"I was told that nobody would be interested in a one-day, one-race regatta," organizer George Pennington said, smiling. "They came."
The wind cooperated in Chamber of Commerce fashion for 68 boats sailing out of Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club.
There were the usual puffs and lulls associated with an easterly, offshore breeze in the Gulf, rewarding those who kept a careful eye and had a bit of luck.
Pennington was the principle race officer for the Michelob Ultra Cup courses that used the compass rose marks of the host club off John's Pass and various navigation marks south of there. The spinnaker boats, non-spinnaker and True Cruising each sailed a different course.
Andy Cheney and crew from St.Petersburg on the Beneteau 34 Kelly sailed a stellar race, becoming the only spinnaker keelboat to finish in under 3 hours corrected time. They took Spinnaker Class 3 and the overall win.
"Andy steered the boat beautifully," bowman Mike Noble said.
Spinnaker 1 Class was won by the B-32 Abby Normal of Davis Island, skippered by Robert Hobbs. Just two seconds back was St.Petersburg's Mike Siedlecki on Tack Tick.
Fire & Ice, a J-105 out of Tampa sailed by George Cussins, took Spinnaker 2. Semper Fi, Ray Mannix's J-29 from Clearwater, won Spinnaker 4.
The Chrysler 27 Eclipse of Ron Kinney from St.Petersburg topped Spinnaker 5.
Non-Spinnaker class winners were the Beneteau 44 Prime Plus sailed by Frank Hannah of ABYC and Mexicana, Ben Skinner's Morgan 34 from Dunedin.
To encourage participation by boats that are not intended to be racing oriented, there were three True Cruising classes, with 21 attending.
Sonia-Cate, a Catalina 40 sailed by St.Petersburg's Don Miller, won TC 1. Shady Lady, Steve Honour's Cal 34 from St.Petersburg, ran away with TC2. Second Wind, a big Morgan Out Island 41 skippered by Tom Buresh of the Treasure Island club, took TC 3.
Multihulls were well represented by six boats. Deuce Coupe, a modified Stiletto 27 sailed by Peter Wormwood, won by a large margin.
SNIPE MIDWINTERS: The longest continuously held regatta on the Suncoast is the Snipe Midwinters, at Clearwater Community Sailing Center and hosted by Clearwater Yacht Club, as it has been for 66 years.
South Florida's Augie Diaz and Mark Ivey were first among 20 boats. Diaz is national sailor of the year for victories in several classes and is taking up where he left off last year.
Peter Commette and John Kehoe, from south Florida, were second.
A-CAT AND FORMULA-16: Gulfport Yacht Club has become a favorite destination for high-profile catamaran racing.
The A-Class catamaran Gulf Coast championship drew 10 of these exotic craft, which are among the fastest boats upwind.
Tampa's Woody Cope used his experience to do well in Saturday's lighter air and Sunday's wind to capture the title. Bob Hodges of Louisiana was a close second, and Texas' Bob Webbon took third.
The Taipan 4.9, sailed in its Formula-16 configuration - single-handed, flying the mainsail and asymmetrical spinnaker - fielded five boats.
Jennifer Lindsay, Gulfport, was untouchable in Saturday's lighter air. On Sunday, St.Petersburg's Seth Stern strung together a series of firsts interspersed with unrecoverable capsizes. He still did well enough to place second.
After nine tough races in two days, no sailors were heard asking for more.
LIGHTNING MIDWINTERS: For 57 years, the Lightning Class has been visiting the downtown St.Petersburg waterfront for its midwinter championship.
The St.Petersburg regatta is the third leg of the division's circuit, which includes Savannah and Miami.
The wind didn't cooperate Friday or Sunday for 61 boats, but Saturday brought an easterly that allowed Bob Johnson's Race Committee crew to run three races.
Top local competitor Colin Park, co-skippering with Matt Bryant, finished eighth.
LESSONS: Philippe Park is the venue for the Safety Harbor summer sailing and kayak classes.
Safety Harbor residents can register at Safety Harbor Community Center, and non-residents may register starting Monday.
