Month: May 2016

Sailing Albacores in Manitoba! Raw Fish Spirit!

Hey friends!

A couple weeks ago I got an email from Tom Saunders of Manitoba who’d caught wind of the Raw Fish project.

Tom sails an Albacore on West Hawk Lake, an impact crater lake, and as luck has it he has been filming the occasional video when the winds warrant. He was kind enough to point me to a few films from some awesome hairy rides he’s captured in the last few seasons.

He tells us of the West Hawk Lake sailing scene…

We sail on West Hawk Lake MB, a meteorite crater that is perfect for sailing (round, no islands, no rocks) and in August, the SW winds blow all the way from Montana.

West Hawk Lake has had Albacores on it since the early 60s when locals brought over Ferris Marine kits from England (my dad owned 1228).

During the 70s, a company that made septic tanks decided if you cut them in half they kinda looked like Albacores and so Western Sailcraft was born and made boats.  They were hugely popular and hugely horrid and mostly bought for cottage use.

There are about five of these still on the lake, most sit under people’s decks.  The Flying Pig is an OY boat that we bought as military surplus for $900.  Came with brand new sails.

He even has some archival footage from sailing Albacores on West Hawk Lake in the ’70s.

He’s filmed some really great stuff, and we’re looking forward to seeing more from Tom, Derek, and the Stealth Pig this season! Check more of his videos below…

Keep an eye on the Raw Fish channel for more 2016 Albacore community sailing to come!

 

Toronto FNR Results Posted!

Hey all!

Quite a Friday Night. A bit of a westerly drifter to kick off the season, with a challenging start. Twenty-six persevered to the bitter end, so well done. Thanks to OHCC for hosting!

Congrats to Sarah Bury and Michael Tersigni from St. James Town who claimed top spot!

Full results are posted here… albacore.ca/race_result/2016-toronto-friday-night-races/

And a bit of video for those who couldn’t make it…

And don’t forget you can find almost 20 years of results archives from the Racing page.

Harbour Master results coming soon. Hope to see even more boats on the line this Friday!

Albacore Racers – Try the RaceQs App!

Hey Sailors!

So the race season is getting underway. In Toronto the Harbour Master series kicked off last Sunday, and the legendary Friday Night Race Series launches tonight, May 6th!

(How are things heating up in your part of the country? Get in on the Raw Fish action and post videos from your races, results ceremonies, and post-race “socials”!)

Want to get even more fun out of racing? Michael Williamson, CAA Race Chair, pointed me to a very interesting app called RaceQs.

RaceQs installs on your mobile phone, and it allows tracking and capturing all the action.

How does it work? Just start the app before your race, then drop your phone in a dry bag and tuck it somewhere safe. As you race the app tracks your GPS and sail data. It can upload in real time so friends back at the club can keep tabs on your progress. And if you prefer not to use mobile data, it just stores your GPS route and uploads later when you’re back on a wifi network.

Why’s this cool? For starters, you can review your whole race in 3D and see how you made out compared to the competition. Figure out which shifts you caught or missed. Relive the whole event and work out what tactics helped or hindered. And if you enable other app features you can even track crazy details like the heel and pitch of your boat.

And word on the street is, the more people who use RaceQs, the better the post race replays get. More phones = more data = more entertaining replays.

Think you might like to try it out? Download for iPhone or Android and let’s have some fun.