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SOUTHWINDS 

News & Views for Southern Sailors 

Gulfport Yacht Club 

Panama 

Glenn Henderson, 

Yacht Designer 

October 2007 

For Sailors — Free…It’s Priceless

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For over a century, we’ve been leading the industry with innovations like our patented pivoting wheel 

on the Beneteau 323.You’ll also find many other features and options on the Beneteau 323, including 

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2 October 2007 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com

News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS October 2007 3

SOUTHWINDS 

News & Views For Southern Sailors 

SOUTHWINDS Media, Inc. 

P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, Florida 34218-1175 

(941) 795-8704 (877) 372-7245 (941) 795-8705 Fax 

www.southwindsmagazine.com 

e-mail: editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

Volume 15 Number 10 October 2007 

Copyright 2007, Southwinds Media, Inc. 

Founded in 1993 Doran Cushing, Publisher 11/1993-6/2002 

Publisher/Editor 

7/2002-Present 

Steve Morrell editor@southwindsmagazine.com (941) 795-8704 

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Steve Morrell editor@southwindsmagazine.com (941) 795-8704 

Go to www.southwindsmagazine.com for information about 

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Regional Editors 

EAST FLORIDA 

Roy Laughlin mhw1@earthlink.net (321) 690-0137 

Production Proofreading Artwork 

Heather Nicoll Kathy Elliott Rebecca Burg 

angel@artoffshore.com 

Contributing Writers 

Letters from our readers Rebecca Burg Julie Connerley 

Dave Ellis Robb Johnson Kim Kaminski 

Roy Laughlin Jean Levine David Ralph 

Steve Romaine Alice Rutherford Hone Scunook 

Cliff Stephan 

Morgan Stinemetz 

Contributing Photographers/Art 

Rebecca Burg (& Artwork) Julie Connerley Dave Ellis 

Bob Feckner George Hero Dave Jefcoat 

Robb Johnson Kim Kaminski Roy Laughlin 

Jean Levine Mary Naylor Gene Rizzo 

Cliff Stephan Morgan Stinemetz Colin Ward 

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: ARTICLES & PHOTOGRAPHY: 

SOUTHWINDS encourages readers, writers, photographers, cartoonists, jokers, 

magicians, philosophers and whoever else is out there, including 

sailors, to send in their material. Just make it about the water world and 

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SOUTHWINDS welcomes contributions in writing and photography, stories 

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SOUTHWINDS 

NEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS 

6 Slips Anyone 

By Steve Morrell 

8 Letters 

17 Southern Regional Monthly Weather and Water Temperatures 

18 Bubba & The Bad Newz Cat Howz 

By Morgan Stinemetz 

20 Short Tacks: Sailing News and Events Around the South 

30 Southern Catalina Rendezvous 

31 Strictly Sail St. Pete Boat Show Preview 

34 Our Waterways: News About Changes on and 

Access to Our Waterways; Boot Key Harbor 

36 Wag Bags: One Answer to Onboard Human Waste 

By Robb Johnson 

38 Hurricane Season 2007 Section: 

Tips and News on Hurricane Protection for Your Boat 

41 Scurvy Dog Used Marine Goods Store 

By Julie Connerley 

Scurvy Dog Used Marine Goods Store. 

Photo by Julie Connerley. 

44 The Garmin 478 Review 


46 Gulfport Yacht Club 

By Dave Ellis 

48 Glenn Henderson, Yacht Designer 

By Dave Ellis 

50 ASA Trip to Antigua 

By Jean Levine 

52 A Summary of the New Bahamian Fishing Rules 

By David Ralph 

55 Exploring Panama 

By Rebecca Burg 

61 Southern Racing: Southern Race Reports and Upcoming Races, 

Southern Regional Race Calendars 

70 Cruising Defined 

By Alice Rutherford 

32 Marine Market Place 

58 Regional Sailing Services Directory - Local boat services in your area. 

72 Boat Brokerage Section 

78 Classifieds 

84 Alphabetical Index of Advertisers 

85 Advertisers’ List by Category 

85 Subscription Form 

Exploring Panama. Photo by Rebecca Burg. 

Cover: 

Misty sailing in Tampa Bay. 

Painted by Gene Rizzo. 

From the Carolinas to Cuba…from Atlanta to the Abacos…SOUTHWINDS Covers Southern Sailing 


FROM THE HELM 

Slips Anyone 

A few years ago, marinas—and their 

slips along with them—were disappearing, 

which meant a short supply and a 

big demand. That resulted in higher 

prices. Today, I see a lot of marinas with 

a large percentage of available slips. 

(I am not sure this is happening everywhere, 

but it is in the Tampa Bay area, so 

I would like to hear from others around 

the state and the South on this matter.) 

So what happened Has the trend 

reversed itself Did the powers that be— 

both private and public—rise up and 

stop the tide of disappearing marinas 

Have slip prices dropped Is this the 

“Age of Aquarius” for Florida boaters, 

and has the tide turned in their favor 

Sorry—no to all those questions. 

Many factors have brought this 

about, and I believe there are three major 

causes. Two are directly related: the hurricanes 

of 2004-5 and the higher slip 

prices that were trending upward before 

those hurricanes hit. The third and indirect 

cause is home insurance. 

I started to hear the rumblings of 

higher slip prices from brokers back in 

2003-4. A few brokers and new-boat 

dealers were telling me that people 

could afford payments and insurance, 

Steve Morrell, Editor 

but many couldn’t even find a slip to 

keep the boats in, and when they did 

find one, slip prices were making a boat 

purchase out of the question. Back then, 

insurance was reasonable and interest 

rates kept payments low. 

Today, I see used boats being sold 

right and left—with a lot of people getting 

out of boat ownership and a lot of others 

getting some good deals. I also know brokers 

are eager to make great deals on new 

boats (great time to buy one, by the way), 

as new boats aren’t selling as much. 

Home insurance and high homeowner 

taxes in Florida have moved boat ownership 

down the priority list. I also hear 

many of the brokerage boats (and some 

new boats) are being moved out of 

Florida, lowering slip demand. 

What about slip prices Are they 

falling I believe one of the main reasons 

they aren’t is because of the hurricanes. 

Slip demand and disappearing marinas 

drove prices up a few years back, but 

hurricanes destroyed a lot of marinas 

throughout the South, and after those 

heavy storm years of ’04 and ’05, marina 

insurance went way up, affecting 

marinas around the South—and not just 

those that were hit. 

Slip prices are a result of demand 

and supply, and marinas can’t keep lowering 

their prices as demand drops 

because there is a point where they can’t 

stay in business. The good news is that 

many marinas I see are rebuilding and 

remodeling, improving their services and 

docks. Those that were never hit are 

using the higher prices to reinvest in their 

marinas, which is good. Plus, a lot was 

learned about keeping marinas from 

being destroyed during a hurricane, and 

those that needed total rebuilding are 

coming back stronger. Those that never 

got hit have learned from those that did 

and are strengthening their docks. 

In conclusion, I don’t see prices dropping 

much, but some of the larger, emptier 

marinas are willing to make more deals 

for people, and better rates can be had. The 

good news is that I am very confident slip 

prices won’t be going up for a long time. 

Not much can be done about slips, 

but boat insurance in all this has forced 

many people out of boat ownership, and 

that is what we all need to work on lowering. 

I see that as possible if we all pull 

together. If we don’t, then sailboat ownership 

will become more and more the 

realm of the wealthy. 

So, what can we do about insurance 

I have ideas on that and I’ll 

explore that subject later, but how about 

some reader ideas first 


See us at the Strictly Sail St. Pete Boat Show, Nov. 1-4 


LETTERS 

“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” 

H.L. Mencken 

In its continuing endeavor to share its press, SOUTHWINDS 

invites readers to write in with experiences & opinions. 

E-mail your letters to editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

BOATER URGES OTHER BOATERS TO LET BUSINESSES 

KNOW THEY SUPPORT THEM 

I completely understand why you want to boycott towns and 

businesses that seem to support local law enforcements’ 

“Gestapo” tactics. However, the problem with boycotts is that 

the businesses don’t know who you are. Your absence makes 

you invisible. Besides, local businesses are our allies. Local 

government is the problem. What I have found works better 

is to make up business cards on my computer that on one side 

have my business information and the other side, I print: 

BOCA CIEGA YACHT CLUB MEMBER, 

Gulfport, Florida 

BOATERS MEAN BUSINESS $ $. 

We found you only because of our BCYC membership 

and we wanted you to know that. 

SUPPORT PUBLIC WATERWAY ACCESS BEFORE 

IT’S TOO LATE! 

In a friendly way, of course, I give these to every business I 

enter or do business with in Gulfport as an opener to dialogue. 

What I have found is a real eye-opener. The vast 

majority of the businesses I talked to had little or no knowledge 

of waterfront issues, nor did they have any idea how 

much of their business comes from boaters. There was not 

one business that did not want to increase their sales 

through boaters. 

I explain to them that I live in Seminole, own an art 

gallery in Dunedin but have kept my boat in the Gulfport 

Marina for the last 11 years. They begin to see the value of 

boaters when I tell them I’ve spent thousands of dollars in 

Gulfport and over the years brought hundreds of people to 

town that, like me, would not have come to Gulfport if it 

wasn’t for boating. 

The other way to make a difference is to get involved 

with local environment-friendly groups. We are extraordinarily 

fortunate in Gulfport to have Al and Cindy Davis, 

founders of Gulfport Water Watch, who have taken on the 

huge task of public education in these matters and whom 

we support as much as we can. If your community does not 

have a water watch group, form one, attend the city council 

meetings and become known. Boycotts do not work. 

Education does. 

Matt Maloy 

S/V HideAway 

Gulfport, FL 

Matt, 

Thanks for your letter and your support. A card is a good idea, and 

the South Seas Cruising Association came up with the idea of 

Boater Bucks (available to download and print out at www.southwindsmagazine.com/ourwaterways.htm) 

to hand out to businesses. 

I don’t totally agree with you on boycotts not working as a 

generalization. Boycotts don’t work against businesses and groups 

See LETTERS continued on page 11 





LETTERS 

that support you, of course. But they can 

work if enough people get together to boycott 

businesses that do not want boaters in 

their community. 

But let’s not throw boycotts out the 

door. A great exception where boycotts can 

work is seen in the example of South 

Africa, where the people who were the victims 

of the apartheid regime wanted foreign 

investors to boycott businesses dealing 

with that country. Those people had a 

right to say what was best for them. 

What we can do as boaters is boycott 

all the businesses in places like Gulfport 

that don’t want boaters—maybe someone 

can publish the names of those businesses 

and/or their owners. 

Editor 

MOORING FIELDS & ANCHORAGES 

In your August issue, you talked of 

your support for mooring fields over 

anchorages. For a full- time cruiser, 

that will get expensive at $15 a night. 

Seems that putting mooring fields in 

every anchorage is your solution to 

getting rid of derelict boats parked 

long-term. I hope you reconsider that 

idea. Perhaps a modification of the 

anchoring law recently enacted would 

be to put some sort of 30- to 45-day 

limit on anchoring. 

I think we can agree that the 

derelict boats are a problem. They are 

often among the “parked” boats. So 

my idea of limiting long-term anchoring 

would solve the derelict boat issue 

easily enough. I could see rules that 

only allow “parking” over a given 

time, such as 30 days, on a mooring. 

But I am concerned that you are 

supporting the idea of taking up all 

the good anchorages with mooring 

fields and raising my cost of cruising. 

Here’s a thought. A seasonal pass 

good for many different mooring 

fields. The daily rate gets kind of 

expensive, but the weekly and monthly 

rates get a bit better. But as a cruiser, 

I don’t want to sit in one place for 

a month. So let’s say the day rate is 

$15, the weekly rate is $80 and the 

monthly is $250. If there was a cruising 

pass good for mooring fields 

throughout Florida for $250/month, 

that would ease the pain. Or buy a 

“ticket book” of 10 nights for $100, 

good for a 60-day period. It would 

mean that the state would get 

involved in coordinating all these 

fields through the park service. 

Ed K 

Ed, 

I had no intention of supporting mooring 

fields over anchorages or to use them as 

the all-encompassing solution to getting 

rid of derelict boats, and perhaps I did not 

make that clear. I did once state, “There 

are enough laws on the books to control 

boaters’ actions while anchored, like 

dumping waste and derelict vessels.” And 

there are. It’s just a matter of enforcing 

them and having the resources to do so 

properly. Some believe that it is too expensive 

to pay for those resources, like better 

and more informed marine patrol units, so 

they just want to pass an all-encompassing 

law to make it illegal—just because 

it’s cheap. Like outlawing cars to end illegal 

parking. That will end the problem— 

and cheaply, but it’s not right. 

I do believe in using mooring fields as 

a major solution to the problem as they are 

economical places to keep boats and some 



LETTERS 

of the safest places of all in storms. We are getting to the point 

where only the wealthy can afford a boat. That’s a bad trend. I also 

support mooring fields because they help the bottom environment, 

are convenient and create a great tie with the local community for 

transient boaters. They also give cruisers a great way to get good 

shoreside services along with a solid mooring. Then there’s the 

benefit to businesses as cruisers stop in. 

Mooring fields are all over the world and in many parts of this 

country, except, it appears in the South. I don’t believe there is any 

one solution to the expensive slips problem or the derelict boat problem, 

but mooring fields is one way to help solve these problems. 

The main thing I see is that our waterways have been used 

by boaters for many decades, and in some cases, hundreds of 

years, and local communities do not have ultimate rights over 

their control. Most of these communities are new compared to 

how long these waters have been used by boaters. When they come 

along and people start populating them, these new communities 

need to protect the waters and preserve their traditional use, 

which is not for just looking at. These communities have a responsibility 

to help all people enjoy these waters, as has been the case 

for a long time. I believe it is really a matter of unbelieveable snobbish 

prejudice in people to want to only have certain types of people 

visit their communities, which are public places, and some 

believe that since they are the majority, they can make that decision 

and stomp on the minority. What’s worse is that most people 

who want to eliminate cruisers anchoring in their waters use the 

excuse of pollution, while it is the people on shore who are 

destroying the waters the most. 

Mooring fields can also be an advantage. If a community sets 

one up, it will shortly see, from the people that use them, including 

those who anchor outside them, that cruisers are pretty good people 

in general, and a rapport can be established that will improve relations 

between cruisers and communities. One thing a mooring field 

represents for transients: an invite to come visit. Although landlubbers’ 

opinion of cruisers has been sliding downhill for a decade and 

for no good reason, their opinion would hopefully improve, despite 

some people who are just plain grumpy and a lost cause. 

I really like your idea of the cruiser pass or ticket book. Ski 

resorts do it in Colorado: Buy one ticket book and go skiing at any 

one of several resorts. 

Editor 

CUBA 

I still don’t see the beauty in sailing 90 miles from the 

United States to the longest-lasting dictatorship in the 

Americas. We are going to party while hundreds languish 

in political prisons, and government-sponsored pogroms 

beat up opposition leaders in the streets 

Spare me the tear-jerking excuse that they are going to 

give “needed” aid to the poor. There shouldn’t be any 

needy poor in a “worker’s paradise.” That aid goes to the 

hands of the government and gets sold or “donated” to 

other Third World countries. 

Frank Resillez 

Key Largo, FL. 

Frank, 

I don’t see the beauty in the United States government telling its 

citizens what countries they can’t visit. It’s a human right. I also 

strongly believe that Castro would have been long gone if we had 

been trading with Cuba and American tourists had been visiting 

there, along with thousands of American merchants, as the people 


would see what they are missing. Then 

again some people would rather not deal 

with hostage-takers and would let the 

hostages be killed. In other words, they 

would stand on the principle that we should 

butt heads with the Cuban government 

instead of letting the government just slowly 

lose legitimacy. Throughout history, 

trade and interchange of peoples and ideas 

through their private interactions has done 

more for the advancement of human rights 

in countries than any other action. Give me 

one example of where a boycott of an entire 

nation worked There is South Africa, with 

one big difference: The people who were the 

ill-treated minority in that country wanted 

the boycott. 

Who was it that said, “It is best to 

win without fighting” 

How about we wake up, go hang out 

with the Cuban people, and win 

Editor 

CALIFORNIA TREATS THEIR 

BOATERS KINDLY 

I recently returned from a trip down 

the California coast from San 

Francisco to San Diego, stopping at 

several sailing centers en route. I 

spoke to boaters and marina officials 

in Sausalito, Long Beach, Los Angeles 

and San Diego and was surprised to 

find the relationship between boaters, 

marina staff and local authorities to be 

generally harmonious and with an 

acute awareness that each relies and 

depends heavily upon the others, and 

that boaters contribute greatly to local 

economies. 

Contrast this to the seemingly 

increasingly acrimonious relationship 

between boaters and similar agencies 

in Florida coastal waters, vis-à-vis the 

cities of Tampa, Gulfport, Marco 

Island, etc. 

While in San Diego, I learned that 

August 11 had been proclaimed, by 

Senate Resolution 173, National 

Marina Day. The Association of 

Marina Industries (AMI) states that 

the goal of National Marina Day is the 

education of politicians, civic leaders 

and the public about the important 

role the marina industry plays in cities 

and towns across the nation as familyfriendly 

gateways to boating and as 

stewards of the environment. 

The vice president of Almar 

Marinas, which operates 15 marinas 

across the Western United States, said, 

“Marina Day is a celebration of being 

on the water and showing appreciation 

to all boaters.” Almar Marinas are 

organizing barbecues, entertainment, 

Coast Guard inspections and more. 

Since returning to Florida, I 

haven’t heard a peep about National 

Marina Day! Perhaps the politicians, 

civic leaders and members of the 

“anti-boater” public should take a 

look at the West Coast and realize the 

economic potential that boater-friendly 

waters offer. 

Victor Sutcliffe 

Clearwater, FL 

Victor, 

Being from California, and having owned 

a sailboat in San Diego for six years, I 

have experienced a bit of the boating scene 

there. Californians too have had their 

problems with boater relations, but they 

have more experience at it. I remember 

back in the ’90s when I read in Latitude 



LETTERS 

38 all the letters to the editor about the San Diego Harbor Patrol 

and how they treated boaters. It looked as if war was about break 

out. Hatred of the patrol among boaters was rampant, but since 

then, the patrol has lightened up a bit and relations have 

improved. 

On another note, I remember Oceanside, known as the most 

boater-friendly community in California, where the harbor patrol, 

which likes to be called the Home Port-Harbor Police, actually 

treats boaters with respect and kindness—and they run the fantastic 

city marina. For the amount of coastline, which is not much 

beyond San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay, there aren’t that 

many marinas, but the ones that are there are big with lots of facilities. 

There are numerous marinas with huge storage lots for 

power and sailboats—on the water. Lifts for placing smaller keelboats 

in the water are common. And you don’t see the constant 

battle of marinas and waterfront businesses being sold and developed 

for condos. What a strange world! I loved sailing there. 

One of the big differences I have noticed between Florida and 

California is that the growth of the waterfront communities in 

Florida has been staggering in the last 30 years and in California, 

it occurred long before that. Plus—Florida has a lot of waterfront, 

not only on the coast, but you can almost triple that considering 

that almost of all of Florida has barrier islands, since the ICW 

adds two more “coasts” to most of the state. The population is 

almost non-stop on all those waterfront properties, and much of 

that growth has happened in the last three decades, most of that in 

the last two. Compared to Florida, California’s waterfront communities 

are old. Florida’s are young, experiencing rapid property 

value growth and groups of tens of thousands of people coming 

to live together for the first time in coastal communities almost all 

at once. Boating traditions in Florida go back decades before this 

population explosion went bananas, and there are all these people 

that moved here from all over who never lived together before— 

especially not on the water. 

Let’s compare that to Europe, where boating traditions and 

use of the water go back hundreds, if not thousands of years. 

Europeans long ago learned how to live together on the waterfront. 

Europe’s waterfront is beautiful because it’s old and wellpreserved. 

California is far younger than Europe, yet its residents 

also want to preserve their waterfront. In Florida, everyone wants 

to destroy anything old and put up new condos or private mansions. 

That is what’s going on. No one can dispute that. Gulfport, 

FL, is on the brink of becoming torn down. On Marco Island, it 

already happened. Floridians don’t know how to live together. 

Millions are moving here all at once, and it is really out of control. 

If we don’t stop this tsunami, there will be virtual “security 

gates,” guarded by local marine patrol units, that cruisers will 

have to pass through to cruise from community to community. In 

between, the FWC will be keeping an eye on everyone. 

Editor 

E-mail your letters 

to the Editor: 

editor@southwindsmagazine.com 




Southeastern U.S. Air & Water Temperatures 

and Gulf Stream Currents – October 

Weather Web Sites: 

Carolinas & Georgia www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southeast.shtml 

Florida East Coast www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Florida.shtml 

Florida West Coast & Keys 

http://comps.marine.usf.edu 

Northern Gulf Coast 

www.csc.noaa.gov/coos/ 

CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA 

Cape Hatteras, NC 60º lo – 73º hi 

Savannah, GA 56º lo – 78º hi 

Water Temperature 

Cape Hatteras, NC – 70º 

Savannah Beach, GA – 73º 

NORTHERN GULF COAST 

Pensacola, FL 60º lo – 79º hi 

Gulfport, MS 60º lo – 79º hi 

Water Temperature – 74º 

EAST FLORIDA 

Daytona Beach - 65º lo – 83º hi 

Jacksonville Beach - 65º lo – 79º hi 


Daytona Beach – 78º 

Jacksonville Beach – 75º 

Gulfstream Current – 3.0 knots 

WEST FLORIDA 

St. Petersburg 70º lo – 83º hi 

Naples 68º lo – 87º hi 


St. Petersburg – 78º 

Naples – 81º 

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA 

Miami Beach – 75º lo – 83º hi 

Stuart – 70º lo – 85º hi 


Miami Beach – 81º 

Stuart – 78º 

Gulfstream Current – 2.2 knots 

FLORIDA KEYS 

Key West 76º lo – 85º hi 


Key West – 82º 

WIND ROSES: Each wind rose shows the strength and direction 

of the prevailing winds in the area and month. These 

have been recorded over a long period of time. In general, 

the lengths of the arrows indicate how often the winds came 

from that direction. The longer the arrow, the more often the 

winds came from that direction. When the arrow is too long 

to be printed in a practical manner, a number is indicated. 

The number in the center of the circle shows the percentage 

of the time that the winds were calm. The lengths of the 

arrows plus the calms number in the center add up to 100 

percent. The number of feathers on the arrow indicates the 

strength of the wind on the Beaufort scale (one feather is 

Force 1, etc.). Wind Roses are taken from Pilot Charts. 




EVENTS & NEWS OF INTEREST TO SOUTHERN SAILORS 

To have your news or event in this section, contact editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 

Send us information by the 5th of the month preceding publication. Contact us if later. 

Changes in Events Listed on SOUTHWINDS Web site 

Go to www.southwindsmagazine.com for changes and notices on upcoming events. Contact us to post event changes. 

■ RACING EVENTS 

For racing schedules, news and events see the 

racing section. 

■ UPCOMING SOUTHERN 

EVENTS 

EDUCATION/TRAINING 

Ongoing – Boating Skills and Seamanship Programs. 

St. Petersburg, FL 

Tuesday nights, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Satisfies the 

Florida boater safety education requirements. Eleven les- 

sons, every Tuesday. Boating Skills and 

Seamanship Programs, 7:30-9:30 p.m., 1300 

Beach Dr. SE, St. Petersburg. Lessons 

include: which boat for you, equipment, 

trailering, lines and knots, boat handling, 

signs, weather, rules, introduction to navigation, 

inland boating and radio. (727) 

823-3753. Don’t wait until next summer 

to have your children qualify for a State of 

Florida boater safety ID, possibly lower your boaters insurance 

premium or just hone your safe boating skills. 

Boating Safety Courses, St. Petersburg, FL 

St. Petersburg Sail and Power Squadron. Six-week Public 

Boating Course begins every Monday. Includes safety 

information plus basic piloting; charts, course plotting, latitude/longitude 

and dead reckoning. Satisfies Florida’s 

under age 21 boater requirements. (727) 867-3088. Other 

courses continuously offered. (727) 565-4453. www.boatingstpete.org. 

Clearwater Coast Guard Auxiliary (Flotilla 11-1) 

Public Boating Programs 

America’s boating course: Oct. 13-14. Boating Skills and 

Seamanship: Nov. 5-29 (7 lessons). 

For more information on upcoming education programs 

or to request a free vessel safety check, call (727) 469- 

8895 or visit www.a0701101.uscgaux.info. 

North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC 

Ongoing adult sailing programs. Family sailing. 2-6 people; 

2-6 hours. Traditional skiffs or 30-foot keelboat. $50-$240. 

www.ncmm-friends.org, maritime@ncmail.net, (252) 728- 

7317. Reservations/information: call The Friends’ office 

(252) 728-1638 

Ruskin , FL, Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 75 

Offers Home Study Safe Boating Course 

The Ruskin flotilla each month offers a Boating Safety 

course in Ruskin, but has found that many boaters do not 

CONTRIBUTE TO SOUTHWINDS 

WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED 

SOUTHWINDS is always looking for articles and photos 

on various subjects about sailing (cruising and racing), 

our Southern waters, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. 

For more information, go to our Web site, www.southwindsmagazine.com, 

and see the “Writers Guidelines” 

page, or e-mail editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 



have the time to attend the courses, so they are now also 

offering a home study course at $30. Additional family 

members will be charged $10 each for testing and certificates. 

Tests will be held bi-monthly. Entry into the 

course will also allow participants to attend the 

classes. To apply, call (813) 677-2354. 

Basic Marine Electric. October 10-12. Raleigh, 

NC. American Boat and Yacht Council. (410) 

990-4460. www.abyc.org. 

Marine Systems Certification. Nov. 13-16. 

Fort Lauderdale, FL. American Boat and 

Yacht Council. (410) 990-4460. 

www.abyc.org. 

Standards Accreditation. Nov. 28-30. Orlando, FL. 

American Boat and Yacht Council. (410) 990-4460. 

www.abyc.org. 

Articles Wanted About Southern Yacht Clubs, 

Sailing Associations and Youth Sailing 

SOUTHWINDS magazine is looking for articles on individual 

yacht clubs, sailing associations and youth sailing 

groups throughout the Southern states (the eight 

Southern coastal states from North Carolina south all the 

way around the Gulf and into the Gulf through eastern 

Texas). Articles wanted are about a club’s history, facilities, 

major events and general information about the 

club. The clubs and associations must be well established 

and have been around for at least a few years. It 

does not matter whether the organization has a fixed 

location or facility. The Southwinds editor reserves the 

right to make a judgment on how well established the 

organization is to qualify for an article, although we 

encourage everyone to contact us. Any article must be 

written by a member of the organization (except for the 

youth sailing organizations) and must include at least 

one photograph. 

Contact editor@Southwindsmagazine.com for information 

about article length, photo requirements and 

other questions. 

