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Active class, popular in colder waters of Canada and North America as well as UK. Originally made in moulded veneer by Fairey Marine, the Albacore has had many builders through the years and is now also available in FRP.

National status was granted on 1st May 1963

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Engineering:Albacore (dinghy)

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The Albacore is a 4.57 m (15 ft) two-person planing dinghy with fractional sloop rig, for competitive racing and lake and near-inshore day sailing. Hulls are made of either wood or fiberglass. The basic shape was developed in 1954 from an Uffa Fox design, the Swordfish. Recent boats retain the same classic dimensions, and use modern materials and modern control systems.

A deep airfoil section centerboard and rudder make the Albacore highly maneuverable. [1] The Albacore's rig uses swept spreaders supporting a tapered mast, a powerful vang, and adjustable jib halyard and other sail controls to depower in high winds. This adjustability enables light crews and heavy crews to race head-to-head in all but the most extreme conditions. It does not have a trapeze or spinnaker, and hence avoids the difficult handling of sport boats. The powerful rig and easily driven hull give excellent performance over a wide range of wind and wave conditions.

The 2011 international champion described the Albacore as a boat that is simple to get into at first, but one that will challenge the tuning and tactical skills of a sailor for the rest of their life. [1] Recent champions have been graduates of college sailing teams.

• 1 The First Albacore
• 2 Popularity
• 3 Competitions
• 4 Manufacture
• 5 Family use
• 6 Rigging and Materials
• 7 References
• 8 External links

The First Albacore

The first Albacore (number 1) was built by Clive Dollery and Dave Lowe, who adapted Uffa Fox's design. They were both junior members of the Locks Sailing club in Portsmouth, England (UK) in the 1950s. They crewed in a variety of boats including Lowe's National 12 , but they were also keen amateur boat builders.

Dollery wanted a boat to race. They wanted to start with a ready made hull. Lowe's father and Uffa Fox had discussed and agreed to build a non-standard Flying 25 with significant changes made. So they assumed that the same agreement could be applied to a Swordfish sailing dinghy also designed by Fox.

A Swordfish hull was obtained from Fairey Marine via a local boat builder. They modified the hull moving the position of the mast, cutting a slot and fitting a keel box. Several members of the Locks Sailing club were interested in this project and formed a committee with Fairey Marine, resulting in the 'committee modified Swordfish'. This was renamed the 'Albacore'. The committee agreed that this boat be allocated Albacore number 1.

The Locks Sailing club soon had a fleet of about 20 Albacores that raced regularly against one another. In 1958 the National Albacore championships were held under the burgee of the Locks Sailing Club, in Langstone Harbour with a fleet of 46 boats. [2]

About 8,200 Albacores have been built. [3] The class is actively raced in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Albacores are also used for adult and youth sail training, [4] [5] and for leisure sailing.

The Albacore was ranked 16th most popular one-design sailboat in North America in 2010 by Sailing Anarchy, [6] and 38th most popular in the UK from 2001 to 2011 by Yachts and Yachting. [7]

There is a particularly large concentration of Albacores in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where the Friday night club series sees an average of 45 boats and peaks of over 60 boats on the start line every Friday during the summer sailing season. [8]

Older Albacores are commonly found in vacation areas such as Ontario Cottage country.

Competitions

The Albacore class offers an active racing program, attracting experienced sailors as well as new enthusiasts. With local club racing, regional regattas, and international championships, the class provides racing opportunities for every level of experience and interest. In addition, Albacores compete with other boats in a mixed fleet by means of the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap scheme. Its Portsmouth number is 1062 [9] and its D-PN is 90.3. [10]

The Class has a biannual International (World) Championship with the venue alternating between the three key countries where the class is sailed. The earliest such event was in 1971, and was won by Canadians Jack Langmaid and Nancy Langmaid in a Fairey Marine Albacore. [11]

Recent International events:

The next International Championship is scheduled to take place in the USA in 2025.

Manufacture

Two manufacturers of Albacores produced boats in 2011 to 2013: Ovington Boats in the UK [17] and Hapco Marine in the USA. [18] The boats were primarily delivered to UK, Canadian and US destinations.

Notable earlier manufacturers include Ontario Yachts, Skene, Woof, Kingsfield Marine, Fairey Marine, Grampian Marine, McGruer&Clarke, JD Young, Rondar, Lockley, Lockley-Newport, and Whitby Boat Works. [3] The first fiberglass version of the boat was made by Whitby Boat Works and sold as the Albatross. [19] Shortly thereafter, fiberglass version of the Albacore appeared.

The hull weight of an Albacore is 109 kg (240 lbs). Therefore, the Albacore can be road-trailered, with 1 or 2 Albacores behind a typical family car. With appropriate road-trailer design, the boat can be loaded and unloaded using only 2 people.

The Albacore is frequently used as a first boat for those who are just learning to sail, and as a very competitive racer for more advanced sailors.

Regatta results show that this class of boat is often sailed by husband/wife and parent/child combinations, [20] and that some of the all-women teams are the most competitive in the class.

Rigging and Materials

All Albacores ever made are considered identical for the purpose of racing, and can race together without a handicap. However, many details and materials be improved or modified at the choice of the individual owner or manufacturer, provided that the basic dimensions and materials meet the class specification. [21]

The rigging of early Albacores was very simple, including such basic features as a flat centerboard and fixed jib fairleads. This rigging allowed only limited adjustability of sails.

Modern Albacore designs have evolved sophisticated control systems for their running rigging and standing rigging . This greatly increases their versatility compared to earlier boats, and they can be sailed in 2 knots to 25 knots of wind.

A typical modern design for an Albacore includes: [22] [23]

• Epoxy foam sandwich fibreglass hull (Modern wood hulls are also manufactured, but are less common)
• Tapered aluminum mast
• Lightweight aluminum boom
• Automatic fly-away jib stick
• Moulded or wood/fiberglass composite centerboard with symmetric airfoil cross-section
• Kick-up rudder with symmetric airfoil cross-section
• Suction self-bailers (which empty a boat after capsize in 4 minutes)
• Adjustable continuous 16:1 vang and 12:1 jib halyard, rigged to side control panel
• 4:1 main-sail outhaul, 2:1 main-sail Cunningham, jib Cunningham
• Adjustable hiking straps for crew and helm
• Extended jib tracks for high- & low-aspect jibs
• Split-tail mainsheet
• Deck mounted 6:1 mast pre-bend adjuster and 2:1 rope mast ram
• ↑ 1.0 1.1 "What is an Albacore? | United States Albacore Association" . http://usaa.albacore.org/node/9 .  
• ↑ National Albacore Association, Newsletter No. 121, Spring 2014
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 "International Albacore Registry | International Albacore Association" . http://registry.albacore.org/latest .  
• ↑ "Untitled document" . http://www.outerharbour.net/about_us/about_us.htm .  
• ↑ "Kanata Sailing Club" . http://kanatasailingclub.com/ . Retrieved 16 May 2023 .  
• ↑ "Sailing Anarchy Home Page" . http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php .  
• ↑ "National Championship Attendance Table - Yachts and Yachting Online" . http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/classes/?s%3D44%26o%3D2011 .  
• ↑ "Toronto Friday Night, Harbour Master and Fall Series Results | Canadian Albacore Association" . http://albacore.ca/fnr_hm/ .  
• ↑ "Portsmouth Number List 2012" . Royal Yachting Association . http://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/technical/Web%20Documents/py-general/2012%20listv3.xls .  
• ↑ "Centerboard Classes" . US Sailing . http://offshore.ussailing.org/Portsmouth_Yardstick/Current_Tables/Centerboard_Classes.htm .  
• ↑ "Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame" . http://www.oshawasportshalloffame.com/inductees_view.php?category=13 .  
• ↑ Results regattanetworks.com
• ↑ "The Albacore Dinghy" . https://www.albacore.org.uk/alb/index.php/ . Retrieved 16 May 2023 .  
• ↑ "Sailwave results for 2019 Albacore Internationals at Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club and Marina 2019" . https://jpvm.org/results/2019/AlbacoreInternationalChampionship/Results.html .  
• ↑ "Noble Marine 2023 Albacore Internationals and UK National Championships at AbersochOverall" . 4 August 2023 . https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/265130/Albacore-Internationals-at-Abersoch-overall .  
• ↑ "Event Spotlight: International Albacore Championship" . https://www.northsails.com/sailing/en/loft-news/event-spotlight-international-albacore-championship .  
• ↑ Ovington Boats ovingtonboats.com
• ↑ Hapco Marine hapcomarine.com
• ↑ "The Boat – Canadian Albacore Association" . https://albacore.ca/the-boat/ .  
• ↑ "Results | Canadian Albacore Association" . http://albacore.ca/results .  
• ↑ "Class Rules" . http://www.albacore.org.uk/alb/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=36 .  
• ↑ "2013 Toronto Rondar/Ovington Albacore Order (NEW DEADLINE DATE) | Canadian Albacore Association" . http://albacore.ca/node/881 .  
• ↑ "hapcomarine.com" . http://ww9.hapcomarine.com/ . Retrieved 16 May 2023 .  

External links

• International Albacore Association
• Canadian Albacore Association
• National Albacore Association (UK)
• United States Albacore Association
• Classic Boat's guide to the Albacore class

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Albacore 1297 - Transcendental

Albacore 1297, Transcendental , is our sailboat, which I have owned since 1977. After sitting idle for about fifteen years, she was restored to sailing condition and returned to service in 2007. Here you will find a bit of history about the boat, the Albacore class, and photos of the restoration project.

The Albacore

The Albacore class was designed by British sailboat maker Uffa Fox, and has been in production since 1955. It is a one-design, centreboard sailing dinghy, 15 feet long with a 5 foot beam. It carries 125 sq. ft. of sail in a sloop rig (main and jib). Boat weight is 240 lbs. minimum. The Albacore is normally raced by a crew of two, and can carry four adults comfortably. About 8100 boats have been built, with the bulk of the fleet being in Ontario, the eastern USA, and the UK. The class is still actively raced, and is also popular as a sail training and family boat.

Most Albacores built in North America are of fibreglass construction. Older boats from the 1950's and early 1960's were of wood construction; in addition, modern wood boats were produced by a few builders. In North America, most of the fleet consists of fibreglass boats; in England, the situation is reversed.

• International Albacore Association - National class associations; discussion forum
• Identifying Albacores - Photos and descriptions of Albacores from various builders
• International Albacore Boat Registry

Albacore 1297

This boat, hull number 1297, is one of the original Fairey Marine wooden Albacores. It was built in 1962, in England, by Fairey Marine, at either Hamble, Hants, or Maidenhead, Berkshire. The hull is three layer molded mahogany plywood; the deck is mahogany plywood. There is a production serial number, 1084, embossed on the floor aft of the centreboard trunk. AL 1297 is a Fairey Marine Mk I hull, with the outer hull ply running diagonally to the waterline.

The boat is still laid out in the original Fairey Marine configuration, with a stern deck and open bench seats. Inflatable air bags under the seats, in the bow, and under the stern deck provide additional buoyancy. The hull, deck, and interior are varnished, and have never been painted. The original brass fittings and trim are still intact, though we have had to replace many of the old screws and bolts whenever we removed them.

The early Fairey Marine boats from the 1950's had spruce-tipped masts; this boat, like other later vintage Fairey Marine boats, has an all-aluminum tapered Seahorse mast, with a gold coloured finish. The boat originally had a metal centreboard; I replaced it with a wooden mahogany board in the late 1970's when the metal board broke and was lost.

Unlike some old boats, this one's history is fairly well documented. I have owned it since 1977, and inherited all of the original documentation from the previous owners. We have the boat's original Certificate of Registration from the UK, and copies of subsequent Canadian Albacore Association (CAA) documents.

The boat's first owner was Dr. R. M. Kilborn, who brought the boat to the Conestoga Sailing Club, on Conestoga Lake, in southern Ontario, Canada. I do not know whether he imported the boat himself, or whether it was brought to Canada by a distributor.

Subsequent owners were Dr. Robert Cowan, and Dr. David Taplin, who both sailed the boat at Conestoga Lake. In 1973, Dr. Taplin took the boat back to his native England, to sail in the World Albacore Championships in Plymouth.

The boat was named by Dr. Taplin; the name, Transcendental , incorporates the AL abbreviation for the Albacore class, as do a number of other Albacore names.

In 1977, I bought the boat, when I was still in high school, and have had it ever since. I wasn't looking for a "classic wood boat", just something to sail, and 1297 happened to be available. The boat stayed at Conestoga Lake for several years, where I sailed and raced regularly in club races. While I usually came in last when I raced, I did have fun. During this time the boat received regular, if inexpert, maintenance, including yearly varnishing.

In 1983 the boat came west with me to Washington, where I sailed on Lake Washington during the 1980's. There was no Albacore fleet on Lake Washington, and no class races; I didn't link up with any active centreboard clubs, and so didn't do any racing during that time. In Ontario, it snows in the winter, so boats like this are tucked snugly away in barns and garages over the winter. It rarely snows here on the west coast, and I was told you could even sail in January. Since I didn't have a garage to store the boat in, I thought it would be fine to keep it outside all year.

That was not a good idea.

Winter here is the rainy season. Even though the boat had a cover, it started to show some deterioration. After a few seasons, the deck in particular started to show signs of moisture damage: varnish started to discolour and peel at the deck seams, and one deck section started to crack and lift, with the varnish lifting off completely. Varnish started to peel from the hull as well. I didn't do much regular maintenance during this time; this no doubt made things worse. I made some attempts to fix the worst of the deck problem areas, but with only limited success.

The boat was last sailed in 1989. It came to British Columbia with me in 1990, and was stored for 14 years, awaiting repairs. During that time it was stored sheltered from the elements, and did not get much worse. However, I didn't really know how to fix the worst parts of the damaged deck.

Restoration

"Daddy, you should get the boat fixed!"

Eventually, I was put in touch with the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre and Wooden Boat Society, which provided a way for me to get the boat back in shape. The Centre has a well-equipped shop which members can use. The Centre also employs a full-time shipwright, Eric Sandilands who is available to oversee and assist members' restoration projects--everything from canoes to large wood keelboats. Other members also have considerable expertise which they are usually willing to contribute. This is an excellent setting for someone like myself, who has quite limited woodworking abilities, to tackle a project like this.

This is a fairly limited project compared to some of the work that more experienced people in the Albacore community have done with old wooden (and fibreglass) boats. Check out the North American Albacore Forum for references to some really impressive projects.

We started working on the boat at the Maritime Centre in May 2005. The boat was in fairly reasonable condition, with the exception of the deck:

• Side deck panels showed a fair amount of deterioration, especially on the port side. The plywood was warped, lifting and cracking, and showed signs of rot.
• Varnish was discoloured and lifting off at the edges of all deck panels, indicating that moisture was getting into the wood at all of these edges.
• Outer hull: large sections of varnish had peeled off; in some places to bare wood. There was a fair amount of greying of the wood at the bow. Fortunately, there was no rot in the hull. There was an old repair at the port bilge keel, where a section of the hull about a foot or two long and a couple of inches wide had been replaced by fibreglass resin; the repair seemed secure.
• There were a few sections on the seats and thwart where the varnish was peeling to bare wood. Rubber pads on the jib fairlead tracks had, over years of pressing against the seats, softened the varnish beneath the rubber.
• Interior hull, bulkheads, and floor were in good shape; varnish was intact almost everywhere.
• Lines and sheets were a bit stiff, but with no signs of rot.
• There was some rust on the parts of the standing rigging, mainly on the forestay bridle, where it attached to the mast. The old shroud covers had disintegrated.
• Side and stern buoyancy bags were original Fairey Marine bags. The stern bag still held air; the two side bags did not. The bow bag (not original Fairey Marine) was also in need of replacement.

We worked on the boat at the Maritime Centre during the rest of 2005, 2006, and finished up in early 2007. Under the supervision of the Maritime Centre shipwright, some of the things we did were:

• Remove the entire old deck, rub rails, inner trim moldings, and gunwale ribs.
• Refinish the inside of the boat. Take seats and thwart down to bare wood and varnish. Varnish the inner hull--the old finish was in fairly good condition, so we decided not to go down to bare wood. A more experienced person would probably have taken the entire interior down to bare wood; at the time it was a more daunting task than I cared to tackle. If I were doing the job again, I would probably be confident enough now to take advantage of the easy access to the interior which the absence of the deck allowed, and take the inside down to bare wood and completely refinish it.
• Make and install new gunwale ribs.
• Replace ribs under aft deck; repair forward deck ribs.
• Make and install new under seat backing blocks for mounting the jib fairlead tracks.
• Make and install new forward, side, and aft deck.
• Make and install new inner deck trim rails and outer rub rails.
• Seal all deck edges and seams with epoxy.
• Outer hull: strip old finish to bare wood and sand clean. Put a strengthening and stabilizing layer of fibreglass cloth and epoxy over the old repair by the port bilge keel.
• Seal new deck and outer hull with S-1 epoxy sealer as a waterproofing layer.
• Strip, sand, seal and varnish both rudders (a pivoting rudder, and a lighter weight fixed rudder), centreboard, tiller, and whisker pole.
• Clean and polish brass parts. Replace any screws and bolts which we had to remove.
• Varnish outer hull.
• Make new transom bailers.
• Varnish new deck.
• Upgrade mainsheet traveller to a continuous, one piece arrangement, with new cleats.

Other things that we did, as part of the restoration included:

• New side and bow buoyancy bags. I went with Crewsaver bags because they were matched the original yellow Fairey Marine bags, and seemed a bit tougher (though more expensive) than Holt Allen. I couldn't find a replacement for the rectangular stern bag--fortunately it was still serviceable.
• Have the mast, with its standing and running rigging inspected and fixed up by a rigging shop. They replaced all of the standing rigging and installed new halyards. The rigging shop did not have the entire boat, and therefore did not do a complete tuneup of the rigging.
• New sails. I still have one set of old sails which are probably usable as a spare.
• Replace almost all of the old sheets and lines; the old ones were still serviceable, but rope is not expensive, and the new lines look much better. The new lines even have some colour to them.
• Have the boat's name done in gold leaf on the transom. I was informed by one of the other guys at the shop that stick-on letters were not appropriate for the boat after it was restored...

We finished up at the Maritime Centre shop in early 2007, and brought the boat home. The mast was done in June of 2007, and after some last minute work on the boom vang and mast fittings, the boat was launched in July of 2007.

• Have the rigging shop do a proper tuneup of the mast, boom and associated sail controls.
• Fix hull bailers. They leak a bit. For some reason, I didn't think to replace or even inspect them when the boat was in the shop. Oops.
• Refinish the interior of the boat. This is a long term project, and one that we are not likely to do in the near future, since the deck makes it difficult to work on parts of the inner hull. I might try a partial refinishing of the inner floor in the next couple of years.

Restoration Photos

Unfortunately, I don't have a good "before" picture showing the condition of the entire boat when we started work. The initial pictures with the deck removed give you a good idea of the interior structure of a typical old-style Fairey Marine layout. Pictures are in chronological order throughout the project.

Full size 3072x2304 images are available, but be aware that they are quite large, and will take some time to load. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you a 1024x768 version.

Photo Notes

• An old (1980's) attempt to varnish the damaged section; the varnish did not soak into the damaged wood properly.
• The old gunwale rib, which underlies the edge of the deck, was screwed, but not glued, to the hull. The old rub rail was screwed to the gunwale rib. This resulted in a number of gaps through which water could reach the edges of the deck planking.
• Yes, that is varnish on the brass builder's plate. Years ago, I tended to varnish almost everything, hoping that would somehow protect it.
• This bizarre arrangement at the masthead for the main halyard might be my fault, but I have no memory of doing it.
• The new gunwale rib, deck, rub rails, are glued with, and all seams are sealed with, West system epoxy. We hope this will keep water out.
• Three coats of S-1 Sealer; this is a two-part, epoxy-based, penetrating sealer. It provides a waterproofing base layer which can then be varnished. The varnish provides ultraviolet protection. The V-shaped splash rails on the front deck are from the original deck.
• Heat gun and scraper, no chemical stripper.
• The layer of old fibreglass is my doing, many years ago, but I have no idea why I did it.
• On the left is the outer hull after scraping the old varnish; the first layer of old varnish has soaked into the wood. On the right, the orbital sander takes off the last of the old varnish.
• The wood for the outer hull cleaned up very nicely. The difference in colour is quite striking.
• Yes, that is duct tape forming the hinge; part of my regular maintenance years ago was to check, and replace that tape every year.
• I wasn't quite pleased with what was supposed to be the final coat (number ten), so we did another final finish coat -- 600 wet sand, fresh varnish, brush + tip -- and managed to get a much nicer result.
• This was something of an experiment, to see how we could improve a less than perfect varnish finish. Wet sand to 2500 (1500 would have worked just fine), then hand polish with Meguiar's #3. Very smooth, satin finish, fairly shiny, but lacks the wet look of unsanded varnish. Apparently you need to machine polish to get that degree of shine; so I decided not to do any extra polishing with the rest of the varnishing.
• Gold leaf by Ken Gray.
• Transom bailer design suggested by Peter Duncan. Amazingly simple and elegant: lexan flaps, with shock cord forming the hinges, no rubber seals required, no extra hardware to fasten the control line to the flaps.
• Pretty well finished. The only things missing in these next three pictures are the buoyancy bags, traveller and barber hauler lines, and bailing buckets. The original wood whisker pole is mounted under the starboard side deck. The compasses are the originals which were there when I bought the boat.
• The interior traveller bar just aft the thwart may have been added in the 1960's or 1970's. Other Albacores often have some sort of transom-mounted traveller. The brass bar on the transom serves as a traveller bar on Fairey Marine boats, but 1297 was set up with a mid-boom sheeting configuration.
• The dolly seen in these pictures is homebuilt, of tubular steel; it came with the boat, and provides a good support for working on the boat in the shop. I have a new lightweight, and much more portable, Seitech dolly for use at the beach.

Random Thoughts

A few thoughts on various things that came up over the course of the work:

Brass and Bronze

The boat still had all of the original brass and bronze fittings: transom bar, bow plate, mast collar, keel strips, rudder pintle and gudgeon. Our best guess is that most of the fittings are brass, except for the rudder pintle and gudgeon, which are probably bronze. Straight slot brass wood screws and machine screws were used everywhere, except for some parts such as the mainsheet traveller, which were probably added later. As far as I could tell, there were no stainless steel fittings or fasteners used in the original construction. The old metal had always been a dull dark brown colour; I was amazed at how shiny it became when someone suggested going at it with buffing compound, or metal polish.

Unfortunately, brass is so soft that screws will strip if you so much as look at them the wrong way when trying to remove them; we had to cut or drill out a number of old screws in the course of removing brass fittings and wood parts. Not only that, but modern brass screws have a tendency to break, even when being inserted into a pre-drilled hole. After having several screws snap off, we ended up having to pre-thread every hole with a steel screw before using a brass screw. And sometimes even that isn't enough--we have had new brass screws break even in a pre-threaded hole... (We couldn't simply use stainless fasteners with the brass fittings, since apparently mixing metals like that increases the risk of corrosion, especially in salt water.)

Brass and bronze look very similar, and that added to our confusion. At one point, we thought the old screws might have been bronze, since they seemed stronger than the modern brass we initially replaced them with. Eventually, we decided that the old screws were indeed brass, but the consensus at the shop was that the old brass was perhaps a different type, and better quality than that available today in a typical brass wood screw. Nowdays, silicon bronze seems to be the preferred material for boat-building. For the remainder of the fittings, I decided to re-use the old, higher quality brass screws where possible, and to use silicon bronze for locations needing higher strength.

The morals of the story, for anyone else working on an old boat with brass and bronze parts and fittings: Make sure you know which fasteners are bronze, and which are brass. Old brass fasteners can be re-used if they are in good shape, and will probably best match any old fittings, but require great care to avoid stripping. Modern brass fasteners are probably best avoided for anything but decorative use. Silicon bronze is good for locations needing stronger fasteners, or where the old brass fasteners are no longer usable.

West System two-part epoxy--the cure for whatever ails you. Wonderful stuff; I had never heard of it before I started working on the boat at the shop; we use it for everything there: Use it unthickened as a glue which is stronger than the wood itself; paint it on to get a hard, waterproof seal on a wooden edge; use it with fibreglass cloth. Add some Airlite filler to thicken it up a bit, and use it to seal cracks or spaces, to glue splints into old screw holes, or to fill up the holes where you had to drill out a broken brass screw. Thicken it some more and get a putty that can fill holes and gouges. Add sawdust to match the colour of the wood. It can be sanded, drilled, sawed, and holds screws.

Using epoxy with an old wood boat like this, we can make deck and hull joints and seams tighter and much better sealed than they ever were in the original construction.

Albacore Dinghy

ALBACORE AT A GLANCE 

A HIGH-PERFORMANCE, COMPETITIVE DINGHY

The Ovington Albacores are built under licence issued by the RYA and the National Albacore Association – and are supplied into the UK and Canada. The Albacore is an ideal first boat for those who are just learning to sail and a very competitive racer for more advanced sailors. Powerful and adjustable sail controls allow sailors to depower in high winds – enabling both light and heavy crews to race head to head.

The Albacore is a boat that is both simple to get into at first and one which will challenge your tuning and tactical skills for the rest of your life. There are sailors racing Albacores from all walks of life and range in age from teenagers to masters pushing 80 years of experience.

Fully fitted Albacores are available in the UK from CS Boats and Pinnell & Bax.

Association Link albacore.org

ALBACORE PARTS

Looking for something else, we sell parts & spares.

From sails to rigging, mast fittings and covers.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Class Contact Information

Click below

Class Email

Class Website

One-Design Class Type: Dinghy

Was this boat built to be sailed by youth or adults? Adult

Approximately how many class members do you have? 50

Join/Renew Your Class Membership – Click here

Photo Credit:

About Albacore

With over 8,000 boats worldwide the Albacore is clearly one of the most popular dinghies available today. Loaded with features, the Albacore boasts quality workmanship and strong class association support. Few centerboard sailboats available today are as versatile as the Albacore. Yacht clubs, sailing schools and community sailing clubs have long chosen the Albacore for their junior and adult training programs. In fact, many of the top sailors in North America learned to sail in an Albacore. The United States Albacore Association supports Albacore Fleets and activities throughout the country. The largest fleets are found on the east coast. Sanctioned events run from March until October. The class association provides a lot of benefits including a regularly published newsletter, seminars, regattas (including regional, national, North American, and international championships), and support of local fleets. Another benefit of a strong class associations is a strong market for used boats. The United States Albacore Association is dedicated to keeping the Albacore sailing fun and affordable.

Boats Produced:

Class boat builder(s):

Approximately how many boats are in the USA/North America?

Where is your One-Design class typically sailed in the USA? List regions of the country:

Mid-Atlantic

Does this class have a spinnaker or gennaker? No

How many people sail as a crew including the helm?  2

Ideal combined weight of range of crew:  350

Boat Designed in  1954

Length (feet/inches): 15’0″

Beam: 5’1″

Weight of rigged boat without sails: 240

Draft: 4″2″

Mast Height:

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At 15 feet in length and 240 pounds hull weight, the Albacore is a great first boat for those who are just learning to sail and a very competitive racer for more advanced sailors. The Albacore is a fast and lively boat while being relatively easy to learn to sail and race. Swept spreaders supporting a tapered mast with a powerful vang and adjustable sail controls allow a crew to de-power in high winds - enabling both light and heavy crews to race head to head A very versatile boat, it is often sailed by husband/wife and parent child combinations. Some of the all women teams are the most competitive in the class. Those looking for a simple to learn, yet high performance sailing dinghy can join the ranks of Albacore sailors who come from all walks of life and range in age from teenagers to masters pushing 80 years of experience.

The Albacore is a boat that is both simple to get into at first, and one which will challenge your tuning and tactical skills for the rest of your life.

US Albacore Association

2025 Worlds Save the Date – October 11-17, 2025

2024 Racing Schedule Released!

Harris and Koci win 2024 Midwinters Championship in Clearwater

2023 Corisca Annual Regatta Results

2023 Albacore North Americans Championship Results Backup

2023 Billy Heintz Results

VA Gov Cup Results

Ware River Governor’s Cup 2023

Ware River Yacht Club welcomed us with their wonderful hospitality for the 59 th Virginia Governor’s Cup Regatta the first weekend in August. With several of our ace crews in Wales for Internationals, some of us were thinking we might have a shot at some silverware!

