alberg 30 or baba 30

[Merlin1111]

If you had your choice which of these would you prefer for Great Lakes cruising?

[Lizzy Belle]

Either. Or none, but since I have to pick the one that looks the best maintained.

[Paul L]

Probably a lot more room in the Baba. For short passage sailing you'd be doing in the Lakes, I'd go with something that had better light air performance.

[RainDog]

Those are two radically different boats. The Baba is almost 50% larger than the Alberg, so you need to decide what size boat you want.

That said, I would not want either for Great Lakes Sailing. Seems like Great Lakes are defined by light and fickle winds. I would go for something much lighter for its size like a Catalina, Beneteau, Hunter, C&C, etc.

[Cheechako]

Pretty different. Probably the Alberg ... it would and not have all that teak to maintain in the north! Then again, the Baba interior is superb!

[Siberianhusky]

Neither, something fin keel with good light air capability.
One of my friends at the marina has an Alberg 30, I've sailed it a fair amount.
Very nice boats but slow and don't point as high, which is a big thing in our area if you want to head towards Toronto, wind is usually from that direction.
More often you are flying your biggest sails as opposed to a working jib and reefed main.
Early evening the wind usually drops off to nothing.
The Alberg is also very tender initially, only really gets up and going when you have the rail under water, waterline gets longer as the boat heels more.
Being said both those boats are on my long list for my next boat when I take off to do some cruising in warmer saltwater. Not my ideal Great Lakes boat though. I personally would be looking at a C&C 30, CS30, Catalina.....
Case of function over form, none of these boats have the classic lines.