St. Petersburg Yacht Club
Tampa Bay
January 2-3, 1999
The first Snipe event of the New Year was graced with good breezes, hopefully a positive omen for the coming year for all Snipe regattas! The festivities began with the annual fireworks party aboard the Welch's boat on New Year's Eve. The evening was cool, keeping the partiers, headcount about 50, inside watching sailing videos, catching up with each other and merry making in general. But at midnight, we all crowded onto the upper and aft decks to watch the fireworks display provided by the City of St. Pete, just for us! Most of the revelers were gone by one a.m., some in anticipation of the Third Annual Competition for The Captain Bligh Admiration Cup, the single handed Snipe regatta aptly named "Crewless in St. Pete".
New Year's day dawned with light breeze, make that very light breeze, which is just perfect for single-handing your Snipe. There is quite a bit to do in a Snipe on short courses, when you have to manage it all alone. It does get busy! Twelve Capt. Blighs made it out to the course to start the race. Several others elected to use the day to practice for the real thing, and many others arrived just in time for the noon skipper's meeting (this is not the sort of regatta you rush into at early hours) but not in time to get rigged and splashed for the races. The dirty dozen who lined up for the first start included seven locals, one Canadian competitor, two Japanese competitors, one Viking, and one more Lone Ranger from out of town, Captain Bligh Jibetech. Last year's Champion, local Captain Klotz, took race one, sporting ten year old sails that appeared brown compared with the other solo sailor's gleaming whites. Captain Uchida, the 1996 Champ, made it across eighth, still getting to know his charter boat. However, Captain Pimental, quite familiar with his vessel, finished second, with his crew for DOW standing by in the photo boat complimenting his well executed roundings and tactical decisions. Local Captain Welch finished third, followed by The Viking. Race two was captured handily by Capt. Pimental, with Capt. Klotz taking a second, and Capt. Uchida finishing third, followed by a very determined Viking. Race three saw a change of characters. Capt. Pimental, perhaps wanting to give his crew a taste of the single handed experience, or perhaps just wanting to catch his breath, invited Capt. Carol Newman Cronin to take his vessel for the third race. She swapped places with him without hesitation, and went on to have a dandy pin end start, and to win the race quite handily. The Viking, beginning to get used to this crewless stuff, took second, and Captain Sawada, just beginning to get the hang of his chartered boat, grabbed third. Capt. Klotz slipped across the line in fourth. The last race saw the original cast back at the helm, fully rested, after a ride in the photo boat. Captain Sawada, now fully familiar with his chartered craft, took the number one position at the finish, The Viking snagged another second, with Capt. Klotz of the brown sails finishing third. Captain Pimental collected a fourth place after his rest in the Whaler, which was good enough to win him the High Honor of the 1999 Captain Bligh Admiration Cup, which he will gladly share with Co-Captain, Carol Cronin! Trophies were awarded later in the day at the famous New Year's Day party, hosted by Matt and Laura Bryant.
Saturday, Jan. 2, 1999, began as a perfect day for sailing on Tampa Bay and stayed that way, getting the 13th annual Dead of Winter off to a good start. With a major portion of the country in the deep freeze, buried under record setting snowfall, with ice storms, loss of electricity, etc., Tampa Bay enjoyed moderate temperatures and southerly breezes. Many of the "up north" competitors, got a good chuckle as they were warned of our winter time water temperatures in the sixties, during the skippers meeting. In spite of a general recall to start off the day, three good races were completed, with the breeze building slightly throughout the day. The wind was predicted to go right, which lured the competitors into a stronger oncoming current on that side, making for some interesting decision making. The Pimental/Cronin team started off hot with two firsts; 20-30 boat length leads. The Norwegian team of Birger Jansen and Liv Ulveie looked very strong with two seconds, as did the Canadian entry of Kneulman/Brown, with two third places. The Japanese team of Uchida/Oka showed promise with two fourths. Birger and Liv resolved some of their jib lead problems, and were able to win the third race, with Andy and Carol taking a fifth, Dirk Kneulman nailing second, and Shinichi Uchida earning third; and yes the breeze did go right. At the finish of the third race the fleet was treated to a screaming reach back to the Sailing Center. After the first day of racing the standings were: Jansen, Pimental, Kneulman, and Uchida, with the Plines and the Bixbys tied for fifth position. Spirits were good after a great day of racing, and the fleet retired to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club for cocktails and dinner. The cold front that reached across the entire North American continent, dumping tons of snow of those of you who decided not to come south to sail, finally roared through St. Pete Saturday evening, bring cooler temperatures and a wind shift. We were promised 15-20 mph from the north, but we had to wait for the second front to pass around 10AM. The fleet drifted out with light air, and a postponement was required as the frontal passage brought the new breeze from the predicted direction with plenty of strength for great planing on the reaches. The trophy places didn't change in spite of two more races, and the tie between the Plines and Bixbys was settled in the Bixby's favor. Boats were packed up, trophies were awarded, and good-byes were exchanged until next time, which for many of us will be the Midwinter Circuit. Hope to see you all there!
