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Sailing

Clearwater sailors capture regional title

By DAVE ELLIS
Published January 26, 2005

Kids from many squads wanted to come to Tampa Bay to dethrone Team FOR, the 2004 Optimist Dinghy national racing title-holder.

After all, the champions from Clearwater were missing member Zeke Horwitz, who has become too old and now sails a Laser.

Great winds greeted the big fleet of 8-foot Optimist Dinghies on Jan. 15-16 for Southeast Team Racing. An entire five-boat team counts points against another squad. It doesn't work to have one member win if the others are at the back of the group. Maneuvering a vessel to block an opponent, within the rules of sailing, is a different mind set than individual racing. Boat handling is paramount. Team FOR's Jason Kuebel, Mary Kate Hall, Justin Doane, Alex Cook and newcomer Corey Hall showed they still are the best as they won the Gold Fleet over second-place Coral Reef Yacht Club of Miami. Third was the Midwest Optimist Sailing Team from Wisconsin. Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans took fourth.

The top two teams are invited to a regatta in Venice, Italy. Last year, the Clearwater squad attended and did well. But this season, there's a conflict in dates with the U.S. Optimist Team Trials in Annapolis, Md. The parent's pocketbooks sigh with relief.

Coach Eric Bardes has kept Team FOR (Florida Ocean Racing) at the top of the sport by making sure there's a strong "B' team to race. Parker Polger, Pam Hall, Maria Dudenhoefer, Michael Booker and Audri Kopp push the "A' group in practice, making both squads stronger.

CATAMARAN RACING: The second Tampa Bay Catamaran Sailors race was Saturday at Dunedin Causeway. John Hoopes and Jill Nicholson worked on the committee. The hotshots went around Anclote Key, while the Hobie 14 Turbo fleet circled Three Rooker bar.

Jennifer Lindsay sailed her Taipan 4.9 solo with an asymmetrical spinnaker to win the fastest class. Seth Stern sailed his Taipan 4.9 to second in spite of pitch poling end for end before the finish. He floated to the beach, righted the boat and crossed the line just ahead of Dennis Bedgood and Lou Changsut's Nacra 6.0.

The smaller cats were led by the venerable Hans Geissler sailing his G-Cat 5.7 solo. Bill and William Bartlett were second on a Supercat 17, with Fred Metcalf third on his Nacra 5.2.

Vel DeKreek seems to always win the Hobie Turbo class. Chris Cooper was runner-up, and Jim Arden followed.

Also in this class was a strange experimental craft with an articulating wind-surfing rig. More work has to be done before the boat is competitive and stays in one piece, but it was interesting to see the leeward hull lift instead of the vessel heeling in the 17-knot winds.

OLYMPIC REGATTA: The Olympic class regatta that qualifies sailors for the U.S. team is ongoing in Miami.

This year, 216 boats from 26 countries are competing in all divisions except men and women's wind surfing. The board to be used recently was changed, and there are not enough manufactured to pass around.

Local competitors include Mark Mendelblatt in the Star. He has turned in his Laser for this technical two-person racer with Olympian Steve Ericson as crew.

Paige Railey is delighted to have her boat of choice, the Laser Radial, be the new women's single-handed craft. This will be her first chance to compete at the Olympic level.

This week, Railey was nominated as a finalist for the U.S. Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Year. Her older brother, Zach, has had all of 15 days to practice in a Finn before racing in that class.

Brad Funk and William Heausler are sailing in Lasers, Emily Billing in Radials, Allison Jolly in 470 Women and Robbie Daniel on a Tornado Cat. Jennifer French is in Paralympic Sonar with crew Timothy Angle and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker . Roger Cleworth has a bronze medal from Athens in Sonar but switched to the 2.4-Meter for the quest for the Olympics in China.

Local sailors have been doing well. For results as the regatta progresses, go to ussailing.org.

REMEMBERING SHERMAN: Ed Sherman, a familiar figure on the Tampa Bay sailing scene, has died at 62 after a short illness.

Sherman always was near the top of any event, from prams as a kid at St. Petersburg Junior Yacht Club, to keelboats and dinghies. He and his sons posted many Laser II victories. Sherman won a Laser Grandmaster state title and was a member of the Mallory men's U.S. championship one year.

[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:13:15]