Sabrina and Avemar
Our relationship started many years ago
In the early 2000s, I owned Sabrina, a 1966 Alberg 30 #158. When I found her, she was a one-owner boat, and almost everything was original. I spent an entire year refurbishing her from keel to masthead and rudder to bow. Practically every piece of hardware was replaced. I rebuilt the rudder and even replaced the dreaded mast support beam, two common problems for older Alberg 30s.
I had restored her to a true Chesapeake Bay racer-cruiser, complete with a new set of North Sails and a gloss black paint job, and then I did just that… raced her hard and cruised her often.
Today, I was cleaning up files on my computer and opened Dropbox for the first time in years. I found a trove of old images, 40 rolls worth, shot with a Holga camera. I had used that plastic toy camera to document the whole sailing season.
The image above shows Sabrina (black hull) and Avemar (green stripe on the hull) rafted up together in 2003.
Is Sabrina the boat I would have cruised on in Lake Canadaigua in a boat parade? It was in 2010.
Alberg designed some lovely boats. Long out of fashion, I would still consider taking one far offshore, they were seakindly in a way modern boats and their owners could never understand.
I had a Sea Sprite 23, #110. Sadly she had been heavily neglected by the time she fell into my hands and I did not have the money or experience to fix the problem with her keel bolts.