Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta - Sarasota

Our blogging is sadly out of date, but we have an excellent excuse. The little pc netbook is just about officially dead, so we don't even bring it with us any longer. Even when it was working, it was so finicky a short tempered person like me just wanted to smash it into little pieces, so the karma was all wrong anyhow.

We recently got a nice new Mac desktop (our first apple product) so that is where the blogging will take place for the foreseeable future. I must say the wireless keyboard is sweet especially considering that I was originally a little dubious. It looks funky. Maybe an iPad will be next, which means daily updates again...

Speaking of making purchases, we just made a big one...an RV! Yes, an iPad would be the perfect companion to the RV. We are now officially members of the gas guzzling, lane hogging, traffic slowing, money spending, etc. club. I am also pretty sure I will be routinely traveling with a turn signal on for extended periods of time (the clicking sound is faint)while having no intentions of turning. This is nearly a requirement for FL residency so we might blend right in with the masses. Sarasota was the maiden voyage, it doesn't get much better than that.

I was pleasantly surprised with how it drove and the power it had. It is built on a Ford chassis and has the V-10 engine, so towing a boat or car is no problem. The naming process is underway and the two leading possibilities are: 1- Pig Rig, 2- Bob. The first should be obvious, the second is from the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. It's funny.

Here is our waterfront spot at the club with Amy verifying rear clearance

We arrived Friday late afternoon and it was already chilly. Of course, we had a front passing thru right on schedule. This means wind from the NW which clocks right for the next few days and weakens, usually.... Think midwinters. Oddly, the forecast for Saturday was mid teens and Sunday was to be more windy, a little bass ackwards.

We did three races Saturday in this;

Scores were close, Mark Taylor held a lead over Jim Egan and four of us were tied for third.

By Sunday am, the forecast now called for a little less breeze, especially early so we confidently selected the new sails and were off. The first of two races was sailed in choppy whitecaps, here is the picture of that;

The second race was another story, the breeze picked up in the sequence and spiked from there. I think there were five capsizes and quite a few folks saying, "Let's get the hell out of here!" As we arrived at the first leeward mark an S flag was flying. A good number of boats decided that was the finish while a few of us undecideds thought this could mean a weather finish. So up we went again just to be sure. Part way up we can see there is no way the mark boat could get there for a finish since they were in rescue mode. The committee boat remained on station, maybe that meant a downwind finish. "What the hell? We've come this far" say us. As we go through what could be a finish line I notice the folks on the RC boat seem fairly disinterested in us. Not a good sign.

Turns out the race was shortened to two legs so we got in a little extra practice in breeze which was fun. The part about flogging the crap out of a new main was a little less fun. Learning a little later that we were OCS was the exact polar opposite of fun.

Mark Taylor with Lisa Hayward crewing sailed a great regatta for the win. Here is a link to the full results; www.sarasotasailingsquadron.org/

The Sarasota District regatta has been held in November every year and will know be known as the Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta. Jeff clearly left a mark on many of us and we really admire and miss him. Katharine Penfield was in attendance and closed out the awards presentation with a story about Jeff's desire to create a Leadership Award. It turns out he worked with his family in the last few weeks and/or months of his life to come up with the award criteria. He wanted it to be "For the recognition of respected leaders and active role models for new sailors in the Flying Scot Florida District. Suggested criteria; -Exhibit qualities of leadership in the Flying Scot class. -Promote fleet growth in the Florida District. -Act as a positive role model. -Sail actively in the Florida District." There is a perpetual trophy along with a keeper for the recipients, and the recipient is charged with selecting the next winner. Katherine continued that Jeff had selected the first recipient and when she announced it was Kim and I, we were shocked. I was pretty well speechless and the huge lump in my throat didn't help. Neither did looking at Kim, who was about to lose it.

The throat lump is back. We are as honored as we can be and want to thank the wonderful Penfield family.