SEAFOOD FESTIVALS 

Oct 5-7. 21st Annual North Carolina Seafood Festival 

and Boat Show. Morehead City, NC. www.ncseafoodfestival.org. 

Oct. 5-7. 29th Annual Destin Seafood Festival. 

Morgan Sports Center. $5 for the weekend. Children 

under 12 free. Destin, FL. http://www.destinseafoodfestival.org/admission.html. 

Oct. 13-14. Beaufort Shrimp Festival. Shrimp 

cooked every way. Local restaurants offer their 

specialties. Beaufort, SC. www.sneadsferry.org/festival/scf_beaufort_shrimpfest.htm 

Oct. 11-14. 36th Annual National Shrimp Festival. 

Gulfshores, AL, public beach. www.nationalshrimpfestival.com/ 

Oct. 19-20. Key West Goombay Festival. Bahamian culture 

is celebrated in the historic Bahama Village with a street fair 

and nonstop entertainment. contact: (305) 747-4544 

http://www.visitkeywestonline.com/ 

Nov. 2-3. Florida Seafood Festival. Apalachicola, FL. The 


state’s oldest maritime exhibit. The three-day event 

annually draws thousands of visitors to this scenic historic 

town at the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The 

festival features delicious seafood, arts and crafts 

exhibits, seafood-related events and displays under the 

shady oaks of Apalachicola’s Battery Park. Some of the 

notable events include oyster eating, oyster 

shucking, a parade, a 5k Redfish Run and a 

Blessing of the Fleet. (888) 653-8011. 

www.floridaseafoodfestival.com 

Oct. 20-21. 38th Annual Cedar Key 

Seafood Festival. Parade, arts and crafts, lots 

of seafood. 9-5 p.m. This major event features 

well over 200 arts and crafts exhibits, and great food in City 

Park. There will be live musical entertainment at several 

places around town during the days and nights, and a 

parade on Saturday morning. In addition on this weekend, 

there is an open house at the lighthouse on Seahorse Key, 

the big island 3 miles to the west of Cedar Key. Explore the 

light, look at the exhibits and wander this beautiful island. 

Shuttle boats are available at City Marina. Be sure to 

remember your camera and binoculars! www.cedarkey.org 

Oct. 27-28. 26th Annual John’s Pass Seafood Festival. 

Children’s area, live entertainment and fishing expo. The 

arts and craft show is designed with a nautical theme. A 

bounty of fresh seafood featuring our favorite Madeira 

Beach grouper. 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sat. and Sun. Johns Pass 

Village, Madeira Beach. www.johnspass.com/specialevents.cfm. 

BOAT SHOWS 

Oct 25-29. Fort Lauderdale International Boat 

Show. Bahia Mar Yachting Center. Fort Lauderdale. 

Largest boat show in the world, covering six sites. 

Over 1,600 vessels with 160 super yachts, marine 

supplies, accessories, electronics. Cost: Adults $16, 

children 6-12 $5, under 6 free. Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m. -7 p.m., 

Mon. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The show is open at $30 for a show preview 

to all on Thursday, Oct. 25. (954) 764-7642. 

www.showmanagement.com. 

Oct. 10-12. IBEX (International Boatbuilders Exhibition 

and Conference), Miami Beach Convention Center. 

National Marine Manufacturers Association. (312) 946- 

6262. www.ibexshow.com. 

Nov. 1-4. Strictly Sail St. Petersburg Boat Show and 

Trawler Show. The largest all sailboat show on the Gulf 

Coast with many boats presented on land (smaller boats) 

and in the water. Trawlers will be at the show for the second 

time this year, after a successful showing in 2006. Hundreds 

of exhibitors. The best and most beautiful venue of all the 

sailboat shows, being on Tampa Bay. Free sailboat rides. On 

the Vinoy basin on the causeway to the St. Petersburg Pier. 

www.strictlysail.com. Thurs.-Sat., 10-6, Sun. 10-5. $12, 

Thur.-Fri. $14, Sat.-Sun. 15 and under free with paid adult. 

Two-day weekend pass for $24. Additional events this year. 

www.strictlysail.com. 

Nov. 8-11. Fort Myers Boat Show. Harborside Convention 

Complex and City Yacht Basin, Fort Myers, FL. John Good 

Co. (954) 570-7785. www.swfmia.com. 

St. Petersburg Power Boat Show. Bayfront Center Yacht 

Basin. St. Petersburg, FL. Show Management. (954) 764- 

7642. www.showmanagement.com. 


■ OTHER EVENTS 

The International 

Boatbuilders Exhibition 

and Conference (IBEX), 

Miami Beach, Oct. 10-12 

This year’s conference will be held at the Miami Beach 

Convention Center, and there is an extensive seminar series 

plan. The conference has traditionally presented speakers 

from the industry who present seminars on the most 

advanced manufacturing processes on all subjects related to 

boatbuilding, from business to technology. With 65 seminar 

sessions planned, this year’s program will cover a wide 

range of topics. 

The technical seminars are organized and presented by 

the American Boatbuilders & Repairers Association, the 

American Boat & Yacht Council, the National Marine 

Manufacturers Association and Professional Boatbuilder and 

WoodenBoat magazines. 

Along with the seminar series, there will be more than 

800 exhibitors in four exhibit halls, along with an outdoor 

demonstration area where professional boatbuilders will be 

demonstrating the latest technology in the industry. 

For more information and to register—there is limited 

space available for exhibitors—contact Tina Sanderson at 

(802) 879-8324, or Anne Dunbar at (716) 662-4708. The Web 

site for the IBEX show is www.ibexshow.com. 

(or you could just keep it until you can’t remember 

what it was ever going to be used for). Take the 

whole family (or leave the kids home to play 

some more video games) and join us. 

Come out and find a great deal or just look 

around and have a good time. For more information, 

call (941) 792-9100. 

Fifth Annual Florida 

West Coast SSCA Rendezvous, 

Punta Gorda, Oct. 20 

The Seven Seas Cruising Association will hold its Fifth 

Annual West Coast Rendezvous in Punta Gorda, FL, on 

Saturday, October 20, at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. 

Both power and sail cruisers are welcome to come by land or 

sea (no airplane landing facilities at the yacht club). All SSCA 

events are open to both members and non-members alike. 

Although the rendezvous is on Saturday, there is a 

brief happy hour on Friday night. On Saturday, the rendezvous 

begins at 8:30 a.m., followed by seminars on communications 

and first aid afloat. A nautical flea market and 

vendor displays will be held during a two-hour lunch 

break. In the afternoon a seminar will be held on weather 

and weather communications. 

Pre-registration is required by Oct. 10. For more information 

and to register online, go to www.SSCA.org. You 

can also call Bruce and Marilyn Conklin at (954) 771-5662. 

Goldconk@yahoo.com. 

Placida Rotary Club Annual 

Nautical Flea Market. Oct. 20-21 

Placida in Southwest Charlotte County. On the water on 

Gasparilla Sound at the Fishery Restaurant on CR 771. Flea 

market brings 85 vendors and boats on display. Hot food, 

cool drinks, German beer. Live Reggae music. 9-6 Sat. and 9- 

5 Sun. $3, children under 12 free. http://placidarotary.net/. 

(941) 475-7937 for vendor space and info. 

10th Annual Cortez Nautical Flea 

Market, Oct. 20, Cortez, FL 

The 10th Annual Cortez Nautical Flea Market will be held at 

the Seafood Shack Marina, 4110 127th Street West, Cortez, FL 

34215 on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free to the 

public with lots of free parking. There is a $10 per space 

(equal to a car parking space) charge for sellers only. Bring 

your own table. Rain day will be following Saturday, Oct. 27. 

Lots of used boat stuff, some new boat stuff too, buy or 

trade. You might even see some boat stuff you wouldn’t let 

your dog chew on. Guaranteed you will meet a lot of 

boaters (or interesting people) and have a good time. So dig 

out and dust off all that old boat stuff, and bring it on down 

Racing Seminar by Jeff and 

Amy Linton, Davis Island 

Yacht Club, Nov. 7 

See the Racing section for information on this event. 

Seven Seas Cruising Association 

Annual Meeting in Melbourne, FL, 

Nov. 9-11 

The Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) will again host 

its annual convention and general meeting (formerly called 

a “gam”) at the Eau Gallie Convention Center in Melbourne, 

FL, Nov. 9-11. All SSCA events are open to both members 

and non-members alike. 

There will be a Friday night cocktail party and a nautical 

flea market the following morning in the parking lot at 

the center. There is also a vendors’ show and sale where 

businesses are offering their products and services. A barbecue 

is scheduled for Saturday evening at Wickham Park. 

On Sunday, there will be the annual meeting and awards 

ceremony. 

There is also an extensive number of seminars at the 



convention. The full list of seminars is available at on the SSC 

Web site. Some of the seminars to be presented are A Family 

Circumnavigates Aboard a Catamaran, Sailboat Docking 

and Sail Trim for Cruisers, and Accessing Weather Data at 

Sea. A total of 15 seminars are scheduled. 

For more information and for registration, go to 

the SSCA Web site, www.SSCA.org. Cruisers who 

come by boat generally anchor off the Pineapple 

Pier near the event site. The Web site has more 

information including special hotel rates for 

SSCA members and a map of the area, including 

hotels, anchorages, restaurants and more. 

Laser Seminar, Clearwater 

Community Sailing Center, 

Nov. 15-18 

See the Racing section for information on this event. 

2007 Wharram Catamaran 

Rendezvous, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 

Hobe Sound, FL 

The 2007 Florida Wharram Catamaran Rendezvous is 

scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Hobe Sound, FL. Hobe 

Sound is near Stuart on the Atlantic coast of Florida. We 

expect to have five to eight Wharrams there; a Tiki 46, a few 

Tangaroas, Tiki 26s and possibly others. 

All Wharram catamaran owners are welcome as well as 

lovers of Wharram catamarans and others who would just 

like to show up and see them and talk about them. Bring 

your pictures if you can’t bring your boat. If you can’t bring 

a boat or pictures, then just bring yourself! We have even 

been known to welcome “half boats” (monohulls). 

For more information, call Gene Perry (Tiki 26) at home 

at (772) 545-9312 or on his cell at (772) 214-4330, Dan Kunz 

(Tangaroa 36) at home at (305) 664-0190, or Ann and Neville 

Clements‚ (Tiki 46) on their cell at (401) 261-7816. You can 

also send a note to this e-mail: floridawharramrendezvous@hotmail.com. 

We will monitor e-mails every 

few days. E-mails will be monitored up to about Nov. 

21. After that, use the phones. 

■ NEWS 

Florida Sea Base in Florida 

Keys Looking for Charter 

Boats and Captains 

Florida Sea Base, a high adventure camp serving the Boy 

Scouts of America, is looking for sailboats to run our next 

summer season beginning the end of May 2008, through the 

end of August 2008. The ideal boat will either be a Morgan 

41 Out Island or the CSY 44 or something similar (5.5-foot 

draft or less, less than 65-feet vertical clearance and less 

than 15-foot beam). Weekly trips include training, fuel 

(diesel and propane), dockage at Sea Base (located in 

Islamorada) and Key West. All provisions are included, 

including food, ice and necessary dry goods. 


With the Code of Federal Regulations for the Boy Scouts 

of America, we are permitted to carry eight passengers with 

a 6-pack license. All vessels must pass the Coast Guard’s Uninspected 

Inspected Vessel Check, be documented for “Coast 

Wise Trade” and carry $1,000,000 in liability insurance with 

Boy Scouts of America listed on the policy. 

You will be guaranteed 9 to11 trips for the season 

(excluding acts of nature) at $2200 per trip. Charters 

usually consist of six youths (Boy Scouts) ranging 

in age from 14-20 and two adult leaders. You are 

in charge of your vessel but must run our charter 

program and schedule as described. Boats run in 

groups of four from Islamorada to Key West 

and back (80 miles each way). The captain will 

take the scouts fishing, sailing and snorkeling 

with four nights at anchor and one day and night in 

Key West. All gear/tackle and bait are provided at no additional 

charge. 

This is a fast-paced program, so all boats and captains 

must be up for the demands. Being mechanically inclined is 

a major plus. If you have a boat and would like a contract 

captain to run it, we have several very qualified captains to 

put you in contact with. 

Also, Sea Base is looking for a schooner 80 feet long (+) 

overall for week trips as well. The ideal candidate will have 

a draft of six feet or less and a vertical clearance of less than 

65 feet. These boats run week trips from Marathon to Boca 

Grande with a day/night stopover in Key West Bight. The 

boats must be USCG-inspected with an overnight endorsement. 

You will be guaranteed 10 trips @ $6200 per trip. Fuel 

and propane are provided as well as all provisions and 

dockage while running our program. 

Contact Capt. Rich Beliveau or Capt. Steve Willis at 

(305) 394-0365 or (305) 393-7373. 

Coast Guard Discontinues Use of 

“*CG” Dialing 

By Kim Kaminski 

After completing extensive research and from reports of various 

rescues. the Coast Guard found that cell phone compa- 

nies used a special keying sequence to reach the 

Coast Guard during emergencies. This special keypad 

feature, “*CG,” would link the customer 

directly to the Coast Guard. 

The *CG feature was introduced by some cellular 

companies in the early 1990s but never 

developed as a nationwide service. Wireless companies 

have been improving their systems recently 

by utilizing digital technology, and the older 

*CG feature didn’t migrate into the new system. 

Some cell phone companies had lost track of 

whether or not they were still continuing this system. 

The Coast Guard requested the cell phone companies 

to re-route these *CG calls to 911 (Public 

Safety Answering Point) nearest to where the call 

originated. (The one exception to the discontinuance of 

the *CG feature is in Alaska where there is only one number 

for routing emergency calls, and this feature will 

remain active in Alaskan waters.) The misalignment of 

cellular coverage areas within the region, and the intermittent 

use of this specialized service have resulted in 

misdirected emergency calls, which led to significant 

delays in Coast Guard response for help. 

If you use a cell phone while out boating on the 

waterways and are in need of assistance, the U.S. Coast 

Guard has requested that you discontinue the use of this 

special feature and begin using 911 to notify authorities of 

a maritime emergency (if a cell phone is your only means 

of communication). 

All boaters should have a VHF-FM radio for use as a 

primary means of communication in case of emergency. 

Cell phones should be used as a secondary method of communication 

as they are a point-to-point contact where other 

boaters in the area cannot hear the distress call and will not 

be able to respond. In addition, if a cell phone caller does 

not know where they are located, it would be difficult and 

time consuming to determine a position through a wireless 

company. A cell phone call can become even more aggravating 

by low batteries and poor reception. Calls that come 

in on a VHF-FM radio will have a line of bearing (LOB) 

which helps to pinpoint and narrow the area for the Coast 

Guard to search for the boater making the call. 



Dreamboat 

From Mark Storrs, Jupiter, FL 

Like many sailors of my vintage who grew up in South Florida, I learned to sail in 

a wooden pram designed by Clark Mills. I was very lucky to have learned to sail at 

the Lauderdale Yacht Club and to have a tremendously supportive father and mentor 

who constantly encouraged me. My dad purchased my first Clark Mills wooden 

Pram when I was eight years old, and about the only thing I can remember about this 

little vessel was its yellow cotton sail. My two younger brothers followed in the sailing 

program with their own wood Prams. We all enjoyed years of fun and developed 

a strong sailing foundation built upon that little wooden wonder called the Pram. 

A little more than five years ago, I was visiting the Lauderdale Yacht Club. I 

noticed an old disheveled-looking wooden Pram in a sea of high-tech fiberglass 

Optis. I was informed that the little boat was destined for the landfill unless someone 

was willing to take her off the club’s hands. Being a lover of wooden boats of 

any kind, I was just that person. 

I don’t know if Mills would approve of my little restoration project and his little 

Prams’ current non-sailing status. However, I am sure he would approve of saving 

one of his little ships from an unflattering destination. My then three-year-old 

son became the proud owner of a genuine Clark Mills wooden Pram headboard. He 

enjoys it to this day. Sadly, just a few weeks after completing the little Pram’s 

restoration, I read in SOUTHWINDS of Clark Mills’ passing. 

My parents have for years summered on their lake home in northern Wisconsin. 

They are proud owners and have thoroughly enjoyed their beautiful fiberglass sailboat 

called a Picnic Cat. The designer is Clark Mills. 


The Catalina Rendezvous at the Isthmus on Catalina Island. Photo courtesy Catalina Yachts. 

1ST ANNUAL SOUTHERN CATALINA RENDEZVOUS 

Celebrating 25 years of Catalina Rendezvous 

Treasure Island Tennis & Yacht Club, Tampa Bay, FL, Nov. 9-12 

Twenty-five years ago, Catalina owners held the first 

Catalina rendezvous in Southern California in 1982. A 

few years later, the rendezvous was moved to the 

Isthmus on Catalina Island off the coast of California and 

has become one of the most popular sailboat rendezvous in 

the country. The event has grown steadily every year, and 

this year 143 boats and about 400 people attended. 

Although there are several smaller rendezvous held by 

local Catalina owners around the country, the one at Mystic, 

CT—held each August—is the largest one after the Catalina 

Island one. 

Catalina Yachts management and Catalina owners 

have talked about a Southern rendezvous for years—especially 

since the main factory has now grown to be in Largo, 

FL, in the Tampa Bay area. This year that all came together, 

and the Treasure Island Tennis & Yacht Club (TITYC) 

agreed to host the event. For many years, the Tampa Bay 

yacht club has hosted the Morgan Rendezvous, except for 

the last two years when it was hosted by the Davis Island 

Yacht Club in Tampa. That was because the Treasure Island 

club has been building a new club building, which was 

recently completed. The club is ideal with a great pool 

patio, tiki bar, lots of dockage and a good basin that the club 

sits in for boats to anchor in—and close enough to easily 

dinghy to. 

The rendezvous is open for all to come to and Catalina 

owners or anyone interested who cannot bring their boats 

are invited to arrive by car. Event tickets, which include 

meals and other amenities, are open to everyone, boat owners 

or not. 

Events this year will start with a Friday afternoon 

reception and party, with food, drink and music scheduled. 

Saturday morning—after breakfast at the club—will be 

equipment and systems seminars put on by suppliers and 

manufacturers. The rest of the day will be filled with events 

including a blindfold dinghy race and a chance for boat 

owners to show off their unique systems, gear installations 

and customizations of their Catalinas. Prizes will be given 

for the boat traveling the farthest to get there, most decorated 

boat, etc. There will be a dinner and party that evening. 

Sunday will be more of a laid-back day, starting with 

another club breakfast. Attendees will be able to swim, play 

tennis at the club courts, golf locally or visit the local area. 

A sunset beach bon voyage party is scheduled for the late 

afternoon and early evening at the nearby Gulf beach. 

Monday will be the final day of departure. Raffles with 

prizes will be held all weekend. 

Registration closes on Monday, Nov. 5. For lots 

more information and to register, go to www.catalina 

yachts.com and at www.catalina.tityc.com. You can also 

register at the Strictly Sail St. Pete Boat Show at the Catalina 

docks on Nov. 1-4. 


STRICTLY SAIL ST. PETERSBURG NOVEMBER 1-4 

ST. PETERSBURG 

The Gulf Coast’s Only 

Boat Show for Cruisers 

For more information on the show and events, go to 

www.strictlysailstpete.com 

NOVEMBER 1-4 

Thurs.-Sat. – 10 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Sun. – 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 

Spa Beach Park in the Vinoy Basin at the St. Pete Pier 

Downtown St. Petersburg FL on the water 

TICKETS: (ages 15 & under are free—must be with an adult) 

1-day adult Thurs/Fri – $12 

1-day adult Sat/Sun – $14 

2-day adult – $24 

Buy your tickets online and get a one-year subscription to a magazine. 

DIRECTIONS: 

Spa Beach at the base of The St Pete Pier. The Pier is located 

at the end of Second Ave. N.E. From I-275, take Exit 23-A 

(Old 10) going east to Beach Dr. Turn south to Second Ave. 

N.E. for one block. At Bayshore Drive, directly in front of 

The Pier, turn right and follow south to discounted parking 

area, just opposite the Bayfront Center or follow the “BOAT 

SHOW PARKING” signs. Take the FREE show shuttle to 

The Pier. Limited, paid parking is also available at the base 

of The pier in two separate public parking lots. 

BOATS AND GEAR. Hundreds of exhibitors of gear and 

boats. Dozens of in-water and on-land boats to tour. 

TRAWLERS WILL AGAIN BE AT THE SHOW. Trawlers 

and power cruisers will again be present for boarding in the 

water at this year’s show. 

STRICTLY SAIL ST. PETERSBURG SEMINAR SCHEDULE 

Seminars on a variety of sailing topics are being held continuously 

during the show. For more information and updated 

schedules and titles of these seminars go to www.strictlysailstpete.com. 

Kids Aboard. Free boatbuilding workshop for children ages 

4 and older, teaches them to design and build their vessels. 

Parents can relax and visit the show while their kids are safe 

and having a good time, enjoying a fun, educational activity 

at the Kids Aboard Academic Boatbuilding Workshop. 

Visit www.kidsaboard.com for more information 

Jack Klang’s Chart Tent. Stop by the 9-by-12-foot navigation 

chart and learn new techniques about sailing, boat handling, 

safety, and cruising under sail. This chart blanket is littered 

with small boats, buoys, lighthouses and interesting nautical 

markings to help demonstrate real boating situations. 

$1000 Shopping Spree. Enter to win as you enter the show. 

West Marine will give away a $1,000 shopping spree to one 

lucky showgoer. Sign up at the main entrance for your 

chance at the prize. 

Latitudes & Attitudes Cruiser’s Bash. Saturday night 7 p.m. 

Everyone at the show Saturday evening is invited. 

MORE FREE SAILING OPPORTUNITIES: 

Watersports West will be offering the following free sailing 

opportunities at Spa Beach at the show. Lessons are 

free with paid admission to the show and available weather 

permitting. 

Introduction to Kiteboarding. Saturday and Sunday. Free 

introduction to kiteboarding classes during the show: How 

to launch, land and maneuver a kiteboard. Using trainer 

kites, participants will get an introduction kiteboarding. 

Free O’pen Bic Demos at Spa Beach on Saturday & 

Sunday. 

OTHER EVENTS 

Discover Sailing. Free Sailboat Rides. Discover Sailing, a 

national introduction-to-sailing program will be going on 

each day at the show to help non-sailors take their first sail. 

Showgoers can go on free, 30-minute sailing trips and collect 

free, learn-to-sail materials and names of 

sailing schools where they can further their education. 

Author’s Corner Tent. Come meet some of your favorite sailing 

authors and pick up all of the most current sailing books! 


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OUR WATERWAYS 

Our Waterways Section 

SOUTHWINDS has created this section to inform our 

readers about changes in our waterways. We are all in the 

midst of great change—through the conversion of many 

boating properties to condominiums, restrictions on 

anchorages, and other economic forces at work. 

Our coastal waters and our waterways belong to all 

of us, and all of us have a right to use them. These waters 

are not just for those who live on the water, and it is up 

to us boaters and lovers of these waters to protect that 

right. We hope that by helping to inform you of these 

changes, we will contribute to doing just that. 

We are looking for news and information on changes, 

land sales, anchorages, boaters’ rights, new marinas, 

anchoring rights, disappearing marinas, boatyards and 

boat ramps, environmental concerns and other related 

news. Contact Steve Morrell, editor@southwindsmagazine.com, 

or call (941) 795-8704. 

FWC Meets With Boaters 

in Boot Key Harbor 

By Cliff Stephan 

On Monday, August 27, a community meeting was held 

at Dockside Lounge to discuss Boot Key Harbor community 

ideas and issues involving relations with local law 

enforcement and to bring forth ideas to continue to 

improve relations. FWC officer David Dipre has been 

working hard to improve relations—without much success. 

This community meeting was a next step on his 

part to further that process. 

FWC Officers David Dipre and J. M. Reiff, Monroe 

County Sheriff Willie Guerra and Harbormaster Richard 

Tanner met with nearly two dozen residents of the harbor, 

some land-based residents, and a representative of the 

ACLU. While the meeting broke up without any agreements 

between the two sides, they agreed to keep communicating, 

and host another meeting in three months. 

Items discussed included: recent thefts of dinghy motors, 

anchor light regulations, safety inspections, boats on 

moorings, pumping overboard, derelict vessels, and 

speed of vessels in the harbor. 

Resident complaints were specific to the manner and 

times at which FWC visits are conducted (e.g., the FWC 

running without lights, using spotlights to blind boaters, 

and the late night hours chosen for the visits). The FWC 

officers insisted these tactics were a part of performing 

their jobs, and necessary for officer safety. Officers were at a 

loss to comment on helping with stopping dragging derelict 

boats. Richard Tanner of the city marina indicated a willingness 

to help, but only if it has a secure place to store the vessel. 

FWC and the sheriff advised of the real difficulties of 

recovering stolen property when ownership of the items 

stolen is hard to prove. Officer Dipre was willing to be in the 

harbor to stop speeding vessels if they were doing it on a 

regular basis and someone could give them a schedule of 

times when violations are occurring, but regular patrols for 

those purposes were beyond their resources. 

The primary mission of the FWC in Boot Key Harbor, as 

expressed by both officers, was to insure the safety of the 

boating public in the harbor by conducting repeated vessel 

safety checks, and warning or citing violators. Most citations 

are given to those who still refuse to show anchor 

lights after dark. The meeting came after several nights of 

FWC enforcement visits to the harbor, with mostly anchor 

light warnings and citations being issued. 

The meeting deteriorated so much over supposed illegal 

boardings, that constructive dialogue became impossi- 


The meeting between the FWC, boaters 

and others in Boot Key Harbor. Officer 

David Dipre is on the right. 

Photo by Cliff Stephan. 

ble. Many items in Officer Dipre’s e-mail to set up the meeting 

were not touched on, “...ideas that would be good to discuss 

would be regular boating safety classes, continued communication 

on the cruisers net, a community watch, direct 

points of contact to FWC officers, and assistance to prevent 

derelict vessels within the harbor.” 

Bottom line, according to Officer David Dipre, is that he 

is committed to doing his job, in hopes of making Boot Key 

Harbor a safe community for all boaters. One boater summed 

it up as he walked away from the meeting by uttering a 

familiar slogan, “The floggings will continue till the morale 

improves.” 

This writer, a liveaboard in the harbor, hopes the FWC 

could be persuaded to allow harbor residents to be a constructive 

resource in pursuing its primary mission of boating 

safety, instead of allowing a few boaters who flagrantly violate 

a local ordinance (anchor lights) to make the whole harbor 

a target for FWC enforcement. 

