MASSA News

Competitors and organizers alike were braced for foul weather in advance of the 8:00am check in Saturday morning. After the briefing and review of umpires' expectations of the competitors the six teams launched off the beach in matched, collegiate rigged 420's with colored jibs to identify the teams. The first race was off at 9:50 in 8 knots of breeze from the south. With the long fetch up Hillsborough Bay the sea state was choppy, so the digital N course was set about .1nm off the breakwater with spectators lining the porch of the Davis Island Yacht Club.

Substitute sailors, teams not racing and coaches watched from two sailboats and a floating dock anchored to leeward of the start allowing quick changes on the water. The direction held steady and the velocity ranged from 5.5-12 kts. With a major storm front rolling in from the Gulf, racing was called at 14:20 after 26 races and the sailors made the quick sail into the beach to derig before the rain and wind gusts to 43 kts.

A second system rolled in over night and it looked threatening upon arrival Sunday morning, but everyone was off the beach in time to start racing in 11 kts of southerly breeze. Shortly after the start of race 28 the breeze clocked 30 degrees requiring a reconfiguring of the course and three rain squalls made the conditions challenging for competitors, race committee and umpires. The course was reconfigured twice more as the breeze sought it's eventual northwesterly direction with good races in between. The third complete round robin (45 races, 9.5-14 minutes long) was finished at 12:40 and racing called for the day.

Congratulations to St. Thomas Aquinas from Ft. Lauderdale, and Antilles School from St. Thomas USVI, who will represent SAISA at the Baker Nationals at MIT this Memorial Day.

Regatta Chair- Tim King, CHUMP-Carrie Greene, Scorer-Kelly Ferro, PRO-J A Booker, Saisa Director -Tom Monkus