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| at St. Pete NOOD. The perpetual trophy hangs from the head stay. |
The "Cakewalk" crew, consisting of Josh Wilus, Jeff Linton, Dave Clement (Friday), and TJ Voght (Saturday & Sunday), ran away with the 2003 St. Pete NOOD/SR Max Midwinter Championship. Friday they won the Hall Spars Boat of the Day Award. "Blind Chance" was the only boat that beat them during the regatta sailed in a variety of light to moderate conditions. In spite of the winner's lopsided score, there was some very close racing.
Friday Tampa Bay was full of left over chop from a strong easterly that had blown the previous night. That breeze died throughout the day, "Cakewalk" showed a mastery of these difficult light air conditions that none of the other boats from four states could match. After Dave Geddy from Rockwall, Texas, on "Mad Max" finished second in the first race, Brad Kadau on "Changes in L'Attitude" took over that position after the next. Then the wind died completely and the RC wisely sent the fleet to the beach.
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On Saturday morning the first race went off with more light air and chop from the east. "Mad Max" moved to within one point of "Changes" as they posted their second deuce. The easterly completely died at the end of the race. The fleet waited almost three hours until the seabreeze finally filled in from the south west.
An 8-12 knot seabreeze with flat water was a welcome change for the fourth race. Very close racing ensued but "Cakewalk" once again came out on top. "Changes" took second, consolidating that position with each subsequent race.
The same seabreeze conditions were present for the fifth race with one significant change. The current, which had been flowing hard to the north for the last four races, began to flow hard to the south. For the unwary, this provoked some OCSes and overstood windward marks. Jan Wiercinski on "Blind Chance" handled the situation perfectly. Jan, Monika, Miro Kafka, and Alison Trice took off from the starting line and never looked back. The fleet was very close but "Blind Chance" held their lead to become the only other boat to win a race the whole weekend.
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A weak front moved in overnight. Sunday morning was cloudy and blowing 10-15 with some higher gusts when the sixth race started. "Cakewalk" and "Changes" had virtually clinched first and second, respectively. "Mad Max" led Bill Embree's "Viento" by only one point for third. The RC signalled the long 5 leg race and "Mad Max" found themselves pretty deep in the pack after the first leg. The wind lightened as the race progressed and the Texas crew methodically clawed their way back up toward the top of the pack. At the finish line, "Blind Chance", "Mad Max", and "Viento" were all together but Geddy held off Wiercinski to secure third place via tie breaker over Embree.
The wind then died completely at noon so the RC blew off the rest of the races and sent us in. Five minutes later we had the best wind of the regatta.
Thanks go to Howard Miller for hosting the SR party Thursday night.
