Ware River Yacht Club did a wonderful job hosting the US Albacore Nationals! They showed true southern hospitality which included meals and a surprise tote bag made from sail material and filled with local goodies. The venue was beautiful and the race committee successfully ran 7 races and the wind was good, especially on Sunday. Although it felt a little odd heading down to Ware River Yacht Club this year in July for US Albacore Nationals this year since it was a month before the normal Gov Cup trip. WYRC was a new venue for our Nationals. Ware River is one of my favorite venues with the camping and breakfasting right along the river. It was really great to get down there Friday and have a nice dinner with everyone else that showed up a day early. The team did a great job with sponsorship and we were surprised with a tote bag made from sails material and filled with goodies.
It was great to have the event at WRYC and it helped to include the new WRYC Albacore fleet. We had a strong turnout with 20 boats sailing even without our Candian counterparts. There were 4 boats competing for the Bob Harwood Challenger Trophy which was great to see. It was also fun to see the variety of sailing teams, including several family teams, old friends, and new friends.
Saturday started off light and the wind died after the first race. We proceeded to drift around with zephyrs coming from all directions. After about 3 hours of drifting and swimming, the wind finally filled in and the Race Committee got 3 more races in. On shore, there was the delicious Gumbeaus Gloucester local food truck for dinner that was really good! Sunday also started light but the wind filled in during the second race and ended up being pretty breezy for the last couple races.
Thank you to WRYC and the volunteers who did an amazing job hosting the event and we are excited to go back in a couple weeks for Gov Cup. Special thanks to Barney for hosting a couple clinics at WRYC before the event.
