ALBERG 37 INTERNATIONAL OWNERS
ASSOCIATION

C/O Tom and Kaye Assenmacher Box 32, Kinsale, VA 22488 (804) 472-3853

http://www.alberg37.org


(remove “nospamr”)

VOL XV, NO.2 (SPRING – 2005) 10 April, 2005

6

2005 WINTER RENDEZVOUS

The Annual Alberg 37 Winter Rendezvous, held at Harrison’s Chesapeake House on Tilghman Island, MD on March 12, 2005 was a great success. The evening began with cocktails in the "Living Room" at Harrison’s followed by a great dinner in the dining room.

Members attending were: Wayne and Sherrill Bower (TEELOK); Charles and Jane Deakyne (SCRIMSHAW); Tom and Kaye Assenmacher (SHEARWATER);Bruce McFarland (AERIE); Bill and Heather Beaver (HALCYONE) and Jerry and Becky Knop (ex-SOLSKIN II). Lots of good "boat talk" and exchanges of photos took place. Photos of the event have been posted on the Alberg 37 web site.

2005 ALBERG 37 SUMMER RENDEZVOUS

The 2005 Summer Rendezvous will be held at the Port Whitby Marina in Whitby, Ontario on June 25-26, 2005. The Rendezvous will be hosted by A37IOA members Wayne and Cindy Milroy (LEEWAY II) of nearby Oshawa, Ontario. The Port Whitby Marina is adjacent to the original Whitby Boat Works facility where most of the Alberg 37s were built. There is additional info in this newsletter and on the A-37 Web Site. Begin making plans to attend!

RECENT TSUNAMI WEBSITE

Photos and narrative from a sailboat in the recent (December 2004) tsunami – check out this amazing website –

http://www.yachtaragorn.com/Thailand.htm

NEW MEMBERS
There are no new members this quarter.

EVERDEN'S TURNED NORTH

By Geoff and Bunkey Cunliffe

Friday, February 18, 2005 - It’s been a long time since I sent out an update on our travels. Truth is we've been sitting in George Town, Exumas for months and I figured you wouldn't want to hear about the endless stream of Beach Volleyball, Walks along the Beach, Happy Hours on each others' boats, Pot Luck Suppers and Bonfires, Snorkeling, and Fishing Trips, so I won't say a word about them. I won't even tell you how many lobsters I caught! What we did have though, was a lot of wind, which made for some wet rides across to town in the dinghy - see that made you feel better didn't it?

So finally we left GT on Wednesday and are now at Highbourne Cay on our way up to the Abacos via Ship Channel Cay and Royal Island. We caught a good sized Mahi-Mahi (Dorado) in Exuma Sound on Wed, and have dined very well ever since. The cat turns her nose up at dry cat food now. Today we were about 2 miles north of Normans Cay and met Lap Cat (Adrian and Wilma) on their way south. They quickly turned round and we rafted up and anchored in a perfect dead calm on the banks, had a good long chat, and finished off the fish for lunch.

Bunkey is still determined to sell the Everden when we get back, and buy a Catamaran. We're hoping to charter a Cat from either Moorings or Sail Abaco, in Marsh Harbour, to get a better feel for sailing and living aboard one. Then we'll be heading back to Florida some time in March and renting a car and checking in with all the brokers there who specialize in Multihulls. Over the past few weeks we've gone over and chatted to the people on every new Cat we saw, and of course got to tour round most of them. We even had three people who took us out sailing for the day on their boats. Trouble is, the more you see, the more confusing it all gets. We even met people on an interesting 37ft 'SeaRunner' Trimaran, then went sailing on its 34ft little sister and had happy hour on its 40ft big sister. So now the 40ft Tri is an option too! In true scientific style, I made a list of all the requirements we had for a new boat, and drew up a spreadsheet to compare all the ones we'd seen. Trouble is the answer keeps coming out wrong (disagrees with gut feel!). Maybe I should throw the computer out; I'm supposed to be retired.

We'll keep you posted on our journey north and the latest from the roller coaster decision process. Hope the rest of the Winter's not too bad for you, and look forward to seeing most of you in the Spring. Best wishes.

