New Owner Albin 28 TE

[Ben423]

Hello everyone,

After a long search, we have purchased a 2005 Albin 28TE flush deck. We're longtime sailboaters, but total beginners at powerboating.
Finding this forum, with all the combined knowledge that you all have shared here made the A28 an easy choice for us. We're looking forward to learning much more about the boat from all of you.

Leif & Lisa Beiley
A28 #795

[Mark Deeser]

Would like to welome you guys to the form, many knowledgeable owners on the form, sorry I am not one, we have the little sister the 27 FC. I have found though if you ask good questions you will get good answers. Happy hunting.. Also much archival information.

[whwells]

Congra's on the great fine. Seems like the perfect boat for two harbors. Will you moor out on Catalina or run back and forth. Have been to Catalina many times but never over at two harbors. Will get that done one day.
whwells "Howard"

[Ben423]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I've been following the AOG for a couple of years while searching for a 28 to replace our sailboat, and it's been great learning from you seasoned veterans about the boat. Our plan is to keep it on the east coast for a year or so and explore the Chesapeake and ICW. We will eventually bring the boat to SoCal. There are a couple of 28's that we've seen often at Two Harbors. Both owners graciously invited us aboard when we told them we were thinking of buying a 28. They both said it was a great boat for Catalina. We won't keep the boat there, but will commute often.

[DesertAlbin736]

Welcome aboard Leif & Lisa!

Two Harbors? Wow! Love that place! We have not been there with our Albin 25 yet, but is one possible destination for this coming summer. Last time we were there was July, 2012 back when we owned a Catalina 25 sailboat. That time we had put our C25 in a slip in the CYM marina in Chula Vista on San Diego Bay for the summer, then did a harbor hop sail up to San Pedro with stops at Shelter Island, Mission Bay, Oceanside, Dana Point, and Newport Beach before sailing from Cabrillo Marina in San Pedro over to Two Harbors for a couple nights, then up island to Avalon for 4 more nights. From Avalon we went directly to Dana Point, then to Oceanside, and finally a 50NM run all the way from Oceanside back to Chula Vista. That trip was my 2nd time sailing to Catalina. The first time was in 2003 when I had a Montgomery 15 pocket cruiser & sailed from Marina Del Rey with a group of trailer sailors from our local Lake Pleasant Sailing Club, of with I'm still a member. Folks may say, "You're nuts to solo sail 30 miles offshore in a 15 foot sailboat!", but I say, then you don't know much about Montgomery sailboats. In that case I had single line jiffy reefing and all halyards & a jib downhaul led aft to rope clutches on the cabin top, so everything could be handled from the cockpit.

IMG_0805.JPG

Coming form the sailboat world, the speed of the A28TE will no doubt blow your mind. Very different perspective from gliding silently along or motor sailing at displacement hull speed. Don't know which SoCal mainland harbor you plan go from, but instead of 5 or 6 knots & 4 or 5 hours from San Pedro it'll be more like less than 2 hours at 15 or 20 knots. And the fishing. When we stayed in a guest slip for 4 nights in Cabrillo marina a dock neighbor brought in a mess of sea bass one day & gave us a couple pounds of fresh filets. Was that ever yummy!

DSCN0541 Two Harbors, Catalina 7-8 to 7-10 (1280x960).jpg

DSCN0520 Big Sea Bass catch 7-7 (1280x960).jpg

And then there's the Chesapeake. We took our Albin 25 back there in 2015, trailering 5,700 miles round trip from Phoenix. In addition we did some cruising on the Erie Canal.

I put together a slide show about that cruise & posted on YouTube here;

Part 1, Erie Canal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lVa-nfq4bI

Part 2, Rhode Island & Part 3, Chesapeake Bay (Chesapeake segment starts at 13:11 point in the video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67QqvVgwgz8

Bottom line is you've got a lot of fun times to look forward to.

[catalina_mike]

I have done a bit over 120 nm in one day in my 28. It has been to Catalina a bunch last year diving and fishing. Keep intouch and we are in Dana Point.. We use to go to Two Harbors a bunch on our Regal with it being the party boat. Don't miss that and the mess..

[Ben423]

Sounds like you did a lot with your wrinkle boat. You might know an old friend of mine, Stan Susman, who also did a lot of sailing in Monty 15's and is currently rebuilding 'full race' 23.

