Category Archives: News

SPSA News and error reports

Hey Sailor,


Here’s your dot points of SPSA stuff to get you through January.

  • New Year’s Day Pursuit Race:  We had 16 boats swarming around the starting line for this years race.  However only 13 boats reported finishing times, one new member was out fact finding and I have no idea about why the other two were there.  Congratulations to Arista and Tack Tick for taking the liquids in the spinnaker fleet and Desiderata, Legacy and Cayennita III for earning their bottles in the cruising fleet.  The racing was close as all boats finished within a 20 minute window.  We also welcomed Legacy, a Catalina 310 and her skipper Dave Roberts and Meridian, a Beneteau Oceanis 331 and her skipper Jon Meliferas to the SPSA Racing Scene with their earned SPSA burgee.
  • Winter/Spring Series kicks off 16 January at 11 AM.  This is the first race day of the 2nd half of the SPSA Series.  Tim Snyder of Sea Life will be the race committee.  Please register for the event so we know who’s coming.  This helps get the race records in order. Here’s the link. http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/  Click the  Enter  button.  As a member, you race for free (other than the measly $49 annual membership fee we charge).  If you intend to use a cruising chute please read the second sub dot point in the Board Meeting recap.
  • 6 January Board Meeting Fallout.
  • The WSIEH handicap system is taking a break.  We will be racing under PHRF for the remainder of this year and maybe longer than that.  The WSIEH system, which changes handicaps after every race, was too aggressive with handicap adjustments when only one or two race results are in hand.  Although this system shows promise that old boats with old sails can be competitive, it needs more development work.  It was a unanimous vote.  We look forward to one day having a perfect handicap system that everybody loves.
  • Cruising class boats may use cruising spinnakers, as described by WFPHRF Class Rules-Appendix E.  You’ll pay a handicap hit and you must inform the Race Committee Chair of your intention by the Tuesday before the first race of any race or series.
  • Watch for the updated SI’s to b posted very soon on the SPSA web site.  Here the link http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/ on the  Menu Bar, click on the Documents drop down menu and select List/Search.
  • We discussed other stuff not worth reporting here.
  • King of the Bay update.
    • Surge captured the December honor and will ow be displaying the large and beautiful KoB flag for all of January.  Charles Archer and his Surge crew ran the course twice on Dec 21st, a really windy day.  Once with full sails and once with a reefed main. Fritz Kloepfel and his crew on Libèlula were also out on December 21st.  All three runs on the the 21st scored in the top ten of all corrected times.   Surges full main was the top performance.
    • Libèlula appears determined to acquire KoB honors having already posted the time to beat for January.
    • The most recent KoB data will be posted soon. Look for a January 2021 time stamp.   Here’s the link http://spsa.us/spsa/wp/wp-content/uploads/KOB_results.pdf 
  • Awards for our Fall Series Race Day 4 were corrected.  An error in the time entry for the last race day of the fall series was discovered.  While it had been announced that Cayennita III had won the day, the discovery of the error changed that.  Instead of a pair of threes, Cayennita III scored a 3 & 4, placing her in a 3-way tie with Hula Girl, that would be the svelte Hula Girl, and the Lewis Sonar, having placed 5 & 2 and 2 & 5 respectively.   With the tie breakers being what they are, Hula Girl, the svelte one, finished 1st, Lewis Sonar 2nd and Cayennita III dropped to 3rd. Lucky for us Cayennita II had left the post race before grabbing her bottle.  To the delight of all three top performers, we awarded all three a liquid trophy.  By the way, did you see Steve Shortt’s new boat, Hula Girl II?  Very nice and a very reputable source said “a roomy” Catalina 36.
  • Call for pictures.  If you took a nice photo out on the water while racing, or not, or while under the tree, please share them with us.  Please know we don’t want all one hundred pictures that you took that day.  One or two, maybe three good ones will suffice.  Please send them to our picture depot.  Here’s the link  spsapictures@gmail.com

    • Start Times & Course for New Year’s Day Pursuit Race

    30 December 2020  



    SPSA Sailors,


    Attached you’ll find the course and your start time forth SPSA New Years Day Race.  

    It looks like great weather and a great day to get out on the bay.  Let’s kick of 2021 with a great sail.

