The 'Meet in St. Pete' saw fifteen Moths battle on a record cold weekend on Tampa Bay.

It was a hard-fought battle among Mark Saunders, Walt Collins and Joe Bousquet. Mark proved to be fast and smart enough to be on the correct side of the slow shifts.

Saturday dawned with a brisk northerly and temperatures under 40. Racing was postponed for only an hour, commencing in a breeze that slowly died. The wave action was still jumbled, however, making it difficult to keep up boat speed.

Sunday was a bit warmer and the wind decidedly lighter. Only one race was completed with the wind finally quitting completely, leaving a few boats on the course when the time limit after Mark finished expired.

It was apparent that the hulls with low wetted surface handled the chop and lighter air the best. The 'Wedge' design, although being sailed very well by Jeff and Jamey, were at a disadvantage in these conditions. Ellis' Energizer was stuck to the water upwind with his 200 pounds of crew weight, although often gaining off the wind.

Fifteen Moths constituted the largest fleet, which included Windmill and Snipe classes with separate starts on the same course. Jet 14s did not show because of a snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic states. Notably, this did not stop Moth sailors from getting here.

Dave Ellis

St. Petersburg Yacht Club
Windmill, Jet 14, Snipe, Moth Regatta
Jan. 24-26, 2003
Moth Class Series Summary

Pl	Sail	Skipper	From	1	2	3	4	5	T
1	54	Mark Saunders	Seaford, VA	2	2	1	(3)	1	6
2	2000	Walt Collins	Chesapeake, VA	(7)	1	3	1	3	8
3	48	Joe Bousquet	Norfolk, VA	(4)	3	2	2	2	9
4	70	Jeff Linton	Tampa, FL	3	4	(6)	4	4	15
5	63	Craig Saunders	Annapolis, MD	1	(6)	4	6	6	17
6	73	Jamey Rabbitt	Orlando, FL	(5)	5	5	5	5	20
7	76	Dave Ellis	St. Petersburg, Fl	8	7	7	8	(9)	30
8	2681	Susan Bousquet	Norfolk, VA	(9)	8	8	7	8	31
9	69	George Albaugh	Bowie, MD	6	10	11	11	(16\DNF)	38
10	79	Mike Parsons	Ridley Park PA	10	(12)	10	12	7	39
11	61	Greg Duncan	Elizabeth, NJ	11	9	9	10	(16\DNF)	39
12	1	Rod Koch	St. Petersburg, FL	(16\OCS)	11	12	9	16\DNS	48
13	X	Ken Wilus	St. Petersburg, FL	(16\DNS)	16\DNS	16\DNS	13	10	55
14	12	JA Macfarlan	Barr, RI	(16\DNF)	16\DNS	16\DNS	16\DNC	11	59
15	17	William Duffield	Greenwich, NJ	(16\DNF)	16\DNS	16\DNS	16\DNC	16\DNS	64