Results here.

By Michael Heinsdorf w/ Greg Jordan

Fishing Bay’s Annual One Design popped back on the Albacore Class’s schedule a couple years ago after a hiatus of several years, and this year’s regatta was a thorough test of the skill and mettle of the Albacore Class sailors, both on and off the water. It’s also part of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association’s High Point Series, which has been restarted recently after a couple years hiatus.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club is just about 100 miles southeast of Washington, DC, in the Northern Neck of Virginia, and this year marked the 85th instance of their Annual One Design Regatta. FBYC is probably one of the bigger clubs that the Albacore Class sails at, with great facilities, including a pool (rumor is that an Albacore once ended up in the pool – anyone know if that is true?), camping, multiple bathrooms and showers, and a deep racing pedigree. That pedigree includes robust Youth and Adult dinghy and keelboat programs, and good Race Committee.

Eight Albacores registered, but only seven showed up for the first start of Saturday sailing. Barney Harris was on the way to the regatta on Saturday morning when, during a routine stop to fill up with “cheap diesel” and inspect his trailer, he noticed a cracked axle on his combi trailer. With Lee’s help, he left the boat on the side of the road, drove to Fishing Bay to pick up a trailer, drove back to his boat, put the boat on the new trailer, lashed the old trailer to his roof rack, and made it back to Fishing Bay just before we all came in. Lesson learned – check your trailer every time you travel and gas up – this story could have had a much different and unhappy ending!

Saturday morning started out sunny with a bit of overcast. By the time boats were ready to launch for the first race, it was raining. Continuing my tradition this summer of crewing for other skippers, I [Mike] was crewing for Mike Scardaville in his new to him, and first regatta in, 7375, the replacement for his old boat, Binky, which had been destroyed during a port-starboard incident at the Helly Hansen NOODs.

With a steady, warm rain coming down and about 85 degree temperatures, we launched the boat, and headed out to the race course. Or at least where we thought the race course was going to be. On the way out, rain turned hard and it got foggy to the point where we had less than 100 yards of visibility; we were running off the compass at times to determine where we were. Just as we found the committee boat, the rain stopped and the fog cleared out. After a short delay and general recall, with the no nonsense Race Committee putting the Z Flag (20% penalty if you were OCS one minute or less before the start), we were off on our first race, an H3, or a windward-leeward-windward with the committee boat about halfway up the course.

The breeze was gentle to moderate (11-13 mph range) for the first race. Mike and I had been early enough to the course that we had been able to sail up the windward mark and back down. We noticed that the breeze was stronger on the right side of the course and there was a shift, which seemed to be consistent about halfway up, that would lift toward the mark if we tacked into it. The plan was to start at the boat, stay on the starboard side of the course, tack on the shift, and win the mark.

Thanks to some great timing by Mike, we had a fantastic start on the general recall, with a nice 10 boat lead for most of the leg. The shift did not come through the way we had hoped, and our lead evaporated a bit as boats that stayed on starboard were able to catch up. Then a comedy of errors involving a jib stick and a sticky mast put us back in seventh that race. (But Greg’s spaced-out move at the finish line took the cake, he claims, having snatched fifth place out of the jaws of 1st; Tyler and Eliza stepped into the right place at the right time, grabbed the bullet and ultimately, the regatta.)

The second race started in similar conditions with a course change to an H5 (twice around), with Mike and I switching to me skippering and him crewing. While 7375 seemed very fast, it didn’t seem to point as high as other boats on the course, and I wanted to see if it was fixable. While I got the boat pointing a bit higher, I can’t say that I dialed it in because Eva and Sydney were consistently pointing higher when we were matched with them on the upwind. Just after the first upwind mark rounding during that race, a storm came racing in, with tons more warm rain and fog. Having compass readings of the marks earlier during the day now appeared to be a competitive advantage, with our primary competition appearing to be Tyler / Eliza, and Greg (who was racing with his old college sailing buddy Bill). Of the two boats, we could only see Greg, who was about 50 yards above us, and every once in a while, we’d catch a glimpse of Tyler and Eliza charging towards the windward mark. (At one point, the rain was so hard the bailers had to be kept open upwind to be able to keep moving — the rain was actually beating the waves semi- flat.)

