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Our blogging is sadly out of date, but we have an excellent excuse.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.

FL District Championship, Miami 2011

The creepy neighbor is stalking the contractors building his new house right next to ours. We try to dodge him as much as possible but with the project in full swing it is getting more difficult. He startled Kim early in the morning “So, what do you think?” Says CN nodding towards the concrete slab and mass of cement blocks. This seems to be his new favorite line, a real conversation starter, especially with the ladies. Later the car and boat are loaded and ready, we are happy to see he must have left for the day. We are pulling out with the boat in tow and gasp, he comes around the corner in his car, pauses for a chat and we hit the gas..... Off to Miami!

We are headed for Naples for the night which leaves an easy drive into Miami Saturday am. The last time we raced we forgot the spinnaker pole (not recommended) so we are hoping not to pull off another bonehead move like that. I’m pretty sure we’re good.

Sadly we are driving while the Rays are playing game one of the playoffs in Texas. Would have much preferred the TV to radio but so far the Rays are hot and off to an early lead so no complaints. During one of the radio breaks there is a news flash; today is the last chance to have sex with an animal! Oh crap, I didn’t know! Yes the FL legislator saw the need to pass a law against it and it takes affect at midnight. Seems the folks in the panhandle are the culprits and are ruining it for the rest of us.

The trip to Coconut Grove Sailing Club is smooth and we quickly see quite a few Scots. We were hoping for a good number of boats this year but I found about two last minute cancellations so we weren't sure how it would go. We get rigged quickly and “Oh shit the mast is bent” oh well, to late to deal with it now. While trailering and looking in the rear view mirror it appeared bent but I figured it was distortion or illusion or whatever. No idea how it happened but it is not too bad.

Light breeze for Saturday’s first race, maybe 5 to 7 or so, and from the Northwest. To which the locals say; “it never does that”. By the end of the first beat we are relieved to see that the bent mast is no issue, we have boat speed. When the pack made it back down to the leeward mark the wind went to about 1, when it wasn’t 0. RC tried a shortened finish at the weather mark but few made it and the race was abandoned.

Back at the very hot and still club we had the bright idea to hang at the Marriott pool, where Jim and Richard are staying. Yes, Jim Egan and Richard E. are back! Another group of travelers including Ron, Barry, John D. Terry, Mark and Dawn were staying at a nearby condo, they had the pool idea too. Upon meeting up at Flanagan’s for dinner we learned that there pool was hot so they retired to the cool a/c in the condo and watched porn. Hmmm...... We have no pictures of that!

Sunday morning is nice and somewhat cool. The weather forecast was for the first cold front of the season to dip down into FL and it felt good. We found a nice 8 knot northerly at the club and the early dark clouds seemed to be dissipating. A promising day. As we head out the Dinner Key Channel we notice some bumps way out toward the east and southeast. Interesting for a light-ish breeze we think. The plan is for a 10:30 start and 3 races to try to make up for Saturday. The course is about set and at 10:20 we have a 50 degree righty and whitecaps. “Crap!” say the lightweights. After a short postponement the course is reset (and bumpy) and we are underway and hiking. After two good W/L four leggers the pack is tight. Jim and Mark are tied with 5 points while Ron, John and I are tied with 7 points. The third race was shortened to two legs, with a mile beat. Jim jumped out to the right and grabbed a bullet and the regatta! Congratulations to Jim and Richard! Mark and Dawn finished second and John and Terry were third. Good job to all.

Here is a summary of the scores; 1-Jim 6 pts, 2-Mark 9, 3-John 13, 4-Bob McElwain 13, 5-Ron 14, 6-Dave 15, 7-Tom McNally 19, 8-Vladimir Stroleny 21, 9-Larry Ames 28, 10- Bud Price 30, 11-Larry Whipple 33, 12-Henry Bernstein 33, 13- Ryan Alexander 39, 14-Henry Picco 44.

Mark your calendar for our next district championship regatta in Sarasota Nov. 5-6. It will be great to see the big crowd in Sarasota.