Now is the time to make your plans for DOW 2000 !!! Come to St. Pete and sail the first Snipe regatta of the millennium! Watch the Snipe Class Web site and the Bulletin for details. We plan to make this a big one, and hope that YOU will join us! Come early for a little Florida sunshine (with any luck) and to participate in a one-of-a-kind Snipe event, "Crewless in St. Pete"! Some great parties are now in the planning stages. There will be a hefty discount for early registration, and local housing will be at a premium, so register early!
--Bill and Sherry Welch
Crewless in St. Pete Final Results:
place skipper race 1 race 2 race 3 race 4 final points ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Andy Pimental 2 1 1 4 8 2 Chris Klotz 1 2 4 3 10 3 Birger Jansen 4 4 2 2 12 4 Kenji Sawada 5 9 3 1 18 5 Bill Welch 3 10 5 5 23 6 Shinichi Uchida 8 3 8 6 25 7 Tom Parks 9 6 9 7 31 8 Gordan Hackstaff 6 11 7 8 32 9 Scott Lang 11 8 10 9 38 10 Gonzo Couto-Lain 12 12 11 10 45 11 David Whyman 10 7 6 dnc n/a 12 Bob Foster 7 5 dnc dnc n/aDead Of Winter Final Results:
| Pos | Sail# | Helmsman | Crew | Club | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | TotPts | Pos |
| 1 | 29450 | Birger Jansen | Liv Ulvie | 2 | 2 | 0.75 | 2 | 0.75 | 7.50 | 1 | |
| 2 | 29499 | Andrew Pimental | Carol Cronin | 0.75 | 0.75 | 5 | 0.75 | 3 | 10.25 | 2 | |
| 3 | 29317 | Dirk Kneulman | Ian Brown | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 20.00 | 3 | |
| 4 | 25948 | Ethan Bixby | Trudy Bixby | 5 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 31.00 | 4 | |
| 5 | 29147 | Alex Pline | Lisa Pline | 11 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 33.00 | 5 | |
| 6 | 27283 | Shinichi Uchida | Michiko Oka | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 36.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | 29324 | Hal Gilreath | Karen Goforth | 9 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 37.00 | 7 | |
| 8 | 1 | Pierre Olivier-Roy | James Sauter | 6 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 12 | 41.00 | 8 | |
| 9 | 29323 | Mike Mergenthaler | Dawn Mergenthaler | 8 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 46.00 | 9 | |
| 10 | 27364 | Carr Moody | Rick Jarchow | 10 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 50.00 | 10 | |
| 11 | 27270 | Chris Klotz | Susan Wallace | 7 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 61.00 | 11 | |
| 12 | 29373 | Matt Bryant | Laura Bryant | 14 | 10 | 7 | 22 | 11 | 64.00 | 12 | |
| 13 | 24702 | Paul Cronin | Alan Capellin | 16 | 19 | 8 | 20 | 9 | 72.00 | 13 | |
| 14 | 29014 | Don Hackbarth | Nancy Gilreath | 19 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 72.00 | 14 | |
| 15 | 27772 | Ken Hardy | Genoa Griffen | 13 | 9 | 18 | 21 | 13 | 74.00 | 15 | |
| 16 | 28672 | Jim Richter | Linda Cortez | 17 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 14 | 77.00 | 16 | |
| 17 | 29351 | Kenji Sawada | Yukiko Yanaga | 12 | 21 | 12 | 14 | 19 | 78.00 | 17 | |
| 18 | 25128 | Laura Jeffers | Will Jeffers | 18 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 86.00 | 18 | |
| 19 | 25172 | Gordon Hackstaff | Cindy Hackstaff | 20 | 17 | 19 | 12 | 22 | 90.00 | 19 | |
| 20 | 29400 | Bill Welch | Anne Rogers | 21 | 22 | 22 | 13 | 15 | 93.00 | 20 | |
| 21 | 27444 | Mike Delaney | Maggie Delaney | 15 | 16 | 20 | 18 | 27DNC | 96.00 | 21 | |
| 22 | 26397 | Bob Foster | Carly Franklin | 23 | 18 | 21 | 17 | 21 | 100.00 | 22 | |
| 23 | 27103 | David Whyman | Jerome Clark | 22 | 23 | 27 | 24 | 17 | 113.00 | 23 | |
| 24 | 24020 | Tom Parks | Bonnie Robertson | 25 | 24 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 120.00 | 24 | |
| 25 | 27271 | Ben Givens | Warren Sweet | 24 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 27DNC | 124.00 | 25 | |
| 26 | 26763 | Ed Proefke | Felix Canella | 26 | 26 | 24 | 27DNC | 27DNC | 130.00 | 26 | |
| 27 | 21794 | Gonzo Couto-Lain | Maureen Growney | 27 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 130.00 | 27 |
Principal Race Officer: Barbara Cowan
Jury Chair: Jim Twining