2010
Ensign MidWinter Regatta - by Pat
Metzler
Pre-Regatta!
On Tuesday morning, Claire Titgemeyer,
Kathy Jankowski and I left Cleveland for the warmth of the
Sunshine State. Claire, the PRO for the regatta, recruited
Kathy and me to come on a road trip and help out on the
Race Committee for the regatta.
On the way down, we stopped overnight in Greensboro, North
Carolina, and visited with Vince Setola, Friend of Fleet
29. (The visit included fajitas and $2 Margaritas, which
may not surprise you!) We booked a night at the Wingate in
Greensboro, and had a great stay. Comfy beds, CLEAN rooms,
very polite staff, and the best continental breakfast!
Bright and early Wednesday morning, after
enjoying scrambled eggs, waffles, sausage, juice, pastry,
fruit, etc, etc, we hit the road, and wandered our way down
to St. Petersburg, to the gracious home of Claire and
Bubba, where we were staying for the regatta. We got in
pretty late, but took time to enjoy a glass of wine before
bed.
On Thursday, we organized the race
committee equipment and went up to Dunedin to load up the
RC boat. We had some cloud cover and the wind was stiff.
There were white caps in the bay, and those who went out
for a practice really got a workout!
Before the skippers' meeting, we went to Honeymoon Island
to walk the beach. Beautiful shore, LOTS of wind, great
waves crashing on the beach, and kite surfers.
First Day
of Racing!
Friday
was clear and
sunny, but with some puffy clouds. Everyone was excited to
get started racing. We ran 4 races, and the first 3 used
the same line and windward mark. The wind oscillated
slightly, but always centered around 315 degrees. Winds
were around 10 knots, with some puffs, but all-in-all a
great day for sailing. By the 4th race, the wind shifted
left about 15 degrees. Sorry for the lack of details, I'll
do better tomorrow!
Saturday
at the Races!
The first race started
promptly at 10 am, with a nice breeze from about 85
degrees. The race went well until the breeze started to die
at about 10:30. To prevent a slow, painful slog to finish
at the committee boat, the mark boat finished the racers
after the second trip to the upwind mark. first 3 finishers
were 2021, 2029, and 319.
Anticipating a big shift to about 270-300 degrees, we all
moved to a new location for the next race. Everyone drifted
for about 2 hours, then the wind started to fill in at 250
degrees, a bit of a change in direction! The wind settled
in at about at 270, and we had a good start from a square
line. The boats split tacks upwind, but before the fleet
got to the upwind mark, there was a substantial shift to
the left. To give the boats a good downwind angle and
square up the course, the committee changed the leeward
mark and location of the committee boat and finish line.
First 3 boats to finish were 2020, 2025 and 2021.
We started the 3rd race at about 2:30 with a nice breeze
and great start. We had a few shifts, but were able to
finish the race with no change of course. First 3 boats to
finish were 2020, 2025, and 2021.
Since there was speculation about Sunday's weather, we
squeezed in one more race. I think anticipation was high,
because after the boats lined up beautifully, 7 boats were
OCS, causing a general recall. It was the first and only
OCS for the regatta. The restart was at about 3:45 pm, and
though there was some bumping and vocal excitement, no one
was OCS, and they were off to the races! There was a great
parade of boats at the leeward mark, lead by 20211,
followed closely by 2025, 2020, and 319. The fleet split
again, and finished by 4:45. Order of finish for first 3
boats - 2021, 2025, and 2020.
Rain Day
Sunday dawned cloudy and
cool. On the drive to Dunedin, we saw lightening, and by
the time we were considering leaving for the course, the
committee decided to cancel racing for the day.