The weather was just perfect. A cold front politely moved through central Florida Friday evening, dropped a little rain to rinse the trailers off, and left a delightful cool, mild northerly for the weekend. Twenty-five Snipes arrived early Saturday morning with cloudless skies and a great breeze. Fortunately nothing else was scheduled for our end of Tampa Bay; all the pram-rats were over at Davis Island (Tampa) for a big regatta, so we had the place to ourselves. The wind was steady from the north most all day; for the first race 8-10 knots with an extremely flat bay. The current was running with the wind so everyone got off the line without a recall first try, and the regatta was on. Marty Kullman hit the first shift, the second shift, third…and never looked back; finishing a good twenty boat lengths ahead of John Hagman in his new Persson. The wind started to have a few holes and big shifts for the second and third race, with Ethan Bixby port-tacking the start, consistently being at the right place at the right time, and going fast. Always up front was Gonzalo Diaz somehow squeezing to the top, on every race. The fleet finished the third race at 1515, but just then the sea-breeze came in, shifting the wind to the left 25° and building rapidly to 12-15 knots. The Race Committee rapidly calculated that we could finish another race in 75 minutes and have time to spare to get in before dark. Another clean start, and the breeze held, very steady across the course, so everyone arrived at about the same time to the first mark. Downwind was fast but the waves were not high enough to surf, so again everyone hit the leeward mark in a big bunch. To their credit everyone was polite. On the second downwind leg, everyone went far out to the right to catch the added push of the current, except for Scott Lindley, who jibed early, and headed straight for the mark. He rounded ahead of the fleet and finished off the day with a first.
The party was at Matt and Laura's house, with a great turnout and even better food. We had videos from Auckland and some less dramatic footage for the day's racing on Tampa Bay.
Sunday was another picture perfect, Chamber of Commerce day. Blue skies, no clouds, and a light northerly. The Race Committee started on time with a dying 10 knots. The local wisdom was to go right to stay up current, especially with a 10° lift as a hooker. Wow was that wrong. The left side consistently had more breeze, rapidly spreading the fleet out over two legs of the course. The racing was intense however, and the lead changed frequently, but Marty and Katie Kullman crossed first. Ethan and Trudy Bixby were right behind, securing a solid first place for the regatta. Gonzalo Diaz and Carlos Guevara were third. The Race Committee realized that the sea breeze was going to be a long time coming, and wisely abandoned any further racing for the day.
We wish to thank all the competitors who came to share their weekend with us, the race committee who worked very hard to make sure the races were fair, the Bryant's for loaning their house for the party, and the weather for making it a perfect weekend.
Bill Welch MD
Fleet 801
| Pos | Sail# | Helmsman | Crew | Boat | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | TotPts | Pos |
| 1 | 25948 | Ethan Bixby | Trudy Bixby | 3 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 2 | 2 | 8.50 | 1 | |
| 2 | 29610 | Marty Kullman | Katie Kullman | 0.75 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0.75 | 11.50 | 2 | |
| 3 | 28814 | Gonzalo Diaz | Carlos Guevara | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 18.00 | 3 | |
| 4 | 27027 | John Hagman | Sherry Welch | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 21.00 | 4 | |
| 5 | 28792 | Scott Lindley | Alan Capellin | 9 | 6 | 4 | 0.75 | 4 | 23.75 | 5 | |
| 6 | 27270 | Chris Klotz | Antoinette Falk | 5 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 36.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | 29373 | Matt Bryant | Laura Bryant | 13 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 39.00 | 7 | |
| 8 | 28672 | Jim Richter | Robert DeYoung | 8 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 39.00 | 8 | |
| 9 | 29400 | Bill Welch | Susan Wallace | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 49.00 | 9 | |
| 10 | 25407 | Bill Schoenberg | Cintron/ Heibert | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 18 | 52.00 | 10 | |
| 11 | 27271 | Scott Lang | Michele Fuchs | 6 | 9 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 61.00 | 11 | |
| 12 | 27380 | Hans Birkholz | Aliki Birkholz | 18 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 67.00 | 12 | |
| 13 | 25058 | Ray Gauthier | Joni Palmer | 20 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 69.00 | 13 | |
| 14 | 25172 | Gordon Hackstaff | Cindy Hackstaff | 12 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 17 | 69.00 | 14 | |
| 15 | 27521 | Doug Weatherby | Cindy Weatherby | 16 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 19 | 74.00 | 15 | |
| 16 | 25951 | Ben Givens | Vicki Berget | 19 | 16 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 85.00 | 16 | |
| 17 | 26397 | Bob Foster | Sheila Thurman | 15 | 20 | 17 | 26DNC | 12 | 90.00 | 17 | |
| 18 | 24020 | Tom Parks | Linda Cortez | 17 | 17 | 18 | 26DNC | 15 | 93.00 | 18 | |
| 19 | 19888 | Eric Watters | Lin Robson | 22 | 12 | 13 | 26DNC | 26DNF | 99.00 | 19 | |
| 20 | 5948 | Joe Frohock | Cindy Frohock | 14 | 18 | 19 | 26DNC | 26DNC | 103.00 | 20 | |
| 21 | 29645 | Steve Lang | Debbie Lang | 11 | 25 | 26DNC | 26DNC | 16 | 104.00 | 21 | |
| 22 | 28999 | Ralph Swanson | RJ Rusniak | 21 | 21 | 21 | 26DNC | 20 | 109.00 | 22 | |
| 23 | 6 | Doug Neiman | McGee/ Haas | 25 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 26DNF | 115.00 | 23 | |
| 24 | 4 | Tim McCormick | Clay Yarn | 24 | 22 | 20 | 26DNC | 26DNC | 118.00 | 24 | |
| 25 | 8 | Noah French | Valarie Beers | 23 | 23 | 26DNC | 26DNC | 26DNC | 124.00 | 25 |
Principal Race Officer: Barbara Cowan
Jury Chair: Henry Moore