Hello Sailors,

 

Can you believe October is almost to an end? Time flies for sure. Here’s the news and upcoming events for SPSA:

•  In case you haven’t seen them here are the results of the October 15^th Series Races 3 and 4.

1.     In the Spinnaker Division the overall winners were

§  1^st Place – Tack Tick

§  2^nd Place – Warrior

§  3^rd Place – Cake Walk

2.     In Cruising

§  1^st Place – Legacy

§  2^nd Place – Cayennita III

§  3^rd Place – Sonar Lewis

              You can view more detail by going to the Regattas Tab on the 

              SPSA   website , logging in and clicking on Results for the race you 

              are interested in.   

• This past weekend SPSA Boats Swept the Cruising Class in Tampa Sailing Squadron’s Rumgatta. Grabbing the top 3 spots were Legacy (Dave Roberts), Cayennita III (Tony Sanpere) and Koinonia II (Garth Reynolds). In the Motherload class Fantasea skippered by SPSA member Robert Calvillocrossed the line first. Congratulations to all the winners and participants. It was a great race and fun post-race party. As always, TSS was a welcoming and gracious club. Can’t wait for their next race.
• King of the Bay – you have 4 days left to try to take the KOB Flag for October. Report your finish times to commodore@spsa.us. Go for it!
• The next SPSA Board Meeting is Tuesday November 1^st at 6:00 PM. The meeting will take place at the Sailing Center. If you are planning to attend, send an email to commodore@spsa.us .
• Saturday November 5^th is our next Fall Series Race. Race Committee for the day will be Cayennita III. Look for the little blue boat with red sail covers out on the bay somewhere near the pier. Race start time is 11:00 am.  The post-race celebration and awards will take place at Courigan’s Irish Pub. See ya out there!
• SPSA Commodore’s Cup takes place on Saturday November 12^th. This is a pursuit start race. The course and start times will be posted on the SPSA website and may be communicated by email no later than 6:00 PM on the Friday before the race. The first boat starts at 1100. If you haven’t signed up for this fun race yet, please do. The post-race event details will be announced soon. If you would like to help plan the post-race festivities or help please attend the November 1^st Board meeting. 
• To round out November there are two events on the weekend of November 19^th.

1.     The Dolphin Cruising Club of Tampa Bay is hosting their 5^th Annual Fall Kickoff Cruise Nov. 19^th-20^th. Boats will gather off Emerson Point in Bradenton and dinghy into the park for a potluck dinner. Go to the Club’s website for details. This is always a fun event and a good introduction to cruising if you are new to it. The Dolphin cruisers are a very welcoming bunch.

2.     Davis Island Yacht Club hosts the Egmont Key Race on the 19^th. Go to https://diyc.org for details and a link to register. This is a West Florida Boat of the Year series race. A little trivia – the Egmont Key Race is the oldest running race on the west coast of Florida and dates back to 1935. 

 

Remember that crew looking for a boat or skippers looking for crew can post their request on the SPSA Members Facebook Group or contact our Membership Chair at Membership.Chair@spsa.us.

 

Wow! Looks like we have a lot of opportunities to be out doing what we love. See you out on the bay.

We had a little hiccup posting the September 24th Fall Series race results, but here they are"

 In Spinnaker Class: Warrior takes #1 for the day, Cakewalk is 2nd and Tack Tic #3

You can review the complete results on the SPSA website.

A big thanks goes out to our Race Committee for the day, Garth Reynolds and crew on Koinonia II.

Cactus, skippered by Ian Sanders is King of the Bay for September. Congratulations Ian.

Tuesday October 4 is our monthly SPSA Board meeting held at the Sailing Center. All members are welcome to attend, we encourage it. Please let me know if you are planning to come commodore@spsa.us.

The Full Moon Pursuit is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8. Please remember to sign-up on the website. First boat start time will be 19:30. The October weather so far is grand! Just imagine sailing along under a full moon in cool breezes. A definite reward for enduring the hot summer months.

Other racing opportunities on Saturday, Oct 8 is the SPYC Ted Irwin Memorial Fall Bay Race. Go to Yacht Scoring to sign-up

October 15th is the next Fall Series Race. We need a R/ace Committee for this race. Please volunteer. If you have never done Race Committee we can provide assistance. Contact me at commodore@spsa.us for volunteering. The post race event details are forthcoming.

Thanks to all who attended last Friday’s SPSA Annual Meeting/Awards Dinner. We had a great turnout and a fun time. 