Geoff and Bunkey Cunliffe aboard The EVERDEN

NEWS FROM MEMBERS

Jerry and Dorothy Senecal of Edwards, NY, have recently changed the name of their 1969 sloop to DRY BEAN from her previous name ONTARIO GIRL.

Joran Gendell of Williamsburg, VA recently wrote of several projects he has done on his 1984 yawl ELIXIR (A cockpit cover; a mast collar; and improved access for a water heater installation). More extensive write-ups on these projects are available on the Alberg 37 web site at http://www.alberg37.org/Projectdb.htm.

Gord Martin recently sent the following: “This is from the Great Lakes Alberg Association newsletter. Don Campbell was replacing gate valves on A30 #528. When he turned the engine intake valve the thru hull fell apart.The thru hullfitting is not a proper marine fitting, consisting of a washer and tube, assembled by swaging. His fitting had corroded, and could have sunk the boat. My 1975 A37 sloop, MAGGY FIELDS IV, has these fittings on engine intake and head intake. While mine had not corroded, I'm not taking chances. It is 25 days til launch, and I still have lots to do.”

Tom and Kaye Assenmacher’s A-37 MK-II yawl , SHEARWATER has spent the winter at Whitby Boat & Specialty Wood Work Ltd. She was trucked up there in late November, and the work is now finished, awaiting transport back to Kinsale, VA. Alex Magnone refurbished the topsides, cabin top and deck (lots of gel coat cracks along with some water intrusion in the cabin top and decks). “Kaye and I made several trips to Whitby during the winter and early spring to check on progress - SHEARWATER now looks like a NEW BOAT! – our hats are off to Alex and his crew for their craftsmanship and attention to detail. We hope to have her back in Kinsale soon.”

Ian Dunn’s 1967 MK-I sloop, VECTIS also spent the winter at Whitby Boat receiving an extensive interior and exterior rework. Her exterior work, while not nearly as involved as that done on SHEARWATER included repainting the topsides, decks and cabin top. Ian indicated the following interior work is being performed:

·  New floor

·  New countertop

·  Replace refrigerator

·  Replace stove

·  Convert theport bunk to a pull out double. This also creates an 'L' shaped seating area.

·  Remove wood stove/heater.

·  Remove table and replace with a hinge down table, storage rack.

·  Install "Candy Store" including bar, chart drawers, SSB shelf and book racks. (in starboard pilot berth)

·  Replace various drawer fronts, etc so they match the new fixtures.

·  Add a "v" insert in the forward cabin to make it a double. (This includes splitting the door down the middle so it becomes a bifold.

“I also had the forward cabin hatch replaced and one added in the main cabin and a small one in the head. Alex put a skin on the bulkhead to cover various holes. The large gas tanks I had on deck were removed (as was most everything else from the deck) and are being replaced with smaller tanks in a seat being added behind the helm. I also moved the main sheet from behind the helm (where it was dangerous) to the cabin top and eliminated the traveller.”

Paul and Carol Dunne sent the following Email in February: "SOLAR WIND I is on the dry in Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas. Carol and I will be going down in the beginning of April to install a new Garmin 2010c GPS as the Magellan FX324 from Thales Navigation does not have electronic charts beyond Hispaniola. We have rented a cottage so will be doing little jobs on the boat and relaxing.The boat was trucked down fromOntario toSummerfield BoatWorks in Ft. Lauderdale by South Coast Marine Transport. The price was right and we didn't have to remove our bow pulpit. Telephone 519-429-0248 or 888-222-7021.We stepped the mast, installed a newZodiac 6 person Open sea life and ACR Globalfix cat.1 EPIRB among many other things. We then sailed to West End GB and onto the Out Islands as far as Elbow Cay then back to GTC. Everything worked perfectly on the boat, which is rare after a major refit. From experience this will not last much longer. The boat survived the two hurricanes well on land. It had been hurricane chocked. One of the hurricanes "Jeanne" passed directly over GTC. The eye sat over the boat for 30hrs. The wall of the eye ofHurricane Francis brushed the south end of GTC. The only damage was the loss of canvas pieces covering the hand rails, wheel pedestal andcompanionway including bridge. We may leave the boat in the Bahamas for a few years before we take it further south. This is the third boat we have taken to the Caribbean. In our previous boat we took to the Caribbean, we sailedas far as Grenada and sold it in St. Lucia.”

