St. Petersburg Regatta Report
Bottensek Holds Off Sunday Charge From Kelter
By Mike Zellanack

The Golden Triangle Model Yacht Club hosted the third regatta in the Florida EC-12 2005 Championship Series on April 30 and May 1 at Freedom Lake Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. Twenty-eight skippers signed up for the event. There would have been thirty participants, however, two had to cancel for personal reasons.

The weatherman predicted strong winds on Saturday and he was correct for a change. The words Sirocco, Williwaw, Chubasco, Chinook or just plain gale come to mind when trying do describe the sailing conditions. The winds were southerly and clocked at 15 with gusts to 25 all day Saturday. By lunchtime, only seven heats had been run. During those races, there were eight five-minute holds for breakdowns of one sort or another. The race committee was very lenient and let some of the holds last 8 – 10 minutes. Those skippers that had come prepared to put up heavy air "A" and "B" rigs were rewarded for their foresight. A vote was taken during lunch with the majority deciding to call off racing for the rest of the day and start again at 8:30 in the morning. Many skippers were happy they had the time to repair broken equipment.

The conditions on Sunday morning were a little better. The southerly winds continued to be fairly heavy, but manageable. The Race Committee attempted to move to the more protected south end of the lake, which didn't work out. As if by command, the winds lightened up and we were forced to move back to the north end. In order to get in more racing, it was decided that holds would not be allowed. The fleet was able to complete 15 more heats for a total of 22 for the regatta. Fortunately, there were very few additional breakdowns.

Competition was relatively close with John Bottensek, Gerhard Kelter, Baron Bremer, Bob Dudinsky and Joe Walter clustered at the top. By the end of sailing on Sunday only eighteen points separated the top five skippers with John Bottensek taking the lead by two points over Gerhard. There were very few protests, all of which were settled on the water. All entanglement incidents were taken care of quickly by Mike Miller and Bill Morois who ran the chase boat provided by Jake Tremblay.

Joyce Zellanack and Jackie Mills served up lunch with the help of several of the wives who took the time to assist. The winds were so strong you had to hold down your food with one hand and eat with the other. The contributions of all those that assisted is greatly appreciated. Dinner on Saturday night was held at Tucson’s restaurant. The margaritas were very tasty.

The starting and finishing judges, John Light and Fred Hagaman, had their hands full keeping track of the fast paced racing on Sunday. Several skippers seemed to have a little difficulty with the weather mark. Dave Thinnel, however, did a great job as Mark Judge and was able to keep everyone in line. Twenty-one boats finished the regatta with seven skippers forced to drop out due to equipment failures.

Jackie Mills was kind enough to make up four beautiful boat covers, which were raffled off to the lucky skippers. Joyce Zellanack made up a flower wreath, which was raffled off to the wives. Trophies, made by Mike Zellanack, were then awarded to the top five skippers. Many thanks to Jackie Mills and Joyce Zellanack for the terrific and somewhat trying job they did as Scorekeepers. The final finishing order is as follows.

Results