Just made reservation at LaQunita hotel for this regatta, NOTE, Jeff said room rate is $89.00 per nite not the 99 rate.

Dick Renke
EC12 1936

Mar 29 & 30 St. Petersburg Fred Pfeil NOR Online Entry from http://www.floridaec12.com/regattas.html

Okay, 24 days and St. Pete will be back on the schedule. Sign up has been slow, this is a great pond, usually good winds, which makes for great sailing and a super test of your skills. We will not put the windward mark in a dead spot, (promise) and will have plenty of support to get your boats in and out of the pond. Trophies for the top 5, plus additional awards. We have an affordable room, considering the time of year. Did I mention this may be your only time to give Fred Pfeil some grief about the course.

Steve, how many have signed up for regatta? I am ready to race after being in dry dock since Oct. CU there, Dick

So far we have the following:

Jim Pardee
Brenda Pardee
Liz Perkins
Alan Perkins
Herb Mitton
Jack Wubbe
John Goldsworthy
Robert Greer
Dick Reinke
Dick Hedderick
Bud Elder
Judy Clarke


Looking for the hot shot (Luscomb) to join the others from West Palm. Can't let Doc have all the fun. For those in Jacksonville, come on down, the ice is off the pond.

Hot Shot... Not! I'll be there. Looking forward to coming back to St. Pete. Great Venue.

Update on St. Pete, currently we have 17 skippers. We went to take a look at the pond, looks good, water level is high, and we will be able to move the marks, so we anticipate setting up great courses

For those interested, we are planning on eating at Olive Garden, which is ~1 mile from the LaQuinta. We are thinking cocktails at 6:00pm and dinner starting at 6:30pm. The restaurant that we have used in the past, has changed hands and has not been receiving good reviews. Here is the skipper list as of this morning:

Jim Pardee
Brenda Pardee
Liz Perkins
Alan Perkins
Herb Mitton
Jack Wubbe
John Goldsworthy
Robert Greer
Dick Reinke
Dick Hedderick
Bud Elder
Judy Clarke
John Santoro
John Steacy
Tom Phillips

All

Just got nailed by a "knock down", looks like we may try the galley at Twisted Martini. Keep you all posted.

Entry sent. Looking forward to sailing in St. Pete again.

Updated list on skippers:

Jim Pardee
Brenda Pardee
Liz Perkins
Alan Perkins
Herb Mitton
Jack Wubbe
John Goldsworthy
Robert Greer
Dick Reinke
Dick Hedderick
Bud Elder
Judy Clarke
John Santoro
John Steacy
Tom Phillips
Joe Walter
Dan Pearce
Jonathan Luscomb

The initial A and B Fleets for the St Pete Regatta have been posted to the Florida EC-12 site. You may view the fleets by clicking on the following link:

http://www.floridaec12.com/fleet-list-StP.html


Note: Frank Vella added to B Fleet, Judy Clarke subtracted from B Fleet. All others the same. Total number of skippers still at 20 as of this post.

Heads up on the weather

Sat: High around 76, winds WSW at 7, 50% chance of T-storms
Sun High around 74, winds N at 11, 20% chance of showers

Nightly lows middle 60's

I will post as we get closer.

Steve

While we wait for the posting of the final results, I want to say what a really good regatta this turned out to be. Saturday was not looking pretty at all. A huge front was over the course and the rest of western and northern Florida. The winds were over 15 knots (23 kts in gusts) and the best course that could be made was to sail away from shore. This presented the usual port-starboard issues at the windward mark due to depth of field. The skippers did do there best to deal with it, but only after two demastings in the first heat. The course looked a little like the AC course in San Fran. The finish was a short reach along the shore. Everyone was checking the radar on their iPhones and after a long lunch break to see if we could avoid the storm, the staff put us in for just one more race before calling off racing for the day as the storm moved in. We got in only 5 races of A-B P&R. Everyone agreed to start a little earlier and race longer on Sunday.

Hedderick had a nice lead with myself about 5 points back followed by Perkins a little further back. Most of the sailing, while scary with some damage, was clean considering. The party got started early in the Luscomb's hotel room and then we all went to the Twisted Martini for more drinks and dinner. The Kelter's dined elsewhere and Gerhard went home early Sunday complaining of bad food issues. Jack Wubbe also bowed out because he did not care to have his beautiful wood work marred in the heavy air. We missed both of them on the water.

Sunday was a much nicer day with plenty of clear blue sky and strong winds. We set up on the opposite shore and had a wonderful windward-leeward straight down the shore. The B-rigs were all out and the racing was a blast. Lots of little shifts to challenge us and enough breeze to get in a lot of races. There were still a few issues, but no more damage to speak of. Hedderick was very consistent and held onto his lead. Perkins surged to pass me for second. A trip to B-fleet did not help my cause. It was all I could do to fend off Luscomb who closed to within 2 points for 4th. Brenda Pardee struggled with radio issues, but managed to stay in the top ten (7th) and Liz Perkins really impressed as well with a 9th place finish. Judith Clarke was not able to make it after all, but might we have seen three ladies in the top ten? Doc Greer took home the 5th place trophy with John Steacy earning the Bubble Rider trophy for sailing the most heats.

Hats off to Pfast Pfreddy Pfeil and his three sons PSteve, PMike and PFred who did a fantastic job running the regatta. We look forward to them hosting again next year. Thanks to all the rest of the staff as well. Great job guys. I really had a great time in St. Pete this weekend despite the flooding rain.

Good times and thanks to the Pfeil clan for all the work and all who helped out. Good to see Uncle Dick back out, check out the new hips.