The 50th Anniversary Alberg 30 Syronelle International Challenge

Nov 21, 2017

The Syronelle is a One Design International Team Regatta organized by the Great Lakes Alberg Association and held annually in the Spring on Lake Ontario, off the Toronto Islands. 

The weekend-long Syronelle Regatta was first held in 1968 on Lake Ontario with teams from the Great Lakes Alberg 30 One Design Association, the St. Lawrence Alberg 30 Association and the Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 Group competing for bragging rights and the coveted Syronelle Trophy. Teams were made up of family members and week-night racers. In that 49 year timespan, only 4 of those years has the Regatta not been held (1970, 1979, 2003 and 2017).

The Syronelle Trophy was donated by M. S. Baker in 1968 and named after his Alberg 30, Syronelle II which he docked at the Island Yacht Club on the Toronto Islands. Members of the Great Lakes Alberg Association who preferred not to race their boats in this Regatta, generously loan their Alberg 30s to the Chesapeake Bay Team, and after the racing is over for the day everyone joins in the always enthusiastic post-race party.

After 1973, the St. Lawrence Alberg 30 Group no longer competed in the Syronelle. Today, only teams from the Great Lakes Alberg Association (formerly the Great Lakes Alberg 30 One Design Association) and the Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 Group enter teams in this International One Design Regatta.

The Syronelle Regatta is just one of the two One Design International Team Regattas that these two Alberg groups compete in annually against each other. The second and slightly older Team Regatta takes place in the Autumn on Chesapeake Bay, and was first held in 1965 (the US Group generously reciprocate for this Regatta loaning their members’ boats for the Canadian Teams who come down to compete}. Having gone through a couple of name changes over the years, this US Team Regatta is now called the Rankin Regatta, named after Bruce Rankin a six-time winner of this Regatta who sadly passed away in 2002.

This long-standing tradition of International Alberg 30 One Design Team Regattas is a testimony to not only the famous Alberg camaraderie but to the passion all Alberg owners and their families have for their good old boats! The Alberg 30 is still today a very competitive and fun One Design cruiser-racer.

In the Spring of 2018, the Syronelle Regatta will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Plans are currently in the works to celebrate this milestone with the Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 Group in Toronto at the National Yacht Club on the Regatta weekend. Special guests and activities will make the usual Friday night pre-race pot luck dinner, post-race party and evening dinner extra special and very memorable!

Cathie Coultis
Commodore
Great Lakes Alberg Association (GLAA)
www.alberg.ca
mailto:albergcanada@gmail.com

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