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Regatta attracts juniors from all over

By DAVE ELLIS
Published February 21, 2007

There were 261 juniors who competed in the Valentine's Day Regatta on Tampa Bay Feb. 10-11.

Sailors from ages 8 to 18 came not only from the Tampa Bay area, but from as far away as Finland, Ireland, Canada, Puerto Rico and California. Three St. Petersburg Yacht Club race committee teams divided the fleet.

The largest was the Optimist Dinghy Gold fleet with 138 boats. Among local kids, Michael Zonenberg of Team FOR based in Clearwater was third, Mary Hall of the same team fifth and first girl, and Cameron Purton of Davis Island Yacht Club seventh. They were in the same places for the age groupings, sailing in Red Fleet.

In the Blue fleet age, Alex Curtiss of St. Petersburg Yacht Club was second. In the youngest division (White), Kathryn Booker of SPYC was fifth.

The less experienced racers sailed in the 93-boat Optimist Silver fleet. The top local was 10-year-old Liam McCarthy of SPYC in second overall and first in the White fleet. Hayden Grant of Clearwater Yacht Club was seventh overall, third in Blue Fleet. The top girl in Silver was Toni Mastrota of Clearwater Yacht Club.

The Laser Radial fleet was 32 boats strong. Ian Heausler of DIYC won the class with SPYC sailors Mateo Vargas third, John Wallace fourth and Ian Holtzworth fifth. The top girl was Cory Hall of SPYC.

Cory's brother, Cam, won the Laser 4.7, the smallest rig and sail for the Laser hull.

For complete Valentine's Day Regatta results, go to spyc.org.

505 MIDWINTERS: On the same weekend as the Valentine's event, the high-performance 505 class raced at an unusual venue. On the East Beach of Fort De Soto Park near the Ranger Station, sailors from throughout the eastern states eschewed the yacht club scene and simply ran the event from a picnic table and two power boats.

While the fleet was somewhat smaller than usual due to the World Championship running in Australia, the competition was excellent with lead changes in each race.

St. Petersburg sail maker Ethan Bixby and crew Eric Boothe started off the first race with fifth place. But a string of five wins in the eight races propelled them to the podium. This team seemed to have speed equal to any other. But they stayed at that speed more consistently, not having boat handling issues or mark-rounding gaffes.

Local sailor Lin Robson and new 505 crew Matt Gardiner placed fifth, coming in a close second in the last race. "I think we could have won that last race," Robson said. "They guessed better."

There was a difference of opinion whether to head straight downwind with the spinnaker or to head up slightly and go much faster for a greater distance. In the windy and light air races, speed was key. But in that last race the wind was just under high-speed sailing strength and those sailing straight to the finish gained.

LASER MASTERS MIDWINTERS: The Olympic Laser is challenging to sail. But a fast-growing segment is the Masters (35 and older). Groupings for competition are in 10-year increments, with the Great Grand Masters 65 and over. They all sail together, but the older the competitor the fewer penalty points in the final overall scoring.

On Feb. 17-18 Clearwater Yacht Club staged the Masters Midwinters from the Sailing Center. Unfortunately the wind did not cooperate. On Saturday some competitors struggled for nearly four hours to get to the race course through Clearwater Pass against the tidal current. Then racing was canceled and all were towed home.

On Sunday the same extreme wind that prohibited racing at the NOOD regatta in St. Petersburg postponed the Masters. Finally, four short races were held in more sheltered Clearwater Bay, with only 14 of 69 racing. For results go to clwyc.org/

[Last modified February 20, 2007, 20:34:01]