LETTER FROM A LIVEABOARD ON THE BOOT KEY HARBOR MEETING 

FWC Officer Dave Dipre said at the meeting that until the 

mooring field is declared an official anchorage by the 

USCG, the anchor-light requirements are that boats must 

display an all-around white light visible for 2 nm with 

exceptions for occlusions by rigging. He stated that they, 

the FWC, had some latitude in enforcement and that he, 

personally, would not enforce the 2 nm rule if the lights 

were visible for 200 yards since it is impractical to measure 

the 2 nm rule in the harbor. It has been my experience that 

they do ask permission when boarding. Dipre said that 

they would offer a green sticker to boarded boats, similar 

to a USCG AUX courtesy inspection, but that that alone 

would not guarantee a repeat boarding would not occur. 

Dipre stated that the boats that are repeatedly boarded are 

the chronic offenders (i.e., insufficient anchor lights 

and/or poor pump-out records as reported by the city). 

Dipre also stated that the FWC could only board vessels 

routinely to check permanently installed MSDs and that 

all other required equipment could be displayed without 

boarding. As close as I can tell, and from what I’ve gleaned 

from what you have published in SOUTHWINDS, they 

have been within the law. 

I personally feel that the FWC could better expend their 

resources other than focusing on us full-time cruisers. I also 

feel there is a philosophical (constitutional) divide between 

what passes as status quo on land and on the water. Here in 

Marathon, however, I truly believe the FWC is making a 

real effort to involve the full-time cruisers and inform us as 

to how to keep them from being overbearing. Dipre made 

the point that they only enforce the law and that if we felt 

the law was unjust or unreasonable, we should address the 

issues with the Legislature. 

The attention on this whole affair has been brought to 

bear by the local boating community and by your publication, 

which, I believe, is responsible for this outreach by the 

local FWC officers, and for that, I think, we should all be 

proud. 

Dipre ended by promising he would plan similar discussions 

at regular intervals and giving out contact information 

to anyone with further questions or concerns. 

Joe Corey 

S/V Calcutta 

Joe Corey and Peggy St. James live aboard their sailboat, 

Calcutta, in Boot Key Harbor. Both have written previous articles 

that have been published in SOUTHWINDS. 


OUR WATERWAYS 

WAG BAGS: 

Bucket-and-Chuck-It or Wag-and-Bag-It 

By Robbie Johnson 

S/V Tahiti Rover 

There are probably few 

topics more contentious 

among boaters than the 

issue of marine head discharges 

and the environmentally-correct 

handling 

of so-called “black water” 

waste. It is no small irony 

that over 90 percent of all 

boats in the United States 

are less than 18 feet in 

length, are powered by 

outboard motors, and are 

without a marine head, 

while it is the minority of 

boaters with larger vessels 

and installed marine heads 

that catch all the flack 

from legislators and law 

enforcement. You just 

know the huge recreational 

population using those 

smaller boats are taking 

The Wag Bag as purchased. 

the bucket-and-chuck-it 

approach, but woe betide 

the hapless sailor or liveaboard 

who would discharge 

black water waste 

through his boat’s thruhull! 

Therein lies the nexus 

of the situation: how to 

pass black water waste 

from the boat in a legal 

and environmentally correct 

way Are holding 

tanks, pump-out stations, 

and expensive on-board 

treatment systems the 

only answer 

Lin and Larry Pardey, 

circumnavigators and prolific 

authors, are one of the 

best-known and most 

respected sailing couples. 

They were asked how they 

handle the black water 

discharge situation when 

they are cruising in U.S. 

waters (see their full 

answer at www.landlpardey.com/Tips/2006/March.html). 

The answer this 

savvy, world-cruising couple gave was, like their approach 

to the sailing life, simple and direct. They have no installed 

marine head with thruhull 

fittings. When offshore, 

they use a bucket 

and chuck it. When sailing 

in environmentally sensitive 

United States waters, 

and also when in small 

anchorages or marinas in 

foreign countries where 

dumping a bucket of solid 

waste would be offensive 

to all concerned, they use 

Wag Bags. 

Wag Bags Yep, a simple, 

inexpensive, no-moving 

parts, and environmentally-friendly 

approach to 

handling black water 

waste generated on a boat. 

The Pardeys explain it 

best: “Bucket-and-chuck-it 

may be okay in open 

areas, but we find it a discomforting 

choice in pristine 

anchorages or in 

enclosed marinas anywhere 

in the world. We 

have no installed head 

due to our dislike of holding 

tanks, so we have 

made an enclosure with 

seat and lid for a bucket 

and have come up with 

solutions that we feel 

work well. Offshore, we 

use the bucket-andchuck-it 

system. Near 

shore or in enclosed 

anchorages, we use Wag 

Bags in the bucket. These 

fully biodegradable bags… 

contain a special powder 

(called Pooh-Powder) that 

turns urine into a gel and 

deodorizes the waste. The 

special enzymes in the gel 

also kill bacteria and promote 

the breakdown of 

waste and bags. After 

using the bag (one bag 

can be used five or six times), we simply seal it into the separate 

biodegradable pouch supplied with each kit. Then it 

can be deposited in the trash for disposal at landfills.” 

The Wag Bag installed in a marine toilet. Pooh-Powder is in the center 

and comes in the Wag Bag. The bag on the seat is the disposal bag that 

the used Wag Bag bag in the toilet can be sealed in. That can be 

dumped safely in the trash going to a landfill. 


Relax, fellow sailors! It is not necessary to remove your 

installed marine head to use Wag Bags. The biodegradable 

bags are designed to fit inside a standard toilet or marine 

head. To be perfectly legal and avoid any hassles with the 

water police, simply disconnect the intake and discharge 

hoses from your marine head, (close the seacocks first, of 

course) and put a Wag Bag in the head’s bowl. It is as easy 

as putting a plastic trash bag liner in a kitchen trash can. As 

the Pardeys point out, the bags may be used multiple times 

before they need to be changed. Simply reconnect your head 

to the thru-hulls when going offshore. 

The Wag Bag’s manufacturer, Phillips Environmental 

Products (www.thepett.com), gives this explanation of its 

product: The WAG system is actually “two bags; one funnel-shaped 

waste collection bag pre-loaded with Pooh 

Powder waste treatment used to contain the waste, and a 

heavy gauge zip-close bag (12” x 10”) to secure and transport 

waste. They are approved for disposal with normal 

trash as Group II non-hazardous waste. The bags will work 

in any dry marine, RV, or household toilet. The bioactive 

non-toxic gelling powder that encapsulates liquid and 

solid waste, neutralizes odors, initiates and accelerates 

decomposition.” 

I already know what you’re thinking: How often can I 

use a Wag Bag before tossing it And does that Pooh- 

Powder really control the odor As for me, I probably 

average using one Wag Bag every 5-7 days depending, but 

I would guess the average live-aboard boating couple 

would use two bags a week if they are eating at least two 

meals aboard and each voiding at least once a day while 

aboard. I stress the word “guess” because the volume of 

waste generated varies so much with different individuals. 

The Pardeys say they use a Wag Bag 5 or 6 times 

before tossing it. Me, I get up early in the morning and 

spend the greater part of my waking hours ashore, so I use 

shoreside toilets more often than my boat’s head. My 

head’s Wag Bag gets more frequent use on the weekend 

than during the week. 

I have not found odor to be an issue. Wag Bags are preloaded 

with the patented Pooh-Powder and will convert 

approximately 31-32 ounces of urine into a non-spillable gel, 

while also initiating the decomposition process of the solid 

waste. Pooh-Powder is an odor neutralizer, not a perfume. 

When I first began using Wag Bags, I bought an extra container 

of Pooh-Powder just in case, but I don’t recall ever 

having to use it. If you think you may have an overly sensitive 

nose, you can conduct your own odor field test by just 

buying a container of the Pooh-Powder and using a plastic 

kitchen trash bag in the bowl of your marine head. 

However, when it comes to disposal the Wag Bag is 

superior to the trash bag approach because when filled to 

capacity, the Wag Bag’s top is easily sealed, then placed in 

a 12” x 10” heavy gauge, zip-close, puncture-resistant 

transport bag that virtually eliminates the kind of accident 

no one wants to deal with. The transport bag is also 

biodegradable and approved for disposal in a trash can or 

Dumpster. Each Wag Bag kit comes with a funnel-shaped 

toilet bowl liner bag that is pre-loaded with Pooh-Powder, 

plus a heavy-gauge transport bag, toilet paper and sanitary 

wipes. 

So what is the cost of this simple, viable alternative to 

holding tanks, pump-out stations, expensive on-board 

treatment systems and midnight anchorage raids by the 

water police The manufacturer will sell you a 12-bag 

package for $38.95 plus shipping, but you can buy the 

same package from Amazon.com for $23.00. If you remain 

skeptical, or the price is still too steep for you, you can buy 

a single Wag Bag and try it out for only $2.75 at 

(http://www.rei.com/product/692303). Now how easy 

and inexpensive is that to settle all the inconvenience, hassle 

and paranoia besetting Florida sailors and liveaboards 

in dealing with black water waste disposal 


Three years after Hurricane Charley, Punta Gorda celebrates 

its comeback. Fisherman’s Village on the left and the new 

marina on the right. Photo by Steve Morrell 

A Record Year: 

Two Category 5 Hurricanes Make Landfall 

For the first time in history (which means “since 

mankind has been keeping records”), two Category 5 

hurricanes made landfall in the same season. Another 

record set this year was that this was the first time that the 

first two hurricanes of a storm season reached Category 5 

strength since records have been kept on tropical storms 

starting in 1861. 

Hurricane Dean made landfall on the Yucatán 

Peninsula in Mexico on August 21 as a Category 5 storm. 

Fourteen days later, Hurricane Felix, also a Category 5, 

made landfall in Nicaragua on September 4. It must be a 

year for records, as one more record was made on that day 

when Hurricane Henriette made landfall in Baja California, 

as that was the first time in recorded storm history that an 

Atlantic hurricane and a Pacific hurricane made landfall on 

the same day. 

Since hurricane records began in 1861, only 12 Category 

5 storms have made landfall in the Atlantic basin (including 

Felix and Dean). Of those 12, three made landfall in the 

United States; the Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida 

Keys in 1935, Hurricane Camille in Mississippi in 1969 and 

Hurricane Andrew in Miami-Dade County in 1992. 

Hurricane Felix again showed how quickly a storm can 

develop in the Atlantic basin. The storm went from a weak 

tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in 42 hours—again 

setting another record—a record previously held by 

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Hurricane Wilma in 2005, which had similar development 

in a 48-hour period. 

As of September 11—the height of the Atlantic hurricane 

season—no Atlantic hurricanes had made landfall in 

the United States in the 2007 season (and Southwinds is hoping 

that none will have done so by the time this issue is 

read). By September 11, hurricane prognosticators had readjusted—downwards—their 

storm predictions for 2007. 

Charlotte Harbor Area Celebrates 

Third Anniversary of Hurricane 

Charley, Aug. 13 

It was on Friday the 13th, 2004, that Hurricane Charley 

came ashore in southwest Florida on Upper Captiva and 

then moved on to where it did its greatest damage; Port 


Hurricane Season 2007 

BOOK REVIEW: 

The Cruiser’s Guide to 

Hurricane Survival 

Written by Bradley Glidden. 

90 pages. Cruising Guide Publications. 

www.cruisingguides.com. 

(800) 330-9542. 

Reviewed by Steve Morrell 

At long last, someone has come up with 

a book on hurricane survival for boats. 

In the last three years, Southwinds has 

published many articles and letters on 

hurricane survival for boaters at dock, 

at anchor and at sea, but the magazine 

has mainly concentrated on preparing 

boats at docks, since this is the most 

common situation faced by boat owners 

in the Southern United States. This guide, although 

titled as a guide for cruisers, has a wealth of information 

for all situations that boat owners might face for an 

impending storm. 

The book is written by Bradley Glidden, a sailor 

who has lived in the Caribbean around and on boats 

since 1975. He currently lives on a 60-year-old Rhodes 

sloop in St. Thomas, and has experienced—and survived—many 

hurricanes. 

The book discusses the many different options and 

situations which a boat owner might face during a 

threatening hurricane. The beginning of the book discusses 

general preparations of your boat that should be 

done long before you might possibly experience a hurricane. 

This includes such things as making sure that your 

cleats are secured properly to your deck. Following this, 

there is a general discussion about hurricanes and forecasting 

their movements. Then the 

book gets into the meat of the matter: 

your options facing a storm. 

This book is for cruisers, and the first 

option that Glidden discusses is moving 

your boat out of the way—like sailing or 

motoring it somewhere else. All the pros 

and cons of this option are discussed 

including getting trapped at sea on your 

way to some safe haven. Then the book 

goes on to describe the perfect hurricane 

hole and gives examples and charts of 

what this might be. Lots of valuable 

information in this chapter. 

The book also has a short discussion 

of the advantages of having your boat 

weather a storm on land—hauled out, 

that is. The author’s strongest suggestion 

in such a case is to remove the mast. 

Lacking is any mention of strapping 

your boat to the ground—a practice 

more recently becoming popular. 

Another chapter is about surviving a storm at dock 

and/or in a hurricane hole. This chapter has a lot of 

invaluable information with some excellent diagrams on 

running lines from the boat to docks and anchors. 

Another chapter discusses anchoring your boat, with 

a lot of valuable information on the strength of anchoring 

systems and the strength of various anchors during storm 

conditions. 

The final chapters of the book talk about what to do 

when the storm hits, after the storm hits, first aid information 

and suggestions for creating a “bail-out bag.” 

This is one of the first books, if not the only book, that 

I have seen that gives us a good, broad discussion of surviving 

a storm with a boat. Although titled and aimed at 

cruisers, this boat could be useful for any boat owner who 

lives in a hurricane-prone area. 

Charlotte and Punta Gorda. This year, the communities in 

that area celebrated their renaissance with an evening of 

partying and music at Laishley Park Municipal Marina in 

Punta Gorda. 

For boaters, the area has come back to be one of the—if 

not the most—boater-friendly community in west Florida 

with a new marina and planned mooring field at 

Fisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda. The community’s 

rebirth has proven that an area devastated by a storm can 

come back better than ever and be one of the best destinations 

in the South for boaters. 

The Big Bamboo Band played the song “The Eye of the 

Storm” at the celebration to prove their point. 

Send Us Your Hurricane Stories 

We are always looking for stories on your experiences, 

to learn those techniques that succeeded and 

those that didn’t, as we can learn from both. 

Ideas, tips and Web site links wanted, too. 

editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 



Scurvy Dog 

Boat Works Isn’t 

Your Typical 

Marine Store 


Anyone who loves “messing about in boats” has spent 

his fair share of time in typical marine stores. Stories 

of uniformed, if sometimes uninformed, employees 

and Day-Glo orange sale price stickers that still give the 

potential buyer sticker shock are not uncommon. 

However, any true boating enthusiast will attest that an 

afternoon spent in a well-stocked marine consignment store 

is almost as good as a day spent on the water. 

Chris Forrer, owner of Scurvy Dog Boat Works and 

Marine Gear in Pensacola, FL, should know. When asked 

what he liked best about being in this type of business, 

Chris laughed, “Well, I get first choice of everything that 

comes into the store.” 

The business is conveniently located at 103 Myrick 

Street, just one third of a mile from Pensacola Shipyard 

Marine Complex and about half a mile from Patti’s Boat 

Storage. 

Like many folks, Chris discovered the Greater 

Pensacola area amenities, especially its maritime connection, 

while here on business. The year was 1979. Chris, an 

industrial construction supervisor, was working on the St. 

Regis Paper Company project (now known as 

International Paper). 

But long before he became a mechanical engineer, 

Chris, 59, developed a love of the water. Born in Richmond, 

VA, Chris grew up in Urbanna, VA. 

With a population of 550, Urbanna describes itself as a 

small town, on a river, on the way to the bay—Chesapeake 

Bay. By age eight, Chris had his first boat. 

“I’ve traveled to many places in my professional career, 

Owner Chris Forrer and his official greeter, Scurvy Dog, welcome all 

customers to the marine store. 

and owned several boats during my lifetime,” he began. “I 

lived where it snows, and I prefer the sunshine, so when I 

decided to retire in 2000, I returned to Pensacola and bought 

property here.” 

His venture into the boat gear business was somewhat 

of a fluke—as was his acquisition of the affable “All- 

American” pound puppy he named his business after. 

“Six years ago, I decided I wanted a dog, so I visited the 

local animal shelter but didn’t see any that appealed to me,” 

Chris said. “I returned the next day and looked again and 

discovered this pathetic, dirty little ragamuffin that had 

inexplicitly missed his euthanization date.” 

Chris knew immediately that the two-year-old, named 

“Scurvy Dog,” was the one for him. After a few thousand 

dollars’ worth of treatment for various medical conditions, 

the two settled into their relaxed lifestyle. 


It was while Chris was sailing on Biscayne Bay, heading 

back to Pensacola, that he received the phone call that 

would change everything. 

“I hadn’t given much thought to what I was going to do 

when I returned from cruising,” he continued. “Then, I 

received a phone call from a marine consignment dealer in 

Pensacola. He told me I had to come pick up my stuff 

because he was going to close his business. At the same 

time, I had a piece of property with a building on it, that I 

had thought about making into a dry storage lot.” 

By the time he returned to Pensacola, Chris began 

thinking about clearing all the boat gear out of his garage, 

putting up shelves in the vacant building on the property, 

and hanging a shingle outside the door—sort of like, “build 

the shelves and the boat parts will come.” And they did. 

Scurvy Dog Boat Works has almost 500 consignors, 

some with over 700 items! 

The building itself has been reincarnated several times, 

from residence to floral shop, diesel workshop—and even a 

Porsche repair shop. A 51-foot trailer outside is filled with 

bulky gear such as sails, and there are a few boats on the 

property as well. 

Inside, tables, pegboards, and shelves hold thousands 

of items. Looking for something in teak It’s away from the 

sunlight coming through the windows. Charts are neatly 

rolled in a huge bucket. Nautical books from historical to 

humorous share space with how-to manuals. 

Safety gear, including fire extinguishers, life vests, harnesses, 

and Epirbs are available, along with just about every 

conceivable piece of hardware used on a boat. 

Instead of gutting the inside walls, Chris left a couple of 

small rooms intact, providing customers with the “wow, there’s 

more to look at” factor. Propellers, ports, compasses, canvas, 

lines, anchors, and even some nautical décor can be found. 

And while most customers at a marine consignment 


The store is packed with “pre-owned” boating gear 

A selection of “pre-owned” winches at the Scurvy Dog 

marine store. 

store know what they are looking for, some don’t, and Chris 

is always glad to help if they need it. “I can usually tell very 

quickly if the customer knows what he needs,” he smiled. 

At the same time, Chris is quick to point out that he 

learns something new every day. “The people I’ve met and 

the stories I’ve heard are amazing,” he continued. 

In fact, that is how he met one of his regular customers, 

friend Dan Dawes. Dawes had sailed a boat over from Texas 

two weeks before Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc on the 

area. Dan’s floating home was beached and damaged. 

The day after a story appeared in the local newspaper 

about Dawes and his boat troubles, Chris saw a 

flatbed truck drive by hauling the boat. Shortly afterwards, 

a man walked into Scurvy Dog. Chris immediately 

recognized Dan from the newspaper photograph. Dan 

needed to purchase an anchor, but Chris picked one out 

and gave it to him. 

It was the right thing to do. With that attitude, an outgoing 

personality, an adorable four-legged official greeter, 

and a virtual unlimited supply of revolving stock, Chris 

Forrer’s Scurvy Dog Boat Works is anything but a typical 

marine store. He is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 

a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Contact him at (850) 434-1770 or by e- 

mail: scurvydog@worldnet.att.net 


Garmin 478: 

Bells & Whistles In One Package 


Technologically speaking, I am in 

waters a little over my head right now. 

But I’m dog-paddling along and having 

fun. I am messing about—people who 

have boats have a license to mess about as 

much as they want; it came from Kenneth 

Grahame—with a Garmin 478 GPS/Chart 

Plotter, trying to scale the learning curve, 

which, at times, resembles Mallory’s steps 

near the top of Everest. 

This Garmin 478, friends, is a wonderful 

instrument that has so many cool attributes 

that it will always be a bit of a mystery, 

no matter how long one is around it. To that 

effect, it’s definitely female in nature. Men 

have been trying to figure out the dynamics 

of the differences between the sexes for centuries. 

However, the only men who are 

relaxed with it are the ones who figured out 

that conundrum isn’t going to be deciphered 

in their lifetimes. 

I have relaxed, then, with the clear understanding that 

the Garmin 478 may never succumb entirely to reason and 

will always be a little mysterious. Thus far, I have peeled 

back the lid on creating waypoints, creating routes, getting 

it to work on my boat, getting it to work in my car, pulling 

latitude and longitude from the charts on my computer and 

entering them into the Garmin 478, and getting it to show 

the track we left behind when a friend and I were out in 

Tampa Bay sailing in heavy rain, no visibility to speak of and 

a great deal more wind than we needed. 

I’ll digress here just for a second to mention that the 

speedo registered 6.9 knots when the port rail was under 


water, and we were sailing under working jib alone. We did 

not have the temerity to even think about raising the main; 

it was one of those nights. 

Okay, so the Garmin 478 will help you in the car, too, 

because it, literally, tells you when to turn. I don’t know 

how they get tiny little people inside the unit, but the one 

who talks to me is very smart and attentive, doesn’t miss 

anything. I love the vocal reminders. I have chosen the 

option of having the reminders in a Merrie Olde Englandstyle 

accent. That should tell you something about what’s 

available. “Redneck Southern” isn’t listed; you’ll have to 

stop at a gas station for that. 

This Garmin has another feature that’s simply out of 

this world, literally. Through the XM Radio people, it gets 

weather information from a satellite and displays it on the 

screen. Through something called Nexrad Radar you can 

see storm cells, lightning strikes, wave patterns, wave 

heights and wind direction. I may have missed something 

there, because the amenities are so plentiful, but it’s an 

amazing service. The 478 requires an extra antenna to 

download the XM Radio weather information, and that’s an 

extra-cost option. Additionally, the XM Radio weather service 

requires a one-time $50 activation fee and a $30 monthly 

subscription fee. The monthly subscription can be turned 

on and off like a light bulb by contacting XM Radio, so you 

only need to be receiving it when it will help you. Most likely 

the best time to use the weather service is when you’re 

cruising and don’t have access to normal media outlets. 

Having your own weather information and being able 

to get weather radar aboard your boat has to be a big plus 

for smaller motor craft like the ones that fishermen take out 

into the Gulf of Mexico. A sailboat may not be a comfortable 

place to weather out squall lines, but if the size of the vessel 

is big enough, it’s not much bother. On the other hand, a 

fishing runabout can be downright dangerous in a squall, so 

having immediate weather information can give fishermen 

a chance to run for cover, early. Were I a fisherman and ventured 

offshore to follow my passion, I’d have the XM Radio 

weather feature enabled 24/7, because it could save my life 

and my boat. The 478 is waterproof, incidentally, so it can 

stand up to bad weather in a small boat. 

The 478 I am examining has an internal battery, lithiumion, 

and will also run on 12-volt current from a boat or car. 

Charged up, the battery will give you about eight hours of 

running time, but probably less if you’re using a lot of the 

ancillary features of the GPS. 

If you buy one of these devices, they are between 

$1,000 and $1,100 at marine stores. I’d shop around though 

and find the best price. On E-bay, they have sold recently 

for $625. Now the going price is at least $100 more. 

Remember, the XM Radio weather antenna is an addedcost 

option, but it’s something that may save you a world 

of hurt. I wouldn’t get a Garmin 478 without one. 

Compared to the low-tech Garmin 152 I already have 

on my boat, the Garmin 478 is in another world entirely. It 

gives you chart-plotting capabilities at the helm or at the 

wheel of your car, and the screen is in color. Your ability to 

make use of a superb unit such as this will correlate to how 

quickly and efficiently you can learn the features that it 

offers. 

Though the Garmin 478 comes with a comprehensive 

owner’s manual (143 pages), the best way to get familiar 

with what you’re doing is with hands-on experience. In that 

respect, it’s like high school dating. 

Remember how much fun that was 


The GYC Clubhouse. Photo by Bob Feckner. 

Gulfport 

Yacht Club 

Gulfport, FL 

By Dave Ellis 

Carl and Cleo Kleisch were tired of driving their daughter 

across St. Petersburg to Big Bayou to sail her Moth. 

Their two sons sailed along with a dozen other homemade 

boats on Lower Boca Ciega Bay near Gulfport. But there 

was no organized activity. So they all got together in their living 

room and started Gulfport Yacht Club in August 1938. 

For several years, various homes were used. Sometimes 

Bert Mann’s boat repair shop was put into service, among 

the wood shavings, mullet net drying racks and lye vat. 

Shovels were used to widen the small natural channel from 

the bay into a spur of Clam Bayou. It later became the 

entrance to the Gulfport Marina. 

During WW II, most of the members were posted overseas. 

In 1946, a surplus army building was bought and 

assembled on pilings over the channel. Members fashioned 

curtains, painted sailing murals above the windows and a 

big cistern was installed for the lone head. 

The first official lease from the city of Gulfport was in 

1952. Soon it was decided to move the building across the 

sand road to better use the waterfront. A wood-piling hoist 

was purchased from Sunshine City Boat Club in St. Pete, 

and wet slips were made by hand-digging and then jetting 

pilings into the muck with a garden hose. 

At that time, there were two mangrove islands in the 

Gulfport basin with alligators roaming. The sand road 

would have a foot of water over it at spring tides. The city 

made the area a brush site, and the practice of the day was 

to burn it. There are a few old-timers today with lung issues 


Hand-digging the slips at GYC about 1947. Rita Ellis (mother of 

Dave Ellis). Note the commercial fishing boats that were the sole 

clients of the Gulfport Basin then. There was no marina. Photo 

from Dave Ellis. 

Launching a homemade Pram of the day in 1952. From left to 

right: John Sandy, John Light, Dave Ellis, Bruce Ellis (father of Dave 

Ellis). This was the old club showing the mangrove island in the 

middle of the Gulfport Marina-to-be. Note the homemade dolly. 

from breathing that smoke. 

The club has always been oriented toward racing. The 

Memorial Day regatta was the big event starting in the early 

1950s. Nobody thought about charging an entry fee then. 

The club saved up all year to put on the event. The 1957 

regatta cost $77.62 for food, trophies, gas for the RC boat 

and incidentals. 

The 1959 regatta had 109 entries. Boats included 

Windmill, Snipe, Y-Flyer, Suicide, Flying Dutchman, 

Moth, Pram. Boats with sail area under 150 square feet 

and those over 150 square feet classes to lump everyone 

else. My second-place trophy on the wall is a plywood 

plaque with a ply boat, aluminum sails and hand-painted 

letters and burgee. 

The Flying Dutchman class practiced on the bay 

preparing for the 1960 Olympic Trails. John Jennings, Gene 

Hinkel, Dutch and Jim Pardee, Barbara Tolson and Frank 

Levinson were there. Bruce Ellis’ Suicide boat was added to 

the mix to increase competition. 

By the 1960s, there were several skilled racers sailing at 

GYC. The Windmill was a big class with Walter Most, 

Dennis and Betty Lu Snell and Dave Posey winning regattas. 

