2013 Midwinter's - Report By Mike Holt

The 2013 Midwinters took place out of St Pete's YC in Florida. The event took place over 3 days with good courses and excellent race management for the St Pete's team ably lead by Jeff Harris as the PRO, Donna Sue Marks and all the rest of the crew, dropping marks, moving them and generally doing a top job! I had the pleasure of sailing this year with Dustin Romey in Henry Amthor's new Rondar. It was actually amazing we even made it to the start line. Some 100 miles short of the venue Dustin "lost" the double containing Henry's boat and 9007, formerly Tyler's boat now owned by Matt and Thomas on the freeway while traveling 1 mph below the speed limit. By the time he came to a stop the trailer was no longer in one piece, but luckily the boats were. Ethan then stepped up to the plate and drove down with his double to pick up the two stranded boats while Dustin got the broken trailer to a repair guy. A huge thanks to Ethan! But I have to ask the question, isn't it time for the US to consider the metric system and do away with the BS of 1 7/8" and 2" etc?

So with the addition of the 2 wayward boats 15 boats came to the course for 5 races on Friday. Five! And people complained about the sail in at St Francis! Note to self, expect a long day at any yacht club associated with a Saint… With so many races I can't remember much, but Fritz and Augie won all but one and they would have won that too but for a breakage. They were faster and smarter in the 10-15 knot conditions and controlled from the front. Behind it was much tighter with half a dozen boats fighting for the next spots, Mike and Ethan were the only other race winners but at the days end they were in 6th, Will and Zack, sailing with the A sail and clearly faster downwind were in 5th, Drew and Mark were in 4th, Doug and Parker 3rd and Dustin and I were 2nd. All day long Drew and Mark had been as quick as Fritz and Augie up but were struggling a little downwind. Also of note, The Body and Macy were sailing Macy's new Rondar, that looked exactly like his old boat… They had their moments including a 3rd in race 2.

Saturday was slightly lighter, despite a forecast for more and the start was delayed by fog but oddly and unlike the real stuff it was warm, some sort of Hollywood prop I think. Racing again was a blur, same race winners but Doug and Parker upped their game and pushed Dustin and me down to 3rd in the standings. Mike and Ethan also had a better day but Will and Zack struggled a bit with the A sail. Saturday night saw a great spread provided by the YC, but the party wrapped up pretty early with some tired bodies after 2 long days of racing.

So to Sunday once the fog cleared it was all to play for, well not really, basically Fritz and Augie just had to sail the course to win, but duly won the two races in still lighter breeze, a 50:50 day on wire running. Dustin and I did enough to move up to 2nd so now Dustin has the curse too and Doug and Parker hung on for 3rd, despot doing their best to "throw it away" under pressure! To be fair, when I have my sights set on 2nd I take some shaking…

This was my 3rd midwinters and all have been great fun, sailing off of a lovely beach with great sailing and socializing in a warm and picturesque venue. Sailing on the gulf is great fun, good waves and breeze giving good fair racing and I cannot think of a reason why you would not be here in February. A big thanks to Ethan, Lin and all the crew at St Pete's YC! I will be back!

2013 Midwinter's - Final Results UPDATE: PHOTO GALLERY

Congratulations to Augie Diaz and Fritz Lanzinger for an impressive win at the 2013 Midwinter Championship!


PHOTO GALLERY from Stew Ahmen who was on the whether mark boat. Great shots!

2013 Midwinter's - Day Two Results

2013 Midwinter's - Day One Results

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2012 Seattle Turkey Bowl - Angus Brackett

Before I report on our regatta I wanted to give a big thanks to Bruce Van Deventer for organizing the chase boat and to Brian Watkins and CYC Seattle for opening the club for us. Also a welcome and Thanks to Krysia Pohl for joining the fleet and taking on the roll of fleet Captain.

Now onto the sailing, this year’s Turkey Bowl was attended by ten 505’s, with Port Townsend sending two boats and eight from Seattle.  The forecast was for strong southerlies and this came true with winds in averaging 20 knots, and some gusts around 30 in the late afternoon.  Four races were held with rabbit starts with the good fun had by all and a few capsizes.  After racing we held a debrief and annual meeting at CYC, with Fish and Chips supplied by the Watery Tart’s (Annie and Chris). Sadly a few boats had some rigging issues that kept them off the water on Sunday.