    To participate all you need to do is show up and run the course.   We expect everyone to finish around 3 PM.  
    Please record your finish time and the boat finishing ahead of you and the boat finishing behind you. 

    Put your boat up and head to the tree, report your finish time and for awards. You can also send me an email with your finish time.

    pdf icon 2021-New-Years-Race-6.72-Starting-Times.pg1_.pdf
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    pdf icon 2021-New-Years-Race-6.72-Starting-Times.pg2_.pdf
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    SPSA January Events and further out in time

    28 December 2020


    Hey  Sailor,


    Here’s opportunities to participate in SPSA events in January and beyond.

    • January 2021 SPSA activities
    • Jan 1st New Year’s Day Pursuit Race.  2 PM 1st Start, Cruising chutes are allowed but must be declared by 5 PM on Dec 31st.  Watch for your starting time to be posted on the SPSA web page news, delivered to your email box and posted on the SPSA’s Sailing Center bulletin board by 10 PM on Dec 30th. However the Sailing Center locks up around 6 PM.  It might be there by early Thursday morning.  Here’s the link to the NOR and Sailing Instructions.  http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/   Click on the  Docs  button.
    • Jan 1st Post race gathering under the tree.  Probably around 4 PM.   Liquid trophies to be presented.  If anybody cheats at the start, that’s where we will talk about them.  If you are new to the SPSA, looking for a crew spot or need crew for your boat,  please come to the post race and introduce yourself.  Once this pandemic ends, we want every boat to have all the crew they need.
    • January 6th Board meeting.  This is a Zoom meeting starting at 6 PM.  The usual topics plus the fate of our WSIEH handicap system will be discussed and decided.  If you’d like to sit in or can’t sit in but have something to add on any topic, please send me an email and I’ll send you the Zoom link.  Commodore@spsa.us
    • January 16th Spring Series Race Day #1.   1st Start at 11 AM.  Your race committee is still not known.  Watch for further news regarding RC and our post race plans.
  • Race Committee volunteers for the 2021 Spring Series.  Here’s what our September arm twisting and  pen scratchings records show.
    • 16 January TBA
    • 20 February Tack Tick
    • 20 March Hula Girl – that would be the big Hula Girl
    • 17 April Cayennita III
  • King of the Bay News 
    • 3 reports for runs in December have reached reached me.  Two for Surge and one for Libèlula.  All three were run on the same day.  It was windy.  All three runs scored in the top ten of all time.  Surge is the current leader for December.  There are just a few days left to steal it away.
    • We are still working the final details of the monthly and annual keeper KoB flags.  We just need the final design or I’ll order the ugly design nobody liked.
    • Amber Looe has been proudly displaying the Big KoB Flag she captured for the month of November.  Looks like it might be turned over to Surge on Jan 1st.
  • New SPSA hats available.  These are new hats available through Bonfire.  They are not the old hats found in the SPSA locker that I’ve been trying to give away.  Click the link to order yours.  https://www.bonfire.com/spsa-classic-cap/?utm_source=mailgun&utm_medium=initial&utm_campaign=buyer_new_campaign_launch_BUYER

    • Fall Series Results 6 Dec 2020

    Hey Sailor,

    Here’s a recap of yesterday’s final races of the Fall Series.

    • We had very good conditions with a steady 7 to 10 knot north wind that shifted progressively to the west.  A relatively long windward leeward course was set up from the S mark area to G1 for the 1st race.  We had a great turnout, 15 boats.
    • The tide was adverse and stout in race 1 and the start line was too short (sorry about that), making for a difficult start.  There was a good jam as the tide pushed everyone down to the pin end.  The first of 4 spinnakers finished in 40 minutes, the last in 60.  The 11 cruising fleet starters, sailing the same course, ranged in finish from nearly 60 to 80 minutes
    • In race two the spinnakers went to Front G for their windward mark while the cruisers sailed the same course as race 1.  Spinnakers finishes ranged from nearly 67 minutes to 98.  The 10 starting cruisers finishes ranged from 62 minutes to 82.
    • The post race gathering under the tree kicked off at around 3:30.  With a nice breeze it was a cool place to be.  While Brian was crunching the numbers, we took care of a little business.  These post race gatherings are turning out to be pretty nice way to end a sailing day.
    • In the Battle for the Bottle of Race Day 4 we have our winners.  In the spinnaker fleet Warrior, skipped by Grant Dumas, landed two bullets for the best of the day.  In the cruising fleet Cayennita III, skippered by tony Sanpere took best of the day honors with a pair of 3s.  It was close however, two boats finished 1 point behind.
    • For the Fall series, which completed 5 races, Grant Dumas and the crew of Warrior took the honors in the spinnaker fleet and Richard Boler and the crew of Desiderata took the honors in the cruising fleet.  Full results can be found on the SPSA web page.  http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/


    Other important bits of information.

