Shackles & Cringles — July 2022
July 01, 2022
Two recaps of the North Americans on Lake Ontario, plus the Ontario and Canadian Championship schedule.
A Recap of the North American's
It was so great to be sailing on the lake, alongside lots of Albacores on long courses and with a spectacular view. Twenty boats, with a handful from the US, and the rest from Toronto and surroundings. After the subdued Covid racing schedule, it was great to see more of a crowd out!
What's better than taking the day off work to go sailing in nice conditions? Nothing! We started off with Triangle courses, which don't offer too much passing in below planning conditions, so we focussed on being somewhat aggressive on starts. More on that later as well as being in clean air while being unencumbered by other boats and being able to tack freely to take advantage of shifts. Looking back, I don't recall too many situations where we were forced to defensively tack on account of another boat. It really enables your strategy when not being bounced around like a ping pong ball between other boats. One oops on Friday was an OCS, like always I thought we were fine, but I trust the race committee to catch and ticket any early starting transgressors. Beverages, snacks and a BBQ dinner followed at OHCC, to smooth over that one tough race.
We had 5-8 knots on Saturday, maybe a little more later in the day, with more slow oscillating shifts- certainly not easy conditions. Typically, southerlies in Toronto tend to have erratic, but slow oscillating shifts, that happened over 15 min or so timeframes, completely different than the chaotic Northerlies which shift in under 1 min cycles. Downwinds proved challenging, with wind filling in from behind, so boats were working hard to take each other's air. We managed a good day, and now able to discard the horrendous OCS (last place) score. Many competitors ferried over from the clubs to RCYC to take advantage of the dinner and beverages.
Sunday brought really light wind, with the RC working their magic to call on some wind. We waited a bit, but then started in 4-5 knots southerly with patchy and oscillating winds. What looked like the good side 10mins ago, may have changed by the time the race started, so one had to be very attuned to pressure and direction changes, which seemed to go hand in hand. Pressure fell on one side, and filled in on the opposite side, with the benefit of a lift and more wind. Going into the day we built a 4-point lead on the 2nd place boat, Barney, but that can disappear in a flash. We managed to finish 4th in the shortened 9th race, and maintained a 2-point lead to Barney. Fortunately for us, the race committee decided that was enough, the wind had dropped to 1 knot, so no more racing! An unorthodox way to win, but sailing in 1 knot is a recipe of headaches for the competitors and race committee.
What we thought worked, related to the shifty nature of the southerly breezes, was to gather a lot of compass readings. Before racing, in the 5min sequence, we sailed upwind collecting and constantly comparing numbers. On strategy, we continually worked back to the middle of course on lifts if we were getting to one side too much. In terms of setup, there wasn't much chop, so we sailed with rather tight rig tension, and quite flat sails, and found to be pointing very nicely. Lastly, bring a radio if you can (we forgot) but I heard the race committee communications was both riveting and helpful for wind, and knowing over earlies.
Congrats to Barney who built me a fast boat, and is always in the hunt, to Raines who deals with Stephanie, and all the rest of competitors who got to enjoy the open expanse of lake racing. A big thanks you to the CAA, particularly Stephanie Stalinski for organizing the regatta and finding a great PRO- David Sprague. Hope to see even more people out for the Ontario Championships from July 9-10 back on the lake.
And lastly thanks to Ralf Fischer who was all over the compass, calling pressure, and top-notch German hydration.
Albacore 8161
St. Jamestown Sailing Club
The-Beginning-of-Something-Good Kind
For Tyler and I, Albacore North Americans in Toronto was a lot of firsts. It was the first-time visiting Toronto for both of us and Tyler's first Canadian passport stamp. It was our first time racing an Albacore together, actually our first time sailing one together - and if I'm being honest- it was my first-time seeing one in person, so everything was new!
After a 10-hour overnight drive, we quickly rigged, set some goals for the weekend (have some fun and don't come in last!) and tried to get a practice sail in. The wind had other plans and we just bobbed about for 30 minutes so Friday's race was truly my first Albacore sail: first time with the layout of the lines, first time figuring out the whisker pole, first time using a tactical compass, first start and first finish in this class. It didn't take too long to settle in to the basics but even as our comfort grew as skipper and crew, we pushed ourselves, trying for more aggressive starts.
The result was a couple nice line positions on general recalls and one unbeknownst OCS that prompted our first hand-held radio purchase (nothing like returning home to some freshly delivered online orders!). We had some light wind frustrations on Saturday during a major wind shift and a raised rudder on Sunday which was kindly pointed out to us near the windward mark and explained our confusion over our lack of speed and inability to point, but otherwise we felt good. We had a couple mid-fleet finishes and even managed to beat some boats overall! While we still have plenty to work on and practice, we achieved our goal: had fun and didn't come in last!
From never having heard of Albacores two months ago to now, North Americans has sold it to me, hard not to with a fun boat, a good group of sailors, and the excitement of a spectacular racing venue. Tyler and I have a long ways to go but this weekend was a lot of firsts, not the finish-gun kind unfortunately, but the this-seems-like-the-beginning-of-something-good kind, and that is just as exciting.
Albacore 7373
Potomac River Sailing Association
CAA Ontario & Canadian Championships — You Ready?
Hello Albacore racers,
The NAs are over, so it's time to get ready for:
The 2022 Albacore Ontario Championships - July 9-10, hosted by the Outer Harbour Centreboard Club - the NOR is on www.albacore.ca
The 2022 Albacore Canadian Championships - August 13-15 at CORK. The NOR is up on CORK.org. Early bird registration ends on July 23. Just as important, if you're looking to stay at St Lawrence College ($85 for a double / $68 for a single), book soon as they are starting to fill up.
See you on the start line,
CAA