[Public-List] Roller Furler Luff Rope and Dacron Twisting

Thu May 24 06:49:24 PDT 2018

Hi Zach…

Some of you will recall that when I first bought SURPRISE (and changed her name from AUDAX) I was very disappointed in her performance.  I actually put her up for sale.

I didn’t like her wide tacking angle, and particularly didn’t like how tender she was.  Coming from a Folkboat, which tacked through 70 degrees and was as stiff as a house, which meant that in heavier air I could just hang on and drive the boat harder…to which she’d respond with more speed, the contrast was very disappointing.  

Well I didn’t sell her.  New sails utterly transformed her and I’m basically glad I kept her.  But still, nothing will make an Alberg 30 point like her contemporaries (let along ‘modern’ boats) and nothing will make an Alberg 30 stiff.   

We shorten sail early when the wind gets up… and racing in our mixed PHRF fleet, we don’t even both trying to point.  We find her sweet spot (yes up to 10 degrees lower than our enemies) and go for what speed we can.  That, plus luck and trying to be clever tactically, sometimes affords us honours at the finish.

But what a difference from the Folkboat, which excelled upwind, particularly in a blow.  I used to be able to rely on the fact that there was virtually nothing on the water under 30’ we couldn’t grind down and overtake upwind in a blow… well it took me several seasons to learn we can’t do that anymore…

Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com

> On May 24, 2018, at 9:25 AM, Zachary Smith <zacharysmith.us at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The original mast design was not tapered and not flexible (like the Triton 28). Production costs would've been lower because fewer headsails required (only 1).
> 
> The A30 was designed to have a small foresail which flies in almost all conditions, with sail area controlled by reefing the main. The A30 as built requires constantly adjusting foresail area. Because she's got her ballast a little higher we ALSO have to adjust mainsail reefing more frequently.
> 
> We'd have had a better boat at the same price with the original rig. And a better boat for marginally more (lead ballast).
> 
> I point this out mostly because I see the same decision-making process that handicapped our boats being used in everything from HOAs to security trading. Decision by comittee. Decision without any consideration for the future. Day-to-day the A30 mishap is happening to all of us with all kinds of stuff.
> 
> And also because I like whinging. I'm the best whinger, I spent many years perfecting it.
> 
> Zach
> 
> On Thursday, May 24, 2018, Gordon Laco via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
> I’ve often thought about that mast issue.  If the A30 had retained the fractional rig of it’s Folkboat ancestor, we’d have a tapered flexible stick to hang our sails from… and had a more weatherly yacht with much more control over mainsail power.  The mast step would have been a bit forward, to keep balance between the smaller headsail and Folkboat style main… and wow, that would have put the heel of the mast squarely over the forward bulkhead instead of a bit aft of it.   Hmmm.
> 
> But a tapered aluminium spar is much more expensive than the uniformly dimensioned ‘totem pole’ sticks we have… and then there’s marketing.  The Alberg 30 was commissioned to be the next boat for the then thriving Canadian Folkboat Association, much of whose racing was in western Lake Ontario, with starts and finishes in Humber Bay west of the Toronto Islands.  This bay is universally known as ‘Slumber Bay’ here because of it’s notorious light air particularly in late summer.  Whitby Boatworks marketed the Alberg 30 as having a ‘modern’ masthead rig in order to boost performance in light airs.  They were already building a Great Lakes adaptation of the Folkboat which had the same stepped cabin our boats do, as well as a masthead rig.
> 
> But underneath all this is the fact that our boats were not intended to be handicap rating racers… so performance inhibiting things like the rig/mast change, and the ballast switch from lead to iron really didn’t matter at all in a One-Design class.  So long as all the boats laboured under the same specification, all was well.
> 
> But that still makes me often think about what might have been.  There is a type call the Abbott 33 which has exactly the rig we would have had… and I’ve often daydreamed about putting one of those rigs on my A30.  
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_33 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_33> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_33 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_33>>
> 
> http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=938 <http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=938> <http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=938 <http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=938>>
> 
> Of course she wouldn’t be an Alberg 30 any more, and the cost would be equal to buying several Alberg 30’s AND having a holiday in Tahiti, but it’s fun to think about.
> 
> Gordon Laco
> www.gordonlaco.com <http://www.gordonlaco.com/>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 24, 2018, at 8:35 AM, Zachary Smith via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
> > 
> > Anyone else find it ironic that furlers are now popular, almost like the
> > boat would've been better suited to how people actually use boats if it had
> > been built with the fractional rig Alberg designed the 30 for?
> > 
> > The iron ballast I can understand as a matter of economy, but the last
> > second rig switch blows my mind.
> > 
> > And here we sit...
> > 
> > Zach
> > 
> > On Thursday, May 24, 2018, Michael via Public-List <
> > public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
> > 
> >> You are making me feel old. All my sails are built using 3 strand.
> >> So, somewhat related, wouldn't hi tech, aramid fibers be inappropriate
> >> particularly for head sail luffs? I'm a hank on fan so I don't know about
> >> roller furler adjusting, but some stretch here allows moving the draft
> >> around?
> >> 
> >> Michael G
> >> #220
> >> 
> >>> 
> >> 
> >>> But seriously, it sounds to me as if there was something up with the luff
> >>> rope. How old is the sail? Do you know the material of the last line? Is
> >>> it
> >>> three strand or some sort of braided line? It sounds as if it is 3 strand
> >>> -
> >>> which might make it an older sail as I cannot believe they still use three
> >>> strands in a luff line of a jib.
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >> 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> 
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