    • Liquid trophy winners from Fall Series Race day 4 need to collect their liquid trophies.  After a while we will re-award your price to another winner in a future event.  There was some talk at the post race gathering that you needed to be present to win.  I’m not sure, since I didn’t hear it myself, but I’ve been told those comments came from the Salty Sister section.
    • Libélula (I learned how to do it) was awarded a SPSA Burgee for having completed her first race.  This actually happened on Fall Series race day 2, but yesterday we were able to present the welcome gift.
    • Three boats from around the corner, Boca Ciega Bay, participated in the Fall Series.  Garth Reynolds and the crew of Koinonia II and Gerard Gaudry and the crew of Galene as SPSA members.  Dave Roberts and the crew of Legacy sailed with us yesterday under a guest membership.
    • Thanks to everyone for helping to unload some stuff from from our locker. One or two more post race gatherings should finish the job.
    • We have set up an SPSA Logo merchandise purchase opportunity with Bonfire. Take a look. I ordered a long sleeve tee in gray.   https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-spsa-brand/  
    • If you’d like to add a second email address to your membership for these email blasts, just let me know.  Commodore@spsa.us
    • Our next event is the New Year’s Day pursuit race.  See you there!

    Lets Go Sailing!

    Upcoming SPSA Races Update and an inspiring King of the Bay Report 3 Dec 2020

    Hey Sailor,


    Here’s what we have in the works for this Saturday’s Fall Series Race and for the January 1st Pursuit Race.

    • December 5th Series Race.  No changes.  Weather looks really good: wind NNE at 10 to 15, high of 67, 15% chance of getting wet.  The getting wet part is if you are standing outside all day.  This is one of those days you will not want to miss.  Post race gathering under the tree.  Bring your own everything.  With the virus making a stand please respect the heath concerns of your fellow sailors.
    • January 1st, 2021 New Years Day Pursuit Race.  No change in plans for the race.  The post race gathering will be under the tree and a bring your own everything affair.  The traditional gift exchange party is taking this year off.
    • PS.  We still need RC for January 16th.

    King of the Bay News. 

    • On the last day of November Mike Reed, aboard his Beneteau 235, Amber Looe, had one hell of a run, snatching away the November monthly King of the Bay award from Fritz Kloepfel and the crew of Libelula (spelling incorrect – I don’t know how to put the little accent above the e).  Amber Looe’s corrected time, of 50 minutes and 58 seconds is the fastest time so far in 2020-21 and second fastest corrected time for the King of the Bay.  Only Surge’s time of 48:55 from May of 2019 is better.  Here’s the amazing part, he was alone on Amber Looe.  See all the KoB results on the Regatta Page of your SPSA Web Page.  Read Mike’s recount of his historic run around the marks.

    It was quite a run, and I knew it.  Winds were WNW, 14-17 kts gusting at times in the low 20’s.  Conditions were pretty ideal after the front passed over, as you had indicated in your email.  The water was relatively flat on our side of the bay.

    I started at “S” and ran the course clockwise.  The key was that the winds were just enough North of West that I was able to lay the last leg.  So, it was a fast close-reach on the first leg, dead downwind on the 2nd and close-hauled for the home stretch.  The boat was powered nicely with one reef in the main, The big sail is new and I had a lot of bend in the mast so I was able to get it quite flat.  I would have loved to have poled out the jib, and I winced every time it “popped” full of wind when I stopped sailing angles and went wing-on-wing for a bit at the end, but I didn’t think it was safe to leave the cockpit alone in those conditions out in the bay.  There were a few optis and a chase boat inshore, but the bay was empty otherwise.

    I had my GoPro recording during the run and made a video yesterday to share with friends.  I didn’t create it with general consumption in mind, but you are welcome to share the link if you think any members might get a kick out it.




    Let’sGo Sailing!