Natalie and I arrived Friday and camped out for two nights. We don’t have stars in DC, so it was a real treat when the skies cleared and the Big Dipper, Cygnus, and Scorpio lit up the sky. The club included breakfasts, lunches and dinner in the registration fee which made for an easy time off the water. Maize colored technical shirts for all and engraved pewter cups for the winners rounded it out. And a good-sized sea turtle joined us briefly on the water during Sunday racing!

Both days of racing saw light to moderate conditions, so boat speed did make a real difference, though, of course, a good start and clear air always helps. It was hard to keep track of Dave, Jim, and Scott since they were all sailing yellow boats! With the varying wind speeds, crews were moving their body weight all the time and the lighter among us sat on the rail.

On Saturday, Marty Minot shot out to an early lead, taking a number of firsts, while I trailed a bit, being challenged by Dan/Kaitlyn and Dave Huber. Elvin made the trip down for this away regatta and was first to the weather mark in the fourth race while Jim Englert, a returning Albacore sailor now at WRYC, made a strong appearance. Scott Titus was a genial host, and it was good to see Suzanne Morgan (she crewed with me two years ago) along with the other active sailors from WRYC.

Natalie and I were in striking distance of Marty and Jordan after the first day, and when we managed to just beat them in the first race on Sunday, our hopes soared. We had a bit better boat speed than on Saturday, having tweaked our mast adjustment, but the excitement came when Marty engaged us in a tacking duel near the finish line. We went back and forth at least five times, neither boat losing speed nor focus while rolling our boats. Finally we were able to break off toward the line and get the needed first. Alas, in the next race we did lose focus on the leeward rounding and Marty slipped away for the win. And Dan, going out to the right in clear air, also picked us off.

The Hapco boats were all set up differently. Dan pinned up for really light air on Sunday and shared the helm with Kaitlyn, who powered to second place in the sixth race and Dan matched her with a second in the seventh and last race after being first to the weather mark. Marty, Lloyd and Tom caught up downwind in that race. Marty gybed to pass behind Dan but Tom on the right got to the leeward mark first then went right and won going away. Dan and Dave went right with clear air.

Natalie and I cleared our air after the leeward mark and got left, where we thought the wind would be coming from the bay. Marty followed us, though he was ahead, and every time we tried to break contact, he covered, closely. We even tacked into headers to avoid him, but to no avail. Ugh! When the left and the right converged at the finish line, Dan crossed ahead of Marty to gain second behind Tom, and I was able to just barely tack toward the finish on Dave’s bow.

Marty and Jordan won overall, Natalie and I finished second, and Dan and Kaitlyn came in third. Jill Williamson, who had come down to enjoy the scene and help out, won the Congressional Cup, awarded for best sportsmanship at the regatta for helping launch and recover all the fleets each day. Congrats!

Saturday evening before dinner, a grand buffet, Natalie and I had a nice swim with no sea nettles, but we did miss Celeste, Farley and our usual WRYC swimming buddies. And guess what? The club has resurfaced their tennis courts (and added pickle ball lines, of course). So Natalie and I hit the tennis ball for half an hour before heading home on Sunday, completing a summer vacation trifecta of sailing, swimming, and tennis.

Next year is the 60th Anniversary Governor’s Cup Regatta so we are especially hoping to have a good turnout, with our returning friends from Wales and even more sailors from Ware and the DMV. That way we can beat out the Hamptons, who won the actual Governor’s Cup this year with strong participation.

Lloyd, with Dan and Kaitlyn

2023 Fishing Bay Annual One Design Results

Fishing Bay Yacht Club held their 84th Annual One Design Regatta on July 22-23.  There were 96 boats in 9 different classes registered to enjoy racing on the Piankatank River.  Saturday morning the winds were coming from the NNE so the race committee set up across the river from the club.  The winds varied in strength, but not much in direction. There were only 4 Albacores so we were placed in the PHRF fleet with three San Juan 21s and three 420s. The RC was able to hold 4 races on a Windward Leeward course.  Starting a race with boats that greatly outweighed us proved challenging, but the long staring line did give us plenty of room – for the most part.  The key to a good race was to play the shifts in the middle and avoid the spinnakers coming downwind.  On Sunday morning there were only whispers on the water so the RC opted to delay on shore.  Ultimately the wind just wasn’t going to fill in in time so racing was cancelled.  The Albacores performed as they should and took the top 3 finishes with Dan Miller/Kaitlyn Lucey in first, Dave Huber/John Huber in second and Lloyd Leonard/Natalie Rehberger in third.

On the social side there was a good barbeque dinner on Saturday night.  Many folks enjoyed the pool at one time or another.  And the on site camping worked out well with good conversations with new friends lasting well into the evening hours.

This was the first time FBYC held their Annual One Design regatta in July.  Many sailors may recall going to Ware River’s Gov Cup first followed a week later by FBYC.  The change was made to deconflict with other races around the Chesapeake Bay.  Hopefully next year we will see more than just 4 Albacores registered so we can have our own start.

2023 Hampton One Design Results

The 2023 Hampton Annual One Design Regatta was hosted by Hampton Yacht Club in Hampton, VA from July 8 th  to the 9 th . Due to lack of wind and an anticipated storm, racing only took place on July 8 th . A total of five Albacores participated in the regatta.

The Albacores undertook two races on Saturday, July 8th near the mouth of the Hampton River. The weather was sunny, the wind was consistently strong, and the race committee did a great job of running races. Battleships in the distance and expansive water made for an interesting setting. Most of the skippers and crew were family, such as Andrew Scheuermann who skippered instead of crewing for Gregory Jordan with Delaney Jordan as crew. While the wind was strong, sailors were not overpowered to the point of capsize and the consistency of the wind made for ideal sailing conditions. Due to thunder, the race committee concluded racing early after two races. On land, sailors gathered in the Hampton Yacht Club gazebo for dinner, curtsey of the Hampton Yacht Club. That evening some of the sailors went out to a Korean hot pot restaurant for dinner.

On Sunday, July 9 th  sailors mostly socialized in the Yacht Club due to the race committee’s racing postponement that became a race cancellation due to lack of wind and a projected storm in the afternoon. The award ceremony was held at noon in the gazebo. Congratulations to Daphne Byron and Joanna Beaver for receiving 1 st  Place, David Huber and Mike Huber for 2 nd  Place, and Andrew Scheuermann and Delaney Jordan for 3 rd  Place. Until next year!

2023 Hampton Annual One-Design Regatta Results

2023 US National Championship Results

The 2023 US Albacore Nationals Championship  was hosted by Miles River Yacht Club June 17 and 18 in St. Michaels, Maryland.  The wind for the weekend brought two days of challenging  racing conditions for the 15 boat fleet.  Blue sunny skies and 80 degree weather allowed for comfortable racing conditions.  A total of 7 races were sailed for the regatta with one race throw out allowed to determine the 2023 US National Championship.  The race committee did an outstanding job getting the races off.  This year’s event brought back two teams that haven’t raced together in years.  It didn’t take much time for the Pedro/Gorton and Harris/Byron teams to be back in sync showing their prowess on the race course.  

The wind for Saturday June 17 was from the north to northwest at 8 to 19 knots.  A total of 5 races were sailed.  For most of the day the left side of the course seemed to be where top boats were able to extend from the fleet.  The upwind conditions were shifty, which made for some exciting and challenging races. Throughout the day there were multiple lead changes with one team consistently finding a way to the front.  Sailors had to constantly adjust their sails and course to take advantage of the wind shifts to stay ahead of the competition. The shifts at times were as big as 30 degrees.  Races 3 and 4 had higher wind speed which created fast reaches if boats were able to sail the correct angles and surf waves.  With the elevated wind speed there was one capsize with several boats coming close to capsizing.  WIth the capsize of AL 7966 the crew managed to stay dry while the helm (Tyler) tested the water temp during his swim.  AL 7966 wasn’t the only boat that lost a sailor for a swim.  The crew in AL 8260 (Natalie) also went swimming.

Sunday June 18 had very different conditions from the previous day.  Two races were held in 5 to 6 knots of breeze.  Finding wind was key with the race course having small holes.  Roll tacking and keeping air clear was critical in the light conditions to extend from the fleet.  Finding pressure in the light conditions helped teams extend from the fleet both upwind and downwind.  Teams being patient downwind were rewarded in comparison to teams that gybed several times looking for more breeze, which never came.  Once again the left side of course was favored most of the time.  After the second race was completed there wasn’t enough wind to continue racing.  Race committee ended racing for the day to the delight of  competitors due the diminishing breeze.

Congratulations to Barney Harris and David Byron in AL 8261 for winning the event in dominating fashion.  Second place went to Marty Minot and Jordan Minot in AL 8259.  Third place went to Chase Cooper and James Schuster in AL 8258.  Hapco Marine boats took the top three spots this year.  The Top Women Helm Award went to Daphne Byron and Joanna Byron in AL 8027. 

2023 US Nationals Results

View the Photo Album!

2023 Dave Irey Results

The 2023 Dave Irey Memorial Regatta this year brought a wide range of challenging wind conditions for sailors in the Albacore class. The regatta brought two days of racing from June 3 to the 4 from West River Sailing Club.  The Albacore fleet was the largest fleet with 9 boats competing in the regatta. A total of 7 races were sailed.  Other classes in attendance this year were the A Cats and Flying Scots.

Sailors experienced a wide range of sailing conditions. The breeze ranged from 4  to 18 knots.  The most successful teams were able to manage the changing conditions.  At the high end of the wind spectrum teams able to hike hard upwind gained on the fleet.  In the breeze hiking and boat handling downwind was more important than being on the favored side of the race course.  Crews during big breeze moments were rewarded with salt water spray during hiking.   With the low end of the wind spectrum smooth coordinated tacks by crew and skipper helped boats extend on other boats in the fleet.

Congratulations to Barney Harris and Lee Sayasithsena  in AL 8261 for winning the event.   Second place went to Michael Heinsdorf  and Eva Hogan in AL 8215.  Third place went to Daphne Byron and Joanne Beaver in AL 8027.

2023 WRSC Dave Irey Regatta Final Results

2023 PRSA Spring Regatta Results

The annual 2023 PRSA Spring Regatta this year was a great success for the Albacore class. The regatta brought two days of racing from May 27 to the 28 on the Potomac River.  Shifty, puffy conditions with sunny and cloudy skies made racing conditions challenging.  The breeze ranged from 7 to 17 knots.  The Albacore sailors showed up in force by being the largest fleet with 13  boats competing in the regatta.

The racing was fierce and competitive, with each boat jockeying for position to be where the wind pressure was.  At times wind pressure was lacking on the olympic race course which made some reach legs difficult.   Boats able to find and stay in wind pressure were able to break away from the pact.   The wind conditions made picking the favorable side of the course difficult.  For both days the right side of the course upwind seemed to be the better side.  Boats repeatedly made the most gains upwind from the right.  Downwinds legs saw many boats change positions throughout the weekend with the left side of the course downwind often being favored.

Congratulations to Barney Harris and Farley Will in AL 8261 for winning the event, which doubled as the MidAtlantics Championship.  Second place went to Marty Hublitz and Ernest Ayukawa in AL 8214. Third place went to Stephen Duncan and Kate VanPortfliet in AL 8199.

2023 Midwinter Championship Results

2023 albacore midwinters.

Michael Heinsdorf USA 8125

The spelling error in the email’s subject line from the Sarasota Sailing Squadron said it all: “Canceled 2023 One Design Midwinters”. 

A week prior to the regatta, the Squadron had fired a shot across the proverbial bow with an email stating that they were, “not optimistic about, the effect of the Red Tide Algae Bloom on the Sarasota Bay.”

Red Tide, or as science calls it, “harmful algae bloom” is pretty common in Florida, but it doesn’t make its way inland that often. As the name suggests, it’s an algae that produces a toxin that kills fish, makes shellfish dangerous to eat, and potentially suck all of the oxygen out of water, and turn the water red. Remember that last point as it’s pretty critical to our story. Red tide is also made slightly worse by global warming, as warm water temperatures encourage it to grow. It is something that you don’t want to swim in, or in some cases, breathe in. According to maps by the US Geological Survey, there were reports of Red Tide within the Sarasota Bay. Online, it looked legit.

However, as we later found out, there wasn’t any visible Red Tide in the Sarasota Bay or on the Gulf. This was a bit puzzling, as all the Squadron would have had to do to confirm the existing of said masses of seaweed or red tinted water was go for a short motorboat ride into any of the racing areas. Once the Albacore fleet made our way out on the water, we did not see any evidence of Red Tide (seaweed salad, dead and rotting fish, whale carcasses, etc.). To add a dab of manatee dung icing onto this rotting cake of seaweed, the Squadron held other, scheduled, events while we were there, such as their Luffing Lassies Thursday sail, Opti Training on Saturday, and an E-Scow series.

However, I’m getting ahead of events. Once the aforementioned email came out, the US Albacore class leadership made the decision to NOT cancel Midwinters and seek out alternative venues, with the less than week notice given by Sarasota. After many calls by Eva Hogan and Tyler Phillips, no alternative venue was found. 

In the immortal, unprintable words of Barney Harris, (of which I’m sure you can get the ethos), we just did it. We’d roll our own regatta in Sarasota. And a dozen boats, all of them loaded up, either en route, or already at the Squadron (not to mention the car reservations that were non or limited-refundable) showed up at Sarasota Sailing Squadron for a clinic and a couple days of racing.

Since this was not a regatta, I took this an opportunity to try out my unauthorized modifications to the HAPCO adjustable shroud system. Surprisingly, Barney did not even come over to look at these modifications, likely because he was busy unloading or keeping track of the two Albacores that he had brought. I’m happy to say that my modifications worked much better than the original setup, which, if it hadn’t been for some quick moves by Farley Will in the 2017 Internationals, almost cost USA 8125 a mast as a control line started slipping. To keep things fair, I didn’t use them while we were racing on Friday or Saturday. 

