FD teams from as far away as California, the Northeast and Ohio converged on the St. Petersburg Yacht Club for a three day weekend of sailing and get togethers. We shared the bay Saturday and Sunday with the Snipe fleet.
Conditions ranged from 2nd grommet for a lighter team on Friday, to lighter the rest of the series, but in the end seven races had been ably run by the SPYC race commitee. There were the usual current and particulars of a north breeze that St. Pete is famous for, with dividends being paid to those selecting the correct (usually left) orientation to the strong flood current upwind.
Good to see some excellent teams back together again (Jason Breeden and Paul Hemker as just one example) along with some strong new combinations. We welcomed newcomer Evan Diola from Santa Cruz, who was sailing with Zhenya on USA 1.
We had a gathering with chili and drinks Friday evening at our house to catch up and go over the day’s activities, and Saturday evening enjoyed a nice buffet put on by SPYC. One of the activities I think we should do more of is a debrief held ashore after racing Saturday. It’s a good chance to hear from everyone and understand what factors went into strategy, tactics and sail trim decisions.
Two races were run from an earlier, 0900 start time Sunday to wrap the series up, and as most everyone from out of town had earlier than normal flights home, we were ashore around noon to pack up.
The next event in Tampa Bay is being a part of the Fireballs and Friends regatta at Davis Island Yacht Club, March 10-13. DIYC is a great sailing club with a long history of running successful regattas. Here’s hoping to see as many as possible. After that the focus will shift to Nationals at Noroton Yacht Club Memorial Day weekend.
Results for Midwinters are at www.spyc.org , thanks to all present heping to make the regatta a success, and we’ll see the rest of you before too long.
Best,
Lin Robson
