Category Archives: News

SPSA Series Races 3 & 4, King of the Bay and other news

Hey Sailor,

Here’s your update for Saturday’s Races, our post race October Fest, and general SPSA stuff.

When serving as race committee here’s when I would cancel a race before leaving the dock. That would be very reliable prediction of way too much wind or extremely bad weather. The rest of the time it would be a last minute decision. I’ve experienced too many instances when the weather prediction was just outside of acceptable racing conditions only to have a nice race day result instead. Last Saturday was one of those days. The forecast was for nothing winds. We ended up with a very light but steady wind for the 1st race and a building wind in race 2. The races were close. In the end it’s always the skipper’s decision to take his boat and crew out on the water. More race committee business in one of the dot points below.

Series Race 3 and 4 winners were: Spinnaker Class Warrior and Warrior; Cruising Class Legacy and Legacy. The complete results have been posted on the SPSA web page. At our post race get together the best of day winners were awarded a cold selection of bottled German biers with a stack of sharing cups. Since Warrior elected to stay out for a bit more sailing, we put the sharing cups to good use. Thanks Warrior! Also thanks to Chris Dolen who was our principle Race Officer and Last Tango (Dan Dawson) for committee boat.
Our under the tree post race featured grilled brats and a variety of side dishes. It was our October Fest post race party. We had 46 enthusiastic attendees. Thanks to Noreen Dawson for organizing this event and Richard Boler for bringing his grill and cooking up the brats. A special thanks to all who brought side dishes. It was a great way to close out a good day on the bay.
Other happenings under the tree. Cayennita III was awarded the King of the Bay flag for September 2021. Her second run on the 3rd of September, corrected time of 46:38 clocks in as the best of September and also ranks as the 4th fastest of all time. Watch for a KoB update on the SPSA web page.
If you’d like to add a second email address to receive these email blasts, send me a note TreinenRich@aol.com
Please welcome Suzanne Hooper as our newest member of the board. Jean Charles-Marks needed to step down as club Secretary due to other responsibilities she has with the Sierra Club and an art class she teaches on Saturday mornings. Suzanne has volunteered to take over for Jean. Thank you Jean for your service to SPSA!
Now for that race committee business. As mentioned at the last post race we had 6 dates which need coverage for the remaining series races. Gimmi Shelter has volunteered for December 4th and Hula Girl II has volunteered for March 19th. We need 4 more. Please step up. If you need help we have experienced sailors that will help you run the race. We need volunteers for the 4 following open dates. TreinenRich@aol.com

November 6th

December 4th – Gimmi Shelter

January 15th

February 26th – will be rescheduled because of Grand Prix weekend

March 19th – Hula Girl II

April 2nd

Lets Go Sailing!

Fall Season Races 3 & 4 this Saturday, Free Food and news

Hey Sailor,

Free food for members anyway. Read more about it in dot point 2 below.

This Saturday, October 16, Fall Season Races 3 and 4 get underway at 11 AM. Last Tango will be your race committee. Wind forecast is 10 to 15, mid 80s, 5% rain with a couple of clouds. Looks like a good day be be out on the bay. Look for us on VHF Channel 72.
Post Race get together under the tree. 3:30 – 4 expected start time. We will be serving grilled brats with sides. If you’d like to help out with the sides by bringing one, please contact Noreen to coordinate nursenory@yahoo.com Members eat free, that would be member of record & significant other. Your non-SPSA member crew can also join us, we ask for $5 each to cover costs. We will have plates, plasticware and napkins. BYOB and lawn chairs. Those that RSVP get priority in the food line including paying crew, no guarantees for anybody else TreinenRich@aol.com
We will award September’s King of the Bay Flag on Saturday under the tree.
SPSA Racing Success Story 1. Papa’ Pilat Rumgatta at Tampa Sailing Squadron Oct 2nd: Legacy 1st in Cruising A (8 boats), Surge & Moonshine, 1st and 3rd in Cruising B (12 boats) Also participating – Koinonia II DC
SPSA Racing Success Story 2. SPYC Ted Irwin Memorial Fall Bay Race Oct 8th: Cruiser A Surge 1st (3 boats), Cruiser B Cayennita III 1st, Spinnaker A Warrior 1st. Also participating Moonshine, Koinonia II DC, Kelly, Gimmi Shelter, and Tack Tick.
Other Racing News. Scratch February 26th off your SPSA Racing Calendar. The St Petersburg Grand Prix has moved to that day. That’s not a good day for the bay if your boat is downtown. We will find another day for Series Races 11 & 12.
Please thank our Membership Directory sponsors with your patronage: Gulf and Bay Divers, Sail Technologies, North Sails, Embree Marine, Yacht Power, Doug Weartherby, Gulf & Bay Marine, Marine Supply Warehouse, Masthead Sailing Gear, Doyle Sail Gulf Coast, Minuteman Press, Gulf and Bay Dredging and Dan Boater.
Also thanks to members Robert Hopkins, Joe Toth and Jody Abrams for their support of our Membership Directory.
If you are planning to renew please hurry. We are about to purge our email list to current memberships. Please remember you will always be welcome back to the St Petersburg Sailing Association.

