A Respite From Land Is Found on the Seas

During the workweek, Don Albrecht travels deep into the arcane world of complex computer languages, creating software to test various functions of communications satellites.

It is a highly cerebral activity.

When pressed for an explanation, Albrecht explains that one such computer program measures “S parameter response versus frequency, two-carrier intermodulation, noise figure and swept power for gain expansion.” He also specializes in software that determines the “automatic temperature compensation of units using pin diode attenuators, controlled by customized resistor boards.”

Albrecht rides in the company van pool from his Huntington Beach home to his office at Hughes Space & Communications Corp. in El Segundo, and back.

His work life is highly structured.

But on the weekends, the 48-year-old computer software engineer takes to the open sea in his 25-foot sailboat, the Valkyrie. In Scandinavian mythology, Valkyries were maidens of the Norse god Odin. They escorted heroes who were slain in battle to Valhalla. He chose the name because his parents are of Norwegian and German ancestry.

A sailor for 25 years, Albrecht has taken part in every Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race since 1975, the last seven years as captain of his own boat. He’s preparing for the next race, which begins April 24 in waters off Newport Beach.

For Albrecht and other sailors who spend their weekends in boats too small to be called yachts, the race is the premiere competition of the year. It is also a measure of his craft: the art of catching the wind.

“The wind will die out from one direction and come up from another. Do you go out farther, or do you go in toward the shore to try and catch a land breeze? You can win or lose, based on those decisions, and those are the decisions that I have to make.”

He usually finishes in the middle of the pack for his racing class, which is based on the performance capabilities of his boat. His fastest time was 28 hours, recorded in 1994. His boat, a Cal 25, is one of the smaller craft allowed to compete in the race.

The Valkyrie is the only boat he has ever owned, purchased for about $6,000 in 1973. In 1996, he revived the defunct Newport Beach chapter of the Cal 25 Assn., and continues to serve as founding president. He has no plans to buy a bigger boat.

“I’m used to her. I can sail her by myself, but she’s big enough to go cruising on, and I can afford her.”

For the uninitiated, sailing may seem a pastime reserved for the rich. But Albrecht says his annual expenses for the sport are less than $2,000, including a mooring in Newport Bay and membership in the South Shores Yacht Club of Newport Beach.

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Before he skippered his own boat in the Newport-to-Ensenada race, Albrecht followed the path of other sailors trying to learn the finer points of racing. He “crewed” on the boats of others, volunteering his labor for the experience.

“Skippers are always looking for crew. If you have any experience, you usually have no problem getting on board. Before I raced my own boat, I would put up signs saying that I was looking for a berth in the Ensenada race. Sometimes I’d get calls; sometimes I wouldn’t.

“The years when I didn’t get a call, I would pack my duffel, put on my watch cap and walk the docks just as the boats were shoving off.

“I’d say, ‘Do you need a crew member?’ Every time that I did that, I’d get picked up. They’d say, ‘Well, what’s your experience?’ And I’d say, ‘I have my own boat, I know spinnaker work, I do foredeck, I can stand the watch and I can drive.’ And they’d say, ‘Come aboard,’ even though they didn’t know me from Adam.”

By 1991, Albrecht was ready to enter his own boat in the race.

“It was a very slow race, and we raced through the second night and came into Ensenada in the early morning. The sun was up and then a fog bank came in. This was in the days when I did not have sophisticated navigational equipment. It was pretty much coastal navigation techniques, where you’d get a bearing on a point of land.

“We sailed into the fog and the wind died. We were in there for quite a while. Then we felt the groundswell where the waves start to build up, and I ran out to the bow. I saw black rocks and the waves breaking right on the beach. We got out the engine and motored off to keep from going aground. That disqualified us. It turned out that we had been just a quarter-mile from the finish line, after racing hard for the last 40 hours.”

Sailing can be a grueling test of endurance and navigation techniques, but Albrecht says it has become a necessary escape from life on land.

“It gets in your blood. It’s habit-forming. I like the feel of the boat on the water and the wind in my face--that sort of thing.

“I can go away from it for a while, but it always seems to be calling me back.”

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Profile: Don Albrecht

Age: 48

Hometown: Alhambra

Residence: Huntington Beach

Family: Wife, Marty

Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, Harvey Mudd College (Claremont); master’s in business administration, Cal State Fullerton

Background: Senior engineer with Loral Aeronutronic Corp., developed software for Sidewinder missiles, 1972-94; staff engineer with Hughes Space & Communications Corp. developing software for telecommunications satellites since 1995

Sailing: Sailing enthusiast for 25 years; member of the South Shores Yacht Club of Newport Beach; sailed in every Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race since 1975, including as captain of his own Cal 25 sailboat, the Valkyrie, during the last seven races; first place in class for Southern California Yacht Assn.’s Mid-Winter Regatta in February and in 1995; first place in class for Newport Ocean Sailing Assn.’s Argosy Series competition in 1996 and 1997; second place in class for the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s Angelman Series competition in 1997; president and founder of revived Newport Beach chapter of Cal 25 Assn., since 1996; voted 1997 Race Skipper of the Year in January by South Shores Yacht Club

On boating: “I’m not a yachtsman; I’m a small-boat sailor. It’s fun. It’s relaxing. It takes my mind off all the things I have to contend with on shore. It does renew one’s spirit.”

Source: Don Albrecht; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times