Carl Alberg’s Timeless Designs

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Wed tucked into Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera, when the pretty green sloop sailed through the narrow slot into the basin. A ballsy kid, he didnt even furl the jib.

I can’t recall his name. He was in his 20s-handy with tools and a brush. The boats coamings gleamed with nine layers of varnish. The boat, I remember well. It was the first time I got a really close look at an Alberg 30. She was, in many ways, the sort of sailboat an elementary school artist might render, if you asked him to draw a sailboat. Deceptively simple. Elegant and well-balanced.

I got the feeling that the designer, the late Carl Alberg, approached this boat the same way the child with a box of crayons would-not too concerned with what was going on inside-how many bunks, how big the galley was, or the amount of storage space. (The kid in the Alberg 30 found more than enough room for his worldly possessions.)

Born in 1900 in Sweden, Alberg grew up in the shadow of the shipyard cranes of Goteburg, Sweden. His first and foremost concern, like that of most Scandinavian designers, was seaworthiness. (The North Sea winters can have that effect.)

While Alberg was surely influenced by the ratings rules of his era, which encouraged yawls and long overhangs, he held a deep conviction that the heavily ballasted, narrow hull offer seakeeping advantages that wider hulls lack. Even Albergs later yachts built for Cape Dory, designed in the 1970s when beam-to-length ratios were still fairly modest, demonstrated an aversion to girth at the waterline.

In his exceptional book on the history of fiberglass boat building, Heart of Glass, former PS Editor Dan Spurr describes Cape Dorys Andrew Vavolitis trying to squeeze more beam out of Alberg to meet the market demands for floating condos. He might give me an inch or two, but that was it, said Vavolotis. After that, Carl would say, If you want more beam, go find another designer. I don’t think thats right.

To loudly proclaim that a wider beam is superior for its initial stability is to simplify yacht design. As any keelboat racer will tell you, a wide flotation plane can backfire when wave and wind conspire to force a capsize. And such statements say nothing about the effect of a wider beam on the way a boat handles.

In our February 2009 issue, we took a hard look at the effect of the modern hull-design trends and helm balance. The article focuses on wide-bodied, fin keel designs and their tendency to round up (even self-tack!) in a gust. While the long-keel Alberg 35 profiled in this issue has its own performance quirks, a tendency to self-tack is not one that its owners have to worry about.

The bottom line in any yacht design is a good sense of proportion. Alberg clearly had a keen eye for this, and the fact that his boats still draw sighs 50 years after their debut shows that his aesthetic sense has endured.

A few days later, the kid steered the green sloop out of Hatchett Bay the way hed come in. Headed south, hed said before leaving. I watched him go with envy. The boat cost him all of $10,000. A hell of deal. I imagine hes still got it today. The kid struck me as the intelligent sort.

Darrell Nicholson
Practical Sailor has been independently testing and reporting on sailboats and sailing gear for more than 50 years. Supported entirely by subscribers, Practical Sailor accepts no advertising. Its independent tests are carried out by experienced sailors and marine industry professionals dedicated to providing objective evaluation and reporting about boats, gear, and the skills required to cross oceans. Practical Sailor is edited by Darrell Nicholson, a long-time liveaboard sailor and trans-Pacific cruiser who has been director of Belvoir Media Group's marine division since 2005. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master license, has logged tens of thousands of miles in three oceans, and has skippered everything from pilot boats to day charter cats. His weekly blog Inside Practical Sailor offers an inside look at current research and gear tests at Practical Sailor, while his award-winning column,"Rhumb Lines," tracks boating trends and reflects upon the sailing life. He sails a Sparkman & Stephens-designed Yankee 30 out of St. Petersburg, Florida. You can reach him by email at practicalsailor@belvoir.com.

2 COMMENTS

  1. CD yachts were surprisingly fast and comfortable. I owned three: a Typhoon, which I bought off the factory floor (being offered at massive discount because of minor gelcoat imperfections) in the 70s, followed by a 25 (not an Alberg, but still a great sailor and easy-to-handle), and a 27, which I lived aboard and cruised year-round for 4+ years.

    I singlehanded most of the time, and they are quite easy to handle under sail. Plus, and a major plus for me, the boats I owned handled well under mainsail alone. I consider this of vital importance, in particular for the single-hander. I do not want to be fooling with a working jib going into an anchorage or mooring field under sail (I anchored under sail 99% of the time).

    Never added furling gear and kept them drop-dead simple above and below deck. I was the only liveaboard in the marina who get get underway in twenty minutes or less. Others were either too big or too complex or had too much junk aboard. I like to keep it simple, ashore or afloat.

    If you are in the market for a used CD, make sure to inspect the balsa cored decks and backing plates (CD used common steel here) on the chainplates, for issues. Overall, excellent boats and great coastal cruisers.