Debbie and I survived the Flying Scot Midwinters on Tampa Bay.  We arrived in St. Petersburg Saturday hoping to get some practice but it started raining when we pulled into town.  Sunday was beautiful but the wind was light so we sailed around the pier a bit and came in before it died completely.  That evening we went to the meet and greet at the SPYC Tiki Bar.
 
Monday was the first day of racing and the wind was blowing hard for the one race they had.  I talked Debbie into going out with the promise of coming back if it was too bad.  We got half way to the start line, about 1.5 miles out, and she was ready to turn around.  We heard three boats turtled, one went over and got back up, and three were dismasted.
 
Tuesday was a bit better and there were two races.  The wind was still pretty brisk and the waves big but we went out.  Debbie had a bad day from the start losing her brand new hat before we got out of the harbor, she was getting soaked with salt water going upwind, and the boat was rocking and rolling so bad going down wind that she got sick.  You can tell from this photo she's not having fun: http://tinyurl.com/3a2o8g  We finished the first race dead last and went in.  That evening the fleet had dinner at SPYC.
 
Wednesday we had better weather for the two races.  Debbie bought some foul weather bibs and Dramamine the night before and was much more comfortable.  We didn't finish as well as I'd hoped but we weren't last either.
 
Thursday the wind was light.  We were doing better than we had been but the race was abandoned before the finish.  We drifted around for a couple more hours waiting for wind but it never came. The race committee towed us in after the time deadline had passed.  Our overall finish was a tie for 25th place out of 29 in the Challenger fleet. The banquet was held that night and we got an award for furthest distance traveled. 
 
We met some great people and learned a lot at the Top Gun class they had before and after the races each day.  Debbie learned enough about racing Flying Scots that she can now tell me everything I'm doing wrong, which seems to be about everything I do.  I'm just wishing I could remember everything I heard in the classes.
 
We talked to a few couples who are planning to attend our Wife Husband race.  We also met Bill Ross who will be one of the judges at our race.  He said he's been getting a lot of email from Mike and Steve so it sounds like they're on the ball.

I plan to see you all at the fleet meeting Wednesday.
 
Brad Hickman