In 1954, a group of dinghy sailors from sailing clubs in the Solent area; including Eric Roberts of Handway Sailing Club and Eric Downing and Roy Windebank of Stokes Bay Sailing Club, Jack Bowers of Locks Sailing Club sat down with Fairey Marine's Charles Currey, an Olympic silver medallist in Finns, in an attempt to come up with a boat that would be modern, light and able to cope with the often rough Solent conditions but suitable for family sailing as well as racing.
They decided that what they wanted was a larger version of the already very successful Firefly, a 12 foot hot moulded sailing dinghy designed by Uffa Fox. They took as the basis of their design the 15 foot Swordfish, also from the drawing board of Uffa Fox. After a series of experiments, in conjunction with Fairey Marine, a design was evolved taking the Swordfish hull, giving it 3 inches more freeboard at the transom and fairing the sheer through the stem. She was surprisingly light with a hull weight of only 240lbs, a large contributory factor being the inherent stiffness from her rounded bilge.
The name ALBACORE was chosen to commemorate the successful Fairey Bomber Aircraft of the same name. Actually all boats made by Fairey were given the names of Fairey Aircraft of the 1930's and 40's.
The hulls of all the Fairey boats were manufactured by the same process of laminated strips of timber on a plug and then hot moulded in an autoclave, or oven, the same process as that employed to produce the wooden wings of the legendary fighter bomber, the Mosquito.
The class was an immediate success, over 30 boats were registered in the first year and 25 boats contested the 1st National Championships, which was won by Jack Bowers in AL5, Plain Jane.
The early boats were, of course, of all wood construction. They were equipped with tackle to raise and lower the steel centreboard (three weights of centreboard were available).
The original boats also has a stern deck under which was stowed a large buoyancy bag. "Built in" or Buoyancy bags were also fitted below the foredeck and side thwarts. The masts were of extruded aluminium with a wooden tapered top section. The mast was fitted with a fixed gooseneck so that when the boom went out to one side the mast rotated. Cotton mainsail and jibs were used with sheets, passing through slotted side decks. Transom main sheeting was also
employed. Spinnakers were not allowed in the class rules for racing, however, Fairey's did later devise an arrangement for using a spinnaker whilst cruising.
By the late fifties, sales of Albacores had risen to over 500 and fleets were building up not only in the UK but Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar and Singapore. This was principally due to the UK Royal Air Force adopting the Albacore as its recreational boat.
The introduction of the Albacore to North America dates from around 1955. George O'Day, a united states representative of the Olympics imported Firefly's and Albacores into the U.S., the first being AL55 went to O'Day.
The boat got a foothold in Canada in 1958 when a committee consisting of Bill Grodesham, Bud Whittaker and Paul Henderson chose the Albacore as the new junior club boat for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. The first 10 numbers 470-480 arrived in 1959.
In 1958 the Mk II Albacore was introduced. The stern deck had been removed, a wooden centreboard and stainless rigging fitted. The foredeck was also modified by removal of the breakwater and reshaping the deck with curvature to clear the water. An all aluminium mast was also fitted as the tapering techniques by then had been perfected by the sparmakers.
In 1963, the Albacore was granted 'National' status and the administration of the class was taken over by the R.Y.A. The National Albacore Association was then able to concentrate on the organisation of the racing and social events including the National Championships each year.
