Why I think TISC should replace its old OY Albacores with RS Quest dinghies instead of more Ovington/Rondar Albacores. --Norm Rubin, 10 August 2016

TISC’s Exec has responded to the deterioration of TISC’s (older) Ontario Albacores by proposing a large (4-boat) purchase of new British Ovington/Rondar Albacores, using the same kind of creative bookkeeping that we used to buy the last 2 (when I was Commodore). A number of factors have recently convinced me that we’d be much better off spending money on an alternative dinghy, the RS Quest . Here’s why: Comment [NR1]: http://www Benefits of the RS Quest over the UK Albacore : .rssailing.com/us/explore/us-rs-q 1  Cost : Fogh Marine’s standard current cost for the basic RS Quest is C$11,495 , before any uest , bulk or club discount, vs. Just under $20,000 for a UK AL. (I’m currently waiting for Morten http://www.flippubs.com/publica Fogh to quote his best price, but his impressive employee Rob Lytle highly recommends the tion/frame.php?i=286951&p=&p Quest and says that Morten typically gives $500-$900 discount per boat to buyers like us.) n=&ver=html5 , etc. The upshot is that we could replace SIX or SEVEN or possibly ALL EIGHT of our older OY Comment [NR2]: http://www Albacores with Quests for less money than replacing FOUR with new Albacores, and maybe .foghmarine.com/boat-pricing/ still have $ left over to add optional features like spinnakers and trapezes!  Support : All of our Albacores -- OY and UK -- are essentially “orphans” here in Toronto. Whenever we need spare parts, from replacement O-rings for our Inspection Ports to Gelcote that matches our grey UK boats, etc., we have to go hunting for oddball stuff, sometimes from non-commercial sources. And we have to make sure we stock all our own backup parts, which is a nuisance. These RS boats are imported and supported by Fogh, probably Toronto’s most impressive marine store, so THEY will stock the backup parts!  Features : In addition to Albacore-comparable equipment, the Quest design offers:  so we can safely and stably in higher winds, with less skill and less risk of dumping. Specifically, the jib rolls up like a window shade and can be used partly rolled up, and the main has “slab reefing” that can make it smaller and less powerful.  Stability and easy dump recovery : The Quest was designed as a club-and-school boat, so it’s much less tippy than an AL. In addition, it doesn’t have big low flotation tanks that (a) make it want to “turn turtle” and (b) make it float so high on its side that getting up on the centerboard is an Olympic event. It also has flotation in the top section of its , which makes it resist turtling. The literature claims it also self-bails very quickly after a capsize.  Toughness and durability : The RS Quest is made out of rotomolded PolyEthylene, which is extremely resistant to impact damage. Rob (Fogh’s boat-repair expert) tells me that the RS PolyEthylene, UNlike the PE our Hobies are made of, CAN be repaired with G-Flex epoxy or by plastic welding (because it’s not “cross-linked”) -- though repairs would never be as invisible as a good fiberglass repair. He says they used to demonstrate by hitting a sample of PE and a sample of fiberglass with a hammer, but they’ve been asked to stop. The Quest’s pop-up RUDDER is made of Aluminum, so the main risk is that we’ll get careless and damage an Albacore’s fiberglass rudder!  Extras : TISC once bought a spinnaker for an Albacore(!) so we could offer advanced classes like CANSail 4, but it didn’t take. (We still own it!) But the Quests can be

1 http://www.foghmarine.com/boat-pricing/ outfitted with EITHER a traditional symmetrical spinnaker (with pole) OR a new-style asymmetrical “gennaker” (with extendable bowsprit). I think they both launch and douse easily, in the bow. is also an affordable option.  Size and capacity : All our Albacores can accommodate 3 adults, but the Quest claims to be comfortable with 4! I sure hope we never schedule 4 per boat, but being able to handle 4/boat in a pinch, e.g., when we sail around the Island on Canada Day or when somebody’s stuck on shore, should be worth something.  Superficial similarity to the Albacore : These are clearly not Albacores, and certainly couldn’t race in Albacore races. But they’re about the same size and shape and weight, they should fit on our existing dollies, and they won’t obviously constitute a new “fleet”, the way our Lasers and Hobies do. We’ll need a new common word, like “dinghy”, to describe both boats together -- but otherwise I think they’ll fit right in. When I asked Rob if Quest sailors might feel envious of Albacore sailors, he suggested that it would be the other way around!

