2010 MID ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP

Report by Tom Sitzmann

2010 Albacore Mid-Atlantic Championship Rock Hall Yacht Club, 12-13 June 2010
As part of their annual One-Design invitational regatta, the Rock Hall Yacht Club hosted the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Championship for the Albacore class on Maryland’s beautiful eastern shore. Ten competitive Albacore teams showed up for what ended up being an incredibly well-run, fun weekend of sailing on the Chester River.
Having purchased an old(er) 1985 Albacore, USA-7377, some weeks before, with no hardware and no tuning information on the boat, I was lucky even to make it to the regatta with a sail-able boat! I owe many thanks to class guru Peter Duncan for helping me get the boat rigged, just barely, in time for Saturday’s first race.
I was also lucky find a great crew. Terry Duncan, Peter’s daughter, agreed to sail with me and was fantastic; although only a senior in high school, Terry has been sailing Albacores for years and knows the boats inside and out.

USA-7377 came with 3 sets of sails, all North, and the newest set in the bunch was eight years old, and showed signs of pretty heavy use. So, our goals for the weekend were to learn the boat, try to tune up as much as possible and improve. Having never sailed 7377 before, and having never sailed a full Albacore regatta before, this seemed reasonable enough!

Saturday was simply beautiful. We had S-SW winds of 12-15 knots all day, from start to finish, and the race committee ran four great races. On the first beat of the first race, we learned a few things. First, hiking is really hard work! Coming over from the J/22 class, I learned that I need to be in better shape to sail a dinghy! Second, we were not slow. Despite their age, the sails tuned right in, and we felt “in the game.” This gave us confidence and as the day progressed, we tried a few adjustments in the rig and controls, and the sails seemed to react beautifully, and by the end of a long, tiring day, we were in second place overall, behind eventual regatta winner and class champion Barney Harris.

Sunday threw us totally different conditions, as the breeze was much lighter, 4-9 knots, and the water flat. After making rig and tuning adjustments on the beach to suit the conditions, we again were more than rewarded with very good boat speed and pointing upwind. After three races on Sunday, we held our position in second, and won a race along the way.

What was really impressive was the gear shifting ability of these sails, especially considering their age and our inexperience with the boat. We were allowed to focus on sailing and racing, and not just tuning, which made the difference, and allowed us to achieve our goals set before the regatta.

1. Barney Harris
2. Tom Sitzmann, powered by North Sails
3. Khin Thein, powered by North Sails