carl alberg sailboats

Carl Alberg (1900-1986)

Alberg's career coincided with the newly developing fiberglass boat-building techniques beginning in the late 1950s, and the founding of Pearson Yachts, one of the pioneers in the field. Thousands of boats designed by Alberg were built by Pearson and others, and most are still sailing to this day. Among his most well-known designs are the Pearson and Aeromarine Triton, Bristol 27, Pearson Ariel, Commander, Ensign, Alberg 30, Alberg 35, Alberg 37 and many of the Cape Dory designs. The vast majority of his designs were built in the US where he spent most of his life. He was adamant about what he considered a good, safe design and resisted the trends toward fin keels, spade rudders and flat bottoms. His designs are typically recognizable, with long, graceful overhangs, low-slung sheerlines, narrow beam and sweeping full keels that are cutaway in the forefoot, designed to the CCA rules of the 1960s. It has been said that Alberg had but one boat design and simply scaled it up or down as needed.

Andrew Vavolitis of Cape Dory Yachts said, "I always asked Carl to design me the beamiest and shallowest boat possible. Then he'd go away, and what he came back with, was what we used. Of course, it was never as beamy, or as shallow, as we liked. He never compromised his design principles." Carl passed away on August 31, 1986 at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts. His 56 designs resulted in over 10,000 boats. This site is dedicated to Carl Alberg and the graceful, sea-kindly boats the "stubborn Swede" designed, that have brought generations of sailors so much enjoyment.

Carl Alberg's yacht plans and drawings are now owned by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA USA.

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Nominees > Technical

Deceased , Historic

1901 - 1986.

The following was excerpted from albergsailboats.org:

Carl A. Alberg was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1900. He was one of the most prolific yacht designers of the 20th century, with at least 56 designs to his name. Alberg’s career coincided with the newly developing fiberglass boat-building techniques beginning in the late 1950s, and the founding of Pearson Yachts, one of the pioneers in the field. Thousands of boats designed by Alberg were built by Pearson and others, and most are still sailing to this day. Among his most well-known designs are the Pearson and Aeromarine Triton, Bristol 27, Pearson Ariel, Commander, Ensign, Alberg 30, Alberg 35, Alberg 37 and many of the Cape Dory designs. The vast majority of his designs were built in the U.S. where he spent most of his life. He was adamant about what he considered a good, safe design and resisted the trends toward fin keels, spade rudders and flat bottoms. His designs are typically recognizable with long, graceful overhangs, low-slung sheerlines, narrow beam and sweeping full keels that are cutaway in the forefoot, designed to the CCA rules of the 1960s. It has been said that Alberg had but one boat design and simply scaled it up or down as needed. Andrew Vavolitis of Cape Dory Yachts said, “I always asked Carl to design me the beamiest and shallowest boat possible. Then he’d go away and what he came back with was what we used. Of course, it was never as beamy or as shallow as we liked. He never compromised his design principles.” Carl passed away on August 31, 1986 at his home in Marblehead Massachusetts. His 56 designs resulted in over 10,000 boats. This site is dedicated to Carl Alberg and the graceful, sea-kindly boats the “stubborn Swede” designed that have brought generations of sailors so much enjoyment. Carl Alberg’s yacht plans and drawings are now owned by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

The following was excerpted from Sailing, published in February, 1984:

Describing his design philosophy Alberg remarked, “Contrasted to the modern IOR boats where you have six gorillas sitting on the weather rail with their feet hanging outside trying to keep the boat upright, my boats are strictly family-cruising boats. In all my designs I go for comfortable accommodations and a boat you can sail upright without scaring the life out of your family or friends. I gave them a good long keel, plenty of displacement and beam, and a fair amount of sail area so they can move.”

List of Alberg Designed Sailboats

1935 Malabar Jr. (1939) 1938 Coastwise Cruiser 1946 US One-Design 1946 Hinckley 21 1955 Sea Sprite 23 (Daysailor) 1955 Sea Sprite 23 (Weekender) 1958 Pearson Triton 28 1959 Alberg Odyssey 30 1960 Pearson Electra 1961 Alberg 35 1962 Pearson Ariel 26 1962 Alberg 30 1962 Pearson Ensign 1963 Douglas 22 1963 North American 22 1965 Pearson Commander 26 1965 South Coast 21 1965 South Coast 23 1966 Bristol 27 1966 Bristol 19 (Sailstar Corinthian 19) 1966 Corinthian 19 (Sailstar) 1966 Hawk 16 (Pearson) 1967 Typhoon 18 (Weekender) 1967 Alberg 37 1968 South Coast 22 1970 Alberg 22 1970 Alberg 23 1972 Kittiwake 23 1975 Cape Dory 28 1976 Cape Dory 30 1976 Alberg 29 1976 Cape Dory 30 Ketch 1977 Typhoon 18 (Daysailer) 1977 Cape Dory 27 1978 Cape Dory 36 1978 Eclipse 6.7 (Southcoast) 1978 Northbridge Eclipse (Southcoast) 1980 Cape Dory 33 1981 Cape Dory 22 1981 Cape Dory 25D 1982 Cape Dory 45 1983 Cape Dory 31 1984 Cape Dory 40 1984 Typhoon Sr (Cape Dory) 1984 Alberg 34 1984 Cape Dory 26 1985 Cape Dory 330 1986 Cape Dory 32 1992 Robinhood 36 1996 Robinhood 40

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Carl Alberg - 1900-1986

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• Sailboat Reviews

Carl Alberg’s Timeless Designs

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.

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Well, you sure convinced me!

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.

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• Sailboat Guide

Alberg 23 is a 22 ′ 6 ″ / 6.9 m monohull sailboat designed by Carl Alberg and built by C. E. Ryder starting in 1970.

• 1 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 2 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 3 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 4 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 5 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 6 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 7 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View
• 8 / 8 Bristol, RI, US 1975 Alberg 23 $6,500 USD View

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

The SEA SPRITE 23 WEEKENDER was advertised for a period of time (by C. E. Ryder) as the ALBERG 23. See SEA SPRITE 23 WEEKENDER.

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