio with AIS and foghorn in 2012, and a new mizzen and 110 volt inverter in 2014.  She sails with a complete set of charts of the Maine coast and several cruising guides.

Accommodations

In outfitting Aria we have tried to achieve a balance of comfort and simplicity. She has comfortable full size berths for six, with generous stowage for each member of the crew.  She has over six feet of headroom in the main cabin. There are two hanging lockers forward and hooks for wet gear aft.

She has four berths in the main cabin, each of which can accommodate an adult, and two berths in the v-berth, which can be converted into a spacious double-berth.  The main berths double as cabin settees.  The head has pressurized hot and cold water and a new electrically operated toilet.  Cockpit shower.

We provide dish towels, pillows, and pillowcases, but we expect our guests to bring their own towels and sleeping bags.  She also comes with books, cards, games, and cruising guides.

There is a wood/charcoal cabin heater amidships that can warm and dry the cabin on a cold and rainy day. 

Galley

Cockpit

• Edson® wheel console with binnacle and compass and drinkholder
• Fold down cockpit table
• Ample cockpit lockers for stowage of lines, fenders, cushions, lifejackets, etc
• Gas grill mounted on stern pulpit
• Cockpit shower

Electronics

• Furuno® radar
• Sitex® GPS  & chartplotter
• Standard Horizon® VHF Matrix radio w/AIS
• Standard Horizon® depth sounder
• Standard Horizon® knotmeter

Safety

• 8 Type II PFD’s
• 2 throwing horseshoe rings
• Fog horns:  electronic (from radio), gas canister & mouth
• Ships bell & flares
• 3 fire extinguishers
• 2 bilge pumps: 1 electric, 1 manual
• Wired beam gun

Anchors

• 35# CQR® w/ 300’ of rode
• 20# Delta® w/ 200’ of rode
• 50# Danforth® storm anchor