Flying Scots Fleet Race in Sarasota

Heading out of the basin with other Scots following


We decided to head down to Sarasota to join in the fleet racing fun. Actually, Chuck Tanner the fleet captain, was thinking that it seems a shame that the District season ends in March, yet the weather in April and early May is awesome. To try to take advantage of the weather he suggested fleet racing each Sunday throughout the month of April. Its an informal thing but the interest seems to be there, so its cool. Chuck crewed for Jeff Penfield and they served as the rabbit for each of the three starts. We used the existing compass course laid out in Sarasota Bay so going informal with no RC is not such a big deal.

We did three races in really perfect weather see the wind graph which follows:


There were eight Scots in attendance including Ron Pletsch and Jim Egan who both single handed. I think we all took turns getting lost, well not exactly lost, we knew where we were but not always where the marks were. Ron's idea of repainting the marks seems like a good one to me. The faded out marks long since covered by bird _____ are not that easy to spot from a mile away and thats not even taking the beer into consideration. We have decided to bring the GPS next time.

We had one of those "you wouldn't believe it moments" as we were finishing the first race somewhat tightly bunched and under spinnaker. As we are finishing a small cruiser (Catalina 22 perhaps) comes reaching into the fleet, on port tack, under main and jib and three adults relaxing in the cockpit. We think he said something about how he was trying to get out of the way. Hmmmm. If you haven't been to Sarasota Bay, trust me, it is a BIG bay. The racing area is in the southern half and is way west of the intercoastal channel, and is away from any shoals, channels or other obstructions. So we just finish, are on starboard and we are taking down the chute when it becomes clear the guy is on a collision course with us and maybe others too and he's not going to change course. While Kim is gathering the chute I tell her we need to jibe to avoid the guy and we do. I was remarkably composed (some who know me well can verify this) and told him we did not mean to get in his way. OK, so a little sarcasm but WTF!? I'm thinking: you got the whole freakin Bay!!!


In a calmer moment: on the return to the club we cross the sandbar and see some fish, so I tried a picture, no you can't see anything...


Here we pass the kids doing drills on the 420's I tried to get a shot of 4 of them coming together at the same time, I guess thats what we might have looked like with the cruiser...