The west coast of Florida never has had good breezes in the summer.
Our sea wind is not particularly strong when the water temperature approaches 90.
Except for Thursday or Friday evening races at local clubs, adult sailors have to wait for the rest of the year to participate in the sport.
Youth sailors, however, can go near the shore where there almost always is a thermal breeze.
Each summer, after the first couple of days of learning to guide their Optimist Dinghies, kids at St.Petersburg Sailing Center would say, "Let's go out in the bay."
Near shore, the hot land attracted wind. But seldom was there a breeze after the early morning.
A unique regatta involving youngsters was at Davis Island. One adult and one Opti kid raced against other teams.
The adults included well-known sailors Allison Jolly, Mike Gable and Gail and Buzzy Heausler.
For the first time, a girl was part of the winning squad - Corey Hall and Gable.
SCHOOL'S OUT REGATTAS: The events have become popular.
Versions are held in Miami, along the Gulf Coast and at Tampa's Davis Island Yacht Club.
The classes in a 105-boat competition Saturday in Tampa included C420's, Laser, Laser Radial, Sunfish and four divisions of Optimist dinghy.
The winds cooperated, making for fine racing.
Davis Island's Ian Heausler and Courtney Kuebel of Clearwater's Team FOR have a long-standing rivalry in these events.
This time, Kuebel finished one point ahead in the Optimist Dinghy's overall standings.
John Wallace of St.Petersburg was disappointed with his 18th-place performance in the first race. But he recovered to ace the fleet competition.
Sunday dawned windless. It was about four hours before an early sea breeze arrived.
Some of the youngsters who had been doing well were victims of the delay.
Ian Heausler took the two difficult Sunday races to win overall and in the Blue fleet, for sailors 13-15.
Emily Billing of Clearwater Yacht Club was second in the Blue class and third overall. St.Petersburg's Mateo Vargas was third in the division.
In the Red fleet, for competitors 11-12, Kuebel posted a victory and was second overall.
Justin Doane and Cheyne Delaney of Team FOR finished second and third, respectively, in the class. However, a quirk in the Opti scoring system sent Delaney to fourth overall and Doane to fifth.
In the White fleet, 10-and-under, St.Petersburg's Michael Booker recorded a victory. He was followed by Mike Zonnenberg of Davis Island.
The Green fleet is for kids under 15 who have just learned to sail. Patrick Conroy of Naples won the 30-boat event and was trailed by Davis Island's Cameron Hall.
In the C420 class, Davis Island swept the competition.
Stephen Lue and Katie Gallagher ended a tie with Andrew Vann and Seth Van DerStelt for the win. Ben Whitman and Andrew Lorenzen were third.
A small Laser fleet was led by Melbourn's Ken Tarboton. Following were Brian Watts of Davis Island and Clearwater's Phillip Dawson.
The Laser radials were dominated by Mitch Hall of Clearwater.
He dedicated his victory to popular Clearwater sailor Olivia Cereolo, 14, who is undergoing treatment for bone cancer.
Sunfish had some big people to fill out the fleet. Jeff Linton won but was pushed by Conner Blouin.
