about us

We are actively seeking crew members to race with us…

Albion’s perspective on sailboat racing

Our goal is very simple, we are looking for all the qualities that apply to good team building and to apply them to racing “Albion”, there are other aspects to achieving good race results, but my primary focus is teamwork.

Communication, I feel is the most important part of that teamwork, we’ve all heard the stories of top crews performing flawless boat handling without so much as a word being said, but until I get 6 Olympic class sailors that crew together every week for five years or so it’s not going to happen. So I encourage as much talk as possible prior to the race, and during the race (there are times when there can be too much chatter, and we have to quiet things down). There is a strictly enforced no yelling rule on Albion, believe me the crew enforce this rule on the skipper also. The only thing that raised voices will achieve is lack of response and zero communication thereafter!

Another aspect of crew work that I encourage is that people do not jump in and take over someone else’s job in the heat of the moment (Unless absolutely required from a safety standpoint). Even at the expense of things taking a little longer the learning curve for each crew is accelerated by letting each person do their job.

Sailing is fun, and racing in my opinion just adds to the fun. I like to think that Albion has a good blend of serious competitiveness without loosing sight of the fact that we are racing to have fun! Make no mistake, Albion is out on the course to win and we have been refining our program to that end for three years, we are also out competing in all weather and generally will NOT be the boat that abandons early because we get wet or the breeze picks up a little! In order to keep focus, and for safety reasons we generally save the drinking until after racing (when we make use of the cold beers in the cooler).

Safety is of primary concern on Albion. The call for mandatory life vests should not be taken lightly and will be heard more frequently! We also devote some part of our off season crew meetings to safety aspects and reminders.

I am committed to racing almost 100% (We do not do the Mac), and the thing I look for most in crew is enthusiasm, focus on racing and commitment, probably in that order, and notice that we do not dwell on sailing experience or lack of, willingness to learn, and again “enthusiasm” are much more important.

If you agree with our philosophies and would like to join the Albion team then contact us by going to the contact page

Enjoy your sailing!!

Trevor Smith
Owner/skipper “Albion”