Three Y-Flyers were built out of plywood by Doc 

MacLellan, Al Snell and Howard Snyder. They were heavier 

than the new glass boats, so they extended the mast and 

boom and put huge sails on the boat. 

For local handicapping, an arbitrary number was given. 

If a boat won a race, it was docked a handicap number. If it 

came in last, it was bumped. One sailor managed to come in 

last in a number of small events and then won the big local 

event with ease. 

By the 1960s Gulfport Yacht Club members were winning 

a disproportionate number of trophies at regattas 

throughout the Tampa Bay area. 

There was a junior club but only one decent Pram and no 

coaching. It usually ended up fourth or fifth in events dominated 

in those years by St. Petersburg Yacht Club juniors. 

Once a junior was sailing his pram into the Gulfport 

Basin when he noticed a puff of black smoke coming from 

the south side of the big metal Osgood Marine Ways building 

at the end of the point. Quickly pulling the boat up the 

beach and running to the GYC building, he grabbed the 

phone only to have someone on the party line. No amount 

of persuasion would make the adults on the line believe the 

fire story. So he jumped on his bike and rode the seven 

blocks to Orion Osgood’s house. Osgood jumped in his car 

to investigate. But by then the landmark and boats within 

were fully engulfed, done in by oily rags on the sunny side 

of the building. 

In 1960, it was time to move away from the city dump. 

A spot on a silted lagoon on the other side of the channel 

was leased from the city for a dollar a year. Much work was 

done on the lagoon and shoreline. A block building was 

built by members and a bunch of old Navy Sea Bees. A 

dozen wet slips were dug for small keelboats. 

Like most local clubs, there was a slowing of sailing 

during the 1970s. But during the following decade more 

activity ensued, including the Windmill Midwinters. 

A few active members sailed catamarans, including 

early A-Cats. The club embraced multihull sailing while 

many clubs shunned the type. Today GYC is one of the most 

active catamaran sailing clubs in the country. Fleets of modern 

A-Cats, Formula 16s, Hobies, NACRAs and others can 

be seen practicing on the bay and competing twice a month 

on Saturday afternoons. 

The Area D South Alter Cup will be staged there again 

this year, and in April, the US SAILING Alter Cup finals 

will be out of GYC. The city of Gulfport, once a tough fishermen’s 

town, has become quite artsy and welcomes the 

visiting sailors. A large portion of the fine public beach has 

been used for major catamaran events. 

This is truly a sailor’s club. No bar, no pool, no hoist 

any longer, a portable barbecue, a refrigerator and his and 

hers heads is it. But you will find more catamaran sailing 

than anywhere else on one of the most idyllic sailing bays in 

the country. 

For more information go to the club Web site at 

www.Gulfportyachtclub.com. 


Glenn Henderson 

Innovative Designer 

from Racers to Cruisers 

By Dave Ellis 

Glenn Henderson. 

Courtesy photo from Glenn Henderson. 

As soon as Glenn Henderson, who is today 54 years 

old, learned about sailing in the Boy Scouts at a 

young age, he knew that boats would be a part of his 

life. He enjoyed sailing the usual kids’ boats of the day, such 

as Prams and Sunfish, in Plant City, FL. But he figured he 

could design a better boat. His first homemade craft was 

fashioned from roofing tin. It floated. 

Henderson’s education is in biology, but a few years 

sailing the Caribbean on a Pearson Ariel was much more 

fun. While cruising, he took the Weslayan School of Yacht 

Design correspondence course. 

A seminar on glass repair and using computers in yacht 

design caught his eye. Established St. Petersburg designers 

Charley Morgan and Ted Irwin attended. For Henderson, it 

was an epiphany. 

He hocked what he had, bought the expensive design 

The SR Max, 21-feet, designed by Glenn Henderson. Photo by Dave Ellis. 

program and launched 

his career. 

His first offering 

was a 21-foot plywood creation called “Master Blaster.” It 

had racing success on Tampa Bay in the early ’80s. While 

sailing, he noticed that his stern wave seemed to form farther 

aft than other boats going the same speed. When he 

examined the construction frames of the boat, it was discovered 

that the frame forward of the transom of the boat was 

misplaced, making the aft section curve slightly back 

toward the water. He didn’t know at the time that C. 

Raymond Hunt had designed the first Boston Whaler 

powerboats the same way. It worked. 

The next project was a radical fiberglass 17-footer 

dubbed Sting Ray. The boat encompassed all of 

Henderson’s wild ideas of the time. It had curved wings 

projecting out along the sides, giving it a 

distinctive appearance. All lines led 

below decks through tubes. 

It was fast when it wasn’t slow. 

Champion St. Petersburg sailor Ethan 

Bixby opined that it was tough to sail to its 

potential. The Sting Ray’s debut was at the 

1985 Yachting Magazine One-Of-A-Kind 

regatta at Long Beach, CA. He sailed in 

the small boat division along with the 

Windmill, Snipe, Lightning and others 

and was delighted to win the first race. 

Unfortunately, it was largely because others 

had missed a change of course and 

cruised beyond the finish line before 

noticing their mistake. 

The SR Max, at 21-feet, is a direct 

descendant of the Sting Ray, but a bit more 

conventional. This speedster is still a popular 

boat that has had much racing success. 

It was time to grow. The SR 27 

opened some eyes in the late ’80s. This was 

one of the first “sport boats” that are prevalent 

today. The boat would plane like a 

powerboat in enough wind, yet had a keel. 

There was no money to produce a 

new design. So in August of 1990, 

Henderson brought a set of plans for a 33- 

footer to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club bar 

and prominently displayed them. Jay 


Kuebel and Mike Siedlecki were hooked. But 

they wanted to sail the boat at Key West Race 

Week on January 15. All there was at that 

point lay on the bar table—with four months 

to launch day. 

Seven weeks of long days of work 

ensued. The SR-33 was launched just in 

time for delivery to Key West. The sails 

were the first in the area to be of molded 

technology. Hot Flash won its class at Key 

West Race Week and a career was launched. 

Henderson moved hull-building operations 

to Trinidad for less expensive skilled labor. But he 

was, literally, hands-on in the fiberglass and resin. Over 

time, the chemicals can take a physical toll. It was time to 

move on. 

C & C Yachts in Canada bought the rights to the boats 

in 1993, leaving Henderson to explore other designs. 

The Henderson 30 has a near cult following and many 

successes. It was faster than many boats its size that cost 

much more. The rudder was innovative. Henderson 

designed it so that the rudder blade slides down a slot in a 

revolving bearing through the hull. Known as the VARA system, 

it is now used on other race boats such as the Melges 32. 

The outboard motor was installed in a retractable well 

that kept the weight out of the back of the boat and would 

The Hunter 41 DS. Hull design by Glenn Henderson. Photo courtesy Hunter Marine. 

close off when not being used. 

Hunter Marine, based in Alachua, FL, is one of the 

largest boatbuilders in the world. It was interested in 

upgrading its extensive line of boats. Henderson joined the 

firm in 1999 and is now its chief naval architect and director 

of engineering. 

It shows. The newer Hunters cut through the water 

more like a racing hull, not the cruiser that it is. Boats from 

21 to 49 feet have been re-designed under his computerassisted 

eye. 

What’s next Henderson wouldn’t let on what he is 

working on for Hunter. He did say that he has long been tinkering 

with a 40-foot performance-cruising catamaran. 

It’s a good bet that it will be innovative, and very, very fast. 


ASA Sailing 

Week in 

Antigua— 

or was it 

Sailing Camp 

for Grown-Ups 

By Jean K Levine 

The third week in June, the ASA-hosted sailing week in 

Antigua, open to all. Just like summer camp, we were 

greeted at the airport by the staff of Club Colonna, an 

all-inclusive sailing resort. The club offers a combination of 

hotel and villas surrounded by tropical gardens, a sparkling 

pool, the beach and unlimited water sports. The dining 

room and bar are open to the trade wind breezes with views 

of the clear, aqua-blue water of the Caribbean. A fleet of 75 

small sailboats—Lasers, Topaz, Hobie Cats, Sport 16s— 

await you on the beach, rigged and ready to go. Sign up to 

sail a Beneteau 30 or one of three Beneteau 473s at anchor. 

All you need to do is decide. Other activities include tennis, 

mountain biking, snorkeling, scuba or relaxing at the spa. 

So who signs up for sailing week in Antigua Some people 

came to learn to sail small boats, some keel boats. Others 

have boats and want to gain more experience on bigger 

boats or just sail in the Caribbean. My husband and I own a 

51-foot ketch and volunteered to captain the Beneteau 473s. 

We both hold a 100gt USCG Master license and have sailed 

extensively in Florida and the Caribbean. Both ASA-certified 

instructors, we rarely get to teach on the same boat and 

came to share our experience as a cruising couple. 

Friday night began with a welcome party in one of the 

villas, then blended into the dinner buffet. A spectacular 

spread of salads, fresh fruit, chicken, pork, and fish, a beautiful 

bounty complete with desserts and cappuccino. Signup 

sheets were placed out, and participants were guaranteed 

at least two full days sailing on the big boats and 

unlimited sailing on the small boats. The big boat sailing 

was divided into half days, from 9 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. until 

5 p.m. or the full day sail from 9 to 5. The overnight sails 

departed at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and returned the following 

afternoon by 2 p.m. 

On Saturday mornings, the manager of Club Colonna 

gives the weekly briefing of activities. On board one of the 

Beneteau 473s we took our first group of guests for a full 

day sail down the west coast of the island to Deep Bay, 

which features a wreck that breaks the surface in the middle 

of the bay and is a great snorkel spot. 

Some chose—instead of snorkeling—to hike to Fort 

Barrington, which overlooks the bay from a 200-foot perch. 

After a glorious reach up the coast, we arrived just in time for 

the beach party, complete with a fire-eating limbo dancer. 

Sunday was spent sailing Lasers. In the late afternoon, 

we took a half-hour taxi ride to Shirley Heights, the Antigua 

version of Mallory Square in Key West. The remains of a lookout 

post for the British, it overlooks Nelson’s Dock-yard and 

Falmouth Harbor. Locals sell trinkets to the tourists, while the 


steel drum band gets the 

crowd dancing. Barbecue 

was served on picnic tables, 

and rum punch flows freely, 

while you watch the sunset 

from one of the highest 

points on the island. 

On Monday morning, 

we slept off the rum punch, 

and took the next group out 

for an overnighter. Two of 

the three Beneteau 473s set 

sail for Jolly Harbor, leaving 

the third for the afternoon 

day sail. Again, trade 

winds provided a beautiful 

reach down the coast, this 

time to Jolly Harbor Marina 

Resort, complete with 

restaurants, shops, tiki bar, 

casino and more. 

It was the cruising 

version of a sailboat race 

departing together and 

heading for the same destination. 

We were first to tie up to the dock and enjoy 

cocktails before the other boat arrived. Our crew dined 

at one of the restaurants while the other boat barbecued 

on the stern grill with provisions provided by 

Club Colonna. 

Tuesday morning we cooked a hearty breakfast aboard. 

The wind was just right to sail off the dock, broad reach 

down the channel and then harden up for a close reach to 

Deep Bay for a snorkel stop, arriving back at the resort in 

time for lunch. That night the summer solstice party began 

with the islands’ best band, Dread and the Bald Head, and 

ended with a wedding on the beach. Boy sailor meets girl 

sailor: add rum, music, the tropical island breezes and plenty 

of witnesses. 

On Wednesday, day six, a little lighter on crew—given 

the big event the night before—but now three boats head 

out together—and you guessed it—the first annual Hodges 

Bay-to-Great Sister-and-Back-Regatta. It began at the 

dinghy dock loading the crew and ended when the boats 

were back at anchor. 

On Thursday, day seven, was the All-Class Regatta: 

Lasers, Topaz, Hobies. It should have been nicknamed: 

“How about who does the most laps in the allotted time” 

This was followed by prize night and—sadly—the 

farewell party. 

After a great week, sailors of all levels from all over the 

country departed quite proud of the bruises they got while 

having the most fun a grown-up could have at summer sailing 

camp. Besides the great friendships made with the other 

sailors, the staff at Club Colonna was outstanding with 

always a friendly greeting. The on-the-water-staff was 

standing by at all times with chase boats ready to assist. The 

food was excellent—a true all-inclusive vacation—and we 

cannot wait to do it again next year. Keep an eye on the ASA 

Web site, www.american-sailing.com for more information 

on next year. 

Jean and Jeff Levine own Polyphonic, a Skye 51, and sail it in the 

Tampa Bay area. 


Photo by Colin Ward. 

A Summary of the 

New Bahamian 

Fishing Rules 

By David Ralph 

On January 1, the Bahamian government changed the 

fishing regulations applying to foreigners. Basically, 

the bag limits, which applied to individuals, now 

apply to a foreign boat. Essentially, each boat and the occupants 

are now allowed much less fish. 

The Bahamas government has the responsibility to protect 

and manage the fishing resources for the benefit of the 

Bahamian people. The intention is to allow visitors to catch 

fish for their immediate enjoyment but not to compete with 

commercial Bahamian fishermen. The following guidelines 

apply mainly to visitors. 

Fishing from a boat owned by a non-Bahamian requires 

a fishing permit for the boat. The boat is licensed, which 

covers the occupants. This permit is usually acquired by 

cruising boats when clearing customs on entering the 

Bahamas. The permit fee is $20 for one visit, usually considered 

three months, or $150 annually. 

Foreigners residing in the Bahamas and owning boats 

based there should purchase the fishing permit annually. 

The permit is valid for all people on board. Having 

Bahamian registration does not change the foreign ownership 

aspect, which is the critical element requiring the fishing 

license. 

Locally, permits may be purchased in Coopers Town 

and Marsh Harbour from the Fisheries officers. Boats entering 

at a port of entry will receive a fishing license as part of the 

“Entry Package” given by customs. Non-Bahamians arriving 

by aircraft would have to obtain a fishing license from 

Fisheries officers during their workdays, Monday through 

Friday. Boats owned by Bahamians do not need a permit for 

recreational fishing. This includes 100 percent Bahamianowned 

rental boats. Foreigners can fish from a Bahamianowned 

rental boat without obtaining a fishing permit. 

Non-Bahamian fishermen in a boat are “restricted to 

hook and line” with a maximum limit of six lines in the 

water. Electric reels are allowed but must not have more 

than five hooks per line. Six or more hooks on a line is considered 

long-lining, which is illegal. 

Permits are required by non-Bahamians wanting to use 

more lines, to fish with spears or nets, to use fish traps or for 

any other type of fishing method. Although not emphasized 

in the past, a permit is required before a foreigner can use a 

spear for scalefish or crawfish. The fishing license referred 

to earlier does not give this permission as normally issued. 

However, the officer issuing the license can endorse it to 

include spearfishing. The endorsement constitutes the 

required permit. 

Bahamians are also required to get permission to engage 

in spearfishing. Marine Resources officers are enforcing the 

fishing rules more closely, and foreigners are advised to check 

with an officer if unclear on the regulations. 

Foreigners are advised to stay clear of the crawfish 

“condos,” which are constructed and placed by Bahamian 


fishermen for their own use. Bahamian 

fishermen are very possessive of these 

artificial habitats and do not treat foreigners 

kindly when they are found 

raiding these artificial habitats. To avoid 

confrontation, foreigners looking for 

crawfish are advised to confine their 

search to reefs and other natural habitats 

frequented by crawfish. 

There are restricted areas where 

fishing is not allowed by any means by 

any person. This would apply to the 

Pelican Cay Park in central Abaco. No 

marine resource may be taken from the 

park, and enforcement is by the 

Bahamas National Trust. Marine resources 

include everything in the water: 

fish, shells, rocks and seaweed. 

Since the marine parks do not have 

signs and fence posts, it is wise to give 

them extra clearance so there is no question 

as to your location. Enforcement 

officers strongly suggest that you do not combine a fishing 

trip with a visit to a park. If authorities board your boat in 

a park and find fish on board, problems will ensue since 

you cannot prove where they were caught. 

Also, if you are out deep-sea fishing and a Fisheries 

officer finds dive equipment on board as well as fish, problems 

may arise. 

Spearfishing Limited to Certain Areas 

Spearfishing is not allowed by anyone in the coastal zone of 

Abaco, or any Bahamian island, defined as within 200 yards 

from the coast as measured at the low-water mark. This prohibited 

zone is the same for all Family Islands except 

Freeport, which has a one-mile exclusion zone. All divers 

with a permit may spear fish while free diving but are not 

New rules say a foreign-owned boat cannot 

have conch aboard at any time, 

although foreigners on a Bahamianowned 

boat, even a rental boat, can. 

Foreigners can wade out and get conch 

though. Photo by Colin Ward. 

allowed to use power guns or rigger-operated 

guns of any kind. The most common 

spear used is the Hawaiian sling. 

Recreational divers may not spear 

fish, or catch conch or crawfish while using 

an underwater air supply of any kind. 

A compressed-air license is required 

for all commercial Bahamian fishermen 

using compressors in diving for crawfish. 

Scuba equipment is not allowed. 

Licensed Bahamian fishermen may 

fish by free diving to any depth. When 

licensed and using compressed air, commercial 

fishermen must only fish in the 

30- to 60-foot zone and then only to catch 

crawfish with a spear and only during 

the season. 

Note that compressor use begins at 

the 30-foot level and extends to 60 feet. 

Compressors are not to be used in water 

shallower than 30 feet. It is interesting to 

note that virtually all of Abaco’s popular 

fishing grounds (inside the barrier reef) are less than 30 feet 

deep. This includes the Little Bahama Bank extending to 

Walkers Cay, the Abaco Sound from Little Harbour north 

beyond Coopers Town and most of the waters in Abaco’s 

south-side marles. 

Bang-sticks using shotgun shells for personal protection 

underwater are allowed, but one must have an annual 

firearm license from the police and permission by the 

Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources. 

Fish Bag Limits for all Non-Bahamians 

The following bag limits for fish apply to all non- 

Bahamians, whether in a foreign boat or Bahamian boat 

regardless of the fishing method: A combined total of six 

fish per vessel for kingfish, dolphin, tuna and wahoo. All 

other migratory fish caught, unless they are to be eaten, 

shall not be injured unnecessarily but returned to the sea 

alive. All fish aboard vessels must have the head and tail 

intact to aid in the identification of the fish species. 

Vessel bag limits are 20 pounds of scalefish, and six 

individual crawfish at any time. This applies to a foreignowned 

boat holding a fishing license or a Bahamian-owned 

boat which is exempt from the license requirement. 


A foreign-owned boat may not have conch aboard at 

any time, whereas a Bahamian-owned boat, including 

rental boats, may have conch aboard. The possession of turtle 

by non-Bahamians is prohibited. Grouper and rockfish 

weighing less than three pounds may not be taken. 

The bag limits may be legally taken to Florida when the 

vessel leaves the Bahamas. Foreign and Bahamian nationals 

may export the following quantities from the Bahamas 

without permission from the Minister: 

• A total of not more than six kingfish, dolphin, 

tuna and wahoo; or 

• More than six crawfish if aboard a boat; or 10 

pounds if being carried on an aircraft. 

• More than 20 pounds of demersal fish (bottomfeeding 

reef fish, grouper, snapper, etc). 

Any fish within the bag limit can be given away to 

friends, but visitors who sell or exchange their fish for 

accommodations or dockage are subject to prosecution. 

Crawfish Rules 

Legal size for crawfish caught by anyone is a minimum tail 

length of five-and-one-half inches (5”) or a three-and-aquarter 

inch (3”) carapace (shell) length. Egg-bearing 

females must not be disturbed. The eggs are visible as a red 

mass (berries) under the tail. 

The closed season on crawfish is from April 1 to 

August 1 and applies to everyone. A closed season, 

December through February, exists for Nassau grouper. 

Specific opening and closing dates are often changed 

annually as more information is learned on the grouper’s 

reproductive cycle. 

Any crawfish in freezers of Bahamians, second-home 

owners or visitors on April 1, the first day of the closed season, 

should be documented with a letter to the Minister of 

Agriculture and Fisheries. You may or may not be inspected 

by a Fisheries officer to verify the quantity. The bag 

limit applies to freezers ashore as well as boats. 

Current rules now prohibit conch aboard a foreignowned 

boat, either caught or purchased. Foreigners on a 

Bahamian-owned rental boat may catch conch but must 

observe the bag limits. Walking out on the flats and catching 

a conch is allowed. 

Only adult conch may be taken. This applies to 

Bahamians and visitors. The adult conch is identified by a 

wide and well-flared lip on the shell. Juvenile conch have a 

thin lip, which has not yet flared. Help keep conch plentiful 

in the Bahamas by leaving the juveniles. 

Conch may not be exported or taken to Florida by anyone 

unless documented with a CITES permit, which is 

issued by Nassau. This is due to conch being an endangered 

species internationally, and transport across international 

borders is governed by the Convention on International 

Trade in Endangered Species, CITES. Individuals exporting 

conch with a CITES permit are limited to 10 pounds. 

Commercial exporters are allowed larger quantities. 

One other rule requires that fish resources imported, as 

on a boat arriving in the Bahamas, must be declared to 

Fisheries officials or to customs officers. This is to avoid any 

misunderstanding as to whose fish are on board. If you have 

undeclared fish on your cruising boat when you enter the 

Bahamas, they are presumed to be Bahamian and must be 

within the bag limits. 

The Abaconian compiled this information in March 2007, in 

conjunction with local and Nassau Marine Resource staff. The 

Department of Fisheries is now named Department of Marine 

Resources and encompasses a broader role than previously. 

Fished Purchased by Foreigners 

There are no limits to the amount of fish that can be legally 

purchased by visitors. However, amounts above the bag 

limits should be documented with receipts and invoices to 

clarify the origin of the fish. Bahamians must observe the 

minimum sizes and closed seasons but are allowed 250 

pounds of fish. Quantities above that are considered commercial 

and appropriate licenses are required. 


Panama’s 

Bocas del Toro, 

a Cruiser’s Wild Frontier 

By Rebecca Burg 

The Toucan. 

so close,” Bill observed. With jerky 

movements, the toucan hopped even 

“He’s 

closer. Stereotypical tourist with a camera 

necklace, food in one hand and a map in the 

other, I stood there and gawked. In a flash, the bird 

lunged forward and clapped its rainbow bill over 

my fingers. Food stolen, I fell backwards. Bill was 

laughing. “Take a picture!” he said. Getting bitten 

by a toucan’s hollow, plastic-like beak hurt, but no 

skin was broken. I found out later that this “wild” 

Panamanian bird was routinely fed fruit by locals, 

hence its unexpected behavior as a picnic pirate. 

Below the hurricane belt at 9 N. latitude and 80 

W. longitude, the Republic of Panama is the southernmost 

part of Central America. Hoping to visit 

my family, Bill and I made our way into Panama’s 

Province of Bocas del Toro. Near the Costa Rican 

border, Bocas del Toro is a mostly undeveloped, 

volcanic Caribbean archipelago of jungle-covered 

islands and atolls. Rainy season is from May 

through November, and the frisky Caribbean 

trades usually do not reach this area. Tidal range is 

about 1.5 feet. The province’s capital is Bocas Town 

on the large Isla Colon, also known as Bocas Island. 

Here visitors obtain cruising permits, stock up on 

provisions and enjoy land-based social activity. 

With a passport and some cash, boaters check into 

the “AMP” (Autoridad Maritima de Panama), the 

Maritime Authority. The port captain monitors 

VHF 16, and the office is at the southeastern corner of town 

along the waterfront. Cruising fees are $39 for 19- to 33-foot 

boats and $69 for boats over 33 feet. The permit is good for 

90 days, but extensions may be provided. After clearing in 

at the AMP, take a short walk to the immigration office to 

obtain a tourist visa for $5 to $15. Before leaving the country, 

you must clear out at any AMP and immigration office 

and buy exit stamps for a few dollars. 

Most days, a deafening chorus of bell-like bird calls and 

whistles woke me before sunrise. Other times, the trees 

added to this natural noise. BAM! Thunk-thunk-plop. A 

coconut plunges onto the metal roof and bounces off. 

Disoriented, I fall out of bed and become entangled in mosquito 

netting. It was unsettling not to be sleeping on Angel, 

but I was glad to be spending quality time with my mom at 

her house in Saigon, a bay-front community on Bocas 

Island. A mix of Asian and native residents, Saigon is a ramble 

of weathered houses and a one-room grocery store on 

the edge of a jungle. Mango, breadfruit, banana and coconut 

trees shaded the weedy front yard. I watched two rats hop 

across a dirt path outside while a green parrot in the bushes 

squeaked like a rusty hinge. The road beyond was another 

dirt path where groups of doe-eyed children accumulated 

in giggling clusters and played with a few broken 

American toys. 

Bill borrowed mom’s scooter, and we tried to navigate 

the cratered road through the jungle beyond Saigon. Groves 

of bamboo arched overhead, and we were awed as we sped 

through this emerald cathedral. Panama’s main body of 

rain forest is home to creatures like the harpy eagle, which 


Wild and beautiful Bird Island in the Province of Bocas del Toro. 

can weigh up to 20 pounds and considers monkeys to be 

gourmet appetizers. Puma, jaguar, tapir, sloth, macaws and 

55 species of humming bird are some of the precious threads 

in this rich tapestry of rain forest life. Also found here is the 

miniscule poisonous frog, once used to make a hunter’s 

spears deadly. Along with the presence of vampire bats, 

there’s the local fishing bat, which plucks dinner from the 

water with its feet. National Geographic recently aired a TV 

special featuring the area’s rare eyelash viper, a dainty and 

pinkish-orange snake with frilly brows. “You know there 

are tarantulas and all kinds of poisonous snakes in these 

parts,” Bill noted, squinting into the dark, damp depths 

around us. “They even have the world’s second largest 

viper!” Bill slowed under an impossibly tall tree with Tarzan 

vines dangling to the ground. “Those vines look like 

snakes,” I said, then asked, “Don’t snakes jump on people 

from trees” Bill laughed. “Hah! That’s just scary movie 

stuff—“ his expression became doubtful, “—I think.” When 

the road turned into mushy sand, impassable for a scooter, 

we were relieved to turn back and head to town. 

Soon, we were puttering down Calle 3, Bocas Town’s 

main street. It resembled a dusty wild west frontier town, 

but with a tropical twist. The crowded shoreline of this casual 

place is built on pilings over the water. The few grocery 

shops were small and dimly lit, and one food store smelled 

like a wet dog. A dusty hardware store sat next to a pharmacy 

full of curious concoctions. Prices are low, depending on 

the item, but developers and foreign business people setting 

up shop seem to be driving the prices up. Locals are 

polite and friendly in a shy way. For a female cruiser, the 

natural Latino flirtatiousness of long stares, winks and 

smiles are common and quite harmless. Respecting local 

culture and reciprocating with smiles, patience and good 

manners goes a long way for a visitor. Bocas lacks the 

North American sense of hurried urgency and the I-wantit-now 

fast-food mentality. Islanders get things done, but 

in their own good time. 

