St. Petersburg Mid Winter Championships
Day 2
March 15, 2003
By Richard Bukowsky

So we packed up in Miami Wednesday evening and raced towards St. Pete, in anticipation of the heavy air portion of the circuit.  We arrived late, so went straight to our dwelling for the remainder of the circuit. 

 We moved the boat in early Thursday, as we wanted to still have a selection of parking spots.  The day was beautiful, and the weather just perfect.  There was a nice breeze and the excitement was thick at the promise of some great racing.  After rigging the boat we argued whether to go sail or go down to the Hurricane for a grouper sandwich and a couple of Martinis. 

Bob Shaw and Joyce von Drehle have had a long standing martini club, of which I have recently joined in the last few years.  Traci still hadn’t acquired the taste for martinis, but has been pretty jealous of the club the last few years.  So she wanted in.  And off to the Hurricane we went.  

JAPDIP

So here we are, on the top of the Hurricane Bar and Grille, Just Another Perfect Day in Paradise, to quote Karen Park.

Racing too was very exciting.  We had four excellent starts and one bad.  Unfortunately, the bad start ended up being the only race.  The RC started promptly and 9:30 a.m. with the class flag.  The winds were 045, about 8-10 maybe, but enough for a good race.  Of course in good lightning form, we started off with a General Recall.  We started down at the pin, and I figured this was looking like a general, as we were all alone, with room everywhere for the half dozen boats at the pin end.  Now down at the boat, it looked very crowded, and all the signs of a general.  The current was headed up the course too, and that didn’t help any.  So the next attempt was under rule 30.1, round the ends flag.  One boat was scored OCS, I am not certain how many went back.  This was our bad start, but we had a pretty good upwind leg, and at least got back into a pack of boats.  Life was looking better until we fouled a boat after the spinnaker hoist and we were obliged to take a penalty turn.  The race finished in short order and we were setting up for Race 2 around 11:00 a.m. 

Race 2 attempted the first start under Rule 30.1 again.  I think the RC was anxious to get off more than the schedule 2 races for the day as we were skunked on Friday.  The start ended in another General Recall, and the RC pull the dreaded Black Flag.  Black Flag’s pretty cool, exempt when you have to enforce the ruling.  The start was as messy as all the rest, and concluded with another General Recall.  This time we were down at the pin end again, and the wind was going light, so it was a long sail to get to the committee boat to see who had been identified and would be sitting this race out.  Seven boats were on the board.  The wind had been clocking right all day, and by now the RC had set the course at 130 to the windward mark.  It took a little while to adjust the course, get all the black flagged boats identified, and soon we were attempting another start.  The wind had gone really light, and we were all trying to stay close to the line.  By the time the start went off, the whole fleet was on port as the wind had filled in to the left.  We were at the pin, and we were over stood for the weather mark.  The RC let us go about ¾’s of the leg, waiting for the wind to come back to the right???  It didn’t, the race was abandoned, and we lined up for the tow back in.  It was pretty close to 1:00 p.m.  RC said we would go in for a lunch break and further signals would be made ashore. 

Ashore, some boats pulled (I think the first ones in to make room for the rest to tie up), and the bulked stayed moored waiting for the sea breeze to fill in.  The cloud formations were looking promising, with a lot of discussion of how long it would take.  Nice puffy clouds were forming on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay, and along the Northern coast of St. Pete along the Gulf Shore.  Local knowledge said as long as the clouds didn’t form south of the club on the Gulf Shore, there was a strong chance the sea breeze would come in.  The RC waited as long as possible for us to still get out and race, but by 2:00 p.m. things still hadn’t shaped up.  There was a local sea breeze at the club, but the bay was reported as flat.  The breeze at the club was in from the bay, not from the gulf, and hopes quickly dwindled for anymore racing for today. 

But we are getting ready for the banquet, and it’s my turn to start the beautification process.  So time to go.  Hope you’re all having fun, we are.  JAPDIP.