Events will celebrate a classic’s half century
Issue 96 : May/Jun 2014
The Alberg 30 class is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In the early 1960s, Whitby Boat Works, Ltd., a Canadian manufacturer, commissioned Carl Alberg to design a 30-foot version of his Pearson Triton with some changes: the rig was altered to masthead and the ballast to cast iron. The first Alberg 30, Opus I, was completed in the summer of 1962 and purchased by Gerry Kedey of Toronto. He sailed her lovingly for many years. Production continued until the early ’80s and about 700 boats were delivered.
Alberg 30s became popular across the U.S. and Canada and large concentrations formed on Lake Ontario and on Chesapeake Bay, where one-design racing fleets are still very active 50 years later. These two fleets compete with each other every year, in Toronto in June and in Annapolis in September. Boats are loaned to the visiting teams and the racing is intense . . . and fun!
As well as racing, Alberg 30s are well suited to extended cruising in open water. Strongly built, they have endured difficult weather while keeping their crews safe.
Yves Gelinas of Quebec singlehanded his Alberg 30, #399, Jean-du-Sud, eastward around the world in 1981 and has now logged more than 28,000 miles. To lighten the boat for the initial voyage, he removed the inboard engine, but he now uses a small outboard.
In 2007, Kirk Little of Deal, Maryland, began a single-handed voyage around the world in Salsa, Alberg 30 #504, and recently stopped in Cartagena, Colombia, on the final leg of his circumnavigation.
In 2003, John and Kate Phillips departed from Seattle in Clan Na Mar, Alberg 30 #294, bound for Zijuatenejo, Mexico. From there, they took her to Hilo, Hawaii, in 2004. After 28 days of trade wind sailing, they praised the boat’s steady motion and the brightest stars they had ever seen.
In 1999, David and Renee Cooper left Annapolis, Maryland, in Cookin, Alberg 30 #464. They sailed to the Bahamas, then across the Atlantic to the Azores, Gibraltar, and on to Pescara, Italy. Soon after leaving the Azores, they encountered very heavy winds and waves for well over a week and finally made landfall in Portugal. They completed their trip in Pireaus, Greece, in 2002 and currently sail the Chesapeake in Cookin with their two young children. They were awarded The Cutty Sark Trophy by The Corinthians in 2001.
Anniversary events
This summer, the U.S. and Canadian fleets are involved in extensive celebrations of their 50-year history. On August 9, the Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 One-design Association, Inc., will hold a large dress parade of more than 30 Alberg 30s in Annapolis Harbor, followed by a raft-up at City Dock. Visitors will be welcomed aboard to see the boats and meet the owners. On the following day, they’ll hold an Old Timers Race in which many of the early Alberg 30 racers will skipper boats in a short race guaranteed to take them down memory lane. The club will also sponsor several commemorative cruises, visiting various ports on the Chesapeake with a 50th-anniversary logo mounted on the bow of each boat.
The Canadian fleet, the Great Lakes Alberg Association, will have special cruises as well, including the Canada Day Rendezvous at the Royal Canadadian Yacht Club, Toronto Islands, June 28 to July 2, and the Eastern Lake Ontario Rendezvous at the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, Belleville, Ontario, August 2 to 4. A formal dinner party was held at the National Yacht Club in Toronto on April 5.
Rolph Townshend is a longtime Alberg 30 racer and cruiser. He was among the first 10 Alberg 30 owners in Annapolis in 1965.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
