Shackles & Cringles — Summer 2023

From The Commodore

Hello Albacore Sailors

We hope you are out on the water often this summer, enjoying good breezes and fun races. As this issue of Shackles "goes to print", our Commodore Raines Koby and Canadians Regatta Chair Steph Mah are away at sea in North Wales, holding strong in second place at the Internationals. (WOHOO!!) On Day 1, one commentator said she'd never seen so many capsized albacores on a race course. Find more coverage below.

In this issue:

• the Summer/Fall Season Regatta Calendar
• Recap of the Ontario's in Hamilton by Stephanie Stalinski (more than 30 volunteers involved!)
• Recap of Westwood's Regatta by Mary Free (word on the street: it was a great after-party)
• Good news story: Albacore spare parts were put to good use by the Scouts!
• the Canadians are coming! Let's get organized! (Sept. 15-17)

Also, don't forget about Monday Night Race Training at the community clubs on Regatta Road. The sessions are run by some of the top sailors in the class. Come out to these great learning sessions on mark roundings, acceleration, start lines, stops, and much more.

See you on the water!

Recognizing 50 Years of Albacore Racing in Port Sydney

In July, our commodore Raines Koby (left) presented the Port Sydney Yacht Club with a Klinger, in recognition of the Club's dedication to sailing albacores on Mary Lake. The club dates back to the 1930s, and albacores have been raced every decade since the sixties. Pictured are Co-Commodores Stephanie Stephenson and Edward Gledhill.

2023 Race Schedule

August 2023

• Governor's Cup August 5–6 Ware River Yacht Club, Glouchester, VA
• Mooredale Sailing Club Regatta August 12 Toronto, ON
• St. James Town Sailing Club Regatta August 26 Toronto, ON

September 2023

• Long Distance Race September 1 West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD
• Bill Heinz Memorial Regatta Sept 2–3 West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD
• Canadian Championships Sept 15–17 Thornbury YC, Thornbury ON
• President's Cup Sept 25–26 Potomac River Sailing Association, Alexandria, VA

October 2023

• North American Championships October 7–9 Miles River Yacht Club, St Michaels, MD
• Corsica Annual One Design Regatta October 14–15 Corsica River Yacht Club, Centerville, MD

The Canadians Are Coming! Hey New Sailors & Vintage Albacore Owners! We want you there! Challenger Fleet is half-price! No measurement certificate is required.

Fee: $220 before Aug 15 ($250 after). Host: Thornbury Yacht Club, Thornbury, ON. Entry fee includes two dinners and a pancake breakfast. Need Crew/Billet/Helm? Contact: [email protected]. Visit albacore.ca for NOR.

The Ontario Championships

Hamilton Bay Sailing Club: July 15–16 2023 — By Stephanie Stalinski, 5009

On July 15, eight boats from the Toronto fleet made the short trek from Toronto to Hamilton to join our boat buds at HBSC for this year's Ontario Championships. HBSC is no stranger to Albacore events but it's been a while since the fleet has ventured that way and friends, let me tell you, we've been missing out.

The majority of the visiting boats rolled in early Saturday morning. We were greeted by a cadre of blue-shirted, VERY chipper, and exceedingly kind and helpful volunteers who did everything from lift boats to cooking breakfast (eggs! bacon! sausage!). Rigging proceeded with a minimum of fuss and we were soon ready for the skipper's meeting at 9:30. Mark Simpson, our shining star of an organizer/PRO, patiently answered all our stupid questions about things that didn't really matter (and we all neglected to ask about the ONE thing that would end up mattering a lot…). And with that, we were off like a herd of well-fed turtles to the race course.

Against a backdrop of the old train bridge and the fires of Mordor, Mark used his very best outside voice to get a race going. That first start was, personally, the best we've ever had - we were right at the line at the committee boat at go, on the correct side of the course (for once) as a big righty happened and all the pressure was on the right. Visions of a horizon job fluttered in our minds until reality came cruelly crashing down in the form of a general recall. Sigh. Mark and his team got another start off quick-like and things proceeded relatively uneventfully from there. At least until we were heading down for the finish and boats ahead of us were coming back up the course with murderous determination in their eyes. Much confused, we finish the race and discover that none of us can read (we had needed to leave the leeward mark to port before finishing, whoopsie). Now fully educated in the ways of this regatta, the wind decided to shut off. The lunch boat took this opportunity to drop off our metric ton of midday provisions, which were MOST welcome as we bobbed around hoping that the wind would reappear (it did not). Well-fed and in need of alternate forms of hydration, we paddled/got towed back to the dock and called it for the day. Back at HBSC, a smorgasbord of snacks greeted us upon our return as we de-rigged, changed, and socialized with the 32(!) volunteers and our fellow racers before heading to a tasty dinner held at a neighbouring club.

Sunday brought a blank slate in terms of racing as the RC was forced to toss the only race run on Saturday due to some well-intentioned instructions given to clueless boats (whoopsie). With all the marbles to play for and MUCH better wind than the previous day, Mark and his team started banging out races. The wind built race after race, which was a welcome thing for boats favouring brute force over finesse. The leading boats traded wins back and forth and the rest of us followed along. Winners of the bad luck award were Robbin and Jen who, sitting pretty in 3rd, managed to shred the jacket of their main sheet during Race 3. After a quick e-tape fix job they were back crushing it in race 4 until they hooked their main on a special mark and got well and truly stuck. In unsticking themselves their mainsheet gave up the ghost with extreme prejudice and they limped back to shore with only the jib. Race 5 saw some vigorous yelling about mark room that, thankfully, happened behind us and which ended in a protest hearing (ugh) and a DSQ (sorry Jeff). We were once again greeted with snacks galore upon our return as we speed-packed the boats before awards.

