The editor has suggested to me that, in view of the rather adverse publicity that Albacores have received recently, some D.C.A. members might by interested to hear more about Albacores as cruising dinghies from someone who likes them. I bought A89 five years ago and since then my family of wife and two boys (Brion and David, now aged 16 and 12) have sailed her most weekends and holidays for seven months each season, almost regardless of the weather. This sailing has been mostly inside Chichester Harbour, frequently outside and occasionally across to the Island, the Nab or Portsmouth. Now that the boys are older we have started to use her for occasional camping and cruising, our most ambitious trip so far being a circumnavigation of the Wight from Chichester by Brion, then 15, crewed by myself. Father just navigated and paddled, both of which were very necessary!

To return to Albacores, they are of course a fairly modern class dinghy and as such are very light and very fast. However they have generous decking, with more stability and very much more freeboard than most modern racing dinghies. Their floors are rather vee-d, with the result that they cannot be sailed effectively single-handed, except in light winds. The boats need weight in them to get their bilges into the water and so gain the stability they undoubtedly have when properly trimmed. For all round sailing a crew like my wife and I, who only total about 22 stone, is rather light; a crew weight of 28 stone seems to be about the optimum, although they will of course still sail well with very much more aboard.

The bow is rather full and the keel rockered, these two characteristics produce the Albacore's least endearing traits. One is a tendency to slam when going to windward in a steep sea of the wrong length; another is a nasty habit of shearing about at anchor. The rockered keel also makes her very sensitive and she really needs someone at the helm all the time. I have on one occasion caught several mackerel when sailing single-handed, but it was not easy.

Turning from her bad habits to the good. Her transom and run off are just about perfect for sea work. She inspires more confidence running before a steep sea than any dinghy I have sailed. The rockered keel helps in this as she has negligible tendency to broach to. One can do the most exhilarating planes down the front of large steep seas and she just revels in it. On one occasion I had a sea break on the weather quarter and pass under the boat and out by the lee shrouds still breaking, yet she hardly seemed to notice it.

The rig is sensible, although I sometimes have doubts about the luff rope groove for ease of hoisting when cruising. She will handle under either main or jib alone, in fact she will go to windward well, including tacking, under jib only. Last season Brion sailed A89 nearly two miles dead to windward under jib only in a wind of at least force 6, admittedly inside the harbour, with my wife and David for crew. I have had a special narrow storm jib made, under which she balances better and is not so pressed when reefed, however she is reluctant to go to windward under this sail alone. She is fairly easy to reef provided there are two reasonably competent people in the boat. David (then aged 11) and I have reefed when five miles out in a bumpy sea without much trouble. After about the third roll we usually take the jib off her for further sail shortening, she then balances better and still sails well.

I have made our Albacore a wooden centreboard and lifting rudder in place of the original metal plate and rudder. I suppose there must be some loss of stability, but it is not really noticeable. The wooden board makes her much more weatherly, lighter to haul out and is easier to adjust; also it does not work so much off the wind in a seaway. I think the whole crew much prefer it.

Like all fast planing dinghies she is inclined to be wet, but it is only spray that comes in. Solid water on deck is so rare as to be memorable, thanks to her very buoyant hull and generous freeboard. I cannot remember ever being worried about having a dangerous amount of water in her; after all it usually goes down the crew's neck, so why should the helmsman worry!

As regards accommodation, a tent over the boom, which is supported in a vertical crutch at the after end of the cockpit, provides plenty of room. We have fitted our boat with a set of "bunk" boards, which fill in the gaps between the centreboard and side thwarts to form a platform 6ft by 5ft, which is ideal for lilos. The boards store in the stem when not in use. When in place there is still spare room at the after end of the cockpit. My wife and I have on occasion slept with our rather large dog also on board, although afterwards I seemed to be picking hairs out of the self-bailers until the end of the season.

To sum the Albacore up as a cruising dinghy. I think she is a very fine boat that will get you there fast and safely with great enjoyment, provided you sail her reasonably well. But she will not look after you at all, except possibly on a run under jib only, you have to sail her all the time. A beginner can learn to sail one in sheltered waters fairly safely, but in my opinion she is most emphatically not a boat for the inexperienced to cruise in.

I could add very much more to this account, but had better not attempt it here. However, should anyone wish for more information I will gladly do my best to provide it.

It may interest some to learn that my original 10 footer in which I started my dinghy cruising, although she is now 33 years old, is still in the family and is sailed regularly by my eldest boy!