[Public-List] Dolor sailor on Alberg 30 made it to Hawaii, broken, rudder

[Stephen Gwyn]

Hi Gord,

Before the 1960s, offshore boats were typically gaff-rigged,
full-keeled and had a mizzen, all of which serve to
make the boat more stable. And it's stability is what
counts not balance. You can stack 10 cans on top
of each other, and they're balanced, but they're easy to
knock over. Lean the same cans against a wall and
they are stable, even if they aren't balanced.

Similarly, my experience in a gaff-rigged, full-keeled
ketch was that you could trim the rudder at just the
right angle (slightly off centre), tie off the wheel
and she would sail herself for hours. On an Alberg 30
(Bermuda rig, half-length keel, no mizzen), yes
you can balance the boat so the tiller is in the middle,
but the first 3 foot wave that comes along will knock
her off course and she will keep going off course rather
than correcting herself. In my limited experience
downwind in 6-foot waves, the tiller requires constant
attention. The boat is balanced (in as much the corrections
are just as likely to be one side or the other) but
not stable. And although I had a clear view across to Japan
at that point, I wasn't yet properly offshore.
Have a look at the Jean-du-Sud movie and
you'll see the tiller is constantly in motion. The offsets
aren't large (10-20 degrees to one side or the other)
but they are constant. That was my experience, except
I don't have self-steering. And the shifts, though small
required a fair bit of muscle.

SG