As we were waiting for the third race to start, the breeze started picking up, and Mike asked if I could keep driving. To pass the time and get him more confident in the boat, we reached back and forth in some very fresh breeze (19-24 mph on the Beaufort scale), hitting about 10 knots on both Mike’s GPS and my instance of RaceQs. Since the same game plan — start at the committee boat, stay on starboard till the shift, tack, and get to the mark — had somewhat worked for the past two races, we decided not to mess with success and kept to that strategy. It worked for the first half. For the second half of the race, we had to get very tactical.

We had a 10 boat lead when we rounded the upwind mark, but I couldn’t keep the angle that Tyler, Greg, and Lloyd were able to keep on the way down; and then we gybed too late. As a result, they got much closer than I would have liked. Lloyd took an unfortunate tack to starboard, leaving me to cover Greg and Tyler on port tack. With Mike feeding me info on who was sailing where, we managed to successfully cover both and take the bullet.

It was only 2:15pm or so when our feet touched the ground again. Race Committee sent us in after the third race, at which point Barney showed up.

That evening we had a great BBQ dinner, with live entertainment provided by a local band with a percussion session that included a musician on the spoons.

Sunday found Greg two points behind the leader Tyler, with Greg’s added challenge of maybe having to skip the last race because Bill needed to get home early to prepare to testify to Congress on Tuesday. So Greg devised a masterful come-from-behind strategy to win the regatta, which he confidently shared with anyone who would listen. He would win the first race while cleverly getting Barney and one other boat to slip in ahead of Tyler. Then he would head to shore with the last bit of dying wind, while Tyler and Eliza would drift around waiting in vain for a new wind that would never come. Unfortunately for Greg, the dying wind was the only part of the plan he managed to execute. There was plenty of sun and no breeze. After bobbing around for approximately two hours, Race Committee sent us back in.

So congrats to Tyler and Eliza in 7966 for their first-ever regatta win!

2024 FBYC AOD Results

Greetings from 3rd place in the PRSA Spring Regatta!  With 17 Albacore registered, and more than a few new faces (Dave in his new to him Albacore; Gretchen, Sidney, and Cam crewing). This turned out to be a great Albacore event and a good way to kick off the summer regatta season. Despite abysmal forecasts going into the weekend we were able to get 6 races off and even had whitecaps on Saturday.  Retired Albacore sailor Jim Graham was our PRO, and he and his RC Team did a great job getting the races off.  We got to see a change mark and due to a few general recalls, because of the tide, the Albacores wound up starting all 6 races under the i flag.  Also hats off to Kaitlyn Lucey, the regatta chair, for helping get some great food (Mission BBQ) and everyone that helped volunteer for setup and cleanup and any other jobs with the event.

For my boat, this was Celeste and my first time sailing together since having a child.  So it feels really nice to have been able to place 3rd despite some rust and other adversities encountered.  Now some of this probably comes down to luck as we were not the only boat to encounter adversities.  Both Michael in 8125 and Stephen in 8199 had equipment malfunctions and missed 2 races on Saturday.  Celeste and I also had an equipment failure of a brand “new” tiller extension universal breaking in the middle of the second race.  I learned two lessons this weekend.

1. Always sail with a full roll of electrical tape.  When in a pinch, one can use about a quarter roll to replace the tiller extension universal.  Just don’t drop the tiller extension and let it hit the water as the tape will fail.  Thank you to everyone that had to avoid me at the leeward mark rounding.
2. A “new” tiller extension that has been in your equipment box in your car for 5 years may not be a reliable replacement part.

It was great to be out on the water again and compete with so many Albacores again.  Glad to see Scott Snyder back after a hiatus and our way out of towners Chris Gorton and Jeff Krause.  We look forward to more regattas!

Farley

2024 PRSA Spring Regatta

Harris/Byron edge Koby/Mah in Annapolis for North Americans; Clifford/Brandt close behind 

Conveniently for mid-atlantic USA Albacore sailors, the Canadian Albacore Association chose the prestigious Helly Hansen / Sailing World NOOD regatta in Annapolis as the site of the Canada-hosted 2024 Albacore North American Championship regatta. The Friday-Saturday-Sunday format meant that not everyone could take time off, but 11 USA boats still participated. Canada sent 8 more teams, bringing registrations to 19. This strong showing made for good visibility for the Albacore class – although the majority of the 220 boats in 17 classes were one-design keelboats, Albacores were seen in the company of popular modern dinghies like Viper 640’s, Melges 15’s and the single-handed foiling Waspz’s. Four courses were set-up across the Bay; Albacores were grouped with one large fleet (J22’s) and two small fleets (J24’s and Alberg 30’s). We were directed to the north course situated almost to mid-bay, not far south of the Bay Bridge.

