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By DORAN CUSHING
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2001
There can be no busier sailing region in the United States than the Tampa Bay racing circuit in February and March.
If only the weather would cooperate.
The bad luck from Mother Nature started with the Rolex Women's World Match Racing Championships in early December when there was too much wind to practice. A torturous week of light air conditions followed, which ultimately ended the international event prematurely.
After a December schedule filled with plenty of wind but not much action, the Tampa Bay clubs opened 2001 with the typically frantic agenda of overlapping events spread across Tampa Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cursed like the December regattas, the Davis Island Yacht Club's Commodore's Cup was cut short on Day 2 when the wind failed to show up.
Two weeks later, a rainy cold front swept south through the region with 30-knot winds on the weekend, forcing the Florida Offshore Multihull Association to abandon its annual FOMA Frolic on Jan. 20.
That event was followed by what's been the pattern for too many weeks: brisk but sailable winds during the work week. They make for great water-skiing conditions but are horrible for light-air sailing on the bay.
The Snipe Dead of Winter Regatta, Jan. 27-28, was able to complete only one race in two days. The Moth/Jet 14 and Windmill Midwinters fared slightly better with a handful of races sailed in less than 8 knots.
The smallest boats and the youngest competitors were trying to race on Boca Ciega Bay in the two-day Neubauer Optimist Regatta hosted by Treasure Island Tennis & Yacht Club.
With little wind to work with, the older kids managed three races for the weekend while the novice Green Fleet posted six short-course races.
Andrew Jones of St. Petersburg Yacht Club edged Mitch Hall of Clearwater Yacht Club by one point for overall honors as 21 youths sailed in the Optimist Red, White and Blue classes. Alex Chamberlain of Clearwater Yacht Club finished third, trailing Hall by one point and winning the closing race.
In the 18-boat Green Fleet for beginning racers, Ian Ceraolo of Clearwater Yacht Club won three races to handily capture the division. His sister, Olivia Ceraolo, took second place.
Dylan Rinda of St. Petersburg Yacht Club finished third after losing the tie-breaker with Ceraolo for the runner-up spot. Fleet winners included Chamberlain in the Red Fleet, Jones in Blue and Cullen Williams of St. Petersburg Yacht Club in White.
"There was little or no wind on Saturday -- nothing of any significance," race co-chairperson Barbara Kimmerling said. "Sunday, we had 6 knots at best."
The popular youth regatta traditionally is in mid September but had to be rescheduled to January after Hurricane Gordon threatened the area last fall.
Kimmerling said a number of the out-of-town competitors were unable to attend the rescheduled event due to the shortage of hotel accommodations brought on by the Super Bowl -- a problem faced by the Northern visitors who came to town for the one-design regattas Jan. 27-28 on Tampa Bay.
Faced with the most favorable long-range weather forecast in recent weeks, the J/24 Midwinters open a three-day stand at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa on Thursday with more than 50 boats from the East Coast states expected to compete.
Sailing out of the St. Petersburg Sailing Center on Demens Landing in downtown St. Pete, the Flying Dutchman/International Canoe/505 Midwinter Regatta will be hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club Feb. 2-4.
The larger Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) and Florida Offshore Multihull Association (FOMA) boats will be racing on Tampa Bay near Apollo Beach on Feb. 3 in the Tampa Sailing Squadron's Gasparilla Regatta.
MIAMI REGATTA: The 11th annual Miami Olympic Classes Regatta sailed on Biscayne Bay Jan. 24-27 with Tampa Bay competitors racing in three fleets.
Robbie Daniel of Clearwater, with crew Eric Jacobsen, finished second in the six-boat Tornado Class.
In the 21-boat Mistral Men's Class, Ben Barger of St. Petersburg took third. Brett Davis of Largo placed third in the 44-boat Laser Class, and Zach Railey of St. Pete finished 10th overall.
HALFWAY POINT: The Race, which began New Year's Eve in Spain with a fleet of six monstrous catamarans in a non-stop trek around the world, has reached the halfway point with five of the six boats competing.
The French-based Club Med entry was headed east across the Indian Ocean on Jan. 29 with about 13,000 miles to the finish line in Marseille, France.
The closest competitor, Innovative Explorer, trailed by almost 900 miles but was anticipating a stopover in New Zealand to replace damaged sails.
The American-based entry, Team Adventure, skippered by Cam Lewis of Maine and with multihull champion Randy Smyth of Fort Walton Beach on board in the 10-man crew, suffered major damage Jan. 18 after a high speed collision with a wave.
Two crewmen were injured when the boat slowed from 30-plus knots to almost a standstill after burying the bows in a wave while sailing off South Africa.
After reaching Cape Town for repairs, the two injured crew were treated at local hospitals. Their injuries forced them to abandon the race. Two additional crew from Team Adventure elected to leave for personal reasons while in Cape Town.
The race rules prohibit crew substitutions. Lewis decided to continue the circumnavigation minus the four crew.