Spanish is the main language, but some English is spoken. 

The American dollar is used along with a local currency, 

minted in coin form only, called the balboa. We ate at 

Crazy Charlie’s, one of many good restaurants and bars in 

town. Greek, Chinese, sushi, Italian, American, Mexican, 

West Indian and Caribbean cuisine can be found along or 

near the waterfront. Avoid drinking local tap water, and bottled 

water is easily available. Happy hour prices were 50 

cents to one dollar, and local brews include Atlas, Panama 

and the stronger Balboa beer. Dining out ranges from $3 at 

a local’s hangout to $15 at a fluffy tourist spot. Taxi rides 

around town are 50 cents a person. Along with elegant 

hand-made wearables, the vendors’ street stalls sold the 

highly regarded molas. These are the native Kuna women’s 

traditional craft of hand-stitched designs cut out of multiple 

layers of colored cloth. Bocas also has a dive shop, basic 

marine hardware, Internet cafe, coin laundry, surf shop and 

mail service. At the time, marine diesel was $3.95/gallon 

and gas hovered around $4/gallon. 

“Blech!” I said, gagging and spitting in my lap. “Wha” 

Bill cocked a brow. Grimacing, I pointed to the beer I’d just 


Crazy Charlie’s in downtown Bocas. 

opened. On the bottle’s mouth, squashed halfway under the 

bottle cap, was a dried jungle beetle of some sort. I’d drunk 

from it without looking first. “Eeeeew,” Bill said, laughing. 

“Ay, Dios mio! How gross,” Mom chimed in, making a face 

and then carefully scrutinizing her own drink. I replaced the 

offending beer, and we resumed our afternoon lounging 

over the water. Since the main form of transport is by boat, 

water taxis are common and reasonably priced. Bocas has a 

cruiser’s dinghy dock at Le Pirate, a bar/restaurant. The 

two small marinas in the area were full of boats, mostly sail, 

and some vessels were anchored out. I gazed at Panama’s 

mainland beyond the misted bay. Puffy clouds brushed 

along the jagged mountain peaks and swirled into the green 

valleys below. A handsome, tawny-skinned Guaymi family 

paddled past us in a cayuco, a traditional dugout log canoe. 

Downtown Bocas Town’s waterfront is built on pilings over the water. 

The main channels are well marked, but elsewhere the 

cruiser must study the charts and use eyeball navigation. 

The underwater terrain is like it is ashore, with deep valleys 

rising up to shallow shelves. Protected anchorages are 

many, and cruisers have expanses of enchanted, wild places 

to explore. Visitors can have a memorable time in Bocas del 

Toro. Just watch out for things like food-mercenary toucans, 

spooky jungle roads and beer beetles. 

Bocas basics: Valuable resource: The Panama Cruising Guide, 

by Eric Bauhaus, www.sailorsnet.com. Area info: 

www.bocasdeltoro.com and www.bocasdirect.com. SSB 

Panama Connection Net: 8107kHz at 0830 local. 

A few more photos can be seen on the “Sailing Bayfield” 

page at www.artoffshore.com 


REGIONAL SAILING 

Sailing Services Directory starts as low as $8 a month. 

BOAT LETTERING 

CAPTAIN SERVICES 

ADMIRAL ZACK’S YACHT SERVICES, LLC 

Marine Surveying-Sail or Power Vessels 

ABYC Standards Accredited, SAMS SA 

Central Florida East Coast. . . (321) 863-0858 

admiralzacks@bellsouth.net 

CANVAS & CUSHION SERVICES 

SCUBA CLEAN 

See ad in Underwater Services 

MARINE CANVAS & BOAT REPAIR 

All Canvas work, cushions & interiors 

Stainless Work/Welding 

Fiberglass & misc. repairs . .(727) 804-6173 

CHARTERS 

MAHINA LA SAILING . . . . . .(941) 713-8000 

MacGregor 65 * Two hours to two weeks 

South Tampa Bay Area in Cortez 

Daily Sunset Cruises or Sail to the Keys 

www.floridasailingtrips.com 

Sail Mexican MAYAN RIVIERA 

46-foot Hunter • Cancun airport pick up 

Snorkel • Dive • Visit Ruins 

jasosa@bellsouth.net . . . . .(818) 262-5853 

www.mexicanmayariviera.com/ 

See ads on Web 


CAPT. JIMMY HENDON (727) 459-0801 

USCG Licensed Master Mariner 

Deliveries • Instruction 

ASA Cert. Bareboat Charter Instructor 

CAPT. NORM MALTBY . . . . .(305) 745-3336 

Retired Capt. & mate will deliver your boat 

to/from Bahamas. EXPENSES ONLY 

CAPT. RICK MEYER (727) 424-8966 

US Sailing & Powerboat Instructor 

Instruction • Deliveries • Your Boat or Mine 

Licensed Captain 

Tampa Bay Area 

BOAT DELIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . .Power/Sail 

Bill Robinson – USCG Licensed Captain 

ABYC Certified Marine Electrician 

Sailboat Rigger angel@artoffshore.com 

COMMUNICATIONS 

DOCKSIDE RADIO www.docksideradio.com 

Pactor II/III Modem Sales & Support; FCC 

Marine Radio License filing; SailMail WinLink 

Installation & Training . . . . .(941) 661-4498 

CUSTOM BOAT SERVICES 

& REPAIRS 

ELLIE’S SAILING SHOP . . . . . . . . . .Clearwater 

Lifelines, rigging, hardware, repairs 

Serving small boat sailors Since 1958 

Sunfish Boats and Parts . . . . .(727) 442-3281 

INDUSTRIAL MARINE SUPPLY . . . .Tampa Bay 

Gas/Diesel Repair & Maintenance 

Certified Electrical & Plumbing 

Underwater work . . . . . .(775) 771-8515 cell 

ROHLAND RIGGING & YACHT REPAIR 

Top of the mast to the bottom of the keel 

Complete shipwright services 

Boats Fixed • Problems Resolved 

Tampa Bay to Marco Island • Fully insured 

Chris Rohland 570-412-3923 

ZOOK’S Custom Carpentry & Yacht Repair 

Hatches, ports, deck hardware, rigging, interior 

refurbishing & repairs, etc . . . .(727) 459-4197 

HALF HULLS 

HALF HULL MODEL 

We build the Half Hull Model of your 

sailboat!! . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.halfhull.net 

Zuma Boat Inc. . . . . . . . . . . .(404)272-7889 

MARINE DIESEL SERVICE 

INLAND MARINE DIESEL . . . . . .Atlanta Area 

Service/Parts for all makes of Diesel Auxiliary 

Engines * New Engine Sales – Volvo, Yanmar, 

Westerbeke, Universal . . . . .(404) 513-4414 

Articles and Photos Wanted 

Contact: editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

■ SAILING EXPERIENCES: Stories and photos 

about experiences in places you’ve cruised, 

anchorages, marinas, or passages made 

throughout the Southern cruising waters, 

including the Caribbean and the Bahamas. 

■ RACE REPORTING: Generally, we are always 

looking for someone to send us race coverage 

throughout the southern states, the Bahamas 

and the Caribbean. 

■ CRUISING NOTES: Southern sailors cruising 

on the high seas or cruising our waterways and 

coasts: Send us word on where you’re at and 

what you’re doing. How the cruising life is 

treating you. 

■ BAHAMAS: Trips, experiences, passages, 

anchorages, provisioning and other stories that 

are of interest. 

■ HURRICANE STORIES: Hurricanes are a part 

of owning a boat in the Southern waters, and 

we would like to hear how you and your boat 

might have been affected by a storm or how 

you prepare your boat for one, experiences 

you’ve had. Send us letters or articles. 

■ OUR WATERWAYS: Information about the 

waters we sail in: disappearing marinas, boatyards 

and slips; mooring fields, anchoring 

rights, waterway access, etc. 

■ MAINTENANCE & TECHNICAL ARTICLES: 

How you maintain your boat, or rebuilt a boat, 

technical articles on maintenance, repairs, etc. 

■ INDIVIDUALS IN THE SAILING INDUSTRY: 

Interesting stories about the world of sailors 

out there, young, old, and some that are no 

longer with us but have contributed to the 

sport or were just true lovers of sailing. 

■ THE CARIBBEAN: Stories about the warm 

tropical waters farther south of us. 


SERVICES DIRECTORY 

Call (941) 795-8704 or e-mail editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

MARINE SURVEYING 

NIAGARA YACHT SERVICES 

Capt. David P. Kyser, Marine Surveyor 

(904) 631-2926 - No travel charges in FL 

www.niagarayachtservices.com 

TAYLOR MARINE SURVEYING & 

CONSULTING, LLC 

Specializing in Sailing Vessels 

(904) 466-0602 

www.taylormarinesurveying.com 

RACE APPAREL/EMROIDERY 

CUSTOM-EMBROIDERED SHIRTS 

Polo shirts, T-shirts, Jackets, bags, etc. 

Have your boat name on your shirt! 

Sarasota/Bradenton (941) 331-1390 

RIGGING SERVICES 

OCEAN RIGGING 

Full Service Mobile Rigging 

30 yrs experience • Ft. Myers to Punta Gorda 

oceanrigging@earthlink.net .(239) 218-1127 

SSMR. INC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .727-823-4800 

Complete Rigging Services 

On-Site Crane, Splicing & Swaging 

Commissioning Services 

On Salt Creek at Salt Creek Boat Works 

Fax 727-823-3270 . . . . . . . . .St. Petersburg 

SAILING INSTRUCTION 

YACHTING VACATIONS . . . .Punta Gorda, FL 

Sailboat Charters 22’-48’ ASA instruction 

Live-aboard/non-live-aboard 

www.yachtingvacations.com (800) 447-0080 

SEA TIME SAILING SCHOOL . . . . .Miami, FL 

Offshore trips/Sailing courses 

www.seatimesailing.com . . . .(954) 636-9726 

SAILMAKING, REPAIRING 

& CLEANING 

ADVANCED SAILS . . . . . . . . .(727) 896-7245 

Quality Cruising Sails & Service 

Closest Sailmaker to St. Petersburg Marinas 

Keith Donaldson . . . . . . . . . .(727) 896-7245 

MASTHEAD USED SAIL . . . .(800) 783-6953 

www.mastheadsailinggear.com 

Largest Inventory in the South (727) 327-5361 

PORPOISE SAILING SERVICES – 

Sarasota 

*New/Used Sails * New Custom Sails 

Roller Furling Systems & Packages 

(800) 507-0119 

www.porpoisesailing.com 

Scuba Clean Yacht Service 

See ad in Underwater Services 

UNDERWATER SERVICES 

Scuba Clean Yacht Service 

• Underwater Services • Canvas Shop 

• Sail Cleaning & Repair • Detailing 

Serving Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota, 

Pasco & Manatee counties. 

(727) 327-2628 

■ CHARTER STORIES: Have an interesting 

Charter story In our Southern waters, or perhaps 

in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, or points 

beyond in some far-off and far-out exotic place 

■ FUN AND UNUSUAL STORIES: Got an 

interesting story Unusual, funny, tearjerkers, 

learning experiences and others wanted. Keep 

them short for our last page, 700-1000 words 

roughly. Photos too, but not necessary. 

■ CUBA: Of course, there is always Cuba, and 

regardless of how our country’s elected officials 

try to keep Americans out of the largest 

island in the Caribbean, it will one day be open 

as a cruising ground. Today American sailors 

can legally go to Cuba and cruise if they follow 

the proper procedures. If you have a story 

about such a trip, let us look at it. 

■ MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOS: Photographs 

are always enjoyable, whether for their beauty, 

their humor, or for many other reasons, and 

we take them alone. We would like photos 

with every story, if possible. 

■ COVER PHOTOS: SOUTHWINDS is always 

looking for nice cover shots, which are always 

paid for. They generally need to be a vertical 

shot, but we can sometimes crop horizontal 

photos for a nice cover picture. They need to 

be of a high resolution. If digital, they need to 

be taken at a very high resolution (and many 

smaller digital cameras are not capable of taking 

a large, high-resolution photo as is on a 

cover). If a photograph, then we need it 

scanned at high resolution, or if you send it to 

us, we can do so. 

■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: For those of you 

who are not as ambitious to write stories, we 

always want to hear from you about your 

experiences and opinions. 

CONTACT 


for more information and questions. 



SOUTHERN RACING 

■ RACING SEMINARS AND NEWS 

Racing Seminar by Jeff and 

Amy Linton, Davis Island 

Yacht Club, Nov. 7 

Davis Island Yacht Club will present a racing seminar, How 

To Win A Big One, by Jeff Linton and Amy Smith Linton. 

The Lintons are the current International Lightning Class 

World Champions (2007 and 2001), as well as the Flying 

Scot North American Champions. They have competed 

around the country and the world and will share boat 

preparations tips, tactics and strategy, and useful travel recommendations. 

The seminar will be held Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 

p.m. at the Davis Island Yacht Club, and will benefit Davis 

Island Youth Sailing, a 501-C3 organization. All proceeds 

will go to purchasing new sails and for upgrading the youth 

squad’s six 420s. 

Davis Island Youth Sailing is home to Plant and Jesuit 

High School racing teams. In the past year, Plant High School 

finished fifth in the National Fleet racing competition , and 

third in Team Racing. With the team losing only one senior 

and picking up two talented freshman, hopes are high for the 

Davis Island Youth Sailing program in 2007-2008. 

Seating will be limited to 100 and it is recommended to 

reserve a spot early for How To Win A Big One. Tickets are 

available for a $25 tax-deductible donation to DIYSF. 

The Davis Island Yacht Club is located at 1315 Severn 

Avenue, Tampa, FL. A cash bar will be open at the yacht 

club for the event. For tickets or further information about 

tax-deductible support for Davis Island Youth Sailing, and 

Plant High School or Jesuit High School racing teams, contact 

Kingsley Purton at (813) 760-0177 or via e-mail at kpurton@tampabay.rr.com. 

SOUTHWINDS offers inexpensive regatta ad rates to all 

non-profit organizations and ad building is included. If 

we are building the ad new we would like to be notified 

by the first of the month preceding publication (later is 

possible but contact us to find out). Contact editor@ 

southwindsmagazine.com or call (941) 795-8704. 

PHOTO CORRECTION 

Last month (September) we printed the wrong photo on 

page 68 of the winners in the Fast Women Regatta in 

Josephine, AL. Below is the correct photo and caption 

Lisa Williams and her all-female crew on Harmony not only 

won 2nd Place in the Non-Spinnaker Class but captured 

the Perpetual Trophy for the Best Finish by an All-Female 

Team at the 10th Annual Fast Women Regatta. Photo by 

Kim Kaminski. 

Laser Seminar, Clearwater 

Community Sailing Center, 

Nov. 15-18 

SAILFIT will be running another one of its Laser sailing 

seminars on Nov. 15-18. It will be held out of the Clearwater 

Community Sailing Center on Sand Key in Clearwater. 

Kurt and Meka Taulbee are the owners of SAILFIT and 

have been teaching sailing and fitness seminars to sailors 

from beginner through advanced for eight years. With their 

many years of experience, they have plenty of information 

to share and many new ideas and “secrets” that you will 

learn only from them. Their seminars focus on individual 

improvement—no matter what level of sailor you are. 

Kurt is on the US Laser Sailing Team and will be competing 

at the Olympic trials for a place at the 2008 Olympic 



Games. Meka is an ACE-certified personal trainer who has 

published fitness articles for six years and trained many of 

the top dinghy sailors in the United States. 

For more details, go to www.sailfit.com, or contact 

Meka at meka@sailfit.com, or (727) 631-7005, or call toll free 

at 866-SAILFIT. 

Regata del Sol al Sol 2008 

Continues to Fill Up 

As of Sept. 11, only 5 of the 50 slots for the 40th anniversary 

Regata del Sol al Sol were left. Regatta organizers believe 

that at this rate, ALL slots will be filled shortly and it will be 

a record number. For regatta information, go to the event 

Web site at www.regatadelsolalsol.org or http://www.mexicorace.com. 

There are convenient online entry forms, printable 

entry forms, and even online hotel reservation forms! 

Photos from the 2007 Regata del Sol al Sol are posted on 

the site for viewing, plus there are a few new movies for the 

public to get the “feel” of the event. 

You can also contact the event organizers, Mike Boom 

at mike.boom@verizon.net, or Larry Wissing at lw@ipsc.cc. 

■ UPCOMING MAJOR SOUTHERN 

■ RACING EVENTS 

Upcoming Melbourne Yacht Club 

Fall Regattas, October through 

November 

Melbourne Yacht Club is celebrating its 60th year this fall 

with its newly renovated clubhouse—finished just in time for 

its fall regatta lineup. On Sept. 29-30, it starts the ball rolling 

with the 29th annual Mermaid Regatta for women sailors. 

PHRF boats race Saturday, and Sunfish race on Sunday. 

The Melbourne Yacht Club Fall Regatta Race Week starts 

off with dinghy racing from Ballard Park on Oct. 20-21. 

Expected classes are Sunfish, Laser, Flying Scot, Monohull 

and Multihull Portsmouth. On Wednesday and Thursday 

evenings, the club is hosting a North-U seminar on tactics 

and sail trim. The seminar will be open to all area sailors. Bigboat 

racing starts Friday night Oct. 26, with the Rebel Rally 

reverse handicap race. On Oct. 27-28 racing begins for PHRF 

classes along with Catalina 22s and Melges 24s. 

On November 17-18, MYC hosts its Annual “No Frills” 

Sunfish Regatta. Visit www.sail-race.com for full information 

on all of these events. Fleet Captain John Fox can be 

reached at john@teamfoxy.com, or call (772) 581-9401. 

Cortez Yacht Club Inaugurates 

Cortez Cup, Cortez, FL, Oct. 6 

Cortez Yacht Club will host its inaugural Cortez Cup, a 

Sarasota Bay Yachting Association Boat of the Year Race for 

WFPHRF-rated boats on Saturday, Oct. 6, from the Seafood 

Shack Marina and Grill in Cortez, FL, located on the ICW 

between Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, near Longboat Pass. 

This event will fill an open date on the SBYA BOTY race calendar 

that historically was held by the Crow’s Nest 

Restaurant in Venice. 

Preliminary plans include a skippers meeting on Friday 

evening, Oct. 5, Gulf of Mexico races on Saturday for any 

division of boats with at least three entries registered by 

September 27, followed by an awards ceremony. Details 

will be posted on the Web sites of Cortez Yacht Club, 

www.cortezyachtclub.com, and SBYA, www.sarasotabayyachting.org, 

or call Cortez Yacht Club Fleet Captain, Laura 

Ritter (941) 780-3547. cortezyachtclub@verizon.net. 

Tampa Sailing Squadron Rumgatta, 

Apollo Beach, FL, Oct. 6-7 

Tampa Sailing Squadron will be holding its 18th Annual 

Rumgatta—its Jamaican rum regatta—on Oct. 6-7. This 

event is one of the oldest events in Tampa Bay and one of 

the Squadron’s largest annual regattas. Generally, there are 

at least 30-40 entries each year and the after-race Rumgatta 

party is well attended. 

This year there will be a pre-Rumgatta Portsmouth race 

the weekend before on Sept. 29. The Rumgatta will start with 

a skippers meeting and pre-race party on Friday, Oct. 5, followed 

by racing and an after-race party and awards dinner 

on Saturday. On Sunday is the Women’s Rumgatta Regatta. 

For NOR and registration, go to www.tampasailing. 

org. Call Race Fleet Captain Susan Bishop at (813) 956-1642, 

or e-mail to tssregatta@gmail.com. 

53rd Annual Columbus Day 

Regatta, Biscayne Bay, FL, Oct. 6-7 

The 53rd annual Columbus Day Regatta will take place during 

the weekend of October 6-7 on Biscayne Bay. 

Attendance is expected to draw over 200 racing and 

cruising sailboats from around South Florida. As usual, the 

course layout consists of a combination of government 

marks and buoys scattered throughout Biscayne Bay, testing 

the navigation skills of the competitors. 

Contenders will compete for first- through fifth-place 

trophies in all classes as well as eight Perpetual Trophy 

awards. The Coral Reef Yacht Club will once again host the 

award ceremonies on Saturday, October 13. Raffle prizes 

will be given away at the awards ceremony. Organizers are 

looking for donations for raffle prizes. 

To sponsor, donate raffle prizes or for more information, 

go the event’s Web site at www.columbusdayregatta.net. 

WFORC, Pensacola Yacht Club, 

Oct. 12-14—Celebrating 33 Years 


The West Florida Ocean Racing Circuit (WFORC) began in 

1975 during an era when one long distance race, one medium 

distance race and three around-the-buoy short races 

was the preferred format for international off-shore regattas. 

WFORC followed suit. In the years since, the format 

changed, as did the revolving venue. By 1983, the Gulf 


Yachting Association decided that the Pensacola Yacht Club 

would become the permanent home of the WFORC. As participation 

declined, additional changes were needed. 

The 1986 WFORC regatta chair, Hunter Riddle, proposed 

making the long race a single overnight 73-mile event 

from Fairhope to Pensacola. That series attracted 33 boats 

representing eight GYA member clubs. A Melges 24 class 

was added beginning in 1999. Then in 2001, the regatta 

eliminated offshore races entirely. It is now sailed over a single 

three-day period. Last year, 38 boats representing 10 

GYA yacht clubs participated, with John Guy of St. Andrews 

Bay Yacht Club in Panama City winning his sixth WFORC 

championship. 

WFORC will be held Oct. 12-14. Early registration should 

be postmarked no later than Oct. 2. For more information, 

visit www.pensacolayachtclub.org, or contact WFORC 

Regatta Chair Betsy Moraski at topgunu20@aol.com. 

St. Petersburg Yacht Club 

Inaugurates The Leukemia Cup & 

Fall Bay Race, Oct. 12-14 

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club and The Leukemia & 

Lymphoma Society joined forces to create the Leukemia 

Cup & Fall Bay Race. In 2006, the traditional one-day Fall 

Bay Race became a two-day race. This year, the name The 

Leukemia Cup has been added, and it will be called The 

Leukemia Cup & Fall Bay Race, being a fundraiser in combination 

with the Fall Bay Race. On Saturday, scoring will be 

both PHRF and Leukemia Cup scoring for the same race. 

The race on Saturday will have the same course(s) set up as 

have been done in the past, and the Fall Bay race will continue 

on Sunday. Sunday’s race will be only PHRF scoring, 

and the PHRF scores for both days will determine the Fall 

Bay Race winners. 

The real twist for this year is the expanded opportunity 

to win some great prizes and to help with a great cause if you 

wish to do so. There is a combined dinner Saturday night for 

all, with many activities planned. Aside from winning great 

prizes, you will know that you are helping save lives. 

Sponsors along with the St. Petersburg Yacht Club are 

Sailing World, West Marine, Mount Gay Rum, and North Sails. 

Registration for all will be on Friday between 1500 and 

1700, Oct. 12, with a skippers meeting at 1700. For registration 

and more information, contact St. Petersburg Yacht 

Club sailing secretary Phyllis Eades at (727) 822-3873 or e- 

mail to sailingsecretary@spyc.org. You can also go to 

www.spyc.org for the NOR and more information. 

Y-Assist Charity Regatta, Punta 

Gorda Sailing Club, Oct. 13-14 

The Punta Gorda Sailing Club will host a sailing regatta for 

both small boats and PHRF-rated big boats on Charlotte 



Harbor. The big-boat race will be a Charlotte Harbor Boat 

Of the Year event. The money raised from this regatta will 

be for the benefit of the Charlotte County Y-Assist program 

of the YMCA. 

The small-boat regatta will be held on Oct. 13-14 from the 

Charlotte Harbor Beach Complex. A Portsmouth handicapping 

scoring system will be used. However, if there are three 

or more boats in a class, they will be scored as a separate fleet. 

Big boats using a PHRF rating system will race on Nov. 

3-4 at a location at the Peace River end of Charlotte Harbor 

off Punta Gorda. The exact race location will be announced 

at the skippers meeting to be held Friday evening, Nov. 2, in 

the community room at Laishley Marina. 

In addition to the racing, a Burger Bash will be held at 

the Laishley Marina community room in Punta Gorda in the 

early evening on Nov. 3. For more information, Notice of 

Race and entry forms, visit the PGSC Web site at 

www.pgsc.com, or contact Jerry Haller at (941) 505-0499. 

Suncoast Multihull Rendezvous 

with Stiletto Nationals: Oct. 19-21 

The Sarasota Sailing Squadron is hosting the first Suncoast 

Multihull Rendezvous with Stiletto Nationals, which will 

take place at the Squadron in Sarasota, FL, on Oct. 19-21. 

This event is open to all multihulls and will be governed by 

US SAILING rules. 

For the Stiletto Nationals, the racing event will start on 

Friday the 19th, while races for the rest of the fleet start on 

Saturday the 20th. The awards ceremony will take place on 

Sunday at the end of the last race day. Courses will be on 

Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, weather dependent. 

Dockage, launch facilities, and camping accommodations 

are available (and complimentary) at the Squadron. For 

more information, contact Nana Bosma at nanab@umich.edu 

or (734) 320-9636. Go to www.sarasotasailingsquad.com for 

the Sarasota Sailing Squadron Web site. 

St. Petersburg Yacht Club Distance 

Classic Race to Fantasy Fest in Key 

West, Oct. 24-28 

This year, the traditional St. Petersburg Yacht Club Distance 

Classic race will be a race to Fantasy Fest in Key West on 

Oct. 24. Race headquarters will be at the Pier House in Key 

West. The start line will depend on decisions made by the 

entrants and race committee as to whether the race will start 

at The Pier or farther west. The finish line will be in front of 

the Pier House in Key West and details will be in the sailing 

instructions. Due to the Fantasy Fest schedule of events, the 

awards party will be held at the SPYC on Nov. 2 at 1900 hours. 

Fantasy Fest information can be obtained by going to 

www.fantasyfest.net. The SPYC and the organizers of 

Fantasy Fest are in no way connected or liable for any issues 

concerning this race to Key West. The committee will do 

everything in its power to help with each vessel, and an 

SPYC water taxi is planned for transportation from a select 

anchorage. These details will be part of the sailing instructions. 

The NOR is posted on the www.spyc.org Web site 

under “Regattas.” 

For registration and more information contact St 

Petersburg Yacht Club sailing secretary Phyllis Eades at 

(727) 822-3873 or sailingsecretary@spyc.org. Registration is 

from 0800-1000 hours on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the St. 

Petersburg Yacht Club. The entry deadline is Oct. 10 at 1700 

hours. The first warning will be on Oct. 24 at 1200 hours. 

Clearwater Challenge Cup, 

Clearwater Yacht Club, Nov. 2-4 

This regatta is one of the oldest and most popular regattas 

in the area, with racing in Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, 

Multihull, True Cruiser and Racer/Cruiser classes racing in 

the Gulf off Clearwater. One-design classes will also race 

with five or more entries. 

