3 local sailors seek Olympic berths

By DORAN CUSHING

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 29, 2000

The west side of Tampa Bay is home to three sailors who are working toward a spot on the U.S. Olympic sailing team that will compete at the Sydney Games in September.

Clearwater multihull racer Robbie Daniel, with crew Enrique Rodriguez of Key Largo, is midway through his campaign to qualify in the Tornado class, with the trials regatta ending April 2 in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Mark Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg heads for California on Saturday for the Laser class trials that will be held on San Francisco Bay April 6-16. Mendelblatt's close friend and training partner, Brett Davis of Clearwater, soon to be one of Mendelblatt's challengers for the lone U.S. Olympic spot in the selection process, headed west a few days earlier.

Mendelblatt and Davis competed at the Laser World Championships in Cancun, Mexico, in mid-March with very different results. Mendelblatt finished ninth overall and was the top U.S. sailor while Davis had to drop out early due to an ear and sinus infection.

"I feel pretty good," Mendelblatt said about his performance at the world championships. "I'm happy with the results for the most part. I would like to have been in the top five, but top 10 wasn't bad. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances against the American men."

The second-best American sailor in Mexico was John Torgerson of Annapolis, Md., who finished 12th, 16 points behind Mendelblatt. Brazil's Robert Scheidt captured the world title for the fourth time, winning eight of the 14 races. YOUTHS SHINE IN CALIFORNIA: Competing in the Laser Midwinters West at San Diego, Calif., Charles Fulmer of the Clearwater Yacht Club took top honors in the 12-boat Laser Radial class with a dominating 15-point margin over his nearest competitor. Robyn Rey and Joseph Roberts, both from the Clearwater Yacht Club, finished sixth and seventh in the eight-race series. Rey was only five points out of second.

Racing in the full-rig Laser class, Zach Railey of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club finished 12th overall and was the top junior in the 64-boat field. Mike Hall of Clearwater was the second junior, finishing 17th overall.

REGATTA SEASON SLOWS: In case you weren't counting, the Tampa Bay area hosted no fewer than five major one-design regattas during March, with sailors from around the nation racing on the bay and the gulf in Thistles, Lightnings, Fireballs, Snipes, Scows, Sunfish, Lasers, Flying Scots and an assortment of smaller fleets.

The Lightning Midwinter Championship was scheduled to close on March 19 but ended one day early when strong winds kept the 66-boat fleet from racing. Ohio sailmaker and small boat expert Greg Fisher, with crew Jeff Eiber and Charlie Usher, ran away from the competition early in the four-race series. The top local team of Jim Alman, Susan Wallace and Tammie Jamison finished eighth overall.

Tampa sailmaker Jeff Linton, who placed second last year at the Lightning world championships, was penalized for two starting line infractions at the St. Petersburg regatta and finished 43rd. Laura Jeffers of Tarpon Springs was a member of the third-place masters team skippered by George Fisher of Hilliard, Ohio.

The racing emphasis changes in April with more action in bigger boats. This weekend, the J/24 district championships will sail out of Davis Island Yacht Club, and the Clark Mills Optimist Regatta will sail out of the Clearwater Yacht Club.

The closing event of the Boat of the Year series in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) takes place April 7-9 with three point-to-point distance races. Racing begins April 7 with a gulf start near John's Pass and finishes at the mouth of the Manatee River. The second race will take the fleet of monohulls and multihulls from the Manatee River to Hillsborough Bay, and the finale will be a fixed-mark course using navigational aids on Tampa Bay.

For entry information, contact Mike Dawson at (813) 949-4840 or George Pennington at (727) 595-8206.

Disabled sailors from around the world will compete in the Disabled Midwinters April 7-9, racing Sonar keelboats on Tampa Bay. U.S. teams will use the event as preparation for the US Sailing Paralympic trials to be hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club April 13-16.

The longest annual distance event currently sailing out of the west coast of Florida -- the race to Isla Mujeres, Mexico -- starts off The Pier in St. Petersburg April 28. Contact the St. Petersburg Yacht Club at (727) 822-3873.

NEW AND USED BOATS: Local sailor Steve Leonardo has launched a new yacht brokerage firm -- Tampa Bay Yacht Sales -- with offices at 2126 First Ave. S in St. Petersburg. Joining Leonardo in the business is Greg Merritt, also an active sailor and member of Davis Island Yacht Club.

Tampa Bay Yacht Sales can be contacted on the Internet at www.TampaBayYachtSales.com, or by telephone at (727) 502-0848. The business brokers, buys, sells and consigns boats of all sizes.

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