This past weekend marked the celebration of 50 years for the Alberg 30 Association. With John being an original owner of an Alberg, and the festivities happening in our own backyard this was a must participate function.
So with only a week’s notice before the event, we came together to bring Backfin not only to a safe and usable state, but also one that we will be proud to display to other owners.
In that week’s time, we cleaned her top to bottom, inside and out and even had her pulled so the bottom could be pressure washed. The engine failed to fire when the key was turned, so I completed my checklist of tune-up necessaries and I even brought an outboard fuel tank in order to supply the engine with fresh fuel instead of the dredges that remained in the onboard tank. It took the input from a pro to bring the Atomic 4 to life however, but once it did… it ran beautifully on the specialty fuel I was feeding it and new spark plugs, cap and rotor.
Finally, the sliding hatch and the aft lazarete hatch had become badly deteriorated. So in the final night of preparations I completed a new sliding hatch (the aft hatch will wait another week or two before it’s completion.
Festivities began at the National Sailing Hall of Fame at City Dock in Annapolis. When we arrived with Backfin, 20 or more Alberg 30s were already dressed in colors and rafted at the docks. Alberg enthusiasts were swapping stories and bringing to life the history of the fleet. Not long after we arrived, the rafts began breaking up and a parade of more than 30 boats toured Spa Creek and and the tight confines of ego alley.
With 3 generations of Albergers onboard, we waved at onlookers and relished in the history of the boat and its fleet.
The weekend continued on Sunday with an “Old Timers Race” which was organized to match these old race boats against each other… some for the first time in decades. The crew onboard was John, Fritz, myself and fellow Alberg owner, Bruce Breiding (Phantom 113). While we had a rough time with boat speed, we managed to pick up a few boats on the last two legs of the race.
