Perfect score

Harris and Byron win Canadian Albacore nationals

The Canadian Albacore National Championships were conducted out of the Outer Harbor Federation of community clubs in Toronto, Ontario on September 12, 13, and 14, 2003. An A and a B fleet sailed in Lake Ontario on separate courses. A total 47 boats competed with entries from the UK, Canada, and the United States. Race management and overall organization for this event was exceptional.

The event commenced on Friday, September 12 in a Southeast breeze that built throughout the day to 15 knots. Two races were held in spectacular sunshine and moderate temperatures. After racing the sailors were treated to complementary beer at the Outer Harbor Centerboard Club followed by grilled steaks at the Moordale Sailing Club.

Day 2, Saturday, September 13 started with light airs that gradually built to nearly 20 knots under partly cloudy skies and moderate temperatures that dropped a bit as the day wore on. With several hundred miles of fetch, the wind driven waves made for challenging upwind sailing and fast planes off wind - ideal conditions for the classic Uffa fox designed Albacore. A total of four races were completed - a long day on the water. The Ashbridges Bay yacht Club hosted the Albacore AGM, dinner, and raffle.

Sunday dawned with overcast skies and lightish airs that gradually dropped with the second of two races for that day ending with a shortened course. Awards followed immediately afterwards.

The event was fraught with disaster for many: several had breakdowns, OCS or Z flag penalties, capsizes, and difficulty deciphering the subtle wind shifts and unusual (for a lake) current conditions. Barney Harris and David Byron posted a perfect series of eight bullets to win the A fleet convincingly. The Harris/Byron team was consistently in the top four at the top mark and were able to pass and or extend on the leaders to win every race. Top UK Albacore sailor Neville Herbert and United States crew Doug Foord sailed well in a borrowed boat to claim second place in the A fleet. Recent Albacore International runner up team of Ian Brayshaw and Jeff Beitz sailed well but accumulated several double digit finishes for third place. Fourth place team of Anne White and Jean-Paul Bureaud had an excellent series going with all top ten finishes until a second in race seven turned out to be an OCS under a black flagged start, which dropped them to fourth. Canadian sailor Tin Htoo sailed consistently, finishing each race without altercations, breakdowns, or starting violations to claim 5th.

In the B fleet, Nona Johnstone and Teresa Mastracci prevailed over ten other teams in a ten race series sailed on a separate course from the A fleet. Laurie Harrison and Ken Duffy finished second and Pasquale Leone and Samantha Allen finished third. The finishing margins in the B fleet were considerably smaller than in the A fleet.

The next major event for the Albacore class is the US National Championships on October 11-13 (Columbus day week end in the US and Thanksgiving in Canada) out of the Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association, Rehoboth Beach, Deleware. Over fourty teams from the UK, Canada, and US are expected to attend this event in classic fall weather conditions.

Championship fleet results:

	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total	1 drop
1	Barney Harris	David Byron	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8	7
2	Neville Hebert	Doug Ford	3	3	6	3	2	3	15	22	57	35
3	Ian Brayshaw	Jeff Beitz	6	2	17	15	4	2	4	13	63	46
4	Ann White	Jean-Paul Bureaud	7	5	3	2	8	4	OCS	24	91	53
5	Tin Htoo	Colin Mowatt	13	22	2	4	14	12	7	4	78	56
6	Van Sheppard	Stephanie Strand	16	4	7	16	3	6	27	9	88	61
7	Gordon Flemming	Patty Maloney	10	9	13	12	10	9	2	17	82	65
8	Barrie Farrell	Sandy Swiatlowski	4	10	OCS	7	9	5	29	11	113	75
9	Kirk McGregor	Fran Steacy	24	7	12	5	17	10	5	21	101	77
10	Ross Findlater	Sylvain Goupil	12	17	11	11	16	8	13	12	100	83
11	Henry Pedro	Karen Piatkowski	5	8	21	17	5	22	25	6	109	84
12	Mary Neuman	Ian Aukema	21	11	15	9	20	DNF	10	2	126	88
13	Robert Sieradski	Julia Erichsen	9	21	10	25	7	13	OCS	3	126	88
14	Mike Morrison	Paul McHugh	8	13	38	13	12	11	9	23	127	89
15	Ken Clarke	Janet Duff	17	15	4	8	13	DNF	8	27	130	92
16	David Niblett	Peter Duncan	22	6	5	24	11	38	23	8	137	99
17	Richard Thorpe	John McCarthy	11	12	OCS	18	6	25	11	18	139	101
18	Tim Broughton	Karen Marshall	2	38	RET	6	22	7	16	14	143	105
19	Steve Goode	Peter Epstein	36	25	23	20	15	14	12	5	150	114
20	Todd Johnstone	Mel DeSouza	20	16	22	19	27	DNF	6	7	155	117
21	Milutin Ajdacic	Ross King	19	18	8	22	38	DNF	3	16	162	124
22	Teresa Miolla	Christine Short	26	14	OCS	10	21	16	14	32	171	133
23	Ann Savege	Doug Doole	23	19	14	23	25	21	17	33	175	142
24	Ed Young	Allan Measor	28	20	9	28	23	17	18	OCS	181	143
25	Norm Rubin	Christine Watters	15	35	20	14	32	15	20	29	180	145
26	Heather Macnaughton	Yvonne Howard	18	23	16	27	26	18	22	OCS	188	150
27	Warner Monteiro	Sonja McAuley	25	27	24	29	18	DNF	21	15	197	159
28	Marty Cameron	John Struthers	14	32	25	33	19	19	26	31	199	166
29	George Roth	Keri Romanufa	33	24	19	21	28	23	24	30	202	169
30	Chis Maslowski	Nigel Rigby	31	28	29	36	29	20	30	10	213	177
31	Adam Nicholson	Fred Nicholson	30	26	26	26	24	24	31	25	212	181
32	Neil Wilson	Linda Dresser	32	30	27	34	31	26	28	19	227	193
33	Diane Clark	Bill Collins	34	33	28	37	38	DNF	19	20	247	209
34	George Wilson	Suzanne Wilson	27	29	18	31	30	DNF	DNC	DNC	249	211
35	Caroline St-Onge	Luc Dejardins	29	31	30	35	38	DNF	32	26	259	221
36	Ian Rogers	Sarah Tory	35	34	31	30	38	DNF	34	28	268	230
37	Charles Pollock	Kathy Smith	38	36	32	32	33	DNF	33	DNF	280	242