Back to Sarasota. Most of us showed up on Wednesday and rigged boats. Thursday, Barney and Lars, myself and Lizzie, and Dave and Chris (from here on known as “The Bruces”), went for a leisurely sail around Lido Key. While it was somewhat breezy, it was overall quite pleasant, with consistent breeze in the low teens, plenty of sun, and marginal wave action. We rounded the north end of Lido Key, headed down south along the shore close hauled, and then hit the south channel back in. Chris Maslowski was staying in a boat anchored at one of the marinas, which was crewed by an owner who was more than happy to deplete his beer stash by tossing us some cold ones. As this was happening, we suddenly lost sight of Barney, which is odd when beer is involved. Apparently he got incredibly distracted and excited by what he thought was a Hylas 47. Once Barney got his excitement under control, we headed back to the Squadron via a pleasant reach.

The weather forecast was a bit more challenging on Friday. Mid to high teens consistent breeze. Cloudy. The water was no longer flat. Waves were about one to two feet in height, just enough to be something you had to worry about, unless the crew didn’t mind getting a wave to face every thirty seconds. Puffs were forecast to be in the 20s, some even hitting the 30s.

The decision was made to do an around the island race. Since the breeze was out of the south, the fleet would head out to the channel, hit Mark 12, round it to starboard, and head south, upwind, to Mark 8 (more on this later), also round that mark to starboard and head parallel to the Lido Key shore on a screaming reach, then head back into the Sarasota Bay via New Pass, likely getting stalled under the bridge, then round back up to Mark 12 and back to the beach.

The start was also going to be a bit different than our usual timed start. Instead of a traditional start, we’d be doing a Le Mans start. For those who don’t know what this is, it comes from the French LeMans 24 Hours Automobile Race, one of the oldest car races in the world. The Le Mans start involves the driver running to the car, jumping in, starting the car and racing. As a side note, it’s also a start technique no longer used, because it’s a bit dangerous. And we did have a bit of carnage – Eva Hogan tipped over her boat on the start line and Tyler Phillips’ boom tried to take out my crew.

The Albacore Le Mans start had one rule: one crew member must be out of the boat with their feet on the bottom of the Sarasota Bay. Realizing that The Bruces, who were tall, and some others who fit that vein, may have an advantage in getting out the deeper water with clearer air and a bit of a head start, my crew extraordinaire, Lizzie Ellis, and I planned on positioning ourselves as far out as possible, with as much separation as possible. This put us in the deepest part of the southern side of the starting area that I, as the tallest of the two of us, could get into. Once the start happened, I would pull what Lizzie called a “reverse ninja” (the “ninja” is my sneaky way of getting out of the boat as we come in, as generally Lizzie doesn’t know I’m out of the boat until I’m in the water), jump into the boat, and start trimming and steering as soon as possible. 

As Lee Mullins started a countdown, Lizzie got the boat ready for a reach (pulling in slack in sheets, pre-trimming the vang, setting the centerboard, and making sure she was ready to go out on max hike immediately). This was highly prescient, as once I saw Lee make what looked like a “go” sign, and I angled the boat off the breeze, we shot out like a bullet on a reach. While my legs were still outside of the boat, we were making massive separation from the fleet, with The Bruces and Tyler rounding Mark 12 in 2nd and 3rd respectively. There was a good 8-9 boat lengths separating us from The Bruces.

As we headed upwind, The Bruces and I made the decision to go to the east end of the channel, with Tyler choosing the west side. Lizzie and I shifted gears from reach mode to upwind mode. This involved a lot of talking about how the boat felt, which was initially a bit constrained and overpowered.  We talked sail trim, and strategized on the tradeoffs we were going to make over what was going to be a long upwind leg, knowing that we were going to have a screaming reach or run once we got into the Gulf. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves keeping up with The Bruces in about 20 knots of steady breeze. Our tuning was working.  When we were reviewing RaceQs later, we were hitting a consistent five knots upwind. RaceQs had even higher upwind speeds, some pretty consistent numbers in the 5.5 to 6.6 knot range, which I’m a little skeptical of. The hull speed of an Albacore is technically 5.19 knots. From my perspective, it was a pretty stable and dry ride. I’m not sure Lizzie would agree on how stable or dry the upwind legs were. But they were a blast!

The breeze died once we turned west into the Channel and started heading out into the Gulf. We were still crossing The Bruces. Bob Bear, who had been out of sight for much of the upwind leg, was still in breeze and was closing the gap to 10-12 boat lengths. As we approached the Gulf entrance, the breeze started picking up. Significantly picking up. And the wave amplitude was getting significantly larger with the frequency increasing. 

This is when I made the call. In our minds, it turned out to be a brilliant call, though it meant that we technically didn’t complete the race. During the Skippers Meeting, mention was made of rounding Mark 8. There was one map which I did not take a picture of, which meant I missed that Mark 8 was in the Gulf, not in the Channel, because it was not on the map. I was also not right next to the person holding the map and couldn’t see where the finger was when the mark was pointed out. (Note: we didn’t didn’t make either mistake the next day.) There was a Mark 8 in the Channel in Sarasota Bay. Which seemed perfectly logical to round.  In the spirit of sportsmanship, we tried to let The Bruces know that they needed to round the mark, but they seemed very confused. We understood why when they separated from us and headed to another mark in the Gulf.

My call was to head down on a run about 300 meters off the shore in the Gulf. The water seemed plenty deep.  The rollers were big, but not as close together, and I could see it getting hairier the further that The Bruces got out. In fact, it looked like they were struggling. And as a backstory, this regatta was the first time that I had sailed USA 8125 in 3.5 years, and the first reach or run that I had done in 3.5 years. So had we gone further out into the Gulf, there was a little question of my skill and ability. I had no qualms about Lizzie’s confidence or skill level.

On a very conservative run, with full board down for stability, marginal pumping, marginal movement, and steering with the breaking waves, we were planning and averaging 10-12 knots. It got very calm and very quiet, almost trancelike, which was highly unusual for the two of us as there is normally a lot of back and forth. We were both a little nervous as we’d never gone so fast doing so little work. Lizzie took the opportunity to berate me as I hydrated, and had choice words when I offered her the water bottle. Apparently, as USA 8125’s newly appointed Boat Safety Officer, I had chosen a bad time to take care of my insignificant need to hydrate.

Turning into the New Pass Channel back into Sarasota Bay we saw some of the biggest rollers of the day. This seemed to me to be a great time to practice gybing on top of a wave. It was an incredible, beautiful gybe.  Once it happened, we shot off into the Channel, only to come to a screeching stop as the breeze shut off a couple houses into the New Pass Channel.

Lizzie, now enjoying her role as Boat Safety Officer, deemed it an appropriate time to engage in personal care such as hydration and chapstick/sunblock application, and informed me as such. This felt like a good time to let Lizzie know that the outhaul wasn’t working, and that the rudder had been popping up. When we got to shore, I found that the 12 year-old outhaul line had broken where it was knotted into a hole in the boom. As for the rudder tie down, I’m not quite sure what happened there.

Once the rudder and outhaul were somewhat fixed, we launched the boat to honor Mark 12 for the finish and had an amazing reach out and back, hitting over 15 knots.

We completed our entire ten nautical mile trip around the island in just under an hour and a half. Over the next couple hours, boats came in one or two at a time. Notably, Lloyd Leonard showed up with a mast that had clearly met the bottom somewhere and lost. The tip of the mast was about two feet back from where it would normally be. Chris Gorton’s initial comment was along the lines of, “I’ve never fixed anything that bent.” However, Bruce rose to the challenge and a couple hours later, with the help of a couple palm trees and Tony Zakrajsek, it ended up respectably straight.

For our second day of racing, the plan was to engage in buoy racing using preset marks in the Bay. Breeze was in the mid-teens when we left the dock and stayed in the mid to low teens all day. Water was generally flat, but there were still small waves to deal with.

Once the right mark was found and all had congregated around it in preparation for the rabbit start, we had a slight delay to the start of the racing. The rabbit went down the hole. Specifically, Eva Hogan (USA 7970) dumped about a minute or two before the start and they spent some time enjoying the waters of Sarasota Bay. Once she hauled her crew back into the boat, we started.

And that’s when most of the fleet went to the wrong mark. Only The Bruces managed to get to the right mark. Everyone else was chasing Barney and someone else, when the fleet suddenly turned downwind, and not around a mark. 

This turned into a legit race, and once Lizzie and I got clear air, we popped ahead on a planning run, closing a gap between us and The Bruces. We rounded the windward mark in second, with a pretty significant lead over third, and managed to extend that lead upwind. Downwind we played an angle that kept us in between The Bruces and the fleet, resulting in a second-place finish.

The second race saw the wind die down a bit, but it was still pretty breezy, calling for a good amount of vang and the skipper and crew to hike. 

For this race we, along with the rest of the fleet, rounded the proper upwind mark. We were in third at the upwind rounding, headed down, playing the middle of the course with the intent to go down, when the bungee on the jib stick snapped. 

Luckily for us, the jib stick stayed in place and I was able to continue on our course downwind, ultimately rounding in second place at the downwind mark. However, there was an issue – what do we do upwind with the pole? There was no quick way to untie or move the pole. So I had Lizzie cut the pole line, which launched the pole right into the water. Oops.

Our second downwind was done college-style, with the skipper holding out the jib, and we quickly learned that the pole is essential for sailing deep angles in the Albacore. We went from second to seventh as a gaggle of boats passed us. We had to work around these boats, and ultimately got into a pinwheel at the downwind mark. There was a hole, a very, very tiny hole, just behind The Bruces and the windward boat that we punched in, did a crash tack onto starboard, accelerated away from The Bruces, and then got back on to the favoured port tack and rode a lift to a fourth-place finish. Racing was cancelled for Sunday because of the forecast (which turned out to be wrong).

Ultimately, the top three boats, Christine and Tony, Greg Jordan and crew, and myself and Lizzie, tied with a total of 6 points. 

This brought in the US Sailing tiebreaker rules, both of which had to be applied. Lining up the scores in order of best to worst finish, first place resulted in a tie since both Christine and I had a 2 and 4. The second tiebreaker rule counts results from the last race.

Final Results:

First Place – Christine and Tony Zakrajsek Second Place – Michael Heinsdorf and Lizzie Ellis Third Place – Greg Jordan and crew

2023 Midwinters Scores

2023 Regatta Schedule Is Out!

Don’t let your sailing schedule be slowed down this year!  With 14 boats already registered for Midwinters , the season is starting off strong!

Add the 2023 Schedule to Your Google Calendar

March 3/17-3/19:  Albacore Midwinters, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Sarasota, FL May 5/27-5/28:  Spring Regatta and Albacore Mid-Atlantic Championship, Potomac River Sailing Association, Alexandria, VA June 6/3-6/4:  Dave Irey, West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD 6/17-6/18: US National Championship, Miles River Yacht Club, St Michaels, MD July 7/8-7/9: 2023 Hampton Annual One Design Regatta, Hampton Yacht Club, Hampton, VA 7/15-7/16: Ontarios Championship, Hamilton Bay Sailing Club, Hamilton, Canada 7/22-7/23:  84th Annual One Design Regatta, Fishing Bay Yacht Club, Deltaville, VA 7/29-8/4: Albacore International Championship, South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, Abersoch, UK August 8/5-8/6:  Governor’s Cup, Ware River Yacht Club, Glouchester, VA September  9/1:  Long Distance Race (SSA to WRSC), West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD 9/2-9/3:  Bill Heinz Memorial Regatta, West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD 9/15-9/17:  Canadian National Championship, Thornbury Yacht Club, Thornbury, Canada 9/24-9/25:  President’s / Cantina Cup, Potomac River Sailing Association, Alexandria, VA October 10/7-10/9:  North American Championship, Miles River Yacht Club, St Michaels, MD 10/14-10/15:  Corsica Annual One Design Regatta, Corsica River Yacht Club, Centerville, MD

2023 Albacore Midwinters in Sarasota March 17-19

UPDATE: SSS has cancelled the event due to the Red Tide, but USAA is currently looking into where else to host the event.  Hopefully we will still be able to hold the event.

Sarasota Sailing Squadron will be hosting the Albacores for Midwinters again in 2023.  Start making your plans now.

Sadly camping at the club will not be allowed so book your hotels early to get a good price!

Sarasota Sailing Squadron will host the Annual One Design Midwinter Regatta March 17th through March 19th. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the E-Scow Class, they will be joined on the bay by the Melges 14 and Albacores. Other One Design Fleets with 5 or more paid registrations are welcome to participate. Sarasota Sailing Squadron offers some of the best sailing on Florida’s West Coast and we are happy to offer a venue for one design racing.

Registration is now open and available online via Regatta Network. 

NOR can be found here.

See everyone there!

2022 US National Championship Results

Like many sailors, I was looking forward to a full albacore race schedule after a long interruption. This year certainly did not disappoint.

I started sailing albacores 7 years ago, and turned to racing that same summer. It was the perfect outlet for my competitive alter-ego. I was fortunate that my albacore racing started in Toronto, where you would regularly find approximately 40 albacores on a Friday start line. Race trainings were on Mondays, where we would learn about the power of being on starboard, how to roll tack like your life depended on it, and how to play with all the colourful lines till the boat moved.

As I participated in more regattas, I met sailors from the US and the UK, and travel regattas became the main topic of conversation. I eased my way in with regattas close to Toronto, and slowly ventured further afield until I found myself in Shelbourne, Nova Scotia for the Albacore Internationals in 2019, with sailors from Canada, the US, and UK: 94 fellow ‘Athlete- Competitors’ (as we are known in Nova Scotia). This event was a hint of how much fun travel regattas could be. Clearly, 2020 was going to be even better.

2020 and 2021 were so much fun, there’s no space to mention them here, so let’s skip forward to US National Championships 2022 hosted in Rock Hall, Maryland.

The first day was gloomy and windy. On our way out to the race course, our new scenery included a duck blind, crab pots and hundreds of questionable jellyfish. We promptly adjusted to survival sailing for the shifty winds and quickly discovered the effects of current.

The second day was sunny and windy. There were five races, Barney and Ernest won four.