Lois Jacobs and Merle Galbraith sent the following email (and Photo) in early January, but too late to get into the last newsletter – They have been cruising their 1981 yawl INTERLUDE in the Caribbean for years and are currently in Trinidad:

“New Year's Day 2004 was busy, as werethe three weeks prior. Lois organized and emceed theTrinidad SSCA New Year's Day GAM as an international potluck. It was held at Power Boats Marina and attended by over 100 people from about 50 boats and 10 countries. Many volunteers helped, but special commendationwent to the 11 year old girl from Ireland who made cards with the name, country of origin, and colorful flag for each dish on the buffet!

On January 2,began the first of several frustrating experiences with insurance this year. As Merle completed a turn,a speeding maxi taxi (12 person van) smashed into the rear door and wheel of our little carand didabout $1500.00 (US) damage. Fortunately,no one was hurt, butboththe maxi and its driverwere improperly licensed, the police were disinterested, the maxi'sinsurance company continues to ignoreour claim, and the government regulatory agency is "investigating". We're not holding our breath!

In March, we helped a neighbor move his sailboat across the Gulf to Venezuela and back. The good part was buyingVenezuelangrocery treatsnot availablein Trinidad. Bad luck began when two-legged urchinsswam to the boat while we were away, searched it, and stole...notcash or cameras, but cookies and candy, includingspecial chocolate bars for which we had risked life and limb to purchase in Carupano. Carupanowas a 5 hour round trip"por puesto" (shared taxi) ride at breakneck speeds on a narrow, two lane road, without headlights for the first 30 minutesafter dusk! The really bad luck began after we departed by sea. Two hours from Trinidad, the engine stopped. Eight hours later we discovered the inexcusable: of a 400+ gallon fuel tank,2 gallonsremained. It was a sailboat, right? No problem....but it'sdesignwasn't meant to actually sail,it's sails were rotten,it's deck hardware broke in 20 knots of wind, andthe entire boatrequired electricity tooperate (radios, electronics, stove, flush toilet, winches etc), and it had NO backup solar or wind generators. The only option was to limp downwind back to Venezuela where we discovered that the port captain deemed it illegal to sell fuel to foreign flagged vessels! Three days later, a clandestine operation to procure emergency fuel was carried outin full view of the Guardia Costa. With anti-American sentimentin the Venezuelan government,weworried aboutbeing arrested, never to be heard from again! Landing in Trinidad four days later, we practically kissed the ground. The adventure became..."the Trip from H--- on the Boat from H---- with a captain to match".

In April, amajor change in the way premiums are calculated on a twenty year old American Chemical Society group life insurance policy resulted in unaffordablepremium increases of 1200%! Four state insurance commissioners reported that they regulate outrageous practices of insurance companies, but notgroup organizers. Group insurance customers beware: you may be betrayed when you least expect it.

In June, Michael, the most meticulous, conscientious, and reliable Trinidadian worker we've ever employed, broke his neck in a car accident.It gave us insight into the local health care system. He was in the public hospital for five months and continues his recovery at home. He is irreplaceable and we miss him desperately!

In July, we discovered thatMerle's newhealth insurance policy does not cover expenses incurred overseas. So, whenhe developed a growth on one eye, we weighed the cost of Plan A (doing the surgery here) vs. Plan B (flying to the States). Eventually, we opted for Plan B which, in retrospect, was a blessing in disguise as Plan A would have put us in Grenada for Hurricane IVAN....and testedour marine insurancefor the first timein 23 years! Given our poor batting average with insurance this year, we were happy to miss that test! (Hurricane IVAN destroyed 90% of Grenada's housing and damaged or sank hundreds ofcruising boats sheltered there.)