Annapolis Yacht Club’s Sailing Center in Eastport was the center of ceremony & festivities, as well as the assigned home of the Albacore fleet. Cars were banned from the parking lot, affording us plenty of space for our base of operations (street parking in the nearby neighborhoods turned out to be not much of an issue, either). Crane and dolly launching were both available; however, the latter turned out to be a challenge because just one boat at a time could fit on the float (unusually, people who brought their crane slings were sometimes able to jump the dolly queue and get launched more quickly).

Most contestants were able to arrive and set up by Thursday evening. The Canadian contingent rented an Airbnb down the street, which, predictably, became the local Albacore social center. Barney Harris positioned his Keelbnb on a mooring ball nearby in the harbor, so we all could admire it while sailing by twice a day.

We had wind all three days, although temperatures were on the cool side – wetsuits were mostly worn Friday and Saturday. The air was 60 degrees with a few showers and 15 knots on Friday; it was about 5 degrees colder on Saturday, with 10-15 knot winds, rain and fog. Some forecasts Sunday morning were dire, calling for unpredictable waves of nastiness. This convinced some of us to pack boats and take refuge in nearby coffee shops. However, the weather system actually delivered only light and relatively warm winds all day (5-8 mph), eventually climbing to 68 degrees.

As far as notable participants, the Byron family was the most strongly represented: David flew in from the west coast to race with Barney all three days; Optimist stand-out Jake Beaver raced with Grandmother Daphne on Friday; and Mom Joanna took his place for Saturday and Sunday. Chris Maslowski completed all races Friday even though it was his birthday; and Henry Pedro earned the travel award (had one been given) for trekking down from Nova Scotia. Mike Scardaville’s adventure turned unhappy during the 2nd race on Friday when a J-22 sailing blind on port tack delivered a taco-crunch blow to his port gunwale. The wound may prove to be fatal for 7104, but Mike — with a check-in-hand from the offending J-22 — took it in stride while packing up, sounding determined to try again on another day.

Eventual winners Barney Harris and David Byron were as fast as anyone on the water (or very slightly faster most of the time, in the opinion of some observers), while doing their usual job of consistently picking smart routes up the beats — this made it hard work for anyone in the fleet to keep up. Still, although they won all three races Friday when the chop was most difficult, the fleet got faster and more compact on the weekend. Raines Koby and Stephanie Mah were consistent all three days, and especially strong while mastering the patchy winds on Sunday to win 2 of the 3 races (and 3 of the last 5 overall). In the end they finished just four points behind Barney and David. Paul Clifford and Mia Brandt posted high finishes in all races and won one, finishing close behind in 3rd place. JJ and Tracy Hall also had a terrific series, locking in 4th place after having won one race and finishing just once out of the top 5 (not counting the last race, which was optional for them by that point). Henry Pedro and Chris Gorton rounded out the top five, having perfected the art of footing for speed and hanging it out there for leverage at just the right times. Notable also on Saturday: Tyler Philips and Eliza Pearce had a strong 3-race string of 5-6-6. Also notable on Sunday: Mike Heinsdorf and Jill Williamson wrapped up with a 2-5-5 – without a broken jib car on Saturday, they would have been strong contenders for a top-five finish.

Photo below: Albacore race leaders Gale Warning and Fire and Ice were fast enough to have to duel with a tight pack of J-24’s at the windward mark on Saturday, as captured by the official drone video footage shown during the evening social events (highlights from all three days can be found on YouTube, and are highly recommended)

So congratulations to Barney and David for holding off Raines and Stephanie to become the 2024 North American Champions (and earning a slot in Sailing World’s championship regatta in the Caribbean later this year). Thanks also to AYC and the Helly Hansen / Sailing World organizers for running the most ambitious of regattas. Everyone there was encouraging us to come back next year; hopefully we will be able to swing it and make another strong showing!

– Greg Jordan