Canadian Albacore Association- A Busy June
by Ken Yamazaki on 7 Jul 2010
OHCC Regatta. Photo by Robert MacDonald. SW
June has been a busy month for the Albacore fleet. The regatta season is well underway and the CAA ran two training clinics. The club series has continued every Friday and there were two Harbour Masters.
RCYC Open
The RCYC Open was held on June 12/13 in Toronto, Ontario. 23 Albacores participated (the second largest fleet behind the Laser Radials). The first day saw moderate winds from the east and there were 4 races. Rain was threatening all day, but held off until the end of the fourth race. Racing Sunday was cancelled due to lack of wind.
George Carter (a multiple Dart and Sprint 15 UK champion) and Almir Tavares from the Mooredale Sailing Club won the regatta with 2 firsts and 2 seconds. Kevin Smith (a 2 time Olympic sailor) and Keri Romanufa from the Westwood Sailing Club were second and Raines Koby (a windsurfing world champion) and Abby MacInnes from the Outer Harbour Centerboard Club were third.
Full results can be found at http://results.albacore.ca/2010/2010rcyc.htm.
Ontario Championships
The Ontario Championships were held on June 26/27 as a part of the Nepean One Design regatta in Ottawa Ontario. 25 Albacores participated, including 4 father daughter/son teams. This was the largest fleet at the regatta. One Albacore made the trip up from the Potomac River Sailing Association, the farthest any dinghy travelled to the regatta.
Winds were light on Saturday and the race committee kept the competitors on shore until sufficient breeze came up. The oscillating conditions were very challenging and playing the shifts was critical. A total of 4 races were run that day. Sunday began with fog and glassy water so the committee kept the dinghies on shore again until a light wind filled in from the east. 2 races were run, which allowed for one drop. Finding the pressure seemed more important on the Sunday.
Warner Monteiro and Sonja McAuley from the Nepean Sailing club won the regatta with 3 bullets and 7.25 points. George Carter and Almir Tavares from Mooredale were second with 18 points and Barrie Farrell (Mooredale) and Liana Giovando (St. Jamestown Sailing Club) were third with 20 points.
Full results are available at http://results.albacore.ca/2010/2010ontarios.htm. The boats were equipped with GPS units and the races may be replayed at http://www.albacore.ca/kattack_races.
Harbour Master Series and Training Events
The CAA held two training events in June. The first was an intermediate race training clinic on June 5/6 coached by Raines Koby and Abby MacInnes. The second was aimed at people just getting into racing and was coached by Richard Piercy and Sarah Bury on June 19/20. Both of the clinics were well received and finished up with the participants racing in the Harbour Master races on the Sundays.
The first Harbour Master race on June 6th saw 28 boats and was won by Almir Tavares (Mooredale) and Tony Zakrajsek (J-Town) who had just completed the intermediate training clinic. The second race was won by Maxim Newby and Jason Brown from Westwood.
41 boats participated in the first Harbour Master race on June 20th with George and Suzanne Wilson from OHCC winning the race. The second race was won by George Carter and Almir Tavares from Mooredale.
Full results may be found at http://www.albacore.ca/fnr_hm.
Friday Night Club Series
The club series continues to run every Friday. The winds in June have been light and several races shortened but none cancelled. On average, over 40 boats have been attending each week.
The winners of races 5-8 were:
- Raines Koby and Abby MacInnes (OHCC).
- George Carter and Peter Trebuss (Mooredale).
- Geoff Moore (North Sails).
- Tim Broughton and Jeff Krause (Mooredale).
In the club standings, Mooredale and J-Town are running neck and neck. Mooredale has won 3 of the last 4 nights but the separation between the two has never been more than 20 points each night. With 8 of 18 races completed, J-Town is currently in the lead with 761 points. Mooredale, Westwood, and the Toronto Island Sailing Club are 41, 333, and 1195 points behind respectively. A total of 71 helms and 102 crews from the clubs have participated to date.
Full results may be found at http://www.albacore.ca/fnr_hm.
Outer Harbour Centreboard Club Regatta
31 boats raced in the OHCC regatta on July 3rd. 4 races were run on Lake Ontario south of Toronto Island. Conditions were ideal, with sunny skies and 10-15 knot winds. The competition was very tight with Raines Koby and Abby MacInnes (OHCC) just beating out George Carter and Almir Tavares (Mooredale). Both teams finished with 6 points, but Raines and Abby had two first place finishes to George and Almir's one. Chris Gorton and Henry Pedro (Westwood) placed third with 11 points.
Upcoming
The next three regattas will be the St. Jamestown open on July 10th in Toronto, the Hamilton Bay Sailing Club open on July 17th in Hamilton, and the Westwood open on July 24th in Toronto.
Looking forward to the Canadian Championships in September, we're pleased to announce that we're adding a junior Canadian Championship category. There will be a separate start if there are a minimum of 4 boats. Additional details can be found at www.albacore.ca.
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/71600