The regatta is annually coordinated with the Davis 

Island Classic Regatta hosted by the Davis Island Yacht 

Club. That race is the previous weekend on Oct. 26-27 and 

races from Davis Island in Tampa out into the Gulf and 

north to a finish off the Clearwater inlet. Many racers will 

leave their boats at the Clearwater Yacht Club, which offers 

free dockage for a week for that reason, to race in the 

Challenge Cup the following weekend. A crane is available 

at the Clearwater Yacht Club to launch boats from trailers. 

For more information, go to www.clwyc.org, or call 

Dick Boblenz at (727) 461-5488 or (727) 515-5704 (cell), or e- 

mail boblenzRB@aol.com. 

8th Annual Sarasota Yacht Club 

Invitational Regatta, Nov. 10 

This regatta will be a 12-mile pursuit race in the Gulf of 

Mexico west of Big Sarasota Pass. The SYC Invitational 

Regatta is open to all Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, 

Racer/Cruiser, True Cruiser, and Multihull boats holding a 

current West Florida PHRF handicap rating. Five or more 

boats may make a class. The random leg course rating will 

be utilized. To obtain a current West Florida PHRF rating 

certificate, please contact David Billing at (727) 462-0450, or 

apply online at administrator@westfloridaphrf.org. 

The early registration fee is $50 for completed applications 

received by Nov. 3, and $65 if received by Nov. 9. The 

registration fee includes two awards banquet dinner tickets, 

one regatta cap, and one regatta T-shirt. Additional tickets 


for the awards banquet may be purchased for $25 each, 

regatta caps for $8, and T-shirts for $10. Spectator boats will 

be available to friends and relatives of regatta crewmembers 

on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Space may be requested 

on a spectator boat when you submit your registration 

form. Box lunches for spectators may be purchased for $3. 

Cash, check, or credit card shall make payment. 

Registration, a pre-race party and skippers meeting will 

be held Friday evening, Nov. 9. A continental complimentary 

breakfast will be available Saturday morning (full buffet 

breakfast available for purchase), and racing will begin at 

12:55 p.m. An after-race party with dinner and awards presentations 

will be held Saturday evening. 

■ RACE REPORTS 

20th Annual Race for the Roses, 

Pensacola Beach Yacht Club, Aug. 4 

By Kim Kaminski 

This regatta has maintained its all-female eligibility rule 

since its inception in 1987 and is considered one of the major 

sailing events along the Gulf Coast, besides being one of the 

races in the Women’s Sailing Trilogy Trophy Series. 

Ten Spinnaker boats and seven Non-Spinnaker boats, 

along with three Portsmouth boats (two Lasers and one 

Sunfish) were entered into this 20-year-old regatta. Racers 

The Women’s Sailing Trilogy Trophy was presented to Linda 

Thompson and crew of the Spinnaker Class boat Tripp Tonite. 

Courtesy Photo By George Hero 

came from three local yacht clubs: the Navy Yacht Club, the 

Pensacola Yacht Club and the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. 

Others came from New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama and 

Fort Walton Beach. 

The first group, the Spinnaker fleet, raced in the southern 

part of Pensacola Bay in three back-to-back races on a 

double windward/leeward racecourse. Race one and two 



were four-mile courses each, and the final race, race three, 

consisted of only 2.8 miles. With three short races, high heat 

indices, bright, sunny skies and strong coastal tidal currents, 

the race conditions gave the lady sailors plenty of 

challenges throughout the day. 

The winds were light (5 to 8 knots out of the southeast) 

and shifty as the sailors ventured close to the shorelines. 

These conditions had the sailing teams fighting for positions 

and right of ways at every mark rounding. Class competition 

was also very close, and individual races were won 

or lost by seconds. The light-air conditions offered advantages 

to the smaller lightweight boats and crews on the 

upwind legs, while the larger boats with longer waterlines 

took advantage of the downwind legs. The bigger boats 

used their advantage of having a larger sail area to capture 

what little breeze was readily available on the racecourse. 

The competition was so close in the Spinnaker B class 

that the first-place and second-place boats tied in total 

points for their individual class races and were separated by 

one point in the fleet overall point finishes. 

The Non-Spinnaker class began its race near the entrance 

to Little Sabine Bay at one of the ICW channel markers. 

Pensacola Beach Yacht Club Fleet Captain Dave Hoffman 

sent the sailors on an 11.4-mile mark-to-mark racecourse 

around the southern part of Pensacola Bay. The race was one 

with very close finishes. One of the Class C boat’s, Riptide (a 

J/30), skippered by Linda McGonigal from the Point Yacht 

Club, finished with the exact same corrected time as the Class 

D boat Harmony (an O’ Day 28), skippered by Lisa Williams 

from the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. Both boats tied for 

fourth place in the overall fleet standings for the class. 

Portsmouth sailors Margo Partain aboard a Laser, 

Susan Newkirk aboard a Laser and Sarah Johnson aboard a 

Sunfish, raced off the Quietwater Beach area. Each lady 

earned a bouquet of roses and a glass trophy. 

Each year, one boat is awarded the Amanda Werner 

“Spirit of Sailing” Perpetual Trophy, given to whoever exemplifies 

the fun and light-hearted sporting spirit of the race. 

This year, the award went to the Spinnaker B class boat 

Amigo, skippered by the “mustachioed” skipper Naomi 

Brown and her “mustachioed” crew from Fort Walton Beach. 

The Women’s Sailing Trilogy Trophy is presented to the 

boat with the highest points in the three race series. Non- 

Spinnaker competitor Deana Robbins and her crew on 

Soulshine finished the Trilogy Series in second place. 

Spinnaker boat competitor Linda Thompson and her crew 

aboard Tripp Tonite captured the coveted position as the 

2007 Winner of the Women’s Sailing Trilogy Trophy. 

The overall winner in the Spinnaker fleet in the Race for 

the Roses was Terri Swift and crew aboard Fresh Batteries. 

The overall Winner in Non-Spinnaker was Deana Robbins 

and crew on Soulshine. 

This year’s event chalked up another milestone with the 

entry of its first three-generation crew aboard one boat. 

Carol Simpson began sailing in 1994. With three yacht 

clubs and year-round racing, she found herself heavily 

involved in the racing community. Carol crewed and skippered 

both spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats for the 

Roses regatta during these years. Since retiring from teaching 

high school students in 2002, Carol finally found time to 

enjoy the cruising side of sailing. In fact, she had just 

returned from several months aboard Mike Beard’s Tartan 

37, Kanaloa, in June when she was approached about crewing 

for the Women’s Trilogy series beginning in July. 

“Actually, I was asked to crew by more than one skipper,” 

Carol began, “but I decided that for the 20th anniversary, 

I should find a boat to borrow and skipper myself.” 

Thanks to the generosity of Pass Christian, MS, resident, 

Lydia Stokes, owner of a bright yellow Wavelength 24 

named Outta Reach, Carol had a boat. Although she had 

never sailed a Wavelength before, her bigger problem was 

finding crew on short notice. “I figured I could rope my 

daughter, Sudie Fairall, into racing with me,” she continued. 

Sudie, a horsewoman, knew how to handle herself 

aboard boats. She raced with her mom during four previous 

Roses. Friend and fellow racer, Linda Kraft also agreed to 

race with Carol. “I decided to ask my granddaughter, Erin, 

if she would like to race the Women’s Trilogy with her mom 

and me,” Carol smiled. “Although she is only 10 (she turns 

11 this month), she is very bright.” 

When asked later, Erin stated she agreed, “because it 

sounded like fun and I should try it.” 

Of course, no one counted on threatening weather— 

and that is just what Mother Nature ordered up for the 

Point Yacht Club’s Fast Women Regatta on July 14. Erin was 

devastated to learn that her mom had decided that she 

shouldn’t race that day, even though winds at race start 

were quite light. In hindsight it was a wise decision. 

Erin’s maiden race was the Navy Yacht Club’s Bikini 

Regatta July 28. Her job was to stand at the mast during 

tacks, then skirt the jib and sit on the high side. Winds steadily 

increased to 14-16 knots, putting the Wavelength’s rails 

in the water. Nevertheless, Erin held on, barely, and the crew, 

The three generations in the Roses Regatta. From left to right: 

Sudie Fairall, Carol Simpson, Erin Fairall, and Linda Kraft proudly 

accept their second-place award at Pensacola Beach Yacht Club’s 

Race for the Roses. Photo by Julie Connerley. 

Three Generations Compete in 20th 

Anniversary Roses Regatta 


Pensacola Beach Yacht Club’s annual women-only Race for 

the Roses celebrated its 20th regatta on August 4. From 

humble beginnings, the race has recorded many highlights 

as it matured into the premiere regatta along the Gulf Coast. 


which had registered their boat under the name Chix 4 Sail, 

finished the race wet, and exhausted. 

Race for the Roses was the following week, and understandably, 

Sudie was not going to put her young daughter 

through another ordeal if there was “even one gray cloud in 

the sky,” she recalled. 

But Erin had other plans. “I promised my grandma I 

would race with her,” she said. So she did. 

Mother Nature cooperated. Winds were light to moderate 

and the sun shined all day. “I was so proud of Erin,” 

said Carol. “Even though the week before was extremely 

stressful, Erin remembered everything we had taught her 

and she did her job perfectly.” 

For their efforts, the three generations, plus one friend, 

took second place in class C, non-spinnaker. And would 

Erin sail again “Yes,” as long as it didn’t interfere with her 

all-star competitive cheerleading activities. As for Carol, 

she is cruising again – this time by land, with Mike, touring 

the western United States. 

Sarasota Sailing Squadron 

61st Labor Day Regatta 


Sunday, the final day of the two-day Sarasota Sailing 

Squadron’s Labor Day Regatta was a punk day to be on the 

water. With 294 competitors sailing, the wind was light, 

spotty or just plain non-existent. The full-rigged Lasers 

were one of the classes to get in a race on Sunday. Several of 

the classes present on one course were, in a word, skunked 

by either winds so light that a fair race could not be run or 

just no wind at all. 

Like real estate sales, the success of the competition on 

Sarasota Bay on Sunday depended on location, location, 

location. 

Crackerjack local youth sailor Zeke Horowitz won the 

full-rigged Laser class after putting away the four races that 

counted. He notched a third on Sunday’s sole race. 

Combined with a couple of firsts and a second on Saturday, 

Horowitz wasn’t to be denied in the 12-boat class. Two 

Palm Beach sailors, Trevor Moore and Luke Laurance were 

second and third respectively. 

Neither the Laser 4.7 class nor the Laser Radial class 

raced on Sunday, so Saturday’s results held. Cam Hall of St. 

Pete won the Laser 4.7 class with three straight bullets. Teal 

Strammer of St. Pete was second. In third was Mallory 

Willett, also from St. Pete. 

The 47-boat Laser Radial fleet belonged to Ian Heausler 

of Tampa, but only by a point. Mateo Vargas of St. Pete was 

second, just a tad behind. Phillip Malley of Fort Myers held 

onto third. 

In the 420 Spinnaker class (14 boats) the winner after 

the three races on Saturday was Samuel Rubin of Tampa. 

Justin Doane of Nokomis, who had just won the national 

junior championship in Lightning a weekend back, placed 

second. Will Stocke of Sarasota came in third in class. The 

class did not race on Sunday. 

Four Melges 24s raced, got in four races, and Sarasota’s 

Doug Fisher was easily first overall with three firsts and a 

second. Charlie Clifton of Sarasota finished second in class. 

George Hayne of Tampa was third. 

John Lynch’s C&C 36 starts heating it up for the start. Lynch 

placed second in True Cruising B after three races at the Labor 

Day Regatta. Photo by Morgan Stinemetz. 

Jim Egan of Sarasota took the top spot in the Flying Scot 

one-design class. Ron Pletsch of Sarasota placed second. 

Don Perry of Sarasota was third. The Flying Scots got in 

four total races, including one slow one on Sunday. 

The SR Max class—with four races—went to Bill 

Johnsen of Sarasota. Sarasota’s Sally O’Malley came in second. 

Patrick Daniel of Longwood took third. 

J. Liebel (no hometown listed) won the 21-boat Sunfish 

class, which notched four races. Second went to Paul 

Strauley (no hometown listed), and third went to Joe Blouin 

of Tampa. 

The fastest boat by a large margin was Bill Fisher’s 

Stiletto 30, One Up, a catamaran that was well sailed and 

very well prepared. The other multihull racing, Consensus, 

was not even close to Fisher. One Up got three firsts. 

In the Opti green fleet (52 boats), after four races 

Saturday and a couple of more on Sunday, Ethan Loursbury 

of Jensen Beach finished first overall. Chloe Dietrich of 

Venice placed second. Griffin Rutherford of Tampa was 

third in class. Adam Sandow, who had led the class after 

Saturday’s racing, put together two comparatively terrible 

races back-to-back and fell to fifth. 

There were but six racers competing in the Opti white 

fleet, and Kathryn Booker of St. Petersburg took the class 

after four races. Second went to Wade Waddell of Palm 

Beach, and third was taken by Nicholas Schultz of Sarasota. 

The Opti red fleet of 29 boats went to Graham Landy of 

Naples. Second was grabbed by Courtney Lehan of Tampa. 

Mike Popp of Team FOR was third. The red fleet got in one 

race on Sunday. 

The Opti blue fleet also put in three races on Saturday 

and one additional on Sunday. Samantha Purton of Tampa 

moved from second to first on Sunday with a second-place 

finish. Sean Durkin of St. Petersburg took second. In third 

was Madison Gates, also from St. Pete. 

The 24-boat PHRF fleet got in one slow and hot pursuit 

race on Sunday. After Saturday’s races, Bob and Cathy 

Willard of Palmetto were tied for first with Greg Knighton 

of Bradenton in Non-Spinnaker. The Willards race a 

Morgan 22 and Knighton races a Ranger 33. Knighton won 

Sunday’s race and the class. In third after three was David 

Bridges and his TMI 27, Spars & Stripes. 

Dean Cleall led the PHRF Spinnaker class—seven boats 

—from start to finish with three bullets. Bob Armstrong was 

second with three second-place finishes in his J-92, Mischief. 

Doug Deardon’s Capri 22, In Tune, was third after three. 

In Cruising A, John Hargreaves had three first-place 


finishes in his Hunter 30, Kitten, two on Saturday and one 

on Sunday. There were only two boats in this small class. 

After Saturday’s two races, Bob Miller of Bradenton and 

Steve Schwark of Sarasota were tied for first in Cruising B. 

Miller has a Catalina 36, Miller Time and Schwark has a 

Pearson 33, Maggiemae. But Miller came back to win Sunday’s 

single race and take the class win. John Lynch’s Summertime, 

a C&C 36, was third. The hard luck award in this class went 

to Chuck Fuller’s Kismet, which lost a mast compression post 

and retired with loose shrouds all around in the first race. 

Bay-Waveland YC Takes Back 

Lipton Cup, Buccaneer Yacht Club, 

Mobile Bay, AL, Aug. 31- Sept. 3 


races, and placed second in the third race. Its team clinched 

the championship Monday with another first-place win for 

a total low-point score of five. Battling it out for second 

place were the teams representing BYC, Pass Christian 

Yacht Club, and Southern Yacht Club. Unfortunately, SYC, 

which finished in the two top positions all weekend, was 

disqualified in race two, raising its point total to fleet plus 

one—in effect, costing it the championship. 

By the end of three races on Sunday, BYC was ahead 

with 13 points to Pass Christian’s 16 points. In the final race, 

Pass finished third, and BYC finished sixth, giving both 

clubs 19 points. According to the scoring rules, the tie was 

broken in favor of Pass Christian for second place overall. 

For a complete listing of race results, visit 

http://bucyc.com 

42nd CMCS Summerset Regatta, 

Southwest Florida, Sept. 1-2 

By Steve Romaine 

The 87th annual Sir Thomas J. Lipton Regatta on Mobile Bay. 

Photo by Dave Jefcoat. 

Mobile Bay’s Buccaneer Yacht Club hosted the 87th annual 

Sir Thomas J. Lipton Regatta during the Labor Day weekend 

Aug. 31-Sept. 3, while also celebrating the grand reopening 

of their yacht club. 

“Our original building’s first floor was destroyed by 

Hurricane Katrina,” began BYC Lipton Cup chair, Jackie 

Gorski-Culberson. “BYC placed second in the 2006 Lipton 

Cup held at Bay-Waveland Yacht Club. Since no winning 

yacht club can host the Lipton Cup two consecutive years, 

it would be our responsibility to coordinate the Gulf 

Yachting Association’s interclub challenge this year.” 

Buccaneer’s members announced their goal to have 

their clubhouse rebuilt (elevated, of course) and open in 

time for the Lipton’s. The only other time BYC hosted the 

event was in 1938, and Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, 

won that regatta. 

Twenty-one GYA member clubs participated in the threeday 

event. Four races were planned, one on Saturday, two 

Sunday and the final on Labor Day, September 3. Although 

Saturday’s weather began with light winds, a late summer 

squall developed during the race, and a 180-degree wind shift 

forced the race committee to abandon the first race. 

“Our race committee did a fantastic job,” continued 

Gorski-Culberson. “They were able to complete three races 

on Sunday, even though shifting winds necessitated course 

changes throughout the day.” 

Bay-Waveland Yacht Club, which had won the event 

the previous two years, took the lead winning the first two 

Sailing in the 42nd CMCS Summerset Regatta. Photo by Mary 

Naylor. 

On September 1-2, the Caloosahatchee Marching and 

Chowder Society hosted the 42nd CMCS Summerset Regatta, 

southwest Florida’s racing community’s premier and oldest 

sailing event. Fifty-five boats participated in the regatta. 

The Regatta started on Saturday with a coastal race sponsored 

by West Marine. The race is a 19.3 nm run from Fort 

Myers Beach to Naples. The race started in 10- to 15-knot 

southerly winds. The top finishers made their way working 

the beach to the line off the Naples pier. Six class starts went 

off without a hitch, including One-Design fleets of Melges 24s 

and Colgate 26s. Also racing was an 80-foot Maxi that sailed 

in the Spinnaker fleet. The Maxi was an unusual boat to sail in 

the area as it carried a 10-foot draft—almost unheard of for a 

sailboat in southwest Florida. 

Two hundred seventy-five sailors attended the afterrace 

evening cocktail party with free beer and hors d’oeuvres 

at the Bayfront Inn deck. The Naples West Marine store 

donated door prizes for the event. 

The Regatta continued on Sunday with buoy racing. 

Unfortunately, with light to no air in the first race, only the 

Spinnaker boats—on a shortened course—were able to 

complete their races before the time limit was up. The wind 

picked up for the second race, and all classes were able to 

complete their courses in a light southwesterly breeze. 

Many felt “summersweat”—referring to the hot, no-wind 

days of summer—was back, but no one complained, 



because they all knew they were sailing the tradition. 

Highlights of the regatta included Joe Bonness’ Soverel 

33, Maria, winning all three races in Spinnaker class. Mark 

Reece’s 80-foot Falcon 2000 was the first to finish the distance 

race but was unable to hold a good position on corrected 

time with a rating of -104. Roger Horton’s Tartan 27, 

Wiley Coyote, in True Cruising A, and Steve Romaine on his 

Jeanneau 35, Air Supply, in Non-Spinnaker took firsts in 

their classes in the distance race. In True Cruising B, it was 

Gordon Coffman on Ariel in the distance race. 

After-race festivities were enjoyed by all at the Naples 

Sailing and Yacht Club with a happy hour, dinner, raffles 

and awards ceremony. 

Over 30 generous sponsors of the Regatta made it possible 

for CMCS to contribute to youth sailing in the area. 

Major sponsors were West Marine, Garmin and Offshore 

Sailing School. 

Results (top three finishers, place, boat, skipper): True Cruising A: 1, Lauri Li, Arnie 

Pfalz; 2, Wiley Coyote, Roger Horton; 3, Vakalele, Rick Lancaster. True Cruising B: 1, Rex- 

I, Jan Davis; 2, Ariel, Gordon Coffman; 3, Chase the Clouds, Bev Duff. Non-Spinnaker: 1, 

Air Supply, Steve Romaine; 1, Fair Trade, Joe Martinez; 3, Sand Dollar, Dave Naumann. 

Spinnaker: 1, Maria, Joe Bonness; 2, Tippecanoe, Dan Kendrick; 3, Judy, Tom Gore. 

Melges 24: 1, Obsession, Gary Schwarting; 2, Gone Mad, Dave Pionski; 3, Big Sky, Jim 

Gunderson. Colgate 26: 1, #281, Kurt Martin; 2, #280, Doug Sparks; 3, #268, Jim 

Wright. Multihull: 1, Rapture, John Kremski; 3, Passion III, Ned Christensen. 

■ REGIONAL RACING CALENDARS 

Punta Gorda Sailing Club: Charlotte Harbor. Fall Series Sunday 

afternoon racing begins September 9, continuing through 

November 18. For more information, go to www.pgscweb.com. 

Regattas and Club Racing— 

Open to Everyone Wanting to Race 

The races listed here are open to those who want to sail. No individual 

club membership is required, although a regional PHRF rating, 

or membership in US SAILING or membership in a regional 

sailing association is often required. (If individual club membership 

is required, please contact us and we will not list their races in 

the future.) 

For publishing of your event, questions and information, send 

us your race schedule by the 5th of the month to editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 

Send in the name of the event, date, location, 

contacts (Web site, e-mail and/or phone), and, if you want a short 

description. Do not just send a link in to this information. 

Since race schedules and venues change, contact the sponsoring 

organization to confirm. For changes to be published, contact 

the editor. Changes can be put on our Web site, if possible. 

Lake Lanier. www.lakelaniersailing.com 

6-7 Lightning Atlanta Cup. LLSC 

10 Wednesday Fall#3. LLSC 

13 BILL SEARS #2. SSC 

13-14 Laser Ga. State Championships LLSC 

14 Fall Squall #1, #2. BFSC 

17 Wednesday Fall #4. LLSC 

20 Fall #1 (Bfsc Hosts)/Bfsc Fall Squall #3. LARC 

20-21 Sailboard Regatta – Atlanta Fall Classic. LLSC 

21 Bill Sears #3, #4. SSC 

24 Wednesday Fall #5. LLSC 

27-28 Halloween Open Regatta. LLSC 

South Atlantic Yacht Racing Assoc. www.sayra-sailing.com 

6–7 SAISA 420 Regatta 420 LNYC 

6 Around Paris Island Sunfish BYSC 

6–7 Atlanta Cup Lightnings LLSC 

13–14 Halloween Regatta Open ASC 

13–14 Highlander Pipe Regatta Highlander LNYC 

13–14 Georgia State Championship Laser LLSC 

20–21 Calibogee Cup Open YCHHI 

20–21 SC State Laser Championship Lasers BYSC 

20–21 Nothing Finer MC Scows LNYC 

20–21 Pipers Highlanders LNYC 

20–21 Hospice of the Upstate PHRF WCSC 

27–28 Carolina Ocean Challenge PHRF– J105– Harbor 20 SCYC 

27–28 Turkey Shoot Open KSC 

27–28 Halloween Open LLSC 

www.longbaysailing.com 

20 Summer Race. Little River Inlet 

26-29 Stede Bonnett. TBA. Southport 

NOVEMBER 

Charleston Ocean Racing Associ. www.charlestonoceanracing.org 

Club Racing every other Sunday. 

10 Double Handed Race. 

17 Charleston YC Big Boat. Charleston YC 

24 Turkey Regatta. 

Neuse Yacht Racing Association www.nyra.org 

2-4 Oriental. ODC. Etchells Mid Atl Championships 

10 New Bern. NYRA. Winter Race 2 

17 New Bern. FLT 8. Turkey Trot 

Lake Lanier. www.lakelaniersailing.com 

03 BFSC Fall Squall #4 (makeup) 

03-4 LLSC Miss Piggy One Design (E770, Sov 33) 

10 LLSC Whitecapper Regatta 

11 LARC Fall Series #2 / Bill Sears Series #4 (SSC host) 

17 LARC Fall Series #3 (AISC host) 

18 UYC Lanier Cup 

South Atlantic Yacht Racing Assoc. www.sayra-sailing.com 

3-4 Midlands Regatta. Junior Division. Open. CSC-SC. 

3-4 Fall 48. Flying Scots. LNYC. 

3-4 Miss Piggy Regatta. J/22, J/24. Soverel, Elliot. LLSC. 

3-4 Chapel Thrill. Jet-14. CSC-NC. 

10 ChYC. Big Boat Regatta. PHRF. ChYC. 

10-11 Carolina Keel Boat & One-Design Regatta. LNYC 

OCTOBER 

Charleston Ocean Racing Association. 

www.charlestonoceanracing.org 

Club racing Wednesday evenings 6p.m. 

Neuse Yacht Racing Association www.nyra.org 

6 Oriental. ODC. Neuse Solo Race 

13,14 Merrimon. MCBC. Jackass Regatta 

20 Oriental. ODC. Greens Creek Regatta 

27 New Bern. NYRA. Halloween /Winter Race 

OCTOBER 

3 Wed Nite Race. Indian River Yacht Club 

5 Fall Rum Race. Melbourne Yacht Club 



6 NFWSN–Women’s Regatta. North Florida Cruising Club 

6 Fall Series #2. Rudder Club 

6 Fall Race #3. East Coast Sailing Association–Racing 

7 Fall Race #4. Indian River Yacht Club 


13 Navy Day Regatta &Fall Series #3. Navy Jax Yacht Club 

13-14 J-24 District 10 Championship. Florida Yacht Club 

13-14 Boy Scout Island Cruise. East Coast Sailing 

Association–Cruising 


19 Fall Rum Race. Melbourne Yacht Club 

20 Fastest in the Forest Regatta. Epping Forest Yacht Club 

20 Santa Fe Regatta. Gulf Atlantic Yacht Club 

20-21 Florida Inland lake Championship. (Youth regatta for sailors 

8 - 18). Lake Eustis Yacht Club 

20-21 Fall Boat Regatta–Small Boats. Melbourne Yacht Club 

21 Off Shore Race. Ft. Pierce Yacht Club. 


26 Howl at the Moon. Halifax Sailing Association 


27 Fall River Race & Fall Series #4. North Florida Cruising Club 

27 J-24 Fleet 55 Boat of the Year Race 2. Florida Yacht Club 

26-28 Fall Boat Regatta–Big Boats. Melbourne Yacht Club 

27 WoW Regatta – Fall Series #3 & Halloween Party. Rudder Club 

27-28 Wave Southeast Championships. Performance Sail & Sport, 

Melbourne (beach cats) 

NOVEMBER 

3 Halifax Lung Association Boat Poker Run. Halifax Sailing 

Association 

3 Women on Water Regatta. Rudder Club 

3-4 Mid Distance Ocean Regatta. Port Canaveral Yacht Club 

3-4 Club Races. Lake Eustis Yacht Club 

4 Fall Series #6. Indian River Yacht Club 

4 Small Boat Racing. Melbourne Yacht Club 

10 Kings Day Regatta. Epping Forest Yacht Club 

10 Turkey Trot Regatta. Halifax Sailing Association 

10-11 14th Annual Southeast Regional MC Scow Championship 

Regatta. Lake Eustis Yacht Club. 

