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PARKING IN SARASOTA<br />
I crewed in the Sarasota Yacht Club Invitational Regatta in<br />
November, and questions about going around one mark<br />
have been going around and around in my mind ever since.<br />
The mark was set in light winds, with a very long rode<br />
that angled out from it at a very shallow angle. John Lynch<br />
on Summertime was protested for hitting the mark, but the<br />
protest was dropped when John said he hit the rode but not<br />
the mark. Is the rode a part of the mark, and should he have<br />
been penalized<br />
Then Mauro Harto on MOJO hit the mark. He didn’t<br />
just hit it; he parked on it while they untangled the rode from<br />
their rudder. Should he have had that “parking time”<br />
reduced from his race time because getting “chock blocked”<br />
wasn’t his fault And then along came John Proctor on<br />
Baringa, and he caught and dragged the mark for some distance.<br />
He was a true Corinthian and dropped out of the race<br />
to return the mark to its original position. Should he have<br />
suffered a DNF for repairing the RC’s faux pas And, in the<br />
interim, other protest flags flew up against boats which didn’t<br />
round the mark but instead made their turn where the<br />
mark should have been.<br />
Could the race committee be protested against because<br />
it seemingly caused all of the incidents that disrupted placings<br />
in the race<br />
I don’t know. I’m not a scholar on the rules, but I am<br />
considered a scholar on the new Sarasota Bayfront Mooring<br />
Field, and I see a similarity. The city spent over $1,000,000<br />
and has 35 moorings in a 114-acre area; most municipal<br />
moorings cost less than $7,000 each and take only about a<br />
quarter of an acre. So...I’m thinking: Maybe the Sarasota<br />
City Commission was used as the race committee<br />
If so, there could be good news for the citizens of<br />
Sarasota. The Commission could see fit to have all of the<br />
parking meters that were installed and quickly uninstalled<br />
downtown—at a another huge expense to the taxpayers—<br />
placed on the mooring balls. Then, if the mooring field<br />
doesn’t fill to 98 percent capacity, pay its way and the private<br />
management agreement is terminated, it could be managed<br />
by the police officers of the city’s marine patrol, or<br />
meter maids in dinghies rowing around issuing parking<br />
tickets. And the Sarasota YC Race Commission could install<br />
meters on the turning marks and collect quarters from boats<br />
like MOJO who park there.<br />
If they do that I’ll rename my boat, Cool Hand Luke.<br />
Harmon Heed<br />
Sarasota, FL<br />
Harmon –<br />
I am sure your story about the boats’ hitting, dragging and parking<br />
on the mark during the regatta is true, but the story about the<br />
City Commission ordering parking meters and then removing<br />
them, I find hard to believe. