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

[Gordon Laco]

Not all of them…


Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com





> On Sep 23, 2021, at 4:24 PM, Stephen Gwyn via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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