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Thursday, February 27, 2014

St Petersburg NOOD...

We entered Mikey in the 2014 St. Petersburg NOOD regatta.  This is an annual event hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club that draws ~120 boats each year.  The St. Petersburg Yacht Club is a great facility located in downtown St. Petersburg.  Since we had been out of the boat for a number of months we had two days of practice followed by 3 days of racing.

On the first day of racing the winds were very light and the race committee held us at the dock until later in the afternoon.  We ended up getting only one race in due to the light winds.  Since we were sailing with only 4 people we did well.

On the second day of racing the winds were relatively strong (12-17 with higher gusts) and we got five races in.  Later in the day the winds became somewhat spotty giving us good practice shifting gears between full-planing mode, lazy planing mode and displacement mode.

On the third day the winds never arrived so we stayed at the dock, then put the boat away and headed home.  We finished the regatta with all bullets with the exception of the last race.  We had a great time and learned a great deal thanks to the help of our new coach Ed Adams.
Leading the fleet downwind on Day #
Light air start on Day #1 in Tampa Bay
Heading upwind in light air on Day #1
Full planing mode on Day #2
Beating in moderate breeze on Day #2
Lazy planing mode on Day #2