The third day was sunny and un-windy. There is nothing we can be more thankful for than an incredible race committee who knows when not to send the fleet out on the water. The day started with a well supported AP flag until a light breeze trickled our way. We ultimately drifted our way through 2 races before we were back on shore for awards.

Congratulations to Barney Harris and Ernest Ayukawa for the victory! In addition to Barney’s well-deserved win, he went above and beyond, towing 4 albacores to Rock Hall for 3 other teams from the US, Canada and the UK. I am very grateful he graciously lent me and my amazing helm (Stephanie Stalinski) a boat for this event. Thank you to the volunteers, staff and race committee at Rock Hall who made this such an enjoyable experience! This weekend contained many firsts for me. First time travelling to the United States for a regatta. First time sailing a boat decked out by Barney. First time sailing an Ontario Yacht albacore. For anyone who has been racing for 1-2 years, travel regattas are incredible opportunities to develop memorable experiences with new friends and broaden your sailing skills. There will be another full schedule of racing next year and you can find the racing schedule for Canada here, the US here, and the UK here.

See you on the start line!

Check out photos from the event!

Check out the Sail-World Article!

Planning for the 2023 season is already under way, with the 2023 International Championship being held in Abersoch. If you’re interested in joining this fun fleet, get in touch because there are lots of boats out there waiting to be raced.

Winners: 1st and President’s Trophy: Barney Harris and Ernest Ayukawa 2nd: Raines Koby and Stephanie Mah 3rd: Marty Minot and Jordan Minot Bob Harwood Challenger Fleet Winner: Stephanie Stalinski and Mabel Chan Bill Shore Trophy (Top Woman Helm): Anna Sepko Roger Thomas Senior Trophy (Combined age over 110, not in top 3): Marty Hublitz and Lars Rathjen Most Improved Helm: Eva Hogan Endurance Award: Elvin Aponte and Willy Bresee

Albacore Sailing Dinghy. Racing, cruising, or learning to sail it's the boat for you!

© Copyright Simon Richards and Newburgh Sailing Club 2024

The Albacore - Designer: Uffa Fox

“The only successful boat ever designed by a committee,” is how former Olympic sailor and chief salesman at Fairey Marine Charles Curry once described the National Albacore. Unlike its predecessors, the Firefly and the Swordfish, this 15- footer, launched in 1954, was not designed by Uffa Fox per se , but was in fact an amalgam of ideas from other boats built at the time by Fairey Marine, brought together by the company as a replacement for an unpopular design.

Birth of the Alabacore The unpopular boat in question was the 15ft (4.6m) Swordfish which had been designed in 1946 by Uffa Fox as a larger version of the Firefly. Despite an obvious demand for such a design, it had proved unsuccessful due to its heaviness, lack of freeboard aft and price, but it was this design that was used as the basis for the Albacore. Length overall, beam and sail area were kept the same, but the hull was tweaked to produce more freeboard and more strength in the aft sections. Hull sections from the Firefly were incorporated, too, as were the mast and mainsail from another Fairey design, the 14ft (4.3m) Gannet.

Canadian Influence

Within a year, 30 boats had been built on the production line at Fairey Marine. By 1956 interest had been sparked abroad, too. Hyannis Port YC in Massachusetts was the first overseas club to introduce a fleet when it imported 16 Fairey- built Albacores; it was soon followed by the Royal Canadian YC, which used the class for its junior sail training.

Its popularity quickly spread in Canada, more so than anywhere else in the world – over the past 52 years, 6,200 of the 8,100- plus Albacores built have been based or built there. There are now established fleets in seven countries worldwide, including one in Cyprus.

Hot Stuff As with all Fairey Marine designs, the early Albacores were constructed from three veneers of hot- moulded agba. The MkI, of which 700 were built, had an aft deck and bench seats with buoyancy bags beneath and was built until 1964.

Following a fire at Fairey Marine, during which the MkI moulds were lost, the MkII was launched. This differed only slightly from its predecessor and around 1,000 were built before production ceased in 1969. Kit versions were also produced at this time, some of which were fitted out by JD Young and others by amateur boatbuilders.

The GRP & FRP Albacore

The first GRP Albacore was built by Whitby Boat Works in Ontario, Canada, in 1961 (see sidebar); since then construction has kept pace with modern techniques. Aldridge- based Speed Sails, which took over production from Jack Holt in 1997, is now the sole UK Albacore builder, and uses epoxy foam sandwich construction.

Restricted Design

Like the Firefly, the Albacore is a restricted design, which means that although strict rules govern the hull shape and sail plan there is a reasonable amount of flexibility in how the boats are fitted out. The hull shape has evolved over the years, however, with the latest design including built- in side and bow buoyancy tanks and no aft deck. On the water, the Albacore, with its plumb stem, round bilges and flat sections aft, is a lively and capable racer. In 10 knots of breeze, it can easily get up on the plane and provide an exhilarating ride for its two crew.

Compared with the Firefly, it offers a slightly more stable,  predictable performance, but not at the expense of speed. It is still one of the fastest non- spinnaker designs on the market.

Biplane name

The design was named after the Fairey Albacore, a single- engined, torpedo bomber biplane Fairey- built, 1940- 1944.

A new Albacore from Speed Sails costs around £8,995. Second- hand Albacores can be picked up for as little as £400, but up to around £7,000 for a high- spec glassfibre boat in good racing condition.

Albacore challenge

At 15 feet in length and 240 pounds hull weight, the Albacore is a great first boat for those who are just learning to sail and a very competive racer for more advanced sailors. The Albacore is a fast and lively boat while being relatively easy to learn to sail and race. Swept spreaders supporting a tapered mast with a powerful vang and adjustable sail controls allow a crew to depower in high winds - enabling both light and heavy crews to race head to head A very versatile boat, it is often sailed by husband/wife and parent child combinations. Some of the all women teams are the most competitive in the class. Those looking for a simple to learn, yet high performance sailing dinghy can join the ranks of Albacore sailors who come from all walks of life and range in age from teenagers to masters pushing 80 years of experience.

The Albacore is a boat that is both simple to get into at first, and one which will challenge your tuning and tactical skills for the rest of your life.

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• Sailboat Guide

Albacore is a 14 ′ 11 ″ / 4.6 m monohull sailboat designed by Uffa Fox and Greg Gregory and built by Fairey Marine Ltd, Grampian Marine, O'Day Corp., Russell Marine Ltd., Ontario Yachts, Ovington Boats Ltd., Lockley Newport Boats, Gmach & Co. Ltd. (J. L. Gmach & Co.), Skene Boats Ltd., and Koma Boats Ltd. starting in 1954.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

A development of the original Fairey Marine SWORDFISH. The ALBACORE has remained one of the most active classes in the world well into the 21st century.

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The $tingy Sailor

Diy trailerable sailboat restoration and improvement without throwing your budget overboard.

How to Rig a Cruising Spinnaker in 4 Stingy Stages

If you don’t have a spinnaker for your sailboat yet, aren’t you a little envious of those big, colorful, billowing sails you sometimes see at your favorite cruising spots? Nothing says, “Yeah, we’ve got this!” quite like a racing or cruising spinnaker. It’s as though the sailboat is puffing its chest out with confidence and strength. No wonder it’s called the fun sail.

In this post, I describe the strategy I used to get started with an asymmetrical spinnaker. You can use the same strategy with a symmetrical spinnaker but the cost is higher due to the required whisker pole and its control lines.

If spinnaker envy has really gotten to you, then you’ve also seen the cost of rigging a spinnaker. You can easily spend as much for the hardware and control lines as for the sail itself. When you consider that you can only use a spinnaker for a few points of sail, it can easily seem like a luxury that is out of reach of the average trailer sailor, not to mention a stingy sailor.

That’s not the whole truth. An asymmetrical spinnaker (also called a gennaker – a cross between a genoa and a symmetrical spinnaker) is definitely an optional upgrade. You can sail without one everywhere that a spinnaker can go, just not as fast or with as much style (and fun!) But it’s not as expensive to get started as you might think and you can upgrade your spinnaker rigging in stages as you get more experience with the sail and want to get the most enjoyment out of it.

The strategy I’m going to describe isn’t my invention. I picked up the basic idea from Dale Mack that appeared in the Technical Tips section of the March 2002 edition of the Catalina 22 Fleet 20 newsletter. But I’ve added a few stingy twists on it that reduce the cost by integrating a spinnaker with my existing rigging on Summer Dance .

The four stages of stingy spinnaker rigging are:

• Start with a used sail and reuse your existing running rigging. You don’t absolutely need more lines or hardware. It’s not as convenient as full rigging, but it works to get started.
• Add a dedicated spinnaker sheet (or two) to swap headsails quicker and to make gybing the spinnaker in front of the forestay possible. Also add turning blocks to lead the sheets.
• Add a dedicated spinnaker halyard and block to swap headsails even quicker and to prevent chafing the jib halyard. Modify your  headsail downhaul  line if you have one, to work double duty as a spinnaker tack line.
• Add a spinnaker sock (also called a snuffer) and a launch bag (also called a turtle) for quicker, easier, dousing and storage.

Stingy stage 1 – Sail only

You can start learning to fly an asymmetrical spinnaker with just the sail. That is what I did the first year I had my spinnaker. In a nutshell, you use the spinnaker as though it were just another headsail – a very large genoa.

New spinnakers are expensive but there a lots of used ones for sale online. Most spinnakers don’t get used a lot and they don’t blow out like regular sails, so even older spinnakers are often in excellent condition and still very usable. Look for a sail from a reputable loft that is the right size for your sailboat, has no rips or they have been professionally repaired, no dye transfer stains from being stored improperly, and strong stitching. As an example, I purchased a like-new Gleason Sails asymmetrical spinnaker with a launch bag and snuffer for $400 on eBay.

The dimensions of a C-22 (standard rig) asymmetrical spinnaker are 25.69′ (luff), 13.2′ (foot), 23.63′ (leech). That gives you about 250 sq. ft. of sail area, as much as your mainsail and a 150 genoa combined, but it’s all at the bow and high off the water. If you don’t know the right dimensions for your sailboat, you can look it up online in the Sailrite Sail Plan Database .

Flying a spinnaker like a normal headsail means you attach the tack to the stem fitting or headsail pendant just like your genoa. Having a pendant is definitely a plus with a spinnaker. Depending on its cut, most spinnakers are designed to fly higher off the deck then a regular headsail and they don’t work as well if flown low or bent over a pulpit rail. What you give up by not having a spinnaker tack line is the ability to adjust the height and fullness of the spinnaker for different conditions. But at this stage, you’re just working on getting the sail launched, set, gybed, and doused without destroying it.

Attach the head of the spinnaker to your jib halyard and hoist it normally. You won’t use your other headsails at the same time with the spinnaker and the jib halyard is almost identical to a spinnaker halyard, so you might as well use it. The disadvantage is the jib halyard will chafe against the forestay when the spinnaker is flying out in front of the forestay, particularly when the spinnaker is on the opposite side of the forestay from the halyard. But if you only fly the spinnaker occasionally and in light air conditions like spinnakers are intended for, the chafing will be negligible. And if you follow this strategy to the third stage, you’ll add a dedicated spinnaker halyard that eliminates that chafing.

Attach the clew of the spinnaker to your longest jib sheet(s). What you give up by starting with jib sheets is the length you need to gybe the spinnaker in front of the forestay. Instead, you’ll have to learn the more difficult art of gybing the spinnaker between the forestay and the mast just like a jib or genoa. You probably already know how to do this well with a jib or genoa, but a spinnaker is typically double the square footage of a jib and much taller. Squeezing all that cloth behind the forestay while running downwind without wrapping it around the forestay is a trick that doesn’t come easy but it can be done.

Practice, practice, practice. A spinnaker is also more delicate than other headsails. It’s made of lightweight nylon instead of heavier, more durable Dacron. It doesn’t take much to snag and rip a spinnaker, so be extra careful.

Spinnaker sheets need to lead as far aft on the sailboat as practicable so the spinnaker can open as wide and as high as possible. The typical spinnaker setup has turning blocks on the aft corners of the sailboat that lead the sheets forward to the primary winches. As a temporary solution, you can use the holes or aft ears of your mooring cleats.

The cleats add friction to trimming the spinnaker but because they’re only used in light air, the friction is manageable.

In this stage, you have a functional cruising spinnaker that reuses your existing rigging with acceptable compromises – good enough to start having fun flying a spinnaker in light air on downwind runs.

Stingy stage 2 – Add sheets and turning blocks

The goal of stage 2 is to allow you to gybe the spinnaker in front of the forestay. For that, you need much longer sheets than for a regular headsail, typically 2x the boat length for each sheet if you rig separate sheets for port and starboard. Figure 4x the boat length for a single sheet attached by a knot in the middle to the spinnaker clew. For a C-22, that’s 85′-90′ total.

Choose a lightweight rope to reduce the weight pulling down on the sail. Also choose a rope with low stretch for its size. When you have 30′-40′ of sheet under a load, every percent of stretch absorbs some of the force that would otherwise propel your sailboat forward. For Summer Dance , I chose 90′ of 1/4″ New England Ropes Sta Set.

Lead your dedicated spinnaker sheet(s) outside of the forestay, lifeline stanchions, and all other obstructions aft to the mooring cleats or turning blocks if you have them. Use the toerail to hold them on the deck when they’re not in use. When you gybe the spinnaker, the sheets need to run suspended in mid-air only by the clew while the spinnaker flies out front of the boat (remember, you’re running downwind). I recommend you attach the sheet(s) to the clew with a DIY soft shackle .

TIP: When you’re gybing, don’t let the lazy sheet run so slack that it falls in the water and gets swept under the boat. It can foul around the keel or the outboard prop. Contrary to the rule of always tying stopper knots in the ends of your sheets and control lines to keep them from accidentally slipping out of their cleats or clutches, do NOT tie them in the spinnaker sheets. If you lose control of the spinnaker in moderate winds, it could cause a knockdown. It’s better to let the sheets run out of the turning blocks and keep the sailboat upright while you get the spinnaker back under control.

Now is a good time to add spinnaker sheet turning blocks so that you can stop using the mooring cleats. Turning blocks virtually eliminate all friction on the sheets and make gybing the spinnaker faster and smoother. These turning blocks are typically stand-up blocks on pads attached to the top of the coamings as far aft as practicable. You can also use cheek blocks or other types depending on where and how you want to mount them. Whatever type you choose, they need to allow the sheets to run freely between the clew and the winches regardless of which side of the sailboat the spinnaker is on.