10-11 Hirams Haul. Performance Sail & Sport, Melbourne (Beach cats) 

10 Single-Handed Race. East Coast Sailing Association–Racing 

11 Fall Racing Series. Titusville Sailing Association 

11 Fall Women’s Race #5. East Coast Sailing Association–Racing 

11. Winter Rum Race. East Coast Sailing Association–Cruising 

17 Interclub Regatta. Florida Collegiate Sailing Association 


16-18 Kings Day Regatta; J/24, Melges 24. Florida Yacht Club 

16-18 Pinedaville Cruise. East Coast Sailing Association–Cruising 

17-18 Club Races. Lake Eustis Yacht Club 

17-18 No Frills Sunfish Regatta. Melbourne Yacht Club 

18 Fall Racing Series. Titusville Sailing Association 

18 Fall Series #7. Indian River Yacht Club 

18 Small Boat Racing. Melbourne Yacht Club 

23 Howl at the Moon. Halifax Sailing Association 

25 Winter Rum Race. East Coast Sailing Association–Cruising 

Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Association. www.bbyra.net 

OCTOBER 

6-7 Columbus Day Regatta 

13 Columbus Day Awards 

14 CGSC Annual Regatta - BBYRA PHRF#10 

20-21 CGSC Annual Regatta - BBYRA OD#10 

27 Conch Cup - MYC 

27 J/24 #10 - Flat Earth Society. 

NOVEMBER 

3 CRYC. Annual Regatta. BBYRA PHRF#11 

4 CRYC. Annual Regatta. BBYRA OD#11 

10 KBYC. 42nd Round the Island Race 

10-11 Star’s Schoonmaker Cup. CRYC 

17-18 PHRF. SEF PHRF. Championships 

24 J/24 #11. Flat Earth 

BBYRA 

CGSC 

CRYC 

MYC 

KBYC 

Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Association. www.bbyra.net 

Coconut Grove Sailing Club. www.cgsc.org 

Coral Reef Yacht Club. www.coralreefyachtclub.org. 

Miami Yacht Club. www.miamiyachtclub.net. 

Key Biscayne Yacht Club. www.kbyc.org. 

Boat of the Year 

races listed 

FLORIDA KEYS 

Key West Sailing Club. Every Saturday – Open House at the Key 

West Sailing Club. 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (305) 292-5993. 

www.keywestsailingclub.org. Sailboat Lane off Palm Avenue in 

Key West. Come by the club to sail. Non-members and members 

welcome. Wednesday night racing has begun for the summer season. 

Skippers meet at the clubhouse by 5:00 p.m. and boats start 

racing at 6:00 p.m. in the seaplane basin near the mooring field. 

Dinner and drinks afterward. 

Upper Keys Sailing Club. www.upperkeyssailingclub.com. 

Regular club racing open to all. 


OCTOBER 

6 LUKI Regatta - Portsmouth - bayside 

6-7 Columbus Day Regatta - PHRF - Biscayne Bay 

7 UKSC Columbus Day PHRF - bayside 

13-14 Black Betsy Regatta - PHRF - bayside 

20 Fall Series #2 - Portsmouth - bayside 

21 Oceanside Championship #3 - PHRF - oceanside. 

27 Halloween All-comers - bayside 

NOVEMBER 

3-4 MSYSP Championship 

10-11 MSYSP Naples. Fall Portsmouth. #3 

17-18 Dockmaster’s Regatta 

25 MSYSP Race Clinic 

30 Wave Nationals 

SOUTHWINDS Annual Online West Florida Race Calendar 

Posted Sept. 1 

For the past four years, Southwinds magazine has posted the annual 

race schedule/calendar (9/1/07 — 8/31/08) on its Web site for all 

racing in the central west Florida area from just north of Tampa Bay 

south to Marco Island. The calendar includes all scheduled races of 

the West Florida PHRF organization (www.westfloridaphrf.org), 

plus club races in the area and any others that boaters in the area 

would like to post. The Boat of the Year races are listed for all the 

areas of the West Florida PHRF organization. 

Contact editor@southwindsmagazine.com to list your race, 

although all yacht clubs that are part of the West Florida PHRF will 

already be included, although regular local club races must be sent to 

us separately. We do not have space to list all the club race dates, but 

we will list any club race that is regularly scheduled (for example: 

every Thursday evening at 6 p.m.) plus the contact to enter the race. 

We do not list races that are not open to the general public and that 

are limited to club members only. (We list club races that require a 

club membership or US Sailing membership.) We will list any other 

races, even if not sanctioned by a PHRF organization. Contact the editor 

with those races. 

We ask that you not just send us a link (we will not accept 

them), but send the following information: The regatta/race name, 

type of racing (PHRF, one-design and type boat, or ), race location, 

dates, sponsoring organization (club, sailing association, etc.), e-mail 

and/or phone contact and Web site (if applicable). 

The race calendar can be accessed through the racing pages 

link at www.southwindsmagazine.com. It is also the race calendar 

link at the West Florida PHRF organization (www.westflorida 

phrf.org) and many other sailing associations and yacht clubs in 

the area. 

Limited banner advertising is available on the race calendar 

page at very low monthly rates. Contact editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

or call (941) 795-8704. 

Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Friday evening races start in April. 

www.sarasotasailingsquad.com. 

Venice Sailing Squadron. Saturdays. First Saturday of each 

month, PHRF racing. Start at mouth of Venice Inlet. www.venicesailing-squadron.org 

OCTOBER 

6 Treasure Island Tennis and YC. Fall #3, PHRF 

6 Cortez YC. A Bay Race, PHRF (SBBOTY) 

6 Tampa Sailing Squadron. Rumgatta Regatta, PHRF 

7 Tampa Sailing Squadron. Rumgatta Women’s Regatta, PHRF 

7 Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Hula Cup, includes Sunfish 

Women’s States 

13 St. Petersburg YC. Leukemia Cup, PHRF (Concurrent with 

Fall Bay) 

13-14 St. Petersburg YC. Fall Bay Race, PHRF (SuncoastBOTY) 

13-14 Punta Gorda SC. Charity Regatta, One Design & Portsmouth 

13-14 Caloosahatchee Marching & Chowder Society. Kayusa Cup 

Race/Cruise, PHRF 

18-21 St. Petersburg YC. Rolex Osprey Cup, Women’s Match 

Racing. Sonars 

19-20 Naples Yacht Club. Offshore Distance Regatta, PHRF (SWF 

BOTY) 

20-21 Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Multihull Invitational & Stiletto 

Champs. (SBBOTY) 

20 St. Pete Sailing Assoc. PHRF 

20-21 Edison Sailing Center. River Romp, Junior Olympic Festival, 

One Designs 

20-21 Davis Island YC. J/24 Toberfest 

20-21 Lake Eustis SC. Florida Inland Lake Champs, Sailors 8-18 

24-28 St. Petersburg YC. Distance Classic to Fantasy Fest/Key 

West, PHRF 

26-27 Davis Island YC. Classic to Clearwater. PHRF (Suncoast 

BOTY) 

27 Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Great Pumpkin Regatta, PHRF 

27-28 Clearwater Yacht Club. Sunfish Regional Regatta 

NOVEMBER 

1-4 Strictly Sail Boat Show. St. Petersburg on the Causeway to 

The Pier. 

3-4 Clearwater YC. Clearwater Challenge, PHRF. 

(SuncoastBOTY) 

3-4 Gulfport YC. US SAILING Area D-South Alter Cup 

Qualifier, Catamarans 

3-4 Punta Gorda SC. Charity Regatta. (CHBOTY) 

10 St. Pete Sailing Assoc. Commodore’s Cup, PHRF 

10 Sarasota YC. Invitational, PHRF (SBBOTY) 

10-11 Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Flying Scot Nationals 

10-11 Treasure Island Tennis and YC. Catalina Race/Rendezvous 

10-11 Naples Community Sailing Center. Kid’s Regatta & Lasers 

10-11 Lake Eustis Sailing Club. MC Scow SE Championship 

17 Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Drumstick Regatta, PHRF 

17-18 Davis Island YC. Egmont Key Race, PHRF. (SuncoastBOTY) 

17-18 Clearwater Community SC. Carlisle Classic, Cats, Dinghies, 

Portsmouth 

17-18 St. Petersburg YC. Snipe State Championship 

17-18 Marco Island YC. Fall Regatta, PHRF (SWFBOTY) 

23 Davis Island YC. Old Shoe Regatta, PHRF 

24-25 Davis Island YC. Thanksgiving Regatta, All classes 

30-2 St. Petersburg YC. America’s Disabled Regatta, 

Paralympic classes 

Club Racing 

Bradenton YC. Winter Races starting in October until April. 

Sunday Races at 1:30 p.m. PHRF racing on Manatee River. For info, 

call Susan Tibbits at (941) 723-6560. 

Dunedin Boat Club. Monthly club racing. For more information, 

contact saraherb@aol.com. 

Edison Sailing Center, Fort. Myers. Sunfish and dinghy racing 

once a month, year-round 

john@johnkremski.com 

Port Charlotte. Third Saturday of month, year-round. pbgvtrax@aol.com. 

Wednesday Evening Fun Races 

Punta Gorda Sailing Club. Charlotte Harbor. Fall Series 

PYC. Every Wednesday of the Month, April thru October 

Sunday afternoon racing begins Sept. 9 through Nov. 18. 

www.pgscweb.com. 

See NORTHERN GULF COAST continued on page 84 








CLASSIFIED ADS 

Ads Starting at 3 Months for $25 

Place them on the Internet now for $10! Open to all Brokers, Businesses and Boat Owners 

• $25 for three months, 30 words. $40 for 40 

words. $50 for 60 words. 

• $50 for 30-word ad with horizontal photo. 

$65 with vertical photo. 

• Add $15 if vertical photo. Boats and item 

wanted ads included. 

• Add $5 to place on the Internet on 1st of 

month of publication. Add $10 to place ad 

early. No refunds. 

• Ads prepaid by credit card, check, or Internet. 

• $10 to make changes (except for price, e- 

mail, phone numbers, mistakes) in text. 

• The last month your ad runs will be in 

parentheses, e.g., (10/07) is October 2007. 

• Ad must be received by the 2nd Friday of 

Boats & Gear for Free 

Boats & Dinghies 

Powerboats 

Boat Gear & Supplies 

Boat Registration 

HELP WANTED 

_________________________________________ 

★ SAILING CLUB MANAGER ★ 

Sarasota Sailing Squadron Seeks Club 

Manager. Full time employment. Benefits 

Package Included. More Info at http:// 

tinyurl.com/2qt4a7. 

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR WANTED 

SOUTHWINDS is looking for a sales director to 

run sales program. Great sales percentage. For 

more info (requirements/job description), go 

to www.southwindsmagazine.com/adrepinfo.html. 

TOO LATE TO CLASSIFY 

See this section at the end of classifieds for 

ads that came in too late to place in their 

appropriate section. Contact us if you have 

a last-minute ad to place—we still might 

have time in this section. 

each month. Contact us if later to possibly 

get in the “Too Late to Classify” section. 

• E-mail ads and photos (as jpeg). If mailed, 

add $5 for typing or photo scan charge. 

DISPLAY ADS: 

Starting At $38/month. (941) 795-8704. 

Contact editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 

BROKERS: 

Photo and text ads only apply to this offer. $5 

to change your ad first 3 months. After 3 

months: $20 a month for a new ad or $15 to 

pick up old ad. Price changes and mistake 

changes free. Credit card must be on file if 

not a monthly display advertiser. 

Business for Sale/Investment 

Crew Available/Wanted 

Donate Your Boat 

Engines For Sale 

Help Wanted 

Lodging for Sailors 

Boom off a C&C 29. Measures 10’3” long by 

3.5” high. Free but pick up only in West Palm 

Beach, FL. (561) 655-9555. (9/07) 

BOATS & DINGHIES 

_________________________________________ 

Winslow Life Raft 2004. 4-person super-light 

vacuum-packed standard offshore life raft. 

Basic SEP packed inside. $2200 (727) 798- 

9966 

Port-a-Boat folding boat. 12 Ft. $400 OBO 

(727) 585-2814. Largo, FL. (9/07) 

TO PLACE AN AD 

1. On the Internet, go to www.southwindsmagazine.com/classifieds. 

Paypal: Put your ad 

in the “Message to Seller” area that will come 

at the end when you process the payment, 

or e-mail editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 

Photo must be e-mailed. 

2. E-mail, Phone, Credit Card. E-mail editor@southwindsmagazine.com 

with text in e- 

mail (or Word document). Call with credit 

card number (941) 795-8704. 

3. Mail your ad in. PO Box 1175, Holmes 

Beach, FL 34218. Check or credit card number 

(with name, expiration, address). Enclose 

a SASE if photo wanted back. 

Musicians 

Real Estate for Sale or Rent 

Sails & Canvas 

Slips for Sale or Rent 

Too Late to Classify 

2006 Compac Eclipse. 20’ 10” LOA. R/F 

Genoa, spinnaker, quick rig system, Bimini, 

sail cover, Porta-a-Potty, stove, sink, four 

berths, galvanized trailer, etc. stored inside, 

as- new condition. $21,000. (561) 439-7664. 

West Palm Beach. (10/07) 

1975 Catalina 22. Ready to sail. Retrofit 

summer (2006). Too much new to list in ad. 

E-mail for brochure. hytedin@hotmail.com. 

Trailer, new Tohatsu 6hp., warranty. (850) 

443-7451. $4000 firm (12/07) 

BOATS & GEAR FOR FREE 

_________________________________________ 

SOUTHWINDS is starting this section for people 

who have boats they want to get rid of, 

whether on land or in the water. List your boat 

for free with up to 50 words and a horizontal 

photo. Editor reserves the right to not list or 

discontinue any boat or gear he chooses. 

“Boats wanted” listings only by approval of 

editor. Ads will run for three months and then 

be canceled if not renewed. Contact us by the 

2nd Saturday of the month preceding to 

renew or for new ads. Boats must be in the 

Southern coastal states. No businesses. 

16’ Precision 165 Sailboat. This 2004 

Sailboat is in perfect condition. Includes 4- 

stroke Yamaha 2.5 HP Outboard. Boat is built 

in Palmetto, FL. See Web site for all details and 

retail price, www.precisionboatworks.com. 

This boat lists new for $10,995. I’m asking 

$9000 including motor. This boat can be 

seen at Regatta Pointe Marina, 1005 Riverside 

Drive, Palmetto, FL. Talk to the Harbormaster 

(941) 729-6021. (12/07) 

Mold to build traditional-shaped 18’ canoe. 

Very sturdy split mold. Boats were built under 

the name Clearwater Canoe. Ellie’s Sailing 

Shop. Clearwater. (727) 442-3281. (12/07) 



22’ 1968 Westerly Cirrus. Stout little cruiser. 

Yanmar 2005, Navik self-steering vane, standing 

headroom (6’), enclosed head. Lying in 

NE Florida. Ready to go. Excellent condition. 

$12,500. (228) 324-6504. (12/07) 

1968 Pearson Lark 24. Sails and all. 

$1000/OBO.Sea Scouts boat with too deep a 

keel for us to use enough. 4’ draft. call David 

Zimmer (Skipper) (727) 638-2346. The driest 

boat we ever had! (12/07) 

1985 Catalina 27 Tall rig with Universal 

diesel, 4’ draft. wheel steering, Hood furling, 

head w/shower, Bimini, autopilot, VHF, GPS, 

depth, galley, cockpit table, sleeps 5. Reduced 

for quick sale $12,900 (941) 792-9100 

1983 S2 9.1 Racer/Cruiser. 3 headsails, spinnaker, 

GPS,VHS, depth sounder, extra sheets, 

gas stove, ice box, enclosed head w/shower, 

teak table. Asking $13,950. (941) 729-5401. 

(12/07) 

1987 Catalina 30. Beautiful condition. Fresh 

Imron hull. New SS Bimini, canvas, lifelines, 

and 7K A/C. Recent upgrades include autopilot, 

GPS mapper, wind and depth, and cold 

plate refrigeration. Avon 10.2 RIB w/15hp 

Yamaha and trailer. $34,000. Biloxi, MS. (228) 

669-0092. (10/07) 

_________________________________________ 

30’ Newport 1973. Diesel. Good working 

condition. Upgrade. Documented and registered. 

Ready to cruise to Bahamas. Extra sails. 

Best boat for this price. $9,950 OBO. Located 

at Dania. (305) 331-3317. (10/07) 

31 Cal (1983) Original owner, complete refit 

all new 2004 - standing rigging, running rigging, 

wiring: Universal 16 diesel, cold plate 

Refrigeration - shore power and engine driven, 

pressure water, Garmin chartplotter, 

Furuno radar, 2 blade Maxi Prop. Exceptional 

condition. Too many goodies to list, $35,000. 

rffmtg@hotmail.com. (727) 460-6868. 

31’ Catalina 310, 2004. Just taken in trade on 

new Catalina. In-mast furling, air conditioning, 

Autopilot, ST-60 wind/speeddepth, VHF 

w/Ram Mic, custom Bimini/windshield, 

microwave, nice condition $89,900 Massey 

Yacht Sales. (727) 824-7262 St Petersburg, or 

(941) 723-1610 Palmetto, FL. 

27 Watkins 1982. Fully equipped, clean, safe, 

solid shallow draft cruiser. Full galley, dinette, 

ice box, stove. Head w/shower. Sleeps 5. 

Recent refit. Rebuilt Yanmar diesel. New bottom. 

Roller furling. Wheel. Bimini. Extra sails. 

Slip available. Asking $14,900. Randy: (727) 

323-5300. (11/07) 

28’ S-2 Sloop 1979. Yanmar diesel, 4’6” draft, 

wheel steering, auto pilot and Tri-Data 

Autohelm instrument new 2002, 12V refrigerator, 

good sail inventory, quality construction 

and proven design. Asking $23,000. For 

more info, call (727) 560-0901. 

1984 Islander 30, with freshwater-cooled 

Yanmar diesel. Very clean and well maintained 

by owner. Harken roller furling with genoa, jib 

and storm jib. Main sail with dutchman system. 

Edson wheel and cockpit table. 

Anderson ST winches. Navico autopilot. 

DataMarine depth. ICOM VHF, compass. 

Hiller stove and oven. Adler Barbour refrigeration. 

Pressure water. Hella fans, great interior. 

Battery charger, 2 anchors with chain and 

rode, 110/30 amp shore power. USCG safety 

equipped. A must-see boat located on 

Longboat Key, or go to www.cortezyachts.com. 

Asking $26,500. Call 941-792-9100. 

32 Gulf Pilothouse, complete refit: all new 

2005- standing running rigging, performance 

sails, wiring, circuit breakers panel, water 

heater, holding/macerator, fuel tanks, 12v/110 

standing fridge-freezer, propane cooktop, 

infared broiling, 3 batteries, autocharger, 

17000 btu heat/air, Bimini. $39,500. 

sailsetc@aug.com (904) 810-1966. (10/07) 

$50 – 3 mo. 

Ad & Photo 

941-795-8704 

30’ PEARSON $10,900 

30’ Pearson, Racer/Cruiser Sloop, 1976, 

red, Excellent cond., 2 mains, 3 jibs, 3 spinnakers, 

spinnaker pole. Tiller, marine radio, 

stove, new head, sleeps 4, reduced to 

$10,900. No Storm damage. Madeira 

Beach, FL. terrycshan@aol.com. (727) 581- 

4708 or (727) 244-4708. (12/07) 



Searunner 37 Phaedrus. New main, water 

maker, solar, Yanmar 2GM, new rigging & 

lifelines LPU paint, new bunks & galley cushions. 

Much more. Just back from western 

Caribbean $49,999. captpondo@yahoo.com. 

(985) 966-3504. (10/07) 

Morgan O.I. 33. Full keel, only 3’ 11” draft. 

Yanmar 38hp diesel w/only 950 hrs. The Out 

Island series by Charlie Morgan is well known 

for their exceptional interior volume. The shallow 

draft make it an excellent choice for cruising 

the Keys and Bahamas. Loaded with new 

equipment and upgrades including: Autopilot, 

color chartplotter GPS, electric windlass, 

wind generator, propane stove, refrigerator, 

marine air conditioning, dinghy with new OB, 

flat screen TV, stereo and more. Owner has 

new boat ordered. Here is a chance to get a 

great boat for a great price. Located 

Marathon. Asking $27,500, but let’s hear your 

offer. Cortez Yacht Sales (941) 792-9100. 

33’ Cape Dory 330 Cutter 1986, Universal 

diesel 28 hp, 2002 electronics, roller furling 

jib and staysail, liferaft ‘04, dinghy and 9 hp 

Nissan, bimini and dodger ‘05, A/C, extensive 

inventory and upgrades $59,500. St. Augustine, 

FL. (866) 610-1703 www.sayachtsales.com 

Caliber 35’ 1994. Original owner, very nicely 

maintained, all records, must see to appreciate. 

Asking $99,900. Open to offers. Contact 

SCI Yacht Sales at (727) 823-7400, or Jacek at 

(727) 560-0901. (10/07) 

2000 Hunter 380 with upgraded 40hp 

Yanmar and only 400 hours. A beautiful crisp 

new-looking boat with broad beam and walk 

thru transom. Great cockpit with stern rail 

seats and integrated helm console. Genoa 

Pro-furl system with Navy Sunguard. In-mast 

roller furling main. Seldon spars and Lewmar 

winches. Heavy 316 Stainless Steel radar arch 

with main sheet traveler. Navy Sunbrella full 

Bimini. ST-60 instuments, ST 5000 Auto pilot 

and VHF radio. Garmin GPS, RayMarine radar 

and stereo at Nav station. Grunert refrigeration 

and freezer. 3 burner propane stove and 

oven. Built in microwave. King size aft cabin. 

This boat comes ready to sail away. Asking 

$128,500. Call (941) 792-9100, or go to 

www.Cortezyachts.com. 

33’ Tartan Sloop 1980. Shoal Draft. Universal 

diesel 24 hp, 990 hrs, owner of 15 years has 

done constant upgrading, full electronics 

w/radar, AC-heat, roller furling main & headsail, 

a beauty in and out. Asking $33,000. St 

Augustine, FL. (toll free) (866) 610-1703. Will trade 

for 40’+ sailboat. www.sayachtsales.com. 

36’ Morgan Out Island Sloop 1974, Perkins 50 

hp, 2003 electronics, upgraded sails and 2003 

standing /running rigging, Generator, custom 

drive platform, lots of ugrading,ready to cruise, 

$39,900. St. Augustine, FL, (toll free) (866) 610- 

1703. www.sayachtsales.com. (12/07) 

2001 Beneteau Oceanis 381. Air conditioning, 

Autopilot ST6000, speed and depth, Ray 

Chart 425 plotter, new Bimini, electric windlass, 

new bottom paint. Only $128k. Call 

Eastern Yachts at (561) 844-1100 

39’ Fair Weather Mariner Sloop 1986, Robert 

Perry design, 42 hp Mercedes diesel, sleeps 6, 

Great headroom and extra long berths, 

tremendous storage, high quality in and out, 

Burmese teak tongue and groove, a must see, 

asking $126,900 St Augustine, FL. (Toll free) 

(866) 610-1703 www.sayachtsales.com. (11/07) 

ADVERTISE YOUR BOAT 

STARTING AT $25 FOR 3 MO 

2” Display Ads 

Starting at $38/month 


941-795-8704 



Privilege 39 1988 Cat. 4 cabin, 2 head. 

Yanmar 27hp. Major refit 2005. New UK sails, 

AC/heat, Onan genset 6.5kw, Autohelm 

7000, new interior, Corian counters, teak sole, 

Bimini/dodger $174,900. (321) 917-5863. 

palexy@cfl.rr.com. (10/07) 

43’ Beneteau 1986. Two cabin lay-out, original 

owner, K/CB (5’6” - 8’6”), Perkins 4-108, 

Two AC units, reverse cycle, LONG list of sail 

inventory. Proven Winner! Great racer/cruiser. 

Asking $82,900. For more info, call (727) 

560-0901. 

2005 Albin 31 TE. Twin Yanmar 370 turbos - 

wolf in sheep’s clothing!!! 53k less than 

replacement!!! New warranties apply. Options 

package worth 18k. Never titled. Most powerful 

31 on market. Call today and let’s talk 

dream boats. (561) 844-1100. 

1979 Bristol 40 Yawl. 40 HP Perkins Diesel, 

Harken Roller Furling, Main, Mizzen, 100% 

Jib, 140% Genoa, Epoxy bottom, cockpit 

table, propane stove, windlass, CQR anchor 

w/ 150’ chain, Fortress anchor, classic sailing 

yacht. Asking only $59,000. Call Major Carter 

at ( 941) 792-9100 or go to 

www.cortezyachts.com 

1996 Beneteau 44. Center Cockpit, 2 staterooms, 

Volvo-Penta 78hp, low hours. New 

2004/05: Dodger & Bimini, electronics(C80 

Chartplotter, 2007 Chip SE & Bahamas, GPS 

125, etc), VHF, UK Sails, batteries, chain & 

rode, interior cushions. Ready to cruise again 

from Brunswick, GA. Very good condition. 

Details at www.SOULSENDER44.COM. $162, 

000. call (707) 343-1504 

47 Crowther Catamaran Project. Main structure 

near completion. Very fair hulls. Details @ 

http://home.tampabay.rr.com/2muchfun/. 

Located in Palmetto, FL. Looking to get $40k. 

Call David at (813) 645-0670. (10/07) 

43’ Californian Cockpit Motoryacht/ 

Trawler 1985, T/ Cat 210 diesels, very economical 

to run, 8 kw Westerbeke generator 

w/ 784 hrs., Marine Air AC/Heat, Custom aluminum 

Hardtop with new enclosure, roomy 

double stateroom, double head, no teak 

decks, aluminum fuel tank, $87,500 Will 

consider sailboat in partial trade. St 

Augustine,FL. (866) 610-1703. www.sayachtsales.com 

Bayfield 40 Hull # 34 full keel 5’ draft, cutter 

ketch designed by H.T.Gozzard built in 1984. 

Exceptional condition with lots of new gear. 

Harken roller furling on all sails. Marine air, 

WS, WD, depth, VHF w/remote, SSB, 

cd/radio, autopilot, chartplotter, radar, 

dinghy, life raft $109,000 Call Major Carter or 

visit www.Cortezyachts.com (941) 792-9100 

POWERBOATS 

_________________________________________ 

_________________________________________ 

Schucker 440 Trawler. Bruce Van Sant’s trawlerized 

Tidak Apa. Spend summer safely 

moored in Luperón. Fit out with Bruce’s help. 

Asking $70,000. Get complete information 

and photos at www.LuperonCruising.com. 

