Clearwater Challenge 2008 Regatta Held
The Clearwater Yacht Club hosted the Clearwater Challenge regatta over the weekend of November 1-2. Twenty-nine sailboats competed in this WFPHRF Suncoast Boat of the Year event. Cookouts and dancing were the attraction in the evenings. The skippers enjoyed a drawing with gifts from West Marine and JSI and a new sail donated by Doyle-Ploch Sailmakers. The event chair was Past Commodore Dick Boblenz. Past Commodore David Billing was the principal race officer of the windward/leeward course for the spinnaker and non-spinnaker classes. Principal race officer for the cruising classes was Tim Rumptz. Saturday’s conditions were perfect with a north wind averaging 8-12 knots with 2-3 foot waves in the Gulf of Mexico. Once out on the race course the wind was relatively steady and the races could be run with no course changes being necessary. It was a great day on the water. Sunday’s conditions were much more moderate with a pleasant 6-10 knot north breeze and a light chop. The competitors and race committee had a much easier time and the racing was very close. On both courses many of the competitors were overlapped at mark roundings. One protest was filed, but was dropped. The Class winners were : Spinnaker A - XS - Doug Fisher - Davis Island Yacht Club (Custom 41); Spinnaker B – Semper Fi – Ray Mannix – St Pete Sailing Assoc. – (J29); Non-Spinnaker – Ooh-La La – Victor Gandoff – Scuttlebutt Sailing Center, (Beneteau First 35): ; Racer Cruiser - Relativity – Hall Palmer – St Pete Yacht Club (Beneteau First 53); True Cruiser – Cool Change – Martin Zonnenburg – Davis Island Yacht Club (Tartan 37-2).
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