[Alberg30] terms

[George Dinwiddie]

Dan,

Stiffening means that an Alberg 30 will have more resistance to
further heeling, but given enough force you can roll any boat.
I've personally been on an A30 with the spreaders just off the
water--I was almost knee-deep standing on the rail and the coamings
were under water--but this was a result from flying a spinnaker
in 18-20 knots and being hit with a gust that was probably over
25.  I was amazed at how gently and gracefully she lay down in
the water.

It's my experience that it's not hard to put the rail to the
water in the A30, but it's not hard to keep it out, either.
I like to sail with about 8 inches of topside showing on the
lee side.  Maintaining this requires balance.

Consider that the A30 has a fairly large main relative to the
foretriangle.  That's why they have genoas that are such a 
large percentage of the fortriangle, 170% is typical.  This
is part of the reason that I'll tend to reef the main before
reducing the genoa.  When sailing double-handed, I'll often
sail with the #2, anyway, just because I know who'll be handling
the sheets and I get tired.  But, when the wind pipes up, reef,
especially if you're not racing.  You should be able to achieve
a good balance--minimal weather helm--and this will help the 
boat behave.

Also consider the shape of your main.  When we bought Calypso,
she came with the original main which was in pretty good condition,
but had been stretched and had a fuller shape.  In light air,
this sail was a dream, but in heavy air it was impossible to
depower the main by flattening it.  You just couldn't pull the
shape out of the sail.  The excess power generated by the main
was putting the rail in the water all the time, causing my wife
to buy a clinometer for the boat.

I learned to compensate somewhat by carrying a large "bubble"
in the luff of the main.  The A30 will still sail quite well
with the first third of the main luffing.  This helps reduce
the power and the heeling.  It's not an ideal situation, but
it helps.

When we got a new main, however, I was *amazed* at how much
better the boat behaved and how much easier it was to sail.
Quite simply, that 20-year-old main was blown out.  The new
sail has a "shelf foot" that allows you to get that same 
full shape by relaxing the outhaul, but you can also flatten
the main by pulling the outhaul tight.  This is often 
considered a racing feature, but I find it to be the best
mainsail control after the sheet.  When the wind picks up,
I flatten the sail.  This not only reduces the power and 
consequent heeling, but it seems to widen the "groove" where
the boat feels happy.

 - George

> Daniel Walker said:
> 
> gerorge, mike, gord and others who have discussed this in the past.
> now that i have finally had some "sea trials" with rascal, i have a couple
> of questions. in prior posts there was a discussion about the sailing
> characteristics of the a 30's. if memory serves, they are tender at first
> and then stiffen up. i assume tender at fisrst means she will heel to a
> certain point, and stiffen means she will not go any further. is that
> correct?
> 
> 
> on our first excursion racal went rail to the water very quickly, in much
> lighter air than i expected(to now my sailing has been on island packets.
> endeavours, and one race with russ pfeiffer on his a30)
> is this the norm, or am i doing something wrong. the wind was ever changing
> direction, and i was only using the main at first.
> comments welcome
> thanks
> dan

-- 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  George Dinwiddie                             gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
  The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span those hours spent in
  sailing.                                    http://www.Alberg30.org/
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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