We have kept our boats in Long Beach and San Pedro for years. We sold our sailboat in May and didn't get over to the Island at all this summer. We've sailed thousands of miles in many parts of the world, but Catalina remains our favorite cruising grounds, and we will certainly bring our new boat home to SoCal in a year or so.

[DesertAlbin736]

One of our Lake Pleasant club members had a M23 for many years & just sold it a few years ago. They too have since "gone over to the Dark Side" and now have a C-Dory 25 after having also owned a C-Dory 22, which can be seen in the photo of the Two Harbors string line in my previous post. This was their M23 "Joken2" as seen on a mooring in Two Harbors. That was a fast boat for its size. Once a year our club would do a "Sweetheart Cruise" informal fun race around Valentines day where only the female spouse or significant other could be on the helm. Their Monty 23 was practically unbeatable. One of the most well maintained "Bristol" condition M23's you'd ever likely to find, and as you know, they had a very limited production run. I've personally met Jerry Montgomery as well as Bob Eeg who took over building the M15's and M17's and the Offshore Cutter version of the M23 hull.

b23joke5.jpg

Besides sailing the M15 to Catalina in 2003, I also raced it twice in the Small Craft Advisor/Potter Yachter Cruiser Challenge fun races in Monterey in '02 and '03, in addition to doing a Monty owner group rendevous on the Chesapeake in '02.

IMG_0916.JPG

Bob Eeg still uses a photo of me in my M15 sailing on Roosevelt Lake, AZ on his home page. Mine was hull #102 with tanbark sails, the 2nd M15 ever built.

http://montgomeryboats.com/

Since you've done a lot of cruising, have you ever been to or considered the Pacific NW? Specifically the San Juans in Washington and what's generally known as the sheltered "Salish Sea" north of the Strait of Juan De Fuca including East shore of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands & Sunshine Coast of the Inside Passage? If Catalina is your favorite, imagine a place where you could have not one, but dozens of islands like Catalina, except with beautiful spruce forests within an easy day's passage between each one in sheltered waters, where each of these islands had protected anchorages with good holding in depths less than 30 feet, not confined to mooring bow & stern in crowded harbors or anchoring in deep water with rocky bottoms.

Example of Jervis Inlet on the BC mainland "Sunshine Coast:

DSCF3532 (1024x768).jpg

[Ben423]

I've done a fair bit of racing in the PNW (Swiftsure, Whidbey Island RW, etc.) but never cruised there. We have tossed around the idea of taking the A28 there before bringing it to SoCal, but have no definite plans yet.

[DesertAlbin736]

We have tossed around the idea of taking the A28 there before bringing it to SoCal, but have no definite plans yet.

I know it's a long haul to bring a boat as large as a 28 up there & is way off the direct route from the Chesapeake back to SoCal, but it's such an amazing place, & nice & cool in summer compared to the July's heat and humidity on the Chesapeake, not to mention the frequent summer thunderstorms. We've cruised all three places at one time or another as mentioned earlier. We cut the Chesapeake portion of our 2015 East coast cruise short at 2 weeks & 300 NM because it was just so uncomfortable. Our initial plans were to go up the Potomac to DC in time for 4th of July but it was so hot & humid that we stayed in mid bay between the Nanticoke, Solomons, the Patuxent, St. Leanards Creek, Cambridge on the Choptank and St. Michaels the back way up San Domingo Creek. Spring or fall would be better time. Compared to that in 2014 we spent 26 days in the San Juans & 2 weeks in the Gulf Islands, and 45 days this year, including 30 days in BC extending our trip up as far as Namaimo & across Georgia Strait to Pender Harbour, 570 NM in all, and we never really felt too hot or too cold, with no need heat or A/C. And there is just no comparison to the scenery. You can always charter up there if you didn't want to haul your boat up there. But that's why we stick with the 25, so easy to trailer & comfortable cruising for 2. Just not a serious fishing boat like the 28 TE.

You just don't get views like this in June or July in SoCal or on the Chesapeake. If it were me I'd do no more than a week on the Chesapeake & head straight for Anacortes or Bellingham for the rest of the summer before returning to SoCal. Free long term truck & trailer parking up to 60 days at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham.