Clearwater Yacht Club played host to the Laser Masters Midwinters on Friday and Saturday.
The Clearwater Community Sailing Center has the room, launching beach and access to racing in the Gulf that the Laser sailors enjoy. The competitors must be at least 35 and range into the 70s. A fine turnout of 65 boats registered, coming from as far away as California and New England, as well as Canada, Germany and the Dominican Republic.
The wind was light both days, a disappointment for those who have expanded since their early Laser days. The boats are sensitive to the weight of the lone sailor in light air. In a strong breeze, that same girth would be an advantage - to a point.
Chris Raab of Newport Harbor, Calif., again won the regatta, placing near the top in each of the six races. Clearwater's Kevin Kelly was second overall. Andre Martinie of the Dominican Republic came in third. St.Petersburg's Howard Miller, who placed as high as 10th in the Laser Open Worlds years back, has reached the age to compete in the Masters. He needed more wind. Uwe Claasen, Hamburg, Germany, also needed more breeze.
The previous weekend, the 28th annual Laser Florida Masters was on Florida's east coast. Tampa's Buzzy Heausler had the best record, but Peter Seidenberg of Newport, R.I., is over 65, so Heausler had to spot him two points a race, dropping him to second. International Laser Class President Ian Lineberger of St.Petersburg was fourth, and Olympic Committee member Tim Landt of Tierra Verde claimed fifth. Winds were shifty and varied in strength in each race, but hiking conditions prevailed.
NOOD REGATTA: The National Offshore One-Design regatta circuit started in St.Petersburg with a record l92 boats in 17 classes.
The eight other NOOD events in the U.S. and Canada draw vessels and sailors from their local geographic area. St.Petersburg, however, is a destination resort for more than half of the boats. There were entire divisions that had no local representatives, a delight to local hotels and merchants.
The Henderson 30 class was more competitive than previous years, with three boats tying for the win with 10 points. Mike Carroll's New Wave of Tampa ended up on the shortest end of the tie-breaker, as it had just one first-place finish in the series. Skipper Marty Kullman of St.Petersburg was delighted the competition was so close.
The SR-Max class was the smallest type of racing. It fielded 10 boats, with Charlie Clifton and Dave Olson of the Sarasota fleet each with 12 points. Clifton won the tie-breaker. St.Petersburg's Bill Embree was third. The largest division was the Melges 24. While boats attended from many areas of the country and oversees, the winner again was Doug Fisher and crew from Sarasota. Tampa's Robert Clement improved significantly from last year with a 12th in the 34-boat class.
Tampa's Howie Smith placed third in fleet in the first race. Later events, however, were a learning experience. The J-24 fleet had 27 competing, with local boats being shown the way by visitors.
The Sonar class, with 15 vessels, had St.Petersburg's Ed Sherman with a local crew take third. Jose Suarez Hoyos of Tampa sailed Mariah to win the Level 72 division.
While NOOD is a one-design regatta, two classes were set aside for similar boats that rated on handicap about 72 and 105. Some vessels excelled in light air and others in strong breezes. This regatta had both conditions. Friday saw no races completed on the south course, run by Tom Farquar, as the breeze shut down after half the classes had started. Farther north, Pat Seidenspinner's course got in a race that was shortened for some of the divisions.
Saturday started light, but the breeze came in from the southwest at over 15 knots for the second race. With the ebbing strongly, waves built quickly, causing a few rigging and rudder failures. The threat of thunderstorms pulled the fleet off the water in early afternoon. Sunday had wind, giving all fleets excellent racing.
