They went, they conquered, they returned!

Noel Clinard and Mike Miller take on the Bounty in Tampa Bay, surviving to tell all! Doubloon can just be made out through the Bounty’s rigging as she prepares a volley.

As well, Wind Dancer (Len, Barb, & Heidi Guenther), Antonia (Mike and Sophie Massie), DouBloon (Noel Clinard & Mike Miller), and Fathom Knot II (John Hubbard, Ric & Sharon Bauer) competed in 4 days of racing in the Flying Scot Midwinter Regatta, hosted by the Saint Petersburg Yacht Club on Tampa Bay. For final race results click: RACE RESULTS

The Guenther’s continue to transfer their formidable Mobjack skills to the Scot, as the rest of us watched their stern entirely too much.

The Massie's were a good team, finishing 9th in the Challenger Fleet among some very good sailors. Your scribe and the Bauer’s barely edged out the Guenther’s for first FBYC Scot and 16th overall in the Championship Fleet.

It was a thrill to sail against and occasionally tangle with some of the best sailors around, including Marcus and Marc Eagan (commanding winner of the event), Harry Carpenter (owner of Flying Scot) & his daughter Carrie & crew Cat Miller, David & Allyson Neff (winner of the FBYC hosted ACCs), Dan and Christine Neff (author of the Scot calendar), Greg & Joanne Fisher (sailor extraordinaire, North Sails dealer, won the Thistle nationals the week before) and on and on.

The Final Race, Thursday afternoon, was for your scribe and the Bauer’s, the Race of the week and maybe our lives.

We were having a hard week in generally light conditions when the wind picked up to about 25-30 knots, minutes before the final race. Conditions approached those in this picture (which was prominently displayed in the SPYC entry hall.) We made it to the windward mark in third place, on the heels of Harry Carpenter and the Eagans. The Eagans turned over in a broach and we narrowly missed ramming them before launching our chute. Now in second place with adrenaline pumping we were unable to secure the pole to the guy for fear of going forward and causing a cartwheel.

One more successful beat and then on the final downwind leg with several boats upside down on the course including David & Allyson Neff (first and only time ever according to David) we decided to leave the chute in its bag and four boats who did launch their chutes passed us, still giving us our best finish of the week – a sixth. We learned a lot and will be better equipped next time.

The week was grand and all who attended are better sailors from the experience. Mike Massey gains a few tips from Greg Fisher and Dan Neff.

There is a little more to the story… as we were leaving the dock for the last two races we were following the Eagans when a gust and piling caught them by surprise … they were de-masted right in front of us with 45 minutes to the start! Somehow they managed to get back to the marina, repair and re-hoist the mast and win the next race. In the final race when they broached and capsized right in front of us, they managed to right the boat and still captured a ninth out of 26 boats that started the last race. The Eagans are presented their much deserved trophy.

Noel Clinard and Sharon Bauer discuss where FBYC should put its Commodore’s Room.

Flying Scot Fleet 103 was top sponsor!

And yes the food was good says Ric Bauer-----