Category Archives: News

Sept 26 Race and Post Race – not at Courigan’s

Hello Sailors,

See below for information on tomorrow’s regatta and post race meet up:
FYI, the Sailing Instructions are attached, monitor VHF channel 72 for updates.  
The race committee boat will be a blue Scarab powerboat.  Look for the boat and flags to find the start line.
The Post Race meet up plan for tomorrow Sept 26.: Not a Courigan’s Meet up:

Let’s play it safe again.   And head back to the tree at the east end of DemensLanding, around 3:30pm.  It will be another BYO lawn chair event. If all of the links are in place and working we will have race results shortly after the race, and awards for the day.  Put your boat away and bring your crew over to the tree.  If nothing else we can relive race days past and talk about boats. 

Remember to be discreet if you are partaking in drinking adult beverages, as this is a public park.
If you are not familiar with the location, “the tree” is located in the circle at the end of Demens landing :


Rich Treinen

News 19 September 2020

Hey Sailors,

Here’s a bit of news and information about our upcoming races.
  • Last Evening.  The rain didn’t get us at the Annual Meeting last night.  We had a good turn out, all things considered.  It was great to have a real meeting once again and a rain free day.  The vote was unanimous, as they usually are for club positions.  There were no choices.  Thank you to my fellow officers for stepping up to keep our sailing club prospering.  If you missed the meeting, here’s a ten second recap:  we have plenty of members, boats and sailors; our finances are looking good, everyone is itching to go sailing, your membership packet will be mailed out soon.
  • September 26th SPSA Series Race Day #1.  11 AM start.  Robert Hopkins has race committee duty.  Please Register, this helps the  Race Committee.   Sailing Instructions can be found on the SPSA Web Site and in your Membership Directory. They will be also added to the Series Docs tab soon.  To register http://spsa.us/ look under the Racing drop down tab, click on Regattas.  You want Id 19 2020-21 SPSA Fall Series.  New this year is a split Series, Fall & Spring, 4 race days each, 2 races targeted for each day.  There will be trophies for Fall, Spring and Combined Fall & Spring.  There is no fee to enter.  Don’t worry about not being able to make all four race days, there are throw outs.  Even if it’s just one day, it’s always great to get out on the bay.  We expect skeleton crews at the beginning and as covid-19 goes away boats will load up with crew.  See this as an opportunity to get out on the bay in your boat or somebody else’s boat. You might even sign out a Sailing Center Sonar or, if you are a Yacht Club member, one of the J-70s.  Any way you do it, it’s always great to get out on the bay.
  • October 3rd SPSA Series Race Day #2.  Same as above except a different race committee

SPSA Annual Meeting this Friday evening

Hey Sailor,


Our SPSA Annual Meeting and Banquet starts at 6:30 this Friday evening, 18 September.   This event is usually held in the Ball Room at the Yacht Club.  We’d have a happy 1/2 hour, you would then hear speeches by all of the current officers and then the election of the 2020-21 officers.  When all the business is over, we celebrate with more drinks and a fancy buffet dinner.  Noreen steps up and does her trivia contest.  Awards are handed out for the SPSA Series winners.  This is not the case this year. Here’s our contrived plan to circumvent the current pandemic issues.  We’re going outside.  We are going to social distance and be safe.  Hopefully we will never have to do this ever again.

  • 6:30 at the east end of Demen’s Landing.  There’s free parking adjacent to the grassy areas and also to the north by the municipal gas dock.
  • Bring a lawn chair and or blanket, maybe a ground cloth too since the ground might be wet.  Bring an umbrella and your fowl weather gear if that looks like a good idea.  Stake out your safe area.  Masks are encouraged.
  • You are on your own for food and drinks.  That’s why there’s no charge for this years awards banquet and dinner.   Please be discrete with your beverage choices.  I have heard the city uses this as a stick to quell bad behavior   Here’s the official link so you will be informed.  https://library.municode.com/fl/st._petersburg/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIISTPECO_CH21PARE
  • Here’s the agenda:
  • 6:30 Commodres welcome
  • SPSA Officer Reports
  • Election of 2020-21 SPSA Officers
  • Trivia Contest – study up on your racing rules and all other things nautical
  • SPSA Series Winner Awards
  • We all hang around or go home
  • In the event of bad weather we will pare the meeting to the essentials


Let’s Go Sailing!

Classic Regatta this Saturday

Hey Sailor,

The 11th running of the Classic Regatta is this Saturday Sept 12.  Here’s a few things to now about this great event.
  • This is a pursuit race with a staggered start.  Slowest rated boat starts first and the fastest boat starts last. The 1st boat to start crosses the line at 1 PM.
  • The starting line will be just east of the pier.  If you are not on a boat, watch from the pier.  Better yet, check out a Sailing Center Ideal 18 and watch up close.
  • Your St Petersburg Sailing Association has 18 members registered in this years event.  To see who’s in, go to Yacht Scoring and click on the Current Entry List.  Here’s a link.  https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=12986
  • The event is “All About the Boats”  In fact’ it’s all about the old boats, those that are 20 years old and older. In it’s first year 85 old boats showed up.  As of this moment we have 35 boats registered.  All things considered that is a great turn out.
  • It’s also a benefit event with the proceeds going to Neighborly’s Meals on Wheels program.  To date the Classic Regatta has generated a boat load of money to this program.  We are talking $120K to a great charity that helps our elderly citizens. 
  • You can help us continue this great event by helping out.  Hears how to do that.
If you haven’t entered yet it’s not too late.  https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=12986

Don’t have crew?  Contact Brian – he should be able to help you find a sailor or two.   brianconlin09@gmail.com

This is a great way to spend your day.  What could be better than sailing around the bay with good friends, admiring all the wonderful old boats, scoring a great auction item, putting a few dollars toward a great cause and driving home with that warming feeling your heart.  And the best thing, you’ve enabled that knock on a door bringing a smile and a warm meal to one of our senior citizens . 

Let’s Go Sailing!

SPSA Members Directory and Board Meeting Announcement

Hey Sailor,

A couple of announcements about things happening next week.

  • The SPSA Membership Directory is going to the print shop very soon.  Please check your members information. Now is the time to make corrections.    Did you move?   New email or phone number?   Bought a boat?  The important stuff.  http://spsa.us/   If you trouble getting this done, I’ll help.  Once high noon rolls by on Monday August 31st, it’s too late.

  • SPSA Board meeting will be held on Wednesday September 2nd at 6 PM.  If you’d like to sit in let me know, I’ll send you the Zoom information.  Standard stuff to be discussed plus the planning for the Annual Meeting.  This is a good way to learn about your club and get involved.

Let’s Go Sailing!

Rich Treinen
SPSA Vice Commodore