(809) 821-8239. (10/07) 

41’ Morgan Out Island 1972. Repower 52 

hp Westerbeke, NEW mast (Selden in-mast 

furling), new running and standing rigging, 

new chain plates, new lifelines, new mainsail, 

new Adler Barbour refrigerator, Heart invertor, 

electric windlass, etc.! Completely refurbished 

interior. Must sell. Asking $57,500 (239) 699- 

2833. (11/07) 

2005 Albin 26 TE. Seeking an owner enjoying 

evening sunsets by the water. This 26 likes 

weekending in Bahamas and looking good in 

the process. Great galley, she can cook and 

has a great head. Powered by Volvo diesel!!! 

88.5k. (561) 844-1100. 

Subscribe to SOUTHWINDS 

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BOAT GEAR & SUPPLIES 

_________________________________________ 

Used Boat Gear for Sale. CQR 25 & 45#, 

Bruce 16 & 66#, Hookah by Airline, 55# 

Folding Fisherman anchor, Para-tech 15 

w/Rode, Edson Rack & Pinion steering 

w/wheel, new awning w/side curtains. 

Nautical Trader, 110 E. Colonia Lane, 

Nokomis, FL. Shop online at www.nauticaltrader.net. 

(941) 488-0766. 

$50 – 3 mo. 

Ad & Photo 

941-795-8704 



2007 4-stroke 15hp Sail (like Yamaha) long 

(20”) outboard with 20 hrs. Excellent condition. 

Also large quantity of Sails from 43.5 ft sail 

boat. For sail measurements/inventory, call 

(702) 882-5468. Located in St Pete, FL. (12/07) 

Stainless Steel Cleats. 316 SS Made in USA. 

NO offshore junk. One pair of 10” cleats for 

$32, (includes shipping in Florida). One Pair 

of 8” cleats for $24 (includes shipping in 

Florida). (239) 209-6171. wilcompton@earthlink.net. 

(11/07) 

CABIN HOT ODORS WHOLE-BOAT VEN- 

TILATOR drives out heat, cooking, head and 

mildew odors. Five-minute air changes 

w/16,000 cubic ft of fresh air moving through 

your cabin every hour. Lightweight portable 

unit easily attaches and detaches from your 

existing hatch at your convenience. No boat 

modifications required. Made in USA. SUM- 

MER SPECIAL - $199.95 – SAVE $60 Please see 

our video at – www.FreshBreezVenitlator.com. 

(11/07) 

Honda 15 hp Outboard. New 2001, short 

shaft, manual start, new prop, excellent condition, 

paid $2600, sacrifice $115 0/OBO. 

Also FOLLOW ME TV—watch satellite TV on 

the hook, cost $950, sell $350OBO. Cape 

Coral, 

_________________________________________ 

FL. (239) 699-2833. (11/07) 

Commercial sewing machines. For sale Phaff 

545, lg bob, str stch/walk ft, rev. w/new table 

& motor $1,095. Adler 267GK, lg bob, str 

stch/walk ft, rev. w/table & stand $1,095. 

Consew 226, rev. str stch/walk ft, w/table & 

stand $999. Phaff 230 Zigzag $395. Tampa 

Bay 

_________________________________________ 

Area. Call (941) 721-4471. 

Hobie 18 Mast for Sale. (We think it is a 

Hobie 18). Measures 26 feet. Top 7 feet is carbon. 

Serial # 38272 Coleman Co. $60. Near 

Sarasota, FL. (941) 966-4737. 

BOAT REGISTRATION 

_________________________________________ 

EASIEST, FASTEST MONTANA BOAT REGIS- 

TRATION Pay no sales tax-no attorney necessary. 

$$ Save Thousands on boat registration $$. 12 

years experience – REGISTRATION IN 5 DAYS! 

(877) 913-5100 www.mtvehicles.com. (10/07) 

BUSINESS FOR SALE/ 

INVESTMENT 

_________________________________________ 

Marine canvas and mobile sailboat rigging 

business for sale in Port Charlotte, FL. 

Established 14 years. $30,000. (941) 627- 

4399. 

_________________________________________ 

Pbgvtrax@comcast.net. (11/07) 

FOR SALE: Florida East Coast Sail Loft. 

Established 10 years. Well-equipped, extensive 

inventory and client list. Walking distance 

to several marinas. New sail design, construction 

and repairs. Custom canvas work, exterior/interior, 

and cushions. Strong used sail 

inventory. Also dealing with architectural soft 

product. Respond to 

_________________________________________ 

LOFT220@hotmail.com. 

Marine Business for Sale. Used marine supplies 

business for sale. The Nautical Trader in 

Florida is for sale. Buy, consign, sell quality 

used boat stuff. Steady growth for over 12 

years. Profitable, turn key, unique, fun business. 

www.nautical trader.net. Opportunity 

like this is very rare. Call today or e-mail Joe at 

(941) 488-0766, or Joe@nauticaltrader.net. 

CREW AVAILABLE/WANTED 

_________________________________________ 

Visit SOUTHWINDS boat and crew listing 

service at southwindsmagazine.com 

DONATE YOUR BOAT 

_________________________________________ 

Donate your boat to the Safe Harbor Boys 

Home, Jacksonville, Fl. Setting young lives on a 

true path. Please consider donating your working 

vessel. http://boyshome.com/ or call (904) 

757-7918, e-mailharbor@boyshome.co 

HELP WANTED 

_________________________________________ 

★★ SAILING CLUB MANAGER ★★ 

Sarasota Sailing Squadron Seeks Club 

Manager. Full time employment. Benefits 

Package Included. More Info at http:// 

tinyurl.com/2qt4a7. 

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR WANTED 

SOUTHWINDS is looking for a sales director to 

run sales program. Great sales percentage. For 

more info (requirements & job description), go 

to www.southwindsmagazine.com/adrep 

info.html. 

Yacht Broker Wanted. Growing company, 

with years of experience, in Tampa Bay looking 

for a team player. Great company support. Call 

(727) 823-7400, or Yacek at (727) 560-0901. 

See Classified Information 

on page 78 



Office Manager Fort Lauderdale Sailing 

Organization. Seven Seas Cruising 

Association, a non-profit serving 9000+ cruisers 

worldwide, seeks mature, exp. person to 

run our busy 3-person home base. Job 

involves supporting Board of Directors, managing 

budget and accounting, directing staff and 

volunteers, and event planning. Job description 

and application at www.ssca.org. Email 

resume 

_________________________________________ 

to membership@ssca.org. (12/07) 

Massey Yacht Sales Mobile Broker Do you 

prefer to sell yachts from your home office 

If you do and you are a proven, successful 

yacht sales professional, we have positions 

open for Florida west and east coast. Take 

advantage of the Massey sales and marketing 

support, sales management and administration 

while working from your home selling 

brokerage sail and power boats. Call Frank 

Hamilton (941) 723-1610 for interview 

appointment 

_________________________________________ 

and position details. 

Writers, Reporters, Articles, Photos Wanted. 

SOUTHWINDS is looking for articles on boating, 

racing, sailing in the Southern waters, the 

Caribbean and the Bahamas, and other articles 

on the following subjects: marinas, anchorages, 

mooring fields, disappearing marinas/boatyards, 

marinas/boatyards sold for condos, 

anchoring rights, sailing human interest stories, 

boat reviews, charter stories, waste disposal— 

and more. Photos wanted, plus we want cover 

photos (pay $65) of both race and non-race 

subjects, but about sailing. Cover photos must 

be 

_________________________________________ 

very high resolution and vertical format. 

Writers and Ideas Wanted on Waterways 

Issues. SOUTHWINDS is looking for writers, 

acting as independent subcontractors to 

research and write articles on subjects discussed 

in the Our Waterways section. Must 

be familiar with boating, good at research, 

have computer skills, high-speed Internet 

access and work for little pay. Most important, 

must have a passion for the subject and 

want to bring about change and improvement 

of boaters rights, waterways access, 

and disappearing marinas and boatyards— 

with lots of ideas and energy to help bring 

about improvements through various 

means. We would also like to get an organization 

going to promote these interests if 

you can help. Writers, photographers, cartoonists, 

jokers, magicians, philosophers and 

others of questionable professions may 

apply. Send info to: editor@southwindsmagazine.com. 

MUSICIANS 

_________________________________________ 

The Bilge Boys acoustic duo is available for 

your regatta, sailing events and yacht club 

parties. We play beach/island/classic rock 

and lots of Jimmy. Book now for the upcoming 

sailing/holiday season. West Florida. 

www.freewebs.com/thebilgeboys or (727) 

504-2328. (11/07) 

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE OR RENT 

_________________________________________ 

“SAILBOAT WATER” DUPLEX. Redington 

Shores in Pinellas Co., Tampa Bay. Just off the 

Intracoastal Waterway. Dock with 2 slips to 

accommodate two 40’ boats. $525,000. Bob 

Sackett (727) 527-7373 Hofacker & 

Associates, Inc., Realtors. (10/07) 

Waterfront Condo for Sale w deeded dock. 

Clearwater Bay close to high bridge inlet. 

Pool, Tennis Ct+. 2 Bd, 2 Ba. 1530 sq. ft. Tour: 

www.circlepix.com/W8SMMH. $449,900. 

Call Martha Vasquez, Century 21 Sunshine. 

(727) 244-9404. mvasquez@c21sunshine.com 

New construction luxurious 3/2.5 marina 

condo overlooking the Indian River 

(Intracoastal Waterway) in Melbourne, FL. 

Indoor parking, pool, short walk to historic 

downtown Melbourne. Contact Craig Howell 

(407) 864-2590. (10/07) 

SAILS & CANVAS 

_______________________________________ 

SLIPS FOR SALE OR RENT 

_________________________________________ 

LODGING FOR SAILORS 

_________________________________________ 

Ponce de Leon Hotel 

Historic downtown 

hotel at the bay, across 

from St. Petersburg 

YC. 95 Central Ave., 

St. Petersburg, FL 

33701 

(727) 550-9300 

FAX (727) 896-2287 

www.poncedeleon 

hotel.com 

TOO LATE TO CLASSIFY 

_________________________________________ 

2004 Catalina 34 MK II, loaded, ready. 

Equipped for cruising/racing. Everything you 

need in a boat. Two sets of sails, one to cruise, 

another to race. Like new. $127,500. www. 

Cortezyachts.com for listing. 941-792-9100. 

40’ deep-water slip situated in prestigious 

Harbortown Marina on the Intracoastal 

Waterway, Jacksonville, FL. Access to ocean 

nearby. Water, insurance, dock carts, etc. 

included in $145/mo fee. $120,000. Call 

Katherine (904) 422-8262. 

Subscribe to SOUTHWINDS 

$24/year • 3rd Class 

$30/year • • 1st Class 

Subscribe on our secure Web site 



NORTHERN GULF COAST continued from page 71 

Fort Walton Yacht Club. April thru October 

OCTOBER 

6 Commodore’s Cup Race # 6 - Navy YC, 

6 Hospitality Regatta (one design) - Jackson YC, MS 

6 Shearwater Regatta (one design) - Ocean Springs YC, MS 

6-7 GYA Multihull - Ocean Springs YC, Ocean Springs, MS 

12-14 WFORC (West Florida Ocean Racing Circuit) - Pensacola YC, 

13-14 Fish Class Worlds - Buccaneer YC, Mobile, AL 

13-14 Performance Nationals - Key Sailing, Pensacola Beach, FL 

14 Pink Ribbon Regatta - Lake Pontchartrain Women’s Sailing Assoc., New Orleans, LA 

20 Closing Regatta - New Orleans YC, New Orleans, LA 

20 Gumbo Regatta (one design) - Lake Arthur YC, LA 

21 Schreck Regatta (Capdevielle) - Pensacola YC, 

27 Halloween Regatta - Pensacola Beach YC, 

27 LPRC (Lake Pontchartrain Racing Circuit), New Orleans, LA 

27 Anniversary Regatta - Mobile YC, AL 

27 Cat Caper Bluewater Bay Sailing Club. Niceville, FL 

27-28 GYA Fish Class Regatta - Buccaneer YC, Mobile, AL 

NOVEMBER 

3 PYC Championship Race #4. Pensacola Yacht Club 

3-4 LPRC (Lake Pontchartrain Racing Circuit), New Orleans, LA 

3-4 Rondinella (one design). Bay Waveland Yacht Club, Bay St. Louis, MS 

10 Cruising/Raft-up. Blue Angel Airshow at Ft. McCrea, Pensacola Yacht Club 

10 Double Handed Regatta. Fairhope Yacht Club, Fairhope, AL 

10 Monk Smith Regatta. Bay Waveland Yacht Club, Bay St. Louis, MS 

10 J-Fest. New Orleans Yacht Club 

10 Jubilee Regatta. Pensacola Yacht Club 

10 Great Oak Regatta (youth). Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA 

10-11 Individual Flying Scott Regatta. Pensacola Yacht Club 

10-11 Opti MS State Championship. Bay Waveland Yacht Club, Bay St. Louis, MS 

17 PYC Cruising Couples Regatta. Pensacola Yacht Club, Pensacola, FL 

17-18 FSSA Cajun Country Championship (one design). Lake Charles Yacht Club, 

Lake Charles, LA 

17-19 Opti Midwinters (youth). Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA 

18 Turkey Regatta. Jackson Yacht Club, Jackson, MS 

CRUISING 

continued from page 86 

my vote as a never-be-without. Two 

different sources—a Sea Frost rep and 

the refrigeration repair guy who was 

working on Carl’s boat—both suggested 

gluing the plastic housing back 

together, rather than trying to replace 

it. With much trepidation and little 

hope, Jim first used PVC glue on the 

plastic, then smeared 5200 around the 

whole connection. The zinc may never 

come out again, but that’s a project for 

another day that would be another 

two years away. This day, the connection 

didn’t leak, the condenser was 

protected, and the perishables were 

staying cold. 

For the time being, we were done 

with “routine” maintenance. In a couple 

of days, we started cruising again. 

So what exactly is cruising Well, my 

definition goes like this: Any day that 

the boat floats, the engine runs, and 

the head flushes is another day in paradise. 

Sailing to exotic destinations, 

sunny skies and fair winds, breathtaking 

sunsets, functional refrigeration—they’re 

all just the discovery of 

buried treasure. 

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 

TELL THEM YOU SAW IT IN SOUTHWINDS! SOUTHWINDS provides these lists as a 

courtesy and asks our readers to support our advertisers. The lists includes all display advertising. 

Adventure Cruising & Sailing School . . . . .32 

American Marine & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Annapolis Performance Sailing . . . . . . . . . .49 

Antigua Surveying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 

Aqua Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 

Atlantic Sail Traders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 

Banks Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 

Beachmaster Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Beneteau Sailboats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BC 

Beta Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 

Boaters Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,34 

Bo’sun Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 

Capt. Jimmy Hendon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Capt. Josie Sailing School . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Catalina Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 57 

Clearwater Yacht Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 

Compete-At Regatta Management . . . . . .61 

Coral Reef Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 

Cortez Flea Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 

Cortez Yacht Brokerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 

Cruising Direct Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 

Defender Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 

Dockside Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 55 

Doyle Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Dunbar Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Dwyer mast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 

Eastern Yachts/Beneteau . . . . . . . . . .9,73,BC 

Edwards Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76,77 

E-marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32,82 

Festiva Sailing Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 

Flying Scot Sailboats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 

Fourwinds Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 

Full Sail Yacht Delvieries/Capt. . . . . . . . . . .33 

Garhauer Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 

Glacier Bay Refrigeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 

Global-Weather Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 

Gulf Coast Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . . . .73,78,79 

Gulf Island Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Hobie Cats/Tackle Shack . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 

Hotwire/Fans & other products . . . . . . . .32 

Hurricane Hoops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 

Innovative Marine Services . . . . . . . . . .33,59 

Island Packet Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 

Island Yachting Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 

Island Yachting Centre/Greg Knighton . . .74 

J/Boats - Murray Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . .72,BC 

JR Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 

JSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 

Leather Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 

Lighthouse Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,83 

Massey Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . .IFC,4,9,43,IBC 

Masthead Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . .3,9,75,83 

Mastmate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Melbourne YC Fall Regattas . . . . . . . . . . . .63 

Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau . . . . . . . .72,BC 

National Sail Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 

Nautical Trader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 

North Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26,83 

Outbound Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 

Palm Beach Sailing Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 

Porpoise Used Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Premiere Racing Key West Regatta . . . . . . .10 

Quantum Sarasota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 

RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke . . . . .20 

Regata del Sol al Sol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 

Regatta Pointe Marina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 

Rparts Refrigeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 

Safe Passage School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 

Sailing Florida Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Sailing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 

Sailors Wharf boatyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 

Sailrite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 

Sailtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 

Salty John Marine Products . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Sarasota Invitational Regatta . . . . . . . . . . .28 

Sarasota Youth Sailing Program . . . . . . . .18 

Sarasota Youth Sailing Program 

donated boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 

Schurr Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 

Scurvy Dog Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 

Sea School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 

Sea Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,82 

Shadetree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

Solar Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 

SSMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

St. Augustine Sailing School . . . . . . . . . . .33 

St. Barts/Beneteau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BC 

St. Pete YC Leukemia Cup & Fall Bay Race .3 

Strictly Sail Boat Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 

Suncoast Inflatables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 

Suncoast Multihull Rendezvous . . . . . . . . .29 

Sunrise Sailing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 

Tackle Shack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 

Tampa Sailing Squadron Youth Program . .22 

Tartan C&C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 

Tideminders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 

Turner Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

UK Halsey Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 

Ullman sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

US SAILING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 

US Spars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 

Watersports West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Weston Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 

Winchmate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Windpath Fractional Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . .44 

Wyvern Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Yachting Vacations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 


ADVERTISERS INDEX BY CATEGORY 

TELL THEM YOU SAW IT IN SOUTHWINDS! SOUTHWINDS provides these lists as a 

courtesy and asks our readers to support our advertisers. The lists includes all display advertising. 

SAILBOATS – NEW AND BROKERAGE 

American Marine & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Beneteau Sailboats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BC 

Boaters Exchange/Catalina Sailboats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,34 

Catalina Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,57 

Cortez Yacht Brokerage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 

Dunbar Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Eastern Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,73,BC 

Edwards Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76,77 

Flying Scot Sailboats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 

Gulf Coast Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73,78,79 

Gulf Island Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Hobie Cats/Tackle Shack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 

Island Packet Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 

Island Yachting Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 

Island Yachting Centre/Gregg Knighton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 

Massey Yacht Sales/Catalina//Hunter/Albin . . . . . . . . .IFC,4,9,43,IBC 

Masthead Yacht Sales/Catalina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,9,75,83 

Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72,BC 

Outbound Yachts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 

Sarasota Youth Sailing Program donated boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 

St. Barts/Beneteau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BC 

Suncoast Inflatables/ West Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 

Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 

Tampa Sailing Squadron Youth Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 

Tartan C&C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 

Turner Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 

Watersports West/Windsurfing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

GEAR, HARDWARE, ACCESSORIES, CLOTHING 

Annapolis Performance Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 

Boaters Exchange, boats, gear, etc. Rockledge FL . . . . . . . . . . . .9,34 

Bo’sun Supplies/Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 

Coral Reef Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 

Defender Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 

E-Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32,82 

Fourwinds Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 

Garhauer Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 

Hotwire/Fans & other products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Hurricane Hoops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 

JR Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 

JSI, New JSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 

Leather Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 

Masthead Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,9,75,83 

Mastmate Mast Climber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 

New JSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 

Rparts Refrigeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 

Salty John Marine Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Shadetree Awning Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

Solar Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 

Solar Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 

SSMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, Precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 

Tideminders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 

Watersports West/wet suits, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Weston Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 

Winchmate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

SAILS (NEW & USED), RIGGING, SPARS, RIGGING SERVICES 

Atlantic Sail Traders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 

Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida . . . . . . . . . . .59 

Cruising Direct/sails online by North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 

Dwyer Mast/spars, hardware, rigging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 

Innovative Marine Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,59 

Masthead/Used Sails and Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,9,75,83 

Doyle Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

National Sail Supply, new&used online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 

North Sails, new and used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26,83 

Porpoise Used Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Quantum Sails and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 

Schurr Sails, Pensacola FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 

US Spars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 

SSMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

Sunrise Sailing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 

UK Halsey Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 

Ullman Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

CANVAS 

Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida . . . . . . . . . . .59 

Quantum Sails and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 

Shadetree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 

USED SAILING/BOATING SUPPLIES 

Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign, West Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 

Scurvy Dog Marine/Used, Consign, Pensacola FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 

SAILING SCHOOLS/DELIVERIES/CAPTAINS 

Adventure Cruising and Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Capt. Jimmy Hendon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Capt. Josie Sailing School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Full Sail Sailing Deliveries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

Safe Passage School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 

Sailing Florida Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Sarasota Youth Sailing Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 

Sea School/Captain’s License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 

St. Augustine Sailing School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

US SAILING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 

Wyvern Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

MARINE ENGINES AND ACCESSORIES 

Beta Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 

RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 

RESORTS, MARINAS, RESTAURANTS, BOAT YARDS 

Regatta Pointe Marina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 

Sailors Wharf Boatyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 

FRACTIONAL SAILING/CHARTER COMPANIES 

Festiva Sailing Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 

Sailing Florida Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Sailtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 

Windpath Fractional Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 

Wyvern Charters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Yachting Vacations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 

MARINE SERVICES, SURVEYORS, INSURANCE, TOWING, BOAT 

LETTERING, ETC. 

Antigua Surveying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 

Aqua Graphics/Boat Names/Tampa Bay or buy online . . . . . . . . . .58 

Beachmaster Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 

MARINE ELECTRONICS 

Dockside Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45,55 

Sea Tech/Navigation/Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,82 

BOOKS/CHARTS/VIDEOS 

Global Weather Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 

Yacht Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Palm Beach Sailing Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 

REGATTA ADVERTISEMENTS, BOAT SHOWS 

Regata del Sol al Sol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 

Catalina Rendezvous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 

Clearwater Yacht Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 

Melbourne YC Fall Regattas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 

Premiere Racing Key West Regatta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 

Sarasota Invitational Regatta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 

St. Pete YC Leukemia Cup & Fall Bay Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 

Strictly Sail Boat Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 

Suncoast Multihull Rendezvous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 

Advertisers’ List by Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 

Alphabetical Advertisers’ List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 

Marine Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 

Regional Sailing Services Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58-59 

Subscription Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 

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Someone once said that the definition 

of cruising is “fixing your 

boat in exotic places.” I don’t know 

about the “exotic places” part. In my 

experience, it seems that cruising is 

“fixing your boat”—period. Anyplace. 

We were in St. Petersburg for 

about two weeks fixing things. First, 

it was the dinghy. Over the previous 

several months, increasing amounts 

of water were finding their way into 

our RIB dinghy. Every time we used 

it, Jim would have to pump out the 

water that had accumulated in it 

since the last trip. He got very tired 

of getting his feet wet, especially 

during the winter. And we always 

had to be careful that our stuff stayed 

off the floor. All this hassle was putting 

a serious crimp in our enjoyment 

of our AB Rigid Inflatable Boat. 

So when we had the opportunity to 

stay at a friend’s dock— 

without an exorbitant 

marina fee—we 

decided the time 

was right to fix 

the leak. 

Of course, 

the first order 

of business 

was to find 

the leak—or 

leaks, as it 

turned out. 

After hauling 

the dinghy out of 

the water with Carl’s hoist and filling 

it with water, several cracks in 

the fiberglass hull were evident. 

Culprit number one. It also became 

apparent that some of the Hypalon 

areas near the fiberglass needed 

patching. Culprit number two. 

Culprit number three was a separation 

along the seam where the floor 

meets the sub-floor inside the 

dinghy. 

So a plan of attack was in order. 

First, remove all the bottom paint 

from the fiberglass and all the barnacles 

from the Hypalon tubes. Bottom 

paint is supposed to wear off eventually, 

right I think the stuff on the 

dinghy bottom would have still been 

there in the next millennium. The 

barnacles, too. It took a quart of paint 

remover and about three days of 

scraping and sanding to remove the 

paint. Then came the fiberglass 

repair with the attendant faring and 

sanding—another couple of days. 

Cruising 

Defined 

By Alice Rutherford 

The Hypalon patches, once we made 

three trips to the local AB dealer for 

materials, took another full day. 

Finally, the bottom was ready for 

paint. We were determined to cover 

the Hypalon tubes with bottom paint 

to avoid a future battle with barnacles. 

However, the fiberglass bottom 

paint wasn’t appropriate for the 

Hypalon, and the Hypalon bottom 

paint wasn’t good enough for the 

fiberglass. Hence, two different 

paints on the two bottoms. 

Three days after starting 

to paint, the 

dinghy 

finally went 

back into 

the water. 

After this experience, 

I didn’t 

think I could 

ever conceptualize 

doing a bottom 

job on 

Caloosa Spirit, 

our 42-foot sailboat. 

Incidentally, culprit number 

three would remain at large. The 

seam separation showed itself to be a 

project with a life of its 

own—one that we 

decided we wanted no 

part of at the time. Once 

in the water, 

the dinghy didn’t 

leak, so we 

were confident 

that we made 

the right 

choice. 

Dockage 

without a 

fee being a rare 

thing, we also took the opportunity 

to do some other maintenance jobs 

while being tied up. We got a referral 

from Carl on having the bottom 

cleaned. After scraping for over an 

hour, the diver reported that our bottom, 

especially the propeller, looked 

like Barnacle Central. No wonder 

our cruising speed had dropped to 

less than five knots! He also 

observed that our bottom paint 

should last another year. After the 

dinghy bottom job, that news was 

almost as good as hearing from the 

Prize Patrol. 

Next was engine maintenance. 

The 50-horsepower Yanmar had 

some serious (read “expensive”) 

service two months previous, involving 

new engine mounts and packing 

the stuffing box. This time, though, 

we just needed to do the routine 

things—change the oil, replace fuel 

filters, and inspect the impeller and 

refrigeration condenser zinc. Oil and 

fuel filters—we had a handle on 

those. The impeller and refrigeration 

zinc were new challenges, however. 

After struggling to remove the 

impeller for an hour or more, Jim discovered 

that it was oversized and 

needed replacement. In went the 

new one—the correct size—and the 

engine purred nicely. 

Now, Jim had completely forgotten 

about the need to replace the 

refrigeration zinc until Carl suggested 

it. So it was all Carl’s fault. With 

the help of manuals and how-to 

books, Jim located the zinc and proceeded 

to remove it. The replacement 

went smoothly, and, just to be 

sure it wouldn’t leak, he gave it an 

extra twist. Oops! Where did that 

cracking noise come from You mean 

that brass fitting went into a plastic 

thread In the refrigeration 

condenser 

This was looking 

like a $2 job with 

a $500 finish, not 

to mention the 

$200 spent the 

day before on 

provisions— 

perishable provisions, 

that is. 

And not to mention 

the weeks of 

sitting still, without 

any refrigeration, 

stretching 

out before us—weeks when we 

should be cruising. 

The 3M Company has a marine 

gold mine in 5200. It’s been said that 

many boats are actually glued 

together with the stuff. Well, it’s got 

See CRUISING continued on page 86

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