2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club © Dave Stalfort

Shift happens

Every two years, Albacore sailors from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom come together for their International Championships, a fierce on water competition rivalled only by the fierce off water camaraderie. There is a lot to be said about the state of the world because of choices being made by the current American administration and what that has meant for an international competition, but this ain't that kind of write up.

From October 11 to 18, 2025, 10 British teams and 10 Canadian teams joined 16 American teams for this title event that was hosted by the Hampton Yacht Club and raced on the "Hampton Flats". HYC rolled out the red carpet with a well-stocked bar and exceptional race committee work led by RO Chip Till and HYC Event Chair Maxwell Plarr. Chief Judge Jerry Thompson also kept everyone honest except on day 1 of the event, where a little gale kept everyone off the water and day 1 became the lay day. The remnants of that system and another low just offshore brought plenty of northerly unstable wind to the rest of the regatta. Add to that some incredible king tide and you had a regatta where no one was comfortably in charge and even the top guys had moments of being completely and utterly lost.

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club - photo © Dave Stalfort

Day 1 of the event was the windiest day, with average wind speeds of 17 knots with gusts into the mid 20s. Multi-time international champ Barney "Sugar Bear" Harris and his loyal first mate David Byron pulled off three bullets, setting a tone. Their little picket fence wasn't easy though with the Canadian team of Michael Williamson and Tony Zakrajsek consistently making their way to the windward mark first, which was a feat given this was their first time sailing together in big breeze. Some sailors decided to test if the Hampton Flats depth charts were accurate (10 feet? Really?) and unfortunately discovered they were, surrendering some masts in the process.

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club - photo © Dave Stalfort

Day 2 of the event opened with a bowel cleaning sail to the racecourse in 25 knots and an ebb tide. Everyone arrived looking like a drowned rat. The first race of the day was sailed in the same conditions as day 1, with the result that Sugar Bear and Byron added a bullet to their scores, but the magical midget team of Raines Koby and Steph Mah overcame physics to finish with a third. From there on out, the wind lightened, and fat boys found themselves looking for Ozempic and throwing their junk food overboard. Williamson and Zakrajsek decided they liked hanging out on the pin boat's anchor line so much that they gybed right after clearing it to hang out on it some more.

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club - photo © Dave Stalfort

Day 3 was the lightest day of the regatta, with 10 to 12 knots of breeze still from the North and the tide still giving chaos vibes. Koby was the big weiner of the day with a 2 and 1, and then the wind died. With the tide flowing out to sea, competitors were towed back in.

For Day 4, the wind was back, solidly blowing in mid-teens gusting to the mid-20s. The big puffs and shifts and wacky tide continued to shake up the leaderboard, although Albacore and Wayfarer legend Michael MacNamara demonstrated remarkable consistency (more on Big Mac later).

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club - photo © Dave Stalfort

Going into the last day of the regatta, it was anyone's title to win. Koby/Mah held a two-point lead over Sugar Bear/Byron, with 2023 International Champion Neville Herbert and Lewis Fowler just two points behind them, and Big Mac / Ernest Ayukawa two points behind them. All the leaders kept it exciting by being consistently inconsistent, but a winner had to emerge and one did.

A huge congratulations goes to Sugar Bear and his bestest crew David Byron for winning their sixth Internationals title and making them the record holders. It's an achievement made more incredible because Sugar Bear decided to make it really hard for himself by chartering one of his own boats and crews (Ernest) to Big Mac. While many men of his age and stage are reminiscing about their glory days of racing, Mac is still out there ripping his competitors a new one.

2025 Albacore Internationals at Hampton Yacht Club - photo © Dave Stalfort

A big congrats as well to Judy Armstrong for finishing tenth in a chartered Barney boat with her hubby Paul. Judy and Paul were just one of many husband-and-wife teams racing in the fleet, a testimony to the versatility of the boat, with the other hitched teams being Stephen and Katelyn Duncan, Paul Clifford and Mia Brandt, David Tingle and Albert Chau, and formerly hitched Peter and Deborah Snowden.

The fleet is forever grateful to the incredible Hampton Yacht Club for their efforts in making everyone feel welcome and running a top tier event. Also amazing was Maxwell and Jerry taking an hour of each day to pre-brief and post-brief the competitors. It ensured this was a fantastic learning event no matter what your results were.

Incredible pics from David Stalfort are here.

The next Internationals will be in 2027 at Lyme Regis. If you're interested in an Albacore, get in touch with your class association asap!

Overall Results: