Regata del Sol al Sol - St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - "Race of the sun to the sun"

The race started with very little wind. The race committee has a rule that is really cool so that the race is not delayed.  If there is no wind the committee boat will fly the postponement flag and leads the entire fleet down the course until the wind fills in. We were the second start but passed the entire group of boats by the bay bridge. We were able to see the yacht Second Wind by the first evening but after that we did not see any of the fleet. Difficult to believe, but Carinthia was able to point higher than most of the boats in the fleet. The next 400 miles were 15 to 25 knots of a port fetch. When it came to put a reef in the main we suddenly discovered that we had forgotten to put the reef line in. Although a bit slow, we did get it in by lowering the sail. However when it went back up, there was a tear in the back of the sail. Fortunately it was along the leech cord and we sailed 300 miles with it that way. We also broke one of the genoa halyards but just had to make bareheaded sail changes with the other one.

This was a tedious race and we kept sailing into square waves that caused the boat to drop every 4th wave. In fact I got launched out of bunk and landed on Jim Best's head, a pleasant surprise for him. We rode the southern current as long as we could and crossed the northernly stream as quickly as possible. We had to cross back on a starboard tack just north of Isla Contoy. Bob noticed just west of the island the depth decreasing to 24 feet. We immediately saw the foam of a reef straight ahead and tacked. It was a close call for ending up on the rocks but we did manage to duck that bullet. We did finish on Monday morning at 1: 54 am and the next boat did not arrive for the next 8 hours. That is the first time Carinthia got to be first to finish. We were first in the tiny spinnaker class but the day after our finish the wind finally filled in  from the north so our great performance was nullified.

Beach at finish line

Crew: Bob Declercq, Jim Best, Karl Kuspa, Paul Falcone, Eric Ryan, Greg Thomas

Race Tracking: http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2010_regatadelsol

Race Website: http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org/

Final results: pdf document

At dock at Isla Mujeras

Paul Falcone's all terrain golf cart

Paul tried his hand in the suitability of the golf cart's off roading capabilities. In the end he did not care for it, but managed to miss the rocks and landed in the sand. He did not break his neck so I guess it was a relatively successful endeavor.

Manitee River to St. Petersburg

Tampa Girl is on the right, Carinthia is in the group on the left

This was a broad reach start in about 16 knots of air for this 12 mile race.  Madcow managed to sail in our quarter wake and stuck to us like glue. The second leg was a short run. After rounding mark 2 it was pretty much a beat to weather. We managed to cross the finish line in 2nd place and only losing to Warrior by 23 seconds corrected time. If we would of beat her we would of won the regatta in our class. However we did to place 3rd overall for all classes so it was not too bad.

Link: Race #3

        Series

        Overall Series

This race was mostly upwind up the bay

Crossing the finish line

Race from Tampa to Manitee River

Pre race..Nicole, Rodney, Karl, Con, Mark

Straight trip down the bay

On the second day we started on a broad reach in breeze under 10 knots for this 25 mile race. The start did not go well. We got on the leeward side of the fleet and could not get out from under Warrior, a Tripp 38. She was the slowest in our class and it hurt us. Madcow, a B-32 tried to bluff us by forcing us up when we were rolling her inside the 3 boat circle of a mark of the course. Unfortunately the second half of the race it turned into a moderate air run and that was our weak point of sail. Tampa Bay Girl, a shoal draft J120 was able to stay ahead of us and with their 8 second PHRF advantage we could not get close to her in this race. We could only score 5th in class. We had some problems with our electrical system we could not get the engine started. We could sail into the Manitee River but soon found out that the approach to the Brandenton Yacht Club was in some spots under 7 feet so we got stuck. Carinthia did get a tow and a place to spend the night. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_2_scrw.pdf

Carinthia is on the left

Carinthia in front of Brandeton Yacht Club

Suncoast Regatta St. Petersburg to Tampa

Carinthia in front of St. Pete Yacht Club

This was the first day of a three day regatta with the first a 21.3 miler from St. Pete to Tampa (Davis Island Yacht Club). It started with a decent 16 knot wind from the stern. We got caught in a little bit of traffic but got the .6 spinnaker up with no problems. We managed to round the first mark in 4th place but managed to move up in the upwind leg. At the top end of the bay the wind at 15 knots turned into a reach. At that point we put up the code 0 and started to reel the other boats in. We finished 2nd corrected time so it was a pretty decent day. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_1%20scrw.pdf

Spinnaker class start...Carinthia is in the middle

Rodney hard at work

Rodney in front of Davis Island Yacht Club