Sunday’s forecast was for building breeze and rain; however this was delayed enough for six boats to get out on the water and have four more races with Buchans and Fritz & Scott trading firsts in the 8-12 knot Southeast breeze, before the wind shifted farther to the East, signaling it was time to head in.

Thanks to everyone that turned out for the weekend, and again to Bruce and CYC.  The 2013 Schedule was discussed and will be finalized soon.  A reminder to those west coast boats planning on racing in the Barbados worlds, please contact Paul Von Grey get your deposit in to secure a spot in the container.

Thank you and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Photos courtesy of Bruce Van Deventer:

St. Francis Fall Dinghy Report - Reeve Dunne

10 505's showed up for 6 races for great San Francisco racing at the St Francis fall dinghy Oct 20-21

It was cool and foggy Saturday morning so after spending fall dinghy last year in sunny 80+ weather an no wind.

At first it looked like the wind might not cooperated with my hopes as we started the first race right in front of Alcatraz around 12:30 in a fickle light breeze coming right over the city.  We got off to a start but after 2.5 laps the race committee cancelled (much to Holt and I's dismay as the current race leaders) as the breeze was lightning and flood was increasing.

After 30 minutes of sailing hard upwind to maintain position against the current the breeze increased to marginal trapping and more importantly enough wind to get upwind against the current.  AJ/Ben won it followed by Pierre and Mike Holt once again up in the front of the boat, and Ted Conrad's also up front  in 3rd.  Holt and I decided to try the right and paid the price finishing 6th

For the second race the breeze was up. we chased Jeff and Mike Smith to the left all the way around the course with Tim Murphy/Geoff Gales right behind us, up until the top mark where Jeff/Mike got pulled into the mark (did I mention it was flooding) and lost Holt/me and Tim/Geoff trying to get back to the offset.

Third race was the same idea go left and prosper we rounded the first followed closely by Jeff/Mike and Pierre/Holtie as the breeze increased the the flood subsided and managed to stay that way 3 laps to the finish

We were greeted on shore with the usual St Francis hospitality and warm food very welcome for all.

Sunday morning was colder but once on the water it was windier.

True to their word the race committee got the first start for another 3 legger off at 12, the flood was less intense but like the previous day the left still paid.  We chased Jeff/Mike around the course again, but were never able to get around them with Aaron Ross/? and Eben Russel/Pat Diola next

Second race the breeze was really up and the course was much more even but with big holes.  Jeff/Mike determined not to let the young guys beat them got off to another fast start with Eben/Pat next and a tight pack behind them.  We became the first of many casualties in this race deciding to test the water on the first downwind.  Mike and Jeff held on to win with Holtie and Pierre next Pat and Eben were primed for third until a broken guy ejected Pat from the boat and we stole the third spot.

Last race Jeff/Mike put on the jets once again to take a commanding lead followed by a close race between Eb/Pat, Steve Kleha/Matthias, Pierre/Mike and us. Eb and Pat took second us third with Steve/Matthias right behind.

St Francis as always put on a great regatta, and SF bay delivered perfect conditions for 6 great races to end the summer season

Final Results:


Pos, Crew, Skipper, Yacht Club, Results, Total Points 
1. Mike Smith, Jeff Miller, SCYC, [4]-3-2-1-1-1- ; 8  
2. Reeve Dunne, Holt Condon, St Francis YC, [6]-1-1-2-3-3- ; 10  
3. Mike Holt, Pierre Jeangirard, Bishop yacht club, 2-4-3-[5]-2-5- ; 16  
4. Geoff Gales, Tim Murphy, Tim Murphy, 5-2-8-6-[10]-6- ; 27  
5. Robert Park, Aaron Ross, Santa Cruz YC, 9-6-6-3-4-[12/DNS]- ; 28  
6. Matthias Kennerknecht, Steve Kleha, SCYC, [8]-7-5-8-5-4- ; 29  
7. Unknown, Edward Conrads, St Francis, 3-8-4-9-7-[12/DNS]- ; 31  
8. Glass/Pedlow, AJ Crane, StFYC, 1-5-[12/DNF]-7-8-12/DNS- ; 33  
9. Pat Diola, Eben Russell, none, [12/DNF]-12/DNF-12/DNF-4-6-2- ; 36  
10. Matt Kroystad, Christopher O'Leary, BYC, 7-9-7-10-9-[12/DNS]- ; 42