Albacore: Frostbite

Amanda and I finally got to race the Albacore again. Sunday was the start of South Cerney's winter Frostbite series.

Arrived at the lake to find a flat calm. The morning wasn't cold, but my friend Gary found ice in the bottom of his RS300 when he took the cover off his boat to rig. Fitting, given the name of the series, but more a sign of things to come, I think.

I rigged the Albacore alone as Amanda was running late, she'd messaged me to say she'd been delayed "sorting a bread disaster out"; I was intrigued but didn't dare enquire any further. By the time Amanda arrived, the breeze was filling in.

Things had turned quite lively by the time we launched. The Albacore is a steady boat in a blow, and can manage some pretty heavy conditions when manned by a well practiced crew. We were somewhat out of practice, so she was a bit a of a handful to begin with.

photo: tim hampton

Despite that, we managed a good start in the first race and managed a creditable 4th place out of the 19 boats that made the start. By the end of the race however, conditions had gotten quite blustery, so 3 of the 19 retired before finishing (and another was disqualified as being to early over the line at the start)

Things were looking as promising for the second race, another reasonable start and a good beat saw as the third boat to round the windward. Then our lack or practice bit hard. As we bore away, we were slow settling the boat onto the reach down to the first gybe mark; a vicious gust came barrelling through, and catching us with everything set wrong, the little boat broached and capsized.

photo: tim hampton

We've only capsized the Albacore a couple of times, and again the lack of practice told as we struggled with the recovery. It was slow, and when an Albacore comes back up, she comes up swamped, and getting that water back out again is also slow.

The fleet sailed on by. We got the boat back up with nothing damaged except our pride and the loss of the burgee from the masthead to the mud on the lake floor. The rest of the fleet were half a lap ahead by this point. Over the course of the next hour we caught up with the back markers, but, aside from a couple of retirements, once our time was adjusted for our handicap, finished comprehensively last.

But at one point during that second race, screaming down a reach we maxed out at 11 knots, so I can't pretend it wasn't fun.