Dear Mark,

I purchased my first Halcyon in 1972 from the factory which I sold in 1981. The second on I purchased in 2002 in Holland and I intend keeping her.

From memory all the ballast suplied by the factory is encapsulated in the keel. However there was a comissioning service available, which included adding triming ballast. This was either/or a square cast iron block glassed in under the triangular piece of wood that is the fore cabin sole, or under the engine. Therefore I believe your ballast has nothing to do with the factory. It is my belief that Halcyons are marginally faster if trimmed down at the head very slightly.

An alleged weekness of Halcyons is the suport for the mast by the deck. Useing my diabolical memory, what hapened is this. A halcyon called Mary Anne was raced on the Medway. The skipper got tired of every one he had passed going upwind, repassing him going down wind, so he had an extra large spinaker made. One day he got caught with it up with 30+ mph of wind. After reaching some extraordinary speed his boat broached. The gel coat around the mast had egg shell fracture marks.

On my first Halcyon I stiffened the bulkheads by framing them in teak and adding cross members above the doors to support the deck. These certainly took some load. My second boat some one has added some steel girders to the structure, directly transfering the load from deck to bulkhead.

Enjoy your Halcyon,

Rhys