Concerns (and responses):  But we’re part of a wonderful Albacore-racing community. Isn’t it possible we’ll need more than 7 Albacores for racing ? Yes, it’s possible, but we’ve been predicting it for many years, and TISC’s actual racing participation -- even in our own Regatta -- has not exceeded 7 boats in years, IIRC. If it does, we’ll initially return to a much earlier situation, where for many years we had lots more racing skippers than Albacores. Those were Good Old Years, when we sent all 12 Albacores out to Friday Night races, and some skippers crewed. NOT a disaster, IMO. In the longer run, if that happens (I WISH!), we’ll likely shop for more Albacores.  Aren’t you concerned about setting up two “classes” of sailing members ? Absolutely not! The status quo is that our non-racing OY boats are nowhere near as new or shiny or well maintained as our newer racing Albacores. That existing two-class dichotomy would be hugely reduced, maybe even upended, by replacing those old boats with new RS Quests! And if we can also add some spinnakers... :-)  Aren’t you worried about undermining the Albacore class, or the amazing Albacore racing scene in Toronto ? No, but others are. I love the Albacore design, and the Toronto Albacore racing “scene” is practically a Freak of Nature, definitely to be preserved. But TISC’s heavy leaky OY Albacores are doing nothing to preserve either, and nobody in the Outer Harbour would notice if TISC’s non-racing boats vanished, or magically turned into RS Quests. Some think we have a duty to financially support Ovington, the only mass producer of Albacores -- yet they have frequently said that they have no loyalty to the Albacore class, and might never build any more! So that financial support may be a useless waste of money.  Shouldn’t we be discussing this for a long time, and considering many different kinds of dinghies ? I love long discussions, and democracy, but every time TISC has had a “call for suggestions” and a discussion on this issue, we’ve ended up confused and paralyzed. When we actually last diversified -- into Hobies -- it was because one member of the current Exec made a successful proposal to the rest of the Exec, which then “sold” it to the Membership (though almost over the dead bodies of one or two members -- names on request! ;-) ) Most AL-comparable dinghies are badly supported, out of production, or otherwise unattractive. RS and Fogh are solid businesses that inspire confidence, as is Selden, the manufacturer of the Quest’s hardware. So I think the RS Quest is the best choice, and Rob and the UK Sea Scouts (who just bought 700 Quests!) and several people Rob has dealt with all agree. (Rob is a long-time CANSail instructor who now certifies CANSail instructors.) Comment [NR3]: http://www  Do you support replacing ALL EIGHT of our old OY Albacores with RS Quests, if we can .foghmarine.com/the-crew.html afford it ? No. I personally think that 15 scheduled dinghies is too many for TISC to maintain, and unnecessary for our well-being. In fact, this year, we’ve survived just fine with only FOURteen, since AL 8085 has been sitting on its dolly all season. And we’ve had other boats out of service, too, with nobody left on shore AFAIK. If the 9 members who were scheduled on 8085 were instead called “unscheduled overflow” (with informed consent when we took their money), they would probably be better off, not worse. Historically, we’ve always had trouble keeping a large dinghy fleet in service, so expanding it often just means more boats on the lawn. Getting low-maintenance RS Quests may change all that, and we may be able to keep 15 dinghies going, or even more. But personally, I think we’d be smarter to retire 1 or 2 more boats than we buy, and proceed with 13 or 14 GOOD boats. 8137 (OY) might be included, meaning 5 or 6 new boats, max.