TIP: If you have any ambitions about racing with a spinnaker or you’re just performance minded, consider using ratcheting turning blocks. They will let you manually play the air pressure on the sail but also temporarily lock in place so you don’t have to hold all of the pull on the sheets.

The $tingy Sailor mantra is to keep costs minimal, of course. That includes avoiding drilling extraneous holes and installing hardware that doesn’t get used most of the time. So instead of permanently mounting stand-up blocks on the aft coamings that will get in the way when they’re not being used, I chose to attach web blocks to the aft mooring cleats with continuous loops of 5/32″ Dyneema that I spliced myself. That places the blocks at least as far aft as stand-up blocks and even farther outboard.

I girth hitch the loops to both the blocks and the cleats. This lets me remove the blocks easily when they’re not needed. It also makes them reusable almost anywhere I need a temporary block. Since the loads are relatively low, I chose plastic blocks which, combined with the Dyneema loops, are half the price of stainless steel stand-up blocks and work just as well.

In this stage, you have a functional cruising spinnaker that still reuses your jib halyard. But since you have dedicated sheets, you can gybe the sail out front of the forestay, which is easier and safer.

Stingy stage 3 – Add a spinnaker halyard and masthead block

This stage solves the problem of chafing caused by reusing the jib halyard. As you can see in the following drawing, when the jib halyard runs under the forestay pin and then in front of the forestay, it can make a quarter turn around the forestay. It can also chafe on the masthead itself because of the distance between the sheave and where the halyard exits to the spinnaker. You can reduce the chafing a bit until you add a masthead block by attaching your forestay to the top front pin in the masthead instead of the usual, lower pin but the best solution is a dedicated spinnaker halyard and masthead block.

A dedicated halyard lets you run it completely outside of the masthead and places it above and in front of the forestay. In that position, the halyard has a fair lead between the block and the sail regardless of which side the sail is on. The spinnaker halyard can chafe a bit below the block where it crosses the forestay when the sail is on the opposite side, but the wear is negligible. As a bonus, you can leave the jib halyard attached to the jib or genoa tied down to the deck while you’re flying the spinnaker. Then when you douse the spinnaker, you can immediately hoist the lazy headsail without having to change the halyard over first.

To rig a spinnaker halyard, you have to install a block at the masthead. I chose a standard 40mm plastic block but extended it with a second, long D shackle to attach it to the top front masthead pin. You can also use a rigging toggle. The important thing is that the block must be able to swing both up and down and also to port and starboard.

For the most freedom of movement, install a spinnaker crane on the masthead to move the halyard block even farther away from the forestay.

The spinnaker halyard should be low-stretch and at least 2x the mast height, longer if your control lines run aft to the cockpit. For Summer Dance , I chose 60′ of 1/4″ New England Ropes Sta Set. It was when I added the spinnaker halyard that I was glad that I had the foresight to install triple deck organizers in my  lines led aft project. I had an unused sheave just waiting to be put to work and all I had to add was a cleat at the cockpit bulkhead.

Once you have a spinnaker halyard rigged to hoist the spinnaker, you don’t have a lot of control over the shape and height of the sail besides with the sheets. Unlike other headsails that work like an airplane wing and you want to trim them flat and tight most of the time, a spinnaker works more like a parachute (they’re sometimes called chutes) and you want it to open full and round — more so when running dead downwind, less so when slightly reaching. You can’t do that well in all conditions when the tack or the head are in fixed positions. For the best control and performance, you want to be able to let the tack rise well up off the deck.

Usually, a sailboat is rigged with a dedicated spinnaker tack line for this. But if you rig a proper  headsail downhaul line, you can get double duty out of it. After you douse the jib in preparation for hoisting the spinnaker, detach the downhaul line from the jib and attach it to the tack of the spinnaker. (I typically don’t reave the downhaul line through the jib hanks as is sometimes recommended. If you do, you’ll want to unreave it to use it with the spinnaker). If you don’t have a headsail downhaul line, a headsail pendant  helps but isn’t adjustable.

For the best speed, adjust the spinnaker tack line (downhaul line) and the spinnaker sheet until you get the spinnaker as full and high as possible.

In this stage, you’ve got a fully adjustable cruising spinnaker with dedicated rigging that makes changing between the spinnaker and your regular headsails relatively easy. But there’s one more stage that can make it even faster and easier.

Stingy stage 4 – Add a turtle and snuffer

A spinnaker is the largest sail you’ll ever use on your sailboat. It can be unwieldy until you learn its peculiar behavior and how to fly it well. Even dousing it can be sketchy, especially if you sail single-handed. There are two accessories that you can add to help you get a handle on all that Nylon — a launch bag (turtle) and a sock (snuffer).

You’re going to need a sail bag to store your spinnaker in anyway, but the right bag can actually help you to launch and retrieve the sail too. A launch bag (also called a turtle) is a sail bag that has straps or clips (the legs of the turtle) sewn into the bottom or side of the bag. These let you attach the bag to the foredeck to hold it in place while you rig and launch the sail. You can concentrate on rigging the sail while the bag keeps it secure and contained. Some launch bags (like the one shown below) also have a hoop sewn into the top of the bag that helps to hold the bag open while you stuff the sail back in.

Spinnaker sail cloth is so light that almost any breeze will catch in it. But you don’t want the sail to fill while you’re attaching the rigging or before you get the sail hoisted into place. A snuffer (also called a sock) can help.

A snuffer is a long tube of Nylon cloth that slides over the spinnaker and squeezes it closed to “snuff” it. It attaches between the halyard and the sail head with a turning block and becket and it has a hard ring or collar on the bottom that holds the snuffer open and acts as a funnel to squeeze the sail inside. It’s rigged with a loop of line that begins and ends at the collar and runs through the turning block. The loop works like a window shade cord. When you pull down on one side of the loop, it pulls the collar of the snuffer down over the spinnaker to collapse it before you lower the sail. After you hoist the sail, you pull the opposite side of the same line (around the turning block) to compress the tube above the spinnaker and open it.

My spinnaker came with a Chutescoop snuffer when I bought it. It’s really helpful for getting the sail in and out of the launch bag quickly without fouling the sail or the rigging.

Handling the spinnaker single-handed would usually be a train wreck without it.

If you make it to stage 4, you’ve got a fully rigged cruising spinnaker that’s easy to launch, control, and retrieve. If you divide your rigging expenses into the stingy stages like I’ve described in this post, you can spread your purchases out over time with the highest priority ones first and the convenience items last.

I followed this strategy with Summer Dance and spread my rigging out over two years. Now I look for every opportunity I can to fly the spinnaker, even single-handed. It’s amazing how fast Summer Dance can cruise downwind in light air with just the spinnaker. With the other sails doused, the sky is open above and the view is clear all around. The sail’s colors turn an ordinary day on the water into a celebration. That’s when I like to say, “Yeah, I’ve got this!”

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41 thoughts on “ how to rig a cruising spinnaker in 4 stingy stages ”.

I have a symmetrical spinnaker that came with my boat. It looks like it has never been used. I have the blocks and lines for it, but no spinnaker pole, so I have never used it. They also intimidate me.

I was hesitant about trying a spinnaker in the beginning too, basically because of the complexity of the symmetrical spinnaker rigging, which pretty much needs two people to handle. When I learned how asymmetrical spinnakers work and that they can be flown single-handed, I decided to give it a try. It’s more work than a regular headsail but worth it, in my opinion.

Maybe you could find someone in your local club with a pole that would be willing to show you how to use yours. Then you could decide whether you want to get deeper into it, store it away for the next owner, or maybe sell it to pay for something you would use more.

Yeah, I am planning to meet up with the local trailer sailer club, so I’ll see what happens. There are always more things to buy! I would like a whisker pole so I can run wing and wing. I was speaking to a local yachty and he reckons for my 16ft, I could use a boat hook as a whisker pole. He says he has done so in light air on his 35ft keelboat. I haven’t bothered yet because my local waterway (Gold Coast Broadwater in Queensland, Australia), despite the name, isn’t that broad and seldom do we get a long enough stretch to warrant it.

Seems like it will never end, huh?

The boat hook is a great idea if it’s long enough for you. I love getting multiple uses out of gear. Have you tried running wing and wing without a pole? I do it sometimes when I don’t feel like putting up the spinnaker. It can be tricky to keep one wing from collapsing if you have shifty winds, but when it works, it works well and it takes no time at all to bear off to a reach when you run out of water.

For some reason I can’t reply to your later comment. It must be some sort of nesting issue. Anyway, I’m replying here! Where I usually sail, suffers a lot from shifting winds. The prevailing winds are usually SE, but we can get more S or more E randomly from moment to moment, so I find it hard to keep the headsail from collapsing.

Ah, that’d do it, then.

Looks like you have a very cool place to sail down there so long as you don’t run aground, especially exploring up north? I imagine there are a lot of sand bars to watch out for but great beaches for camping and the barbie, eh?

Yes, it’s a lovely spot. There are council run campgrounds on North and South Stradbroke Islands which are reasonable priced, but as you can imagine, they are very popular. If you stick to the channel, you’re pretty safe, but we have hit the swing keel on the occasional sand shoal by pushing it a little far. 😉 And on a very low tide, certain boat ramps can be difficult to manouvre back to even with the keel wound up, but for a nominal fee, we have started using a local marina’s ramp, which is much easier, and even features pontoons for a nice dry launch and retrieve.

If the $tingy Sailor world tour ever makes it down there, that will be high on my list of places to visit!

Another great article, Thanks! I am considering mounting my 50 W Solar Panel on the Bow Pulpit because I will relocate my battery forward, this way I have a way shorter wire run to charge the battery vice having the panel on the stern. I typically won’t have the Panel mounted while sailing, but if it were I am wondering if it could interfere with headsail function in any way or launching/dousing the Spinnaker. What do you think?

It would definitely be in the way up front. Have you considered on the cabin top in front of the mast? That’s about the only semi-safe spot forward of the stern unless you don’t have a pop top. Then on top of the hatch would be better, in my opinion. Depends on the panel size and how you want to attach it. If I was going to have a portable panel, I’d probably go with suction cups and stick it on top of the cabin somewhere. Running the leads to your charge controller without them getting in the way will be a trick too. All reasons why I’m glad I don’t have one and that my outboard alternator provides all the charging I need.

I have recently started using an 18W solar panel which I attach to my sliding hatch with outdoor velcro. I sized the panel specifically to fit lengthways on one half of the hatch, so that I can add another beside it in parallel. That way when one is shaded by a sail, the other will hopefully be putting out full power, which would result in more power output than a single partly shaded larger panel. I am currently testing the setup in my front yard with the newly installed VHF in standby mode. I have tested it with only a smartphone GPS running while sailing last week, but my radio licence arrived while I was away, so the frontyard test it is.

Our “new” boat (Seaward Fox) came with all the hardware but no spinnaker. You broke this down so well. Great pictures and instructions.

First time discovering your site. Nice job on the Spinnaker project.

I completed a similar project on my Montgomery 15. Only difference I wanted to ease the single handed process of jibing the sail so built a bowsprit out of a piece of 1.5 inch aluminum pipe I acquired from our local metal yard. At first I lashed the pipe to the bow and fore-deck cleat to test the design. It worked. So I had a metal shop modify my bow plate, adding a stainless tube to the plate. Now the bowsprit slips through the bow plate tube and is lashed to the fore-deck cleat. The sail tack extends from the end of the bowsprit and is about 2.5 feet in front of the boat. This gives plenty of room to tack the sail in front of the fore stay.

I know this is late but another great article that speaks to my particular style of sailing. One of the things I’m trying to figure out is how to attach the tack of my A sail when I have a furler drum. If the tack line is adjustable how do you lead it to the cockpit? I’m also little fuzzy on how the turtle and snuffer are rigged. Do you need to attach even more hardware to the top of the mast for them? Where do the control lines go? I was planning on installing a sheave block above the jib halyard so I could have the A sail halyard led to the cockpit.

Thanks for your questions. I’ll try to clarify those points a bit more here.

The tack line on my boat is also my headsail downhaul line. It serves both purposes with one line; as a downhaul when I’m flying my jib or genoa or as the spinnaker tack line when I’m flying it. I never need it for both purposes at the same time. The jib or genoa block the spinnaker too much to fly them at the same time. If you look at my Headsail downhaul solution post, you can see how I have it rigged and how it can work around your furler. However, I have it rigged slightly differently these days now that I have a spinnaker. The stanchion cleat isn’t strong enough for a tack line so, instead of it running to the cockpit through a fairlead at a stanchion base at the edge of the deck, I now run it straight back from the pulpit turning block, through a fairlead mounted in front of my port side deck organizer, and dead end it in a fairlead clam cleat just in front of my cam cleats on the cabin top. I also moved the pulpit turning block from the aft base to the forward base. You can see that in the first picture in Quit spending setup time on turnbuckles .

The turtle bag is just clipped to the pulpit bases on both sides with utility carabiners. They hold it on the deck so that it doesn’t roll overboard and so that it can stay on the foredeck while I’m sailing. When I’m ready to douse the spinnaker back into it, it’s already in place and I don’t have to carry it back to the foredeck.

The snuffer attaches in between the spinnaker halyard shackle and the spinnaker head grommet. Without a snuffer, you would attach the shackle directly to the grommet. The snuffer just sits in between them. That’s what you’re seeing in the last picture of the post. There’s no new hardware needed at the masthead for it.

You do need a block above the jib halyard to run your spinnaker halyard through if you aren’t going to use your jib halyard for the spinnaker like I describe in stage 1. The spinnaker halyard should run to the cockpit parallel to your jib halyard and dead end in its own cleat. You essentially have two headsail halyards that are identical except at the masthead where one is above the other so that it can fly its sail in front of the other, not to one side.

I hope that answers your questions. If not, let me know either here in an email sent from the Contact page.

