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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 24, 2001
Barring a late-season hurricane, October probably is the finest month for sailing along the state's west coast. So it comes as no surprise that the calendar has been filled with events for sailors of all ages and interests.
In the annual Bruce Watters Regatta for novice youth sailors, Oct. 13-14 on Tampa Bay, John Piscitello of St. Petersburg posted a convincing win over the Optimist Green Fleet competitors.
Piscitello won the first four races and closed the two-day/10-race event with two more victories for a 21-point margin over runner-up Kevin Carson of Tampa. St. Petersburg's Zach Hirsh won two races late in the event to finish third in the 41-boat field.
Competing the same breezy weekend, about 30 single-handed and double-handed boats sailed in the Windjammers of Clearwater Oktoberfest Regatta on Clearwater Harbor east of Sand Key.
The scores couldn't have been closer. Two of the four fleets used tie-breakers to determine the winners, and the two additional fleets were decided in the final race.
John Fondrk edged Robbie Daniel in the Beach Catamaran division, and Mike Ashburn took top honors from Al Hersey in the Flying Scot. Both victories were decided by tie-breakers.
Stu Smith was one point better than Hal Epstein in the Daysailer division, and Steve Honour topped Dede Plessner by two in Open Portsmouth. The bigger boats were on the east side of Tampa Bay at the Tampa Sailing Squadron's annual Fall Regatta for Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) keelboats.
After three races Oct. 13, Jeff Fishman's J/35 Hot Water posted a perfect record to take honors in the Spinnaker A division. Joe Blouin's Storyville placed second. Ed Collins logged a 1-3-1 mark aboard Heart of Gold for the top trophy in Spinnaker B. He beat Andy Cheney's Kelly by a point. Brad Kadau's Changes In L'attitude took Spinnaker C with a two-point win over David Germain's Mad Cow team. Others logging perfect records for the three-race regatta were Tim Miller's Fandango in Spinnaker D, Woody Fraser's Thunder in Non-spinnaker A and Darin O'Neal's Lagniappe in Non-spinnaker B. Bert Lacey's Acadian Sunshine topped the five-boat True Cruising class, which sailed one race.
The TSS event was the second stop on the Tampa Bay Yacht Racing Association's "Champions of the Bay" series.
After two events, Blouin leads Spinnaker A, Collins is atop Spinnaker B, Kadau has an edge in Spinnaker C and Gene DiNisio is in front in Spinnaker D. Non-spinnaker leaders include Fraser (Division A) and O'Neal (Division B).
Taking their sailing gear to San Francisco Bay for the St. Francis Yacht Club Master's Regatta on Oct. 12-14, John Jennings and Phil Smithers of St. Petersburg teamed up with three California sailors to win the invitational event aboard J/105 boats loaned to the 14 participating teams.
AFTER COMMOTION: When the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) introduced a rule in April that mandated membership in a national organization or formal club, the everyday racing community was angry.
While many of the elite sailors would have met the new requirements, a larger part of the more casual racing community could have been banned from participating at the local level and midweek "beer can" fun races.
The national authority, U.S. Sailing, quickly put a temporary "fix" into the rules that superseded the ISAF. Six months later and after great debate, the ISAF has amended the rule to apply only at major international competitions. U.S. Sailing has subsequently removed the "fix" from the Racing Rules of Sailing for 2001-2004.
SAILBOAT SHOW: Sail Expo St. Petersburg opens Nov. 1 for the annual four-day stand in downtown St. Petersburg at Vinoy Park and Vinoy Marina.
The event will include marine shopping, sailing and equipment seminars, a national windsurfing regatta and opportunities for hands-on sailing.
The annual Sailing World and Cruising World Boat of the Year awards will be announced the opening day of the expo.
Among the candidates for the industry honor are The Moorings of Clearwater, Endeavour Catamaran Corp. of Clearwater and North Wind Yachts of St. Petersburg. The Sailfest Regatta, scheduled for Nov. 3-4 as a part of the show, was canceled due to a lack of entries.
The Long and Short Board National Championships for windsurfers will go on as scheduled, Nov. 3-4 with racing on Tampa Bay just east of the show grounds at Vinoy Park. For information on the windsurfing activities, call (727) 517-7000.
For information on the expo, call (800) 817-SAIL.
EXPANSION: North Sails Gulfcoast, located near downtown St. Petersburg at 1320 20th St. N, has expanded its operation to include rigging services. Dave Beatson has joined the staff to coordinate the business.
SPEED TO BURN: Balloonist, adventurer and sailor Steve Fossett recently added another record to his resume.
His 125-foot maxi catamaran PlayStation made the transatlantic crossing from New York to England in 4 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes.