Racing News & Reviews

August 2007 Jeff duVal, Miro Kafka, and Brian & Kat Malone travelled to Charleston SC, August 18-19 and brought home the Gold Cup. Sailing on the tricky, tidal waters of Charleston Harbor, they bested a fleet of 18 Melges 24s. It was a hard fought battle that came down to the last race in which they had to beat the runner up to secure the win. Results can be seen at the Gold Cup Site.

August 2006 Sarasota's youth sailors have been busy this summer with very successful campaigns in national regattas. Fred Strammer and Zeke Horowitz won the US Sailing Triple-handed Championship (Sears Cup)   August 9th. This is the second time Fred was on the winning crew in this event. Zeke placed second at the US Youth Championship in Lasers in June. Chris Branning placed second at the US Sailing Single-handed Championships (Oday Cup). Chris has been chosen from 538 applicants by Disney Productions to participate in a documentary of the youngest crew ever to compete in the Transpac. Its quite a story and can be found at www.pacifichighproductions.com. He will take a year off school while he and the rest of the team – all under 22 – train in Hawaii and Honolulu. The feature length documentary is scheduled to be released in January 2008. It will be a "Survivor" style story.

The Race Around Lido –Round the sharks to port, Ursula! Sailed by Peter Robinson. 5/29/06 The sail out to Lido beach with an onshore whisper breeze felt good coming over the starboard bow, providing an easy reach down the channel. With the bridge in sight the breeze of course dies and the current and boat chop takes control. I signaled Andy Hodgson over to tow us thru the bridge with the mako safety boat. Several others had already taken the wise choice and gotten towed thru to the other side, an easy sail to the azure blue waters of the gulf beckoned. Momment's later with the breeze building I was already at the beach rendevous point. Time to secure the boat, grab a drink and enjoy the activities. In all 28 boats landed on the beach that afternoon each boat carrying its fair share of crew. Dan Devito coordinated the Beach Events. The tug of war was won by the Odd birthdates. Martha Hodgson demonstrated how to really hula-hoop-she must have practiced! The human chain passing thru the hoops proved very popular with us older s l o w e r moving adults. While others with more energy to burn played beach vollyball or frisbie golf. Others talked and compared stories or just kept an eye on the luffing sails. Many passing by enquired why we got so many boats together, others just stopped to take photos. Debbie our scorer / timer sounded the Horn, the young ran to their boats for a quick exit, seconds count, others calmly finished their drinks before setting off. The wind was blowing now from the west, Launching from the beach was not going to be easy. Fortunately good help is never too far, and I was able to get pushed off to sea with no incident. The waves and building breeze was a challenge for someone who hadn't sailed a sunfish in over two years but I never tipped once. Ursula Olson later remarked that she saw sharks when she flipped over, later to be informed that they are in shore feeding on the tarpon. Later Joyce Minkley would receive a special award from past Commodore Alan Broadribb for the cleanest boat in the fleet. Having spent 20 min's treading water, attempting to right her boat.

Rounding the bottom of Lido key the Sea Doo / Wave Runners ran wild cutting into boats paths as if blind- folded in a game of dare. I continuing sailing a path near Bird Key this kept most boat traffic off to the starboard side. My boat speed was good the channel marks were passed quickly; soon I was bearing down on the Ringling Bridge. Heavy boat traffic convinced me to sail close to shore and sail thru the west span of the bridge. My plan looked good fifty feet off the bridge, then the wind shifted around. Caught off guard I back- winded the sail to keep off the concrete bridge support, After gibing I tried again, this time I made it and sailed on across the grassy flats thru the mooring field, the last leg approached, round the tomato shape to port and head for the beach. Made it! You're not finished until you run to the pavilion and ring the “Titanic's bell”. My finish time was 20+ mins off-not close enough to win. That honor went to Matt Dowd who was only 8 seconds off his predicted time… also taking honors for first boat back. 2nd place went to Jabbo Gordon; 3rd place winner was Josh Rosen. Other awards; Worst predicted time-Robert Thompson; Most creative cheater- Jim Ball; Fastest Sunfish Eric Ericson; most senior sailor- Eric Ericson; youngest sailor (at heart)- Charlie Clifton, youngest of fleet- Matt Dowd. Last boat to finish -Gough; largest crew –John Dowd; Most likely to need aftersun care – Virginia Vorenkamp, best sun block application- Fran Mericle. This event would not happen if it weren't for our industrious volunteers. Thanks to Debbie and husband John (thanks for the boat), Lori, Dotti and other “Lassies” for helping me making it happen. Special thanks to Tom Youkman for cooking burgers and being the only board member to show up. Jocelyn Broadribb for preparing her delicious spinach salad, Lisse Hyde for helping in the kitchen. Andy Hodgson, Dave Bridges, Bill Brandenberg & Greg Knighton for helping drive safety boats and making sure every boat was accounted for. Finally Dorit from Austria and her friend Harald from the Netherlands dropped by and sailed a Sunfish together- Thanks to Doug Deardens generosity.

Friday Night Races Kick Off April 7, 2006 Nice, cool, breezy winds were on the bay for the first Friday Night Race of 2006. Team Tebo came out of the blocks fast by winning the start and then the race. Kirk Burnett's SR Max crew featured Micky Graham driving (whom he stole from the Lucky Pony crew who stole her from the Purple Haze crew) with Meagan Petrat doing bow. Other notables present were the famous single-handed J-24 sailor Paul Reece (who now flies and jibes the spinnaker by himself), Matt Petrat on his Hobie 33, Doug Dearden on "In Tune", Richard Elsishan on "Narly Melgeson", Kevin Ratigan with Jan & Monika on "Water Rat", Salie O'Malley on "Bondage", and Rich Muro on "Blammo".

Rudy Reinecke on "Oh Zone" could use some competition to bolster the one boat Non-spin fleet. Conditions are perfect this time of year so dust off your boat and come on out on Friday nights. Gary Humberson has been doing a great job to make Fridays special with Mark the one man band and food after the races. Crew are encouraged to come out and every effort will be made to get everyone on a boat. Results

A Hat - trick for St Patrick?-almost. by Peter Robinson 3/20/2006 Another perfect sailing weekend saw a lot of activity this race day . The RC crew today Bob Davey, Virginia Vorenkamp ,Jacque and Charlotte Brisson got off as many as 3 races for some fleets. The PHRF Spinnaker had a long beat to windward on a 10.9 mile course windward / leeward course. Today the SR21 of Tim Miller corrected out to a first place win over the Melges 24 skipperd by Richard Elishans. Bill Johnsen also sailing an SR21 finished just 1 sec per mile corrected time behind the Melges. The non-spinnaker / cruising fleet got in 3 races today. Maurice Schoenwald led the pack around three times finishing in first place for the day with a 1-2-1 finish. Noel McCarthy "fighting Irish in his blood" finished with a 2-1-2 always right behind Maurice. Noel's new boat a Hunter 216 made up a lot of ground on the reaching legs.

Winning the cruising class was new squadron racer Steve Schwark and his Pearson 33. His corrected times had him sailing as fast as Maurice or Noel, surely a boat destined for many wins in the future. The Flying Scot fleet saw two races today. Both Don Perry and Ron Pletsch saw wins but the 2-1 finish of Ron's edged out Dons 1-3 finish for first spot overall. Jeff Penfield was always close to the leaders and he finished third with a 3-2 finish. Well done every one! See you on Friday Nights first race April 7th.

Winter Series final standings. by Peter Robinson 3/20/2006 Todays last Sunday race pretty much summed up the final series standing. Dan Hennessy won the Spinnaker race today along with first place in the series, not bad going considering this was his first series event with his Capri 22 called Fandango. The Flying Scot fleet had one long race today. Marshal Pardey's "Patchwork Princess" won first with Jeff Penfield getting second place and Bob Twinem third.. The series standing had Bob Twinew's boat "Eight ball' winning overall ,Don Perry collecting second and Chuck Koch third place. A total of 35 boats competed in the winter series. The series winners awards are awarded to those skippers who had competed in a minimum of 50% races held. The top three will receive a Series Pennant award. Well done all! Results are low scoring based. Spinnaker fleet; 1 Fandango Dan Hennessy 25pts 2 Thistle Paul Reece 30pts, 3 In Tune Doug Dearden 53pts 4 Lucky Pony Charlie Clifton 55pts 5 Susy Q M. Schoenwald 56pts 6 Oy Vey! Ken Tebo 58pts 7 Water Rat K Ratigan 65pts 8 U2 Marc Bryan 73pts 9 Elixir Tim Miller 87pts 10 Narly Melges, R Elishans 89pts 10 Mary Dont.. Chris Carnell 89pts 12 Purple Haze Bill Johnsen 95pts 13 Necessary E. Dave Olson 114pts

Flying Scot fleet: 1 Eight Ball Bob Twinem 30pts 2 Don Perry 35pts 3 Firth Lady Chuck Koch 44pts 4 Wind up Toy Tom Roberts 69pts 5 Sidewalk Expr. Ron Pletsch 71pts 6 Poco Allegro Ted Kemp 74pts 7 Snowbird Robert Zavos 83pts 8 Skip Schmidt 95pts 9 Nassie Jim Near 101pts 10 Issues Rita Steele 121pts 11 Damfino Jeff Penfield 122pts 12 Am. Dream Fred Strammer 142pts 13 P.w Princess Marshal Pardey 143pts 14 Sponge Bob Chuck Tanner 144pts 15 Froggie Paul Scalisi 153pts 16 Wild Machine Ursula Olson 164pts 17 Unknown 182pts 18Go Get Mamma J C Whitmore 185pts 19 Andiamo Dave Ortmeyer 186 pts.

2006 Hangover Regatta Beautiful weather with temperatures in the high 70s set the scene for one of the nicest sailing days ever for a Hangover Regatta. Kirk Burnett, Ken Tebo, and Micki Gramm on their new SR Max, Oy Vey !, won the Spinnaker Class with a two second margin over Randy St. James on his Melges 24. In the nine boat Spinnaker Class, the first eight boats corrected to within one minute, 37 seconds of each other.

Greg Knighton, on "Misty, the Family Wagon", continued his dominance of the Non Spinnaker Class with a three minute victory over Rudy Reinecke's "Oh Zone". Chan & Sue Sweetser, Alex Steele, and Michael Mierswa won the Cruising, Flying Scot, and Portsmouth classes respectively. 25 boats sailed the 6.5 mile course in winds that steadily built throughout the contest. Results

11/11/05 The Flying Scots have been getting a good turnout for the Sunday Races. The wind has been nice and temperatures are ideal. Some new faces are giving Ron Pletsch a run for his money. Paul Twinem came down from the north east and won the October 16 four races series. Don Perry won the last race November 6 but that wasn't enough to make up for Pletsch's 3 straight bullets at the beginning.

The PHRF fleet asked for more races with shorter courses. November 6 they got just that. They had plenty of practice staring and rounding corners. Paul Reese, the famous single handed J-24 sailor, took the first race. He did it flying a chute... by himself. Doug Dearden won the next two races on "In Tune", followed by Jim Duggan on his new SR Max and Maury Schoenwald, blown down on the cold fronts that are finally arriving.

Thunderstorms stayed inland and the Friday Night Racers had a nice breeze for the July 22nd race. Jeff duVal and Randy & Deb St. James took off from the starting line and led the whole fleet around the course until Richard Elsishan's Melges passed them one boatlength from the finish line.

Then four boats continued the race to Marina Jack's where everyone had a good time until Randy & Deb towed everyone back to the Squadron with their launch.  Series Standings Cruisers are running reverse handicap races every other Sunday afternoon. Skipper's meeting is at noon and first boat starts at 1 PM. See schedule on front page. Contact Dave Ash for more information.

The 2005 Cherry Pie Regatta started out in a beautiful 12 knot northerly and dropped down to 8 as the day went on. In E Scows, Andy Hodgson port tacked the fleet and left them in the dust at both starts. Failure to consult the course board before the start of the second race cost Hodgson the regatta as Jim Barr sailed past him when he stopped to finish at "I".

The SR Max Class had very close racing. "Lucky Pony" tried to copy Hodgson's daring E Scow coup at the start but "Elixir" shut her out at the pin. The SRs finished the second race with less than a boatlength between all of them. Thanks to Cindy Clifton, the Brissons and the rest of the RC Crew for a job well done. Other fleets are encouraged to send in reports of their races. Click here for complete Results.

The February 6 Sunday Races provided good practice for the 5 SRs that were out. Snatch continued to be fast in the 3 short races run. After being OCS in the first race, they came back to pass Elixir just before the downwind finish of the first race. Lucky Pony passed Snatch just before the downwind finish of the second race. In the third race, all the boats arrived at the leeward mark close together, with Snatch barely leading Elixir.

A slight miscalculation on the part of Elixir resulted in a holed Snatch at the rounding. Purple Haze went on to take the third race, just ahead of Lucky Pony and Flash. Ken McKinney seems to be figuring out his new boat pretty well. Despite his ancient sails, he was consistently right in the thick of things. Dan Gross and Tim Snow travelled down to Sarasota to help out the SR group. House seems to be far and away the fastest of the boats lately so everyone should gang up on him from now on.

Snowbird Regatta - A challenging day for the less experienced. January 15, 2005 by Peter Robinson Bill Johnsen and crew onboard his SR21 "Purple haze" took first place PHRF Fleet in today's event. The north easterly blowing about 15+knts was obviously a fun sail for Bill, always picking the right shifts and increasing his lead over the challengers. Only a year ago in heavier conditions and a rookie to the SR Max class he did a spectacular "death role" towards the end of that race. The first casualty of this year's event was an E scow. It flipped over on the way out to the course, filled rapidly with water (despite the help of a passing power boat ) and ended up being finally rescued by Bruce Hilton . Another E Scow skipper Chris Keitel, decided to head home finding the chop and wind too much for his crew. The remaining scows were quick to follow. Charlie Clifton also had a short race, one of his crew aggravated an old shoulder injury rounding the windward mark, Joanne our assistant manager had an ambulance crew waiting on the dock ready to take the injured to hospital. Chris Carnell had the fastest sail today on his Melges 24 " Melly don't surf". He headed the fleet off the specified course which when I read the course board was two triangles to port and a windward /leeward finish. Perhaps Charlie sailing away to the RC boat confused him. Needless to say our skipper Doug Dearden on "In Tune" decided to cover the front of the fleet by sailing between where I said we should be going and where the leaders?? were heading. The front of the fleet realized their error and doubled back to complete the course correctly. I was ready to sail the course which I read on the course board and protest the RC boat for changing the course inside the warning sequence RRS 27.1 It ended up I was out voted. We collected third place, Bill Johsen won! Thanks to Bill Brandenberg , Vail Scott, Jacque and Charlotte Brissons for officiating the PHRf course. At the south end of the Bay , Dave Curry and Bruce Hilton got in 3 races for the Opti's and Laser radials. The conditions were a challenge for less experienced Opti sailors with several capsizes and an opportunity for the more experienced to get back in the groove after their Holiday break. For a change the Opti fleet were grouped into 2 fleets based on experience, Silver or Gold. Chelsea Firth was first overall in the Silver fleet. Matt Dowd took first honors in the Gold fleet. Matt's brother Mike won first overall in the Laser Radial fleet. For many of the Laser sailors the breezy conditions proved difficult on the gybes. Dave Curry later remarked that the kids all had fun " the wind was just what they needed ". The next scheduled race is Sunday 6th February. Our annual Cherry Pie Regatta is scheduled for Saturday 12th February. Following that race we will have our traditional Chili Cook Off Challenge. Bring your family, bring your appetite

2004 Flying Scot Florida State Championship Nov. 13-14, 2004 Two Freds are all smiles after 2 bullets in 2 races. The 2004 Flying Scot Florida State Championship came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. The father/son team of Fred and Fred Strammer came out on top of the 24 boat fleet after three light air races Saturday and one heavy air race Sunday. They showed their heels to the fleet in two light air races. Race one started in a very unstable, light southerly. The Strammers held their lane coming off the line as the wind persistently veered right. On the run, the wind continued to the right and the RC shortened the course after two legs. At this point, most chutes had been doused. Chuck Koch followed in second place. His consistent finishes throughout the regatta led to finishing in that place at the end. Boatowner Donna Steele was key to Team Bacalao's steady improvement and winning the last race, contrary to what was reported in "The Burgee." The wind started to settle in from the north for race two. Another big righty came in on the first beat. Strammers again successfully managed the beat and the subsequent close reach. They won the second race ahead of Robby Brown from St. Pete as the RC again shortened the race due to the skewed configuration. For the third race, the breeze was stronger but still very unstable. Jeff Pennfield and Chuck Koch blasted out of the fleet on the right in big veer to lead at the first mark. Team Bacalao was right on their heels at the leeward mark and took the lead when they tacked first on the second beat, which had become a fetch. The inexperienced Bacalao team blew the set at the beginning of the second run. Two-thirds of Team Bacalao desperately try to master flying Scot techniques. This allowed Pennfield to pass and they finished 1-2. Sunday the breeze was honking nicely. Nicely enough so that half the fleet did not finish due to capsize, dismasting, or mutiny. Team Bacalao charged off the start line and won by a quarter mile. The run was a wild sleigh ride with spray flying and boats flipping. RC decided there would be mass insurrection if they ran another race so they sent us in. Peter Robinson and his commitee did a fine job at RC. Ron Pletsch and his group did a fine job organizing. Results

Three local sailors won the US Sailing Sears Cup, the national youth triple-handed championship sailed in Lightnings August 16-19, 2004. Charlotte Sims, Dalton Tebo, and Fred Strammer are the first sailors to bring a US Sailing Championship Trophy to the Sarasota/Venice area. The regatta, sailed on Lake Champlain, Vermont, was a nine race round-robin format. The crew representing South East US started off the regatta with a bullet and led by two points after two races. The Vermont Team pulled into the lead after race 3. After race 4, the Floridians were tied for the lead with the Royal Vancouver YC team. The Canadians took a two point lead after race 5 and extended it to three points after race 6. Another ace in race 7 regained the lead for Florida but the Canadians came back with an ace in race 8 to tie the series with two races left. The Florida team put two boats between them and the competition in race 9 to take a three point lead going into the last race. They made sure they stayed close to the Canadians in the last race, not needing to beat them, just making sure no boats got in between. Charlotte, Dalton, and Fred are active at the Squadron in Sunfish, Laser Radials, SR Max, and Flying Scots. They deserve congratulations for winning a very tough championship. Results

2004 Friday Night Races are underway. How about volunteering for some exciting fun? by Anonymous British Bloke. Last night Doug Dearden's boat almost rammed Big Ben. David Klein's 26' did, taking out the Bimini top in the process and missing my mothers head by seconds( pulled her out of her chair). An 80' trawler decided to pull up windward to the committee boat at the final 30 sec to start asking for directions to the Longboat key Moorings....???

I was ready to be beamed out of there at this point. Norm Cousineau tacked into the bow of Big Ben after crossing the finish line, by then a couple of beers had left me immune to any further boat collisions. Are you available for RC next week???

Pot O' Gold Regatta - March 13, 2004 A super shifty easterly prevailed all day with 6-12 knot wind and balmy temperatures. 27 boats raced in 5 classes. Cindy Clifton, Ken Tebo, and Jacques & Charlotte Brisson ran three races for the SRs, Flying Scots, and Portsmouth classes. The PHRF boats had one long race and the E Scows had two because Jim Barr had to go in and wash his hair in preparation for the Docktail Party. John Jennings smoked the Scows with two bullets.Having the rail stacked with big guys proved fast in the puffy conditions. The PHRF race was also a runaway. Rudy Reinecke drove all the way to California to bring back his brother-in-law, a well known west coast racer. Joe seems to have a knack for making "Plane Crazy" go fast.

The Flying Scots and SRs had much closer competition. Jeff Pennfield started out strong in the Scots but Ron Pletsch came on strong at the end. Ron won the last race which gave him the win by virtue of tie breaker. The big shifts helped positions change radically in the SR fleet. Going into the last race, a bullet would win the regatta for any one of three boats. "Elixir" and "Lucky Pony" traded the lead back and forth until Tim Miller's crew eked out an ace at the end of the last beat. All results are provisional because the winners did not empty the Pot o' Gold after the race.

Hangover Regatta - January 1, 2004 Bill Johnsen held off Tim Miller by two boat lengths to win the 2004 Hangover Regatta SR Max Class. In the E Scows, teenage wonder Isaac Leeston took his second bullet in a row. Fitfull puffs filling in from both sides of the course made for a very strategic race.

Drumstick Regatta - November 22, 2003 The PHRF, SR Max, E Scow, and Sunfish fleets started in an easterly and then the Flying Scot fleet started in a westerly. The conditions held most of the afternoon with opposite winds on either side of the bay and a convergence zone of no wind in between. Chuck Koch, Susie Connover, Jim Barr, and Maury Schoenwald dealt with the situation best in the Flying Scot, Sunfish, E Scow, and PHRF fleets, respectively. Bill Johnsen jumped out to a big lead in his new purple SR Max, "Tinkie Winkie", named for the biggest teletubby of similar pigmentation. But alas! "Tinkie Winkie" followed the Flying Scots to the wrong mark allowing Po, LaLa, Dipsy and the rest of the SRs to romp away under the smiling sun. Then they ate turkey while they watched TV on each other's tummies.Then they said, "Bye Bye !" Cindy Clifton, Jabbo Gordon, Dave Batholomew, and Bridget Smith did a fine job under difficult conditions.

Chilly weather with a 6-15 knot easterly were the conditions for the Cherry Pie. Cindy Clifton, Gilles Fouget, Patti Tebo, and Jacques & Charlotte Brisson got off two races for the dinghies and one long one for the PHRF boats.

The Flying Scots had the closest racing of the regatta. Dan and Rhonda Ortmayer won with six points, followed by three boats tied with 7 points and then two boats tied with 8. Chuck Tanner and Ursula Olson were fast as they won the last race to clinch second. However, they started out a little too fast and had to return and re-start the first race.

Joe Hutzenbiler won the Portsmouth Class in "Cheerio" while Ashley and Ashley on the 420, "Ashley" , were first in the 420s.

Jim Barr and Terry Zimmerly handily won E-scows and True Cruisers, respectively.

In the PHRF Spinnaker race, the Killer D's on "Jennifer Fitzgerald" jumped out to a big lead when they hit a shift on the first beat. Under the guidance of expert tactician Todd Liebl, Yonnenmonika Wiercinski on "Blind Chance" got right back in the race when they found a shift on the second beat. The two boats switched positions back and forth for the rest of the race until the Ds squeaked it out at the end.

In Non spinnaker, Rich Muro on "Blammo" beat out Kevin Ratigan on "Water Rat" by two minutes.

All the winners were awarded Cherry Pies by Race Captain Peter Robinson.

The Flying Scots turned out a fleet of 12 to take advantage of a beautiful day with a 6-8 knot westerly. Jeff Pennfield seems to get faster each week. On his way to winning this week, he performed the amazing feat of passing Ron Pletsch downwind.

Rudy Reinecke dusted the Non Spin fleet by a large margin. In second place, Doug Dearden's boat was hampered by the absence of all-star crew Peter Robinson, who graciously ran the Race Committee.

The Miller family, with Mariella Doyle and Kirk Burnett, continued their winning ways on "Fandango". It doesn't seem to matter whether they are sailing an Olson 30 or a Capri 22. They are tough to beat.

6 year old Todd Liebl smoked the rest of the fleet with his new Melges 24. The race started off windy and cold and ended up becalmed and warm. Doug Dearden's crew on "In Tune" showed that they are getting tuned up as they roared into second place on the last leg. The crew of "Fandango" distracted all but two boats well enough to take third with their strategy of carrying a pin-up with them. Bill Johnsen's new technique of driving "Blaze" with only the soles of his feet above water did not work very well. Bill Fisher won non-spinnaker in his refurbished antique Cal 25.

Beautiful weather with an 8-10 knot northwester set the scene for the Snowbird Regatta. Sandy Sundberg and Allan Becker set a seven mile course for the PHRF boats and got two races off for the Flying Scots and the E Scows.

With Dean Cleall on his Olson 30, "Mad Dogs", Tim & Eric Miller, Mariella Doyle, and Margot won the PHRF Spinnaker by 24 seconds. The Capri 22 "Puff" won Non-spin by a minute and a half.

A formidable fleet of 11 Flying Scots turned out. This year's Honorable Mention College All-American, Dan Pletsch, was on Dad Ron's boat.

Bill Johnsen

Bill Johnsen and the crew of "Blaze" scored a stunning coup by winning Davis Island Yacht Club's "Commodore's Cup" January 4-5, 2003, on Tampa Bay.

Phil Cook, Salie O'Malley, Tim Miller, Mariella Doyle, and Dave Brain joined Bill on the only Sarasota boat in the regatta.

The bright red SR 27 showed her heels to 15 other boats, all from Tampa Bay and St. Pete.

Knowledgable observers compared the achievement to that of the yacht "America" which, in 1851, vanquished a stacked British fleet off the Isle of Wight and brought the "Auld Mug" back to the North American continent.

Reviews The Sarasota Sailing Squadron has the most active racing program in the State of Florida, averaging over seventy club sponsored events per year. Friday night races are a lot of fun. We have a fleet of keel boats that include 12 SR Max 21s and various others ranging up to a J-40. During Daylight Savings Time, this fleet races every Friday night at 18:30. An effort is made to find a spot on a boat for everyone who shows up. It's a good idea to arrive by 17:30. You do not have to be a member but if you decide you like it and are going to come regularly, you will be encouraged to join the Squadron. October through March, we have series races on the first and third Sundays of the month. Additionally, there is a club regatta Saturdays once a month. Flying Scots (the Squadron's largest fleet), E-Scows,and other dinghies join the rest of the fleet on a separate course in the series races and monthly regattas. The E-Scows also race on winter Wednesday afternoons. They never leave anyone on the dock who wants to sail.Jim Barr, the famous former St. Louis Cardinal linebacker, is the spark plug of that group. The Luffing Lassies is a group of women sailors who race Sunfish and Optimist prams on Thursday mornings. They give sailing lessons for newcomers when their program begins in September. Each year they have a regatta with other women's sailing groups from Venice to Clearwater. Jan & Monika Wiercinski on their SR Max "Blind Chance". During the summer, Sunfish, Lasers, and Optis race on Wednesdays at 18:00. Sarasota Bay is a great place for dinghy sailing. We have hosted many Sunfish and Laser MidWinters as well as the Opti Nationals in 2002. The Canadian Laser team has come here to train the last three winters. This has given our Laser and Radial sailors a great oppurtunity to practice with the best. Excellent young sailors from Tampa/St. Pete frequently show up at club regattas here. In 2004, Dalton Tebo, a graduate of our Youth Sailing Program was a member of the crew who brought back to Sarasota the US Sailing Sear's Cup for winning the triple-handed championship. We host the One Design MidWinters each spring, a 3 day regatta that attracts Flying Scots, SR Maxes, Daysailers, E Scows, Albacores, Santana 20s, and International Canoes. We were selected to hold the trials to determine the US entrant in the Pan American Games for the Sunfish Class in 2003. We are proud of our racing heritage and invite you to join us at any of our regattas.  Check our Home Page for upcoming events or the Race Schedule for a year long calender.

If you have any write-ups or photographs you would like to contribute to Racing News, please email to Charlie Clifton or Squadron Office or bring it by the office and we will post it here.