My Albacore
The Albacore sailboat is a wonderful day sailor that is a lot of fun to sail. The Albacore allows you to go from fun sailing to racing in international regattas held around the world.
Most Albacore sailors are a friendly lot and will take the time to help out a new member of their sailing club. This page is dedicated to those that sail Albacores in Kingston, that want to sail in Kingston or that just sail their Albacores.
I'll be updating this site with my Albacore story, pictures of my boat and eventually I would love to have other Albacore sailors participating here.
The story thus far:
This is perhaps the longest story ever for a sailboat from purchase to sailing. I am actually rather embarrassed about how long it has taken.
It all started back in College which would be about 8 years ago now. I was talking with someone about where they got their boat and they tipped me off that
a local sailing club had an old Albacore laying in behind their storage building doing nothing. I took a look and buried beneath a few tree limbs, a broken dolly
and some trash was a blue Albacore.
I approached the Commodore of the club about the Albacore and offered to make a website in exchange for the boat. It turns out I could have just taken the boat
because he didn't even know they had an Albacore. I showed it to him and he asked if I really wanted that boat. I said I did and he agreed to the deal.
I walked the boat back to the house I was living at during college that night using a borrowed dolly, a brisk 2 mile walk up hill but it seemed to be pretty easy
from what I remember.
I had some work ahead of me as the hull was in pretty bad shape. There were some holes that I needed to fix, gel coat that had blistered and peeled. With a
year left in school and winter closing in I didn't get much work done. The next summer I was gung hoe. I moved the boat to my parents place (where it still is)
and got to work fixing the hull. I used the West system with filler to fix the holes in the gel coat, fiberglass to fix to holes in the hull. One hole went from
a small finger sized hole to one I could put my hand through after all the rotten glass was removed. With all that done it was time to paint the boat and start
looking for a mast and boom. Did I mention that the boat didn't come with a mast or a boom?
I joined the CAA and found on the message boards that someone had lost their Albacore in a thunderstorm and all that was left was the mast & boom and sails.
Someone else got the sails and I got the mast and boom. I drove to Toronto and picked up the mast and boom. When I tried to put everything together I found that
the mast and boom were too small for the sails. I can only assume that what was thought to be an Albacore wasn't an Albacore but another Uffa Fox design or
the guy had sails, mast and boom from a smaller boat on his Albacore. He did inherit from his uncle I believe so anything could have happened, I choose to
believe that he honestly thought he was helping me out.
So without a mast and boom or a trailer my sailing was put on hold.
Then real life arrived and I moved out of town for about 3 years and got married. During our time in Ottawa I thought about my boat but I didn't have any extra
money to put into buying a trailer, or a mast and boom so my boat sat and weathered for those three years. Looking back I really should have done something to get
my boat sailing in Ottawa, there is such a great community up there who knows what might have happened. The main reason for not thinking about sailing in Ottawa
is that I had a poor view of Ottawa sailing. Before I went to college in Kingston I went to Carleton University and joined the sailing club in my first year.
Coming from Kingston Ottawa winds are to put it politely pretty quiet. The few times I went out gave me a bad view of Ottawa sailing which I now regret.
Another factor was that we lived just outside of Ottawa in an apartment which meant I had no place to store my boat in the winter. Again something I should
have worried less about.
After being a victim of the tech bubble my wife and I moved back to Kingston for work and again lived in an apartment but feeling the wind got the bug for
sailing and I started half heartedly looking for a mast and boom and a trailer. Shortly after moving back we bought a house which meant no real money to spend on
anything else other than getting the house fixed up. After 2 solid years of renovations and a moving to a new job I had the time and money to get what I needed
for my boat.
I purchased my mast and boom from Rob R. Warner M. picked up and delivered the mast and boom for me. I can't say enough good things about these two.
Warner's kindness is the biggest source of regret I have for not sailing in Ottawa, I know I missed out on getting to know and sail with someone great.
Now that I had a mast and boom it was time to find a trailer. Now living in Kingston you think it would be easy to find a boat trailer, well you would be wrong.
Short of paying an outrageous amount for a new trailer I continued my search for a suitable trailer. The search ended this spring when I found a trailer
for sale. The price was perfect but there was one small problem, the trailer came with a boat, a motor boat without a motor and in need of some work.
Now I needed to get rid of the boat so that I could fix the bunks and add keel roller or at least I assumed I would need to. Eventually I was able to sell the
boat which was perfect and it turned out that I was right and I would need to move the bunks and add keel rollers. The trailer had built in keel rollers
but they just were not up to the task.
So this is were we are. The boat is on the trailer while I figure out just how to attach the keel rollers and layout the bunks. When I finish that I will
need to rig the boat and go to the lake.
After 7 years of waiting if I don't get out sailing this summer I think I'll just have to sell the boat.
Alright I have an update on the trailer updates. I have the keel rollers in place and I've just have to tighten 6 bolts and they bunks will be in place and ready to go. I had to relocate the trailer lights which means I need to reconnect the lights to the trailer wiring but I figure I should have the boat home tomorrow evening, the weekend at the latest given the unsettled weather we are supposed to be having this weekend.
July 2009
Well it has been about a year since I've updated how the boat is doing. I didn't have to sell the boat I did get out sailing a few times last summer and it was a blast. The boat handled well. There were a few things that needed attention before I did get out though.
First I needed a new gooseneck for the mast. The gooseneck on the mast was round and the boom needed a square one. A quick trip to my favorite boat store to place an order and a few rivots later the mast and boom were ready to go.
The main halyard needed to be replaced as did the outhaul, both were much easier than I expected. Electricians fishing tape is an amazing tool for fishing a halyard inside the mast!
A new mainsheet was needed and quickly purchased.
We did run into a little problem on the maiden voyage. We had problems getting the centerboard pivot pin in place for the sail, we were a bit water logged but all in all the first sail was great!
Our second sail was much better, centerboard pivot pin in place we went out in some stiff wind and had a blast pushing the boat. The boat performed well despite the temporarily sealed paint blisters. The Albacore is much more nimble and faster than I expected.
Currently the boat is undergoing a major re-painting. Over the winter even more paint blisters appeared on the hull so I have begun removing the about 7 layers of paint off the hull back down to the original gelcoat. Once that is done a fresh coat of primer and paint and the boat will be back on the water.
What still needs to be done?
- Add a block to increase the purchase of the mainsheet. (planned for this year)
- Remove traveler and add a Boom Vang.
- Figure out what all the blocks are for?