A big congrats to Darren Monster and Mabel Chan on their win and to HBSC for putting on an INCREDIBLE regatta. You may have forgotten to pay the wind bill on Saturday but the depth and breadth of your hospitality and generosity will be remembered by those of us who attended for a LONG time.

To those of you who didn't go, you missed out. Hit up the HBSC Open in the future if you can, you'll have an amazing time. We hope to be back for another championship sooner than later and fingers crossed we'll see some of them (and more people in general) in Thornbury in September. Organizing these things takes a village and we appreciate the time and care that went into this event. Thanks HBSC, you crushed it!

Western end of Hamilton Harbour — Results are final as of 10:35 on July 17, 2023 — Overall
Sailed: 5, Discards: 1, To count: 4, Entries: 14, Scoring system: Appendix A

2023 Westwood Regatta

Westwood Regatta Start Line July 2023

The Westwood Regatta was held Saturday, July 22 on Lake Ontario just south of the Toronto Islands. It was a beautiful sunny warm 26C day and the winds were relatively steady from the SW averaging 10-12kts (with a mild shift to the south mid-racing). The water was mildly choppy but with no swells. Conditions made for a very fun and pleasant race day!

The race committee ran five races - a combination of triangle and windward-leeward courses. 28 Albacores participated. Quite a few of the racers had never before attended a regatta - which was great to see!

While the races were not without incident, participants-wise (the usual port-starboards, leeward mark rounding crowds, etc.) and committee-wise (drifting marks, a timing booboo, etc), most situations were resolved satisfactorily on the water. One post-racing protest was dismissed due to a technical error filled in on the submitted form (dot your i's and cross your t's!). There were no capsizes and only one unintentional swim due to a missed hiking strap (from which an excellent recovery was made).

Congratulations to the top three boats overall: 1st) Darren Monster and Mabel Chan, 2nd) Jen Provan and Brandy Cocoroch, 3rd) Allan Measor and Ralf Fischer.

Congratulations as well to the top three Westwood boats (not in the top three overall): 1st) Paul Gerlich and Julia Ballerio-Dupé, 2nd) Jason Brown and Andrea Ong-Pietkiewicz, 3rd) Mary Free and Sohrab Rashid.

Following the racing and the awards presentation, there was a very well-received taco bar and empanada fiesta dinner, a popular keg, and a great DJ team that had sailors on the dance floor till 1 AM.

Which Way Do We Go? — Day 1 Albacore Internationals

By Matt Thompson, reprinted from yatchsandyatchs.com

Day 1 of the Albacore Internationals at SCYC, Abersoch, got off to a breezy start. The forecast 27 knot gusts did not happen but the day was still very lively.

You can prepare as much as possible but things can still go wrong. Some sailed to an imaginary start area and some went out and came straight back. Some did not even venture off the beach. It was brutal at times. A certain unnamed Canadian team had an early gooseneck gear failure and after trying to jury rig decided they should head back to the beach for a more secure solution. The end of their rainbow appeared, shining on an abandoned catamaran upon which lay a pristine Selden mast from which they robbed the necessary parts! (fair swap for the new jib sheet, Henry).

After the practice start, race 1 got underway in a F5-6 WSW blow under darkening skies. And for once no general recall! With everyone clean off the line the 0.7 mile beat was a battle of skill and endurance. They say cream rises and there were no real surprises at the first windward mark. The reach though started to provide some entertainment! The smoking team suffered an eternal issue with the flyaway pole which saw them drop several places before the gybe mark. And then to compound injury to insult, at the leeward mark the outhaul gave way with the boom dropping off the gooseneck. Gave over, lick wounds, and loads of fags.

The end result from race 1 was Michael McNamara (UK) 1st, Judy Armstrong (UK) 2nd, and Tom Lonsdale (UK) 3rd.

The heavy breeze then decided to die and the rain increased, giving the RO a real headache. Multiple resets of the course finally allowed Race 2 to start some 45 minutes after Race 1 had finished. The start was clean away, but with the lighter breeze, there was a tactical decision to make. Which way to go? Those that went left said it was a bad call, those that went right said it was a bad call (Tom Lonsdale - do not take my boat name in vain!!), and those that went up the middle (Judy) said it was totally useless. So work that out!

There was a completely different appearance to the early mark rounders in this race leaving some with a lot to make up. But the cream rises… Two triangles and a beat to the finish gave a final result of Raines Koby (CAN) 1st, Mike Hartley (UK) 2nd and Barney Harris (USA) 3rd. Two races are done and 12 more to compete, after day 1 the leaderboard is:

1st Michael McNamara (UK) 5pts
2nd Raines Koby (CAN) 6pts
3rd Barney Harris (USA) 10pts
4th Judy Armstrong (UK) 12pts
5th Matt Biggs (UK) 15pts

Go Raines & Steph!!!

Other challenges during the Internationals: finding spots to dry sailing gear. Photos: Carol Thompson

Got Spare Parts? Call Adam!

The last few issues of Shackles have put a call out for spare parts from Adam Kubik on behalf of the Polonie Boy Scouts troop. Here, Adam (left) accepts a donation of Hull 5591, four masts, three booms, three sets of sails and assorted foils and other bits from Tom Saunders of the Kanata Sailing Club. Tom had bought the entire KSC fleet of Albacores last fall when the club decided to refocus its program. Tom says he should have been more circumspect when he offered to “take it all”. Adam is still looking for donations. He may be contacted at [email protected].