I just acquired a 1982 Macgregor 22 with a mainsail, jib and spinnaker (with spinnaker pole) and look forward to trying this addition to my arsenal. I have a question on the photograph of your masthead. My boat does not have a masthead assembly but is open revealing a hollow mast. All standing rigging is secured via steel straps secured to the top of the boom. Is your masthead OEM to the boat is an aftermarket item. If aftermarket, where can it be purchased? I’ve tried unsuccessfully hence the question.

My masthead is original for a C-22. If the top of your mast looks like the first picture below, then you’ll need something like in the second picture to hang your spinnaker halyard block from.

Also ask around in the Macgregor forums online. I’m sure those guys know the best way to rig your spinnaker. I’m not as familiar with your boat as I am with C-22s.

Thanks for your question!

Hi, thanks for the great article. I’m using a NorthSail G2 cruising spin on my C22 and love it – super flexible and gives me some speed in light air. Once quick question. In the photo of your tack pendant it looks like you have it rigged inside the pulpit. Is there a reason for that?

robert ouimet madsu http://www.madsu.ca

The picture in this article shows the headsail downhaul used as the spinnaker tack line like I describe in Install a Double Duty Headsail Downhaul so it’s usually inside the pulpit. It could also run in front of the pulpit. With my spinnaker, it just depends on how high and forward it’s flying for the current conditions. If the air is really light, it works best inside the pulpit. In moderate air when it flies fuller in the top half but almost dead downwind, it would work better outside the pulpit. Either way works.

When I have the jib or genoa on, the same line reverts back to use as the downhaul and I attach those sails to a 24″ pendant that I describe in How to Raise Your Foresail with a Pendant .

What size turning blocks did you use for your 1/4″ sheets? I couldn’t tell for sure from the photos. Are 30mm blocks large enough for smooth operation with the nearly 180-degree turn? Or would it be better to size up to 40mm? (as best I can tell, the sheet loads should be low enough that either size will be fine for strength)

I use 40mm blocks for halyards and sheets. They’re easier to handle with gloves on.

Thanks. I think I’ll do the same.

Another excellent, very informative and helpful article. Thank you for investing the time to put this together.

Hi! Wonderful report and wonderful boat!

In a similar way, we do so:

We are in the same boat; his name is “safety & simplicity”.

Best regards!

Pepe Prego Malaga (SPAIN)

Hi Mr Stingy … Thanks for the spinnaker post. Can you help with a couple of questions – I found a cheap spinnaker with the dimensions 20ft luff, 16ft foot, and 20 ft leech. Do you think it will work for me? I’m still searching for a snuffer. Also, could you provide a link to purchase the ‘a continuous loop of Dyneema’ described in the post. Many thanks, love the website. Take care, J.

Those dimensions are short and a bit fat for the C-22. Around 25′ luff/leech and 14′ foot is better. It will fly but it won’t work as well as it should and you’d probably end up disappointed with it. I don’t know of anywhere that sells premade Dyneema loops. I made them myself. Soft shackles would probably work depending on what blocks you put them on. You can find them for sale on Amazon, eBay, West Marine and elsewhere.

Hope that helps, $tingy

Very useful article! Thank you…

We love every edition! I’m trying to figure the best way to stow my rode and chain while cruising. I’ve looked at a couple of bags but they need to clip on to the bow pulpit and the one’s I’ve seen just have carrying straps. Ideas?

Check out Product Review: Bayco Kord Manager .

Thanks for your support, $tingy

I’ve crewed on bigger boats with a symmetrical spinnaker, and it definitely takes a coordinated effort to get it to fly right, Your description makes flying an asymmetrical spinnaker seem doable on my C-22, but in light winds, as you mentioned. Your photos and illustrations were very helpful and high quality. As always, enjoyed reading your posts. Thanks.

If you’re nervous about flying one of these on a small boat, I’d encourage you to go for it. They are easy to manage, just be prudent about when you’re going to hoist it and like any big sail, reef early. Beginners tend of oversheet them (like most sails) so learn to let that sail out until you see a bit of a buckle in the leach. Having the downhaul at the tack is really important for adjusting the shape of the sail as you change points of sail. Most cruising chutes don’t really like running dead down – they’re actually a reaching sail, but you can get them to work dead down. And also for beginners, the other thing to get used to is heading DOWN when the wind pipes up, not heading up. Your muscle memory is going to make you head up in the puffs, you want to do the opposite with a flying sail. Practice those gybes. Leave the main furled to make things easier, and just practice gybing until if feels normal. Most sailors gybe seldomly anyway, so spend some time doing it with this big sail – it’s loads of fun and really impressive for anyone watching. And if the wind comes up, head down, grab the dousing line, and within 20 seconds you’ll have that big sail sitting back in the bag on the foredeck.

thankyou for the advice. i love this site and your videos 🙂

And how does one use it?

Thanks, Charlie Barlow Tumwater, WA

Hi, Charlie

A cruising spinnaker is most useful when sailing not quite dead downwind, at those points of sail where regular headsails and the mainsail are not very efficient. See also How to fly an Asymmetrical Spinnaker .

Thank you looking forward to putting into practice on my Sonata 7m Trailer Sailer-Australia-am soaking Spinnaker as per your advice as l type)

Hello Stingy, just found you and subscribed 04 Dec 2021. We are Sailing4Smiles.com. We’re on a 1982 Cape Dory 36; SV Mingus. Currently in Titusville, FL having passaged from Indiantown, FL to Oriental,NC and working our way south again helping kids as much as we can during our travels. We’ll be Caribbean bound in Dec doing the same thing.

Fair winds on you passage to the Caribbean, Chuck. We’re all jealous!

Hi, love this article and will def try this in the new season. Have you made a spinnaker sock? I used your patterning for winch covers and they are fabulous! I think it must be very easy to make a sock – what do you think? thank you again!

Hi, Pauleen

Yes! Check out https://stingysailor.com/2020/05/23/sew-this-jib-sock-to-protect-your-furled-headsails/

Hi Stingy but helpful!

I am starting to understand how this all works. So helpful. Took me a while to find you but happy i persevered.

Having said that i find that both the photographs and the drawn diagram of the snuffer/sock don’t have enough resolution to zoom in enough.

I am having a hard time still figuring out the block/becket connection….to the snuffer? and then how the head of the spinnaker then connects to this mechanism and the role and position of the pendant.

Finally, how high off the bow does the tack typically fly? and how far forward? Is it just a matter of clearing the anchor pilot and stanchions?

Good resolution photos or drawings would really help! thanks again

Catherine from Lake Ontario

The block forms the upper end of the snuffer. It reverses the direction of the control line so that when you pull down on the line, it pulls the bottom of the sock upward, compressing it over the pendant. The pendant that you see sticking out of the snuffer in the last picture is just a spacer between the halyard shackle/snuffer block and the sail head. It keeps the compressed snuffer above the head of the sail, out of its way. Otherwise, it would pinch the top of the sail together. Not a big deal, but it prevents chafing.

The height of the tack varies depending on conditions, 3′ to 6′ or more, so it needs to be readily adjustable. You’ll always hoist the sail completely to the masthead, then adjust the tack line and sheets to maximize shape of the sail for the wind speed and direction.

Hope that helps!

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Albacore dinghy crews: response, please!

• Thread starter dancrane
• Start date 2 Mar 2012

Well-known member

As an increasingly keen fan of the Albacore's looks, solidity and layout, it came as a shock, to see the design fairly completely disliked by someone with significant experience of it. Here's the passage, by a chap called Craig. He's tall and not very heavy, by his own description: I will admit right away that I have a biased view toward the Albacore. The first dinghy I ever sailed was an Albacore, and besides a brief period where I sailed CL14s, I did almost all of my basic sail training in an Albacore. The Albacore has no trapeze or spinnaker, making it suitable for teaching beginners. The boat is also very unforgiving, which forces skillbuilding. Keeping the hull flat is very difficult; the boat seems to want to roll about 5 degrees from vertical before it settles down. The sail area of the Albacore is way too large for a crew of two with no trapeze. Even a crew of three can have a hard time controlling the rig, especially upwind. Most trapeze boats will leave an Albacore far behind when heading upwind because of this. Gybing in high winds can also be very interesting. Attempting to gybe an Albacore with the centreboard down will almost definitely turn it over in a most spectacular way. One look at an Albacore is all that is needed to see that it is a very old design. The boat has seat tanks separate from the gunwales, which is a design that has been mostly forgotten on newer boats. The tanks are too small for the volume of the hull, so the cockpit fills up with hundreds of litres of water during a capsize. The large volume of water actually helps with righting the boat, and makes it easier to climb back in, but bailing it out is a chore. On some hulls, such as those made by Ontario Yachts, the centreboard trunk allows water to come back in while it is being bailed. The water in the boat makes the auto bailers useless, because the boat cannot build up enough speed for them to work. The Albacore is not a good boat, by any measure. It is fast, in fact, it is rated as faster than a Laser, but keeping the big rig and unstable hull under control is difficult. It steps up onto a plane easily, and can get going so fast that the rudder becomes very sensitive to even the slightest input. High winds make an already fussy boat very deadly. The fear while sailing it is what makes it so exciting. I would probably not recommend an Albacore to someone, but I would recommend taking one out on a very windy day to have the unique Albacore experience. Well! Is that fair comment, or is it not? He makes the boat sound alarmingly twitchy and unnerving. Is it likely that his mainsail wasn't flat enough for upwind work in a stiff breeze? Isn't the Alb's rig tuneable to make it reasonably tame at such times? I'd like the truth - no point denying unpalatable facts. But is this really a fair summation of the Albacore's character? I don't race, so I had it in mind to add a trapeze, to aid keeping the boat upright. Slab reefs in the main too, and extra buoyancy tanks. (here's the link to the webpage where I read this) http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/sailing/dinghies  

Where's his loyalty? What I find most interesting about his critique is that the Albacore was one of the first if not the first of the boats he learned on. Most people seem to have a fondness for their first class of boat that makes them blind to its faults. I have never sailed an Albacore but he also described the 420 and the Laser which I have. As I agreed with his critiques of those I would have confidence in what he says about the Albacore. My brief experience with trapezes made me wonder why people seem to think there is some huge difficulty about them. I found trapezing way easier physically and skillfully than balancing any dinghy by hiking (including the Laser). I think just about all racing dinghies are twitchy and usually uncomfortable. If you are not going to race yours what do you want to use it for?  

I also learnt to sail in an Albacore as a crew and helm, also a Firefly which is much smaller and even more twitchy. I think his description is quite accurate, it is a very physical boat to sail fast and tiring on long upwind legs to keep the boat flat when the wind increases for the average size person, if you are 6ft and 14 stone maybe not so much of an issue. Who would crew for you, or more to the point for how long, I would not even consider one for casual sailing - it was a racing dinghy from the 50's. There has got to be more comfortable less stressful alternatives.  

You can't just go and put a trapeze on it, well I guess you could, but the rig fittings and wires won't be designed for the extra loads. If you are 14 st and planning on trapezing I think you may discover the weaknesses. Why slab reef a sail, I would say an albacore could be sailed in 25knts with full main, you just de power it. It is possible to sail most racing dinghies in up to 25knts with higher gusts but it gets hard work. If you are thinking of gentle sailing dinghy cruising then a far better boat is something like a wayfarer.  

Twister_Ken

Dan, It still hasn't sunk in has it? The Albie is from the dark ages of dinghy design. There are far better, more modern alternatives around. Have you stood on HISC balcony yet, on a race weekend, to see which boats go best to windward?  

One of the old boys in Benfleet Creek use to sail one single handed standing up. But he had small sails for it - an Enterprise mainsail IIRC.  

I think the comments are largely correct with just a little negativity to round them off. Given its age it sails pretty well. But that does bring require some techniques which more modern boats simply do not require. Most of these older boats can be difficult to sail dry after a capsize. Those still raced often have transom 'doors' fitted to try and improve that issue but they do hold a lot of water. The hull shape is much more 'rounded' and thatallied to the trailing rudder can make it very sensitive to large helm movements at speed. Again simply a feature of the shape. The performance comes from it have an easily driven hull with a goodly sized rig - with a modest beam yes it will need real effort to hold it up. Gybing with the board down will 'trip' the boat up - back in the day there was nothing funnier than forcing someone to gybe when you suspected they had too much board down.... I now sail a skiff type hull and the difference is like night and day. It is powerful with racks, its double skinned with a weighted centreboard - so it does not capsize, simpy dips a gunnel, then comes upright and the water flows out immediately. It is nearly impervious to anything you do with the rudder - apart from slowing it down when you use too much. Would I still buy and sail an Albacore - well I nearly did - until I spotted the Topper Breeze which I now own. More expensive certainly - but pretty near foolproof and much much faster. At the end of the day it is a 1950s design and has all of those features. If you want a modern skiff type then the Albacore cannot compete.  

Active member

FWIW. My experience from 45 years ago broadly mirrors that critique, but then I only weighed about 10 stone. Moved onto sliding seat Hornet, now that was a cracker!  

