Another beautiful day on Tampa Bay… Except for the hole in 2nd race that a few of us sailed into and abruptly came to a halt. A little light on the wind, but we made it around and it was a fun day. Today’s race conflicted with huge Island Nautical flea-market and that impacted participation a bit. I know I skipped the first race to make it. Next season we’ll try to coordinate our race schedule with our Sponsor, Island Nautical so we don’t overlap. After the race, several of us managed to navigate our way through the maze of the St Pete Grand Prix track to meet up at Corrigan’s for some post-race refreshment.

I wish to extend a big welcome to the USF Offshore Sailing team which has joined our series with their J/24 “Anarchy Panda” in the Spin B class. If any of you guys have some left over J/24 gear you don’t need, these guys would probably love to have it.

Series results can be found at: http://www.spsa.us/racing/spsa-series/results
(click the more detail to see individual corrected times)

Upcoming in April we have our final two series races of the 2014-2015 season on Sat 4/4 & Sat 4/18. Those of you in the trophy hunt can’t afford to miss a race right now, everybody is VERY close.

Stay tuned for some summer schedule updates. We have a variety of non-race events being planned for the off-season.

I spoke with Gloria today and she said the SPYC is going to run twilight races the next two Friday’s (3/13, 3/20) for practice. These won’t count toward season standings, but will give you the opportunity to get your crew some practice. The official season starts the first Friday in April. Note, to encourage more participation, the non-spin boats will sail the cruiser course this season, not the windward/leeward course the spin boats will use. I hope to see a good SPSA turnout!

As usual, if you want crew or need crew, meet at the Sailing Center before the race. Let Gloria know if you want to participate at treasurer@spsa.us

What a fun day! The temperature warmed back up and we had good wind for all but a few minutes of lull. A pleasant change from many of the very light air races we’ve had this season. Thanks to the crew of Back Off for being race committee. They were awarded a tie for first for volunteering. About 20 of us met at Courigan’s afterwards for some post-race fun. Even if you don’t race, I encourage you to come out for the after party!

Results

Mi Sueño moved back ahead of Desiderata into first place in cruising. These two boats are tied in points at 5, so the tie breaker goes to the winner of the last race.

In Non-Spin, Eclipse holds a 6 point advantage over new entry “One Up”, but One Up continues to put the heat on and close the gap with 6 races to go. Remember, any tie-breaker goes to the winner of the final race!

Spin A has the top 3 boats within 2 points. Warrior moved ahead of Tack Tick for the season as the two boats are tied at 7 points and Tack Tick DNC giving Warrior the tie breaker on the last race. Back off is right on their tail with 9 points.

In Spin B, Hula Girl moved ahead of Odyssey by one point for the season.

The next 6 races will be critical for those in the hunt in these divisions!

SPSA Series Races 5 & 6 are this Saturday, November 15th. 10 o’clock start.  Sailing conditions are ideal this time of year so let’s have a good turn on Saturday.  We will have an after the race get together at the Midtown Sundries located on 1st Avenue South and 2nd Street.