Albacore Articles and Info
Tuning, Training and Regatta Preparation
The UK National Albacore Association has proposed Lyme Regis as the venue for the 2005 Albacore Internationals. I spent the better part of the lay day of the NAA championships in Lyme with local member and top Albacore racer Jeremy Rook and Peter and Judy Fontes, crew David Byron, and wife Becky Lyme is a small seafront town with many old buildings, shops, B&Bs, and pubs. It is located on the southern coast of England around 40 miles to the North and East of Torquay (site of the 2001 Internationals) and faces the same body of water. The scenery around Lyme is pretty spectacular and consists of sandy cliffs, beaches, and rocks to either side as far as the eye can see. Find more information at http://www.lymeregis.com.
The sailing area is in the Northern end of Lyme Bay. Water depth drops to Albacore mast height (24 feet) within 400 meters of the breakwater, so the risk of sticking one's mast in the mud while racing is nil.
Club Facilities: Lyme Regis Sailing Club (LRSC; www.lrsc.org.uk) is located across the street from the boat storage and launching area. LRSC has an enclosed yard area, showers, a bar and kitchen, and a roof top deck that overlooks the harbor. Lyme Regis Sailing Club has an active Albacore fleet that, at 15 boats, is one of the largest in the region. The race committee and club are well acquainted with albacore racing. The Albacore is well represented in LRSC's management, so we can expect an event organized by Albacore sailors, for Albacore sailors. Boat Storage and Launching: Boats will be kept on dollies in a parking lot to the west of Victoria Pier. There are presently three launching ramps into the harbor. Jeremy Rook (LRSC Albacore Fleet Captain) says that these will be raised and replaces with a single concrete launch ramp next year and will be function for the 2005 Albacore event. Wind and Sea Conditions: The southern coast of the UK has excellent sailing conditions with frequent good weather systems backed up a sea breeze that shows up in the absence of anything else. Winds for the beginning of September can range from light to moderate to heavy, and depend on the weather systems that come through. Lyme bay is exposed to the English Channel to the south and can see ocean type swell. Winds from the West, North, and East are sheltered by the surrounding land and so do not see unusually large swell. Tidal range at Lyme is 1.4 meters in summer and 3.6 meters in the spring. The first week of September will be in between these times, and so the range will fall in the vicinity of 2.5 meters. Tidal currents off Lyme run either from the West (flood) or East (ebb). Peak current will range between 0.5 and 0.9 knots depending on the time of year. The bathymetry shows a gradual sloping from 20 meters at 3 miles off shore to around 10 meters near the harbor, so there may be less current closer to shore, but if there is, it won't be much less. Meteorological data for the first 9 days of September, 2003 are shown below and was obtained from www.lymeregisweather.com. Wind speeds listed are in mile per hour. MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR 9/2003
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