Classic Regatta Results and last call for the Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet

Hey Sailor,

I have a very short email blast for you this evening.

The 12th Classic Regatta benefitting Meals on Wheels is in the bag. We had twenty-two competitors for the the 12th running of the Classic Regatta. Here’s the winners.

Spinnaker Class: 1st Tack Tick skipper Mike Jossette Malti & Andrew Chenney SPYC& SPSA, 2nd Gimmi Shelter skipper Lon Ethington SPYC & SPSA, 3rd Mother Ocean skipper Rick Gress SYC
Non-Spinnaker Class: 1st Fat Lady skipper David Mendleblatt SPYC
Cruising Class: 1st Shazaam! skipper Sean Motta DIYC, 2nd Mojo skipper Mauro Harto WFLPHRF, 3rd Koinonia II skipper Gath Reynolds SPYC & BCYC
Fun Class: 1st Tazz skipper Wanda Bermudez SPSA
Most Beautiful Boat: Mojo skipper Mauro Harto WFLPHRF
Good Neighbor Award: Jade skipper Al Lima DIYC
The big money winner – Neighborly’s Meals on Wheels Program $48,000 (final number not yet verified)

The deadline for Annual Meeting and Award Dinner Reservations is midnight Tuesday September 14th. The dinner will be held on Friday September 17th beginning at 5:30 PM in the Yacht Club.

Let’s Go Sailing!

Rich Treinen

SPSA Commodore

September SPSA Events and News

Hey Sailor,

Here’s your SPSA list of events for September and other news.

Tuesday September 7th at 6 PM the SPSA Board will meet at the yacht club marina. This will be our first in person meeting since lasts years Annual Meeting. As always the membership is welcome to sit in. You’ll find us at the table just outside the harbor master’s office.
Saturday Sept 11th is the 12th running of the Classic Regatta. The racing begins off the St Petersburg Pier at 1 PM. This is a staggered start event followed by a awards diner and auction at the Yacht Club. This is a fund raising event benefitting Neigborly’s Meals on Wheels program in Pinellas County. The weather forecast looks good. If you haven’t registered yet here’s the link. You better hurry. https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=14546
Our Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner is scheduled for Sept 17th at the Yacht Club.
The SPSA Series kicks off on Sept 25th with Races 1 and 2. Watch the SPSA Regatta page for the registration portal to be posted. I’ll send an announcement when it’s ready.
King of the Bay News: Bumbugo ran the best time in August, posting an elapsed time of 1:05:49 with a handicap corrected time of 54:20. While this is not a top ten all time performance, it just might be a blazing time for August. Below is a shot of Penny Simone driving her Ericson 32 Bumbugo around the marks.

LETS GO Sailing!

Classic Regatta Sept 11th

Hey Sailor,

The 12th running of the Classic Regatta is two weeks away, 11 September 2021. This is a premier day on the bay and the one charity event of the SPSA. The support so far this year is outstanding, we are in the verge of a record year. I encourage everyone to get involved. There are many ways to do this.

Find out about the Classic Regatta and the Pinellas County Meals on Program with this link. https://neighborly.org/st-petersburg-classic-regatta/
Get you crew lined up and enter the race. This is a fun day out on the Bay and back at the Yacht Club. Here’s the link to registration in Yacht Scoring. You’ll see many of the SPSA have already registered. https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=14546 Thanks to the 14 SPSA members who have already registered.
You can make a cash donation through the Good Neighbor Award challenge. This prestigious award is given annually to the skipper who raises the most money for the Meals on Wheels program. You can find the donation portal to your favorite skipper/boat with the following link. https://one.bidpal.net/12thannualclassicregatta/browse/donation
Donate a tangible item for the auction. On one end you can put together a basket of goodies, booze comes to mind, as does a sporting ticket package (the Rays are doing really good, as well as the Bucs or Lightning are always favorites). If you have something smaller in mind – we will combine it with other similar items. https://neighborly.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Regatta-2021-Auction-Donation-Form.pdf
Bid on the auction items. You’ll find good stuff from our many sponsors and the supporters of the Classic Regatta and Meals on Wheels. New items will be added daily and bidding will continue through the post race party. https://one.bidpal.net/12thannualclassicregatta/browse/all

Let’s Go Sailing!

Rich Treinen
SPSA Commodore