I used to crew an Alb when I was young (long ago). The first thing you need to appreciate is that this boat was designed a long time ago. Before even the invention of ply. The boat was designed to be cold-moulded with sheets of vaneer (which is to a large degree why it's the shape it is). Also it was around long before synthetic sail material and back then dinghy's did not plane. Trying to compare it with a modern design is like trying to compare a Morris Minor to a current Fiesta. Chalk & cheese. Alb's have lots of rocker and as such are very forgiving fore/aft in waves, and with their long w/l it also makes then quick in a drifter. Regarding the comment about the small tanks and filling-up with water when capsized, if they had more bouyancy, they would turn turtle whn they capsized and with their round hull shape would prove virtually impossible to right. This is a common critisism of a lot of modern boats and in the past few years there have been a number of fatalities from crews getting caught underneath the upturned hull. So given the choice which would you prefer, to bail or to die? Just my 4-pence worth.  

dancrane said: As an increasingly keen fan of the Albacore's looks, solidity and layout, it came as a shock, to see the design fairly completely disliked by someone with significant experience of it. Here's the passage, by a chap called Craig. He's tall and not very heavy, by his own description: I will admit right away that I have a biased view toward the Albacore. The first dinghy I ever sailed was an Albacore, and besides a brief period where I sailed CL14s, I did almost all of my basic sail training in an Albacore. The Albacore has no trapeze or spinnaker, making it suitable for teaching beginners. The boat is also very unforgiving, which forces skillbuilding. Keeping the hull flat is very difficult; the boat seems to want to roll about 5 degrees from vertical before it settles down. The sail area of the Albacore is way too large for a crew of two with no trapeze. Even a crew of three can have a hard time controlling the rig, especially upwind. Most trapeze boats will leave an Albacore far behind when heading upwind because of this. Gybing in high winds can also be very interesting. Attempting to gybe an Albacore with the centreboard down will almost definitely turn it over in a most spectacular way. One look at an Albacore is all that is needed to see that it is a very old design. The boat has seat tanks separate from the gunwales, which is a design that has been mostly forgotten on newer boats. The tanks are too small for the volume of the hull, so the cockpit fills up with hundreds of litres of water during a capsize. The large volume of water actually helps with righting the boat, and makes it easier to climb back in, but bailing it out is a chore. On some hulls, such as those made by Ontario Yachts, the centreboard trunk allows water to come back in while it is being bailed. The water in the boat makes the auto bailers useless, because the boat cannot build up enough speed for them to work. The Albacore is not a good boat, by any measure. It is fast, in fact, it is rated as faster than a Laser, but keeping the big rig and unstable hull under control is difficult. It steps up onto a plane easily, and can get going so fast that the rudder becomes very sensitive to even the slightest input. High winds make an already fussy boat very deadly. The fear while sailing it is what makes it so exciting. I would probably not recommend an Albacore to someone, but I would recommend taking one out on a very windy day to have the unique Albacore experience. Well! Is that fair comment, or is it not? He makes the boat sound alarmingly twitchy and unnerving. Is it likely that his mainsail wasn't flat enough for upwind work in a stiff breeze? Isn't the Alb's rig tuneable to make it reasonably tame at such times? I'd like the truth - no point denying unpalatable facts. But is this really a fair summation of the Albacore's character? I don't race, so I had it in mind to add a trapeze, to aid keeping the boat upright. Slab reefs in the main too, and extra buoyancy tanks. (here's the link to the webpage where I read this) http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/sailing/dinghies Click to expand...

From previous posts Dan it seems you want a dinghy that can be overcanvassed and trapezed. The faster sister to the Albacore would more than satisfy you; its the Jollyboat and built at about the same time as the Firefly(1948 olympic dinghy) and the Albacore. The Jollyboat is narrower than the Albacore and very fast with the trapeze,and of similar construction in moulded veneers. Uffa Fox designed all three and others, including the first planing dinghies National 12' and the International 14, also I believe a Merlin. I had one of his 12' Nationals and for a time, part-owned an Albacore which sailed very well downwind(no spinnaker and reduced centreboard (likewise when gybing reduced the board depth.) We never capsized her and went out in pretty strong stuff, but hated running by the lee goosewinged as she then rolled a lot. Most of the problems are the positioning of the crew weight on each point of sail, and our weights were a combined 21 stone. I would not regularly sail single handed in her. Southampton Sailing club usd to have a small fleet of these in the 80's. ianat182  

BobPrell said: If you are not going to race yours what do you want to use it for? Click to expand...

I've been passed by a few in 25+kts; they don't half shift off the wind in a blow! There's usually a good fleet of Albacores sailing at Holy Loch SC at the Polaris Regatta.  

Albi I think you will find that the Applecore, like the Firefly and Jollyboat were HOT moulded by Fairy Marine,and designed as such. Modern boats may be cold moulded, or GRP, but, they were not designed with these systems in mind... Sorry to be a pedant...  

dancrane said: ...I like to launch and sail away, actually explore a bit of coast. Not necessarily returning same day. Perhaps I must accept that I do want something like a Wayfarer. That solution would be easier to arrive at, if most dinghy sailors weren't pathologically derisive about the Wayfarer! Click to expand...

Hmm...the catamaran solution may be a step too far in the opposite direction! Congrats on spirited passagemaking though.  

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How To Rig, Set Up & Hoist a Spinnaker: Full Guide

It's a beautiful, sunny day. You're sailing upwind, and all around you colorful spinnakers fill and flutter as boats sail the other way. Wouldn't it be nice to break that sail out of the bag for the ride back down wind?

How do you rig, set up and hoist a spinnaker?

• Prepare the kite by finding the corner and making sure the sail isn't twisted
• Run your spinnaker sheets and guys before attaching to tack and clew
• Attach the halyard to the head, make sure it is outside the headstay
• Set the pole by putting the sheets and guys in the pole's jaws
• Hoist the pole
• Hoist the spinnaker

It seems daunting, but the principles of setting a symmetrical spinnaker are the same whether you're on a 420 dinghy or a fifty foot racer. You may have a few more lines, but the general process is: prep the spinnaker, connect the lines to the sail, hoist the pole on the windward side, then hoist and trim the sail.

There's a little more to it (of course), and each step has a few things to get right. But we've got you covered.

On this page:

Spinnaker basics, steps to set it, setting problems, the bear-away set, asymmetrical differences.

Spinnaker come in two types: symmetrical and asymmetrical. The symmetry refers to the length of the sides of the sails. An asymmetrical spinnaker has a tack and a distinct leech . A symmetrical spinnaker has both sides the same length and requires a pole to position. The tack and leech of a symmetrical sail depends on which side the pole is on - the pole side is the tack. Symmetrical sails aresailed deeper downwind with the poles, whereas asymmetrical spinnakers are better at reaching and sailing at higher angles, and are simpler to set and handle.

In this article, we'll focus mainly on symmetrical spinnakers.

Spinnaker Controls and Lines

A spinnaker connects the boat with a halyard at the head of the sail to hoist it, a sheet on the leeward side, and a guy on the windward side. While the guy is a pole control, some boats use dedicated sheets and guys, while some use a single line that switches function between sheet and guy as the sail jibes from side to side. In either case, the guy connects to the sail, not the pole, and runs through the jaws of the pole. The sheet is used to trim the sail as we adjust the pole with the guy.

When the sail is set, the lines not under load are the lazy guy or sheet. The sheet on the windward side and the guy on the leeward side will be the lazy sheet and lazy guy . Not all boats use separate sheets and guys, so there may not be a lazy guy/sheet.

Pole Controls

The spinnaker guy is used to control the position of the pole, and the angle of attack of the sail to the wind. Trim to keep the pole at a right angle to the wind. Most poles have a pole topping lift and a downhaul (also called a foreguy ). On the mast, there will be a pole car or ring with an attachment point which sets the inboard height of the pole. The topping lift and foreguy keep the pole in a level position, perpendicular to the water, and can be adjusted to match the car position. The pole is trimmed lower in lighter air, though a detailed spinnaker trimming guide is outside the scope of this post.

For simplicity, we'll assume you’re out for a simple sail, not racing. The jib is down, and you're ready to turn the boat down wind. Racers do things a little differently, but you will need to master a basic bareheaded set before you get too fancy.

Step 1 - Prepping the Kite

("kite" or "chute" are common nicknames for a spinnaker)

To launch a spinnaker from a bag without twists, someone needs to run the tapes when the spinnaker is packed. Find the head of the sail, run it between your fingers down one edge of the sail (or the tape , referring to the thicker reinforcement on the edge), making sure there are no twists or loops. Continue until you reach the next corner. If you find any twists or loops, work then out. Leave that corner outside the bag, then start again at the head and run the other tape. Leave the head and two clews out. This step can be done at the dock before leaving, or any time, as long as someone knows it has been properly packed . Do not assume.

You can bring the spinnaker bag up on deck for this, or leave it in the v-berth if there is a hatch suitable for pulling it through. This is more common when racing.

Step 2 - Plugging in the Spinnaker

Spinnaker sheets and guys should be run before connecting to the spinnaker. Most sheets and guys go through a fairlead or turning block at the stern of the boat before running forward to the spinnaker.

When you run the lines, take care they are free and outside of all lifelines, jib sheets and other obstructions before connecting to them to the tack and clew of the sail. Take the halyard and connect it to the head, making sure it is outside the headstay and any pole control lines or other entanglements.

Step 3 - Setting the Pole

If the pole isn’t normally stored on the mast, one end will need to connected. Attach the topping lift and down haul, and put the sheets and guys in the jaws now.

Whether the jaws go up or down is a personal preference, and some boats work better than others in different positions. Some argue that spinnaker forces pull up, so that jaws-down holds them from flying out when it's opened. Others maintain it's easier and more natural to slap a non-loaded sheet and guy into a jaws-up pole, with gravity to hold it there. This is a question of comfort and experience.

Hoist the pole to the proper height for the breeze.

Step 4 - Hoist!

When the boat is turned off the wind to the angle you want to sail, you are ready to hoist the sail.

With the pole set forward, hoist the sail up quickly with the halyard, then trim the sail and pole once it is at full hoist.

• You won't be able to trim the pole until the spinnaker is mostly up, but move it back when you can. It will help it fill and stay under control.
• To get the sail up more quickly, you can have someone at the mast to "bump" the halyard by pulling it at the mast while some else takes up the slack.
• If launching from a bag, attach the bag to the boat or you might launch it into the air with the sail. Most bags have Velcro straps or clips on them for connecting to lifelines or other boat hardware.

There are a few problems to watch for when setting. Twists, hourglasses, and forestay wraps are the most common, and can even happen with a properly packed spinnaker with no twists, though that is the most common cause of hour-glassing and wraps.

Avoid pulling too hard or panicking when these things happen, it just wraps things tighter. You can worked twists out if you stop the hoist and pull down from the center of the foot and the clew. If it's too bad, lower the sail, untwist it, rerun tapes, and re-pack the sail.

When racing, it's slow to run "bare headed" without a jib. Racers will do a "bear-away" set, which is like the set described above, except on a few points. It's easier and faster, but it takes more people and a little preparation since a quick set is the goal.

• The jib is left up, so the spinnaker halyard runs outside the jib when the spinnaker is connected.
• The spinnaker can be hoisted earlier as the jib will blanket it.
• The pole can be trimmed back when the sail is out and filling.
• The jib is "blown" - quickly released and gathered on the deck for the down wind leg.

Since there is no pole, an asymmetrical spinnaker is far easier to rig, set, and hoist. There are only two sheets, and no pole controls.

• Most boats will have a short pole on the bow for attaching the tack. There may be an adjustable tack line to set the tack height for different conditions. The pole may also have adjustments.
• The lazy sheet should run around the outside headstay.
• Many asymmetrical spinnakers have a dousing sock or turtle , which makes launching easier. The sail is hoisted inside this cover, then the sock pulled down to let the sail fill.
• Some asymmetrical spinnakers can be rigged on a detachable, lightweight furler.
• Asymmetrical spinnakers can not sail as deep down wind as a symmetrical sail with a pole. However, they can be carried at higher angles of reaching and can make up for the lack of down wind capability with more reaching speed.

You stated for symmetrical spinnaker that the pole is kept “perpendicular to the water - wrong - it should be perpendicular to the wind

Bill Wheary

The pole is kept perpendicular to the MAST to that the luff of the spinnaker is as far as possible from the mast and luff of the main.

Although the pole is usually set as close to perpendicular to the wind, in most cases the pole is adjusted so as to position the the CORD between the spinnaker tack and clew perpendicular to the wind.

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I bought this boat for $100 and decided to part it out rather than restore it. Here are photos of the boat right after I bought it.

The first Albacores were built 1955 in England of wood. The sail number shows that this boat was built in 1969 or 1970.

Although i could find no reference to albacore spinnakers, this boat had been fitted with one. i sold the mainsail, spinnaker and traveler for $200..

Mainsail Luff 17' (204") Mainsail Leech 19' 9" (237") Mainsail Foot 8' 11" (107") Jib Luff 12' 11" (155") Jib Leech 11' 6" (138") Jib Foot 5' 10" (69") Spinnacker (not original) 14' x 14' x 11' 3"

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Home > Education & Expertise > Types of Sails > Downwind and Light Wind Sails

Downwind and Light Wind Sails from Precision Sails

There is no better feeling that cruising with the wind and the waves on an amazing sunny summer day!  In order to make the best of these magical sailing conditions  you need to have the right sail. Spinnaker sails are ideal for sailing ‘off the wind’ or reaching. They are designed to billow out in front of the sailboat and fill like a balloon. There are different types of spinnakers, depending on the angle required for the type of sailing you are doing you may want to choose one sail over another.

At Precision Sails, we consult with you to assess the type of sailing you plan on doing, and provide recommendations for sails, equipment and customization options that will work best for your boat, your area and your sailing style. There are a plethora of downwind sails to choose from, each with their own specialty in which they perform best. Discover their differences below.

Sailing downwind? No problem. We’ve got sails for you.

Precision Sails custom designs and builds downwind sails that come ready to attach to your sailboat. Designed specially for your boat and the conditions you sail in, they are constructed from name-brand cloth and hardware from internationally trusted suppliers.

Precision Sails Tip:  When it comes to downwind sails it’s all about the angles. Depending on the angle required for the type of sailing you’re doing you may want to choose one sail over another. Just ask us if you need help!

Oxley Sails

If you’re used to sailing with a conventional spinnaker or gennaker, you’ll quickly notice that Oxley’s self-stabilizing sails, BORA and LEVANTE, have something different – a stabilization lift generating wing located in the upper part of the sail body. This is a key design aspect that sets these sails apart from the standard downwind sail.

Symmetrical Spinnakers

For experienced sailors who are cruising and even racing, Symmetric Spinnakers are the ultimate tool for downwind sailing. They are able to reach the deepest sailing angles.

Asymmetrical Spinnakers and Gennakers

Asymmetrical spinnakers are used on cruising boats because they are easier to handle than a symmetrical spinnaker. Sometimes they are referred to as a cruising chute. Asymmetric spinnakers are good sails in reaching wind angles, but not as effective when broad reaching or running. When compared to a symmetrical spinnaker. The position of the sails draft is typically forward of 50%. They usually have a round luff and flatter leech. Asymmetric spinnakers operate more like a jib, generating lift from the side, rather than the top like a symmetric spinnaker.

The spinnaker-genoa hybrid performs excellently in moderate to light wind conditions. Useful for cruisers and racers alike. It operates the best in reaching sail angles.

Looking for the Downwind Sail of your Dreams?

Submit a Quote Request today and our friendly team will be more than happy to make your dream sail come true.

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