 

• This Saturday September 25th is the kick-off race for the 2022 Fall Season Races. Series Races 1 & 2. Race 1 start time is 11:00am. Garth Reynolds on Koinonia II will be our Race Committee. Remember to register for the Fall Season Races on our website spsa.us. Post race meet-up will be at Courigin’s Irish Pub.
  • A memorial is also being held on Saturday for Rainer Blomberg who lost his life in a diving accident earlier this year. Rainer served SPSA as Commodore in 2000-2001. Family and Friends will be gathering at Little J for the memorial. Race 1 will have Little J as one of the marks so we too can take a moment to remember a fellow sailor as we round the mark.
• You have 13 more days left this month to take a run at the KOB. Report your time to commodore@spsa.us you could be the next boat to fly the King of the Bay flag!
• If you haven’t renewed your membership to SPSA it’s not too late. Just go to the website click the membership tab then Join/Renew.
• Our next Board of Directors meeting is Tuesday October 4 at 6:00PM at the St. Pete Sailing Center. All members are invited to attend.

 

Best

Penny Simone

Commodore.

 

Here’s a few things to tantalize your sailing dreams while waiting for cooler and thunderstorm free weather to return.

 

• Bumbugo takes the King of the Bay Trophy for the month of July.  Her corrected time of 1:12:34 was the uncontested winner.  Bumbugo now holds 5 KoB monthly flags.  You can’t win unless you run the course.
• We have all been invited to the 6th Anniversary celebration of Women Who Sail Tampa Bay.  This is a coed event – all are welcome to attend on 3 to 6 PM Saturday August 13th on the grounds of Tampa Bay Watch at 3000 Pinellas Byway S, Tierra Verde, FL.  Snacks provided and BYOB.  Captains for Clean Water will be presenting their progress cleaning up Lake Okeechobee and dealing with red tide.
• If you haven’t yet renewed your SPSA membership, today is a good day to do so.  Thanks to every one who has committed to another great year with SPSA.  
• RSVPs are needed for our Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet on September 16th.
• We are still looking for members to handle 3 of our 9 officer positions for our 2022-23 season:  Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore and Race Chair.   Let me know if you are willing to help keep our sailing club going.  TreinenRich@aol.com 

 

Here’s your reminder to take care of a bit of club business as well as information on our upcoming events and other interesting stuff.

• The SPSA fiscal year runs from July 1st through June 30th.  It’s time to renew.  A few of our members have already renewed and a few joined late in the year. Those members are free to skip to the next dot point.  If you need to renew you can do so on our SPSA web page.  http://spsa.us/  Under  MEMBERSHIP  on the blue bar, click on the JOIN / RENEW line.  Thanks for staying with us, we have another great year ahead.
• Our first event is the Classic Regatta on September 10th.  This event is in it’s 13th year and is a benefit regatta for Meals on Wheels.  Initially started by SPSA, we have joined up with the St Petersburg Yacht Club to capitalize on the facilities the yacht club offers.  The Classic Committee is composed of sailors that are members of both SPSA and SPYC and Neighborly, the parent organization of the Pinellas County Meals on Wheels program.  If your boat is 20 years or more young, she is eligible.   There are many ways to support this charity and our local senior citizens. Here’s the link to the regatta page.  https://neighborly.org/st-petersburg-classic-regatta/ 
• Our Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet is scheduled for Friday September 16th.  This annual event will be held in the Yacht Club.  You will need to RSVP.  Watch for additional details.
• Here’s the current slate of SPSA Officers for 2022-23:  Commodore Penny Simone, Secretary Suzzane Hooper, Treasurer Richard Boler, Rating Chair Charles Archer, Membership Chair Brian Conlin and Marketing and Mass Media Chair Raúl Calzada.  We are still looking for commitments for Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore and Race Chair.  Please consider stepping up, we have a good thing going.  This is a good group to work with. Let me know if you can help TreinenRich@aol.com 
• The SPSA Series kicks off on September 24th. This is a 8 race day event that runs until April with two sub seasons, Fall and Spring.  Two races are scheduled per race day.
• June’s King of the Bay winner is Back Off skippered by Tony Barrett.  Her corrected time was 45 minutes and 41seconds which is a good time but not fast enough to break into the all time top 10.  She’s in 11th.  Next time you see Back Off out on the water wave to her grinning new owner, Brian Conlin.  You’ll find the current King of the Bay report on the SPSA web site.
• The entire SPSA Event Calendar for 2022-23 will be posted soon.  We have one race date with a conflict we need to resolve.
• We are looking for members wishing to kick in a little extra to the SPSA.  Buy a half page in our Members Handbook.  Any message, with bounds, acceptable.  Please act quickly, contact our Treasurer Richard Boler soon.  You can email me too  TreinenRich@aol.com 
• SPSA is rocking it in the Twilight Series.  Tack Tick, Cakewalk and Gimme Shelter are holding down the top three sots in Spinnaker A while Cayennita III, Moonshine and Last Tango are in a close battle for the top in the Cruising Class.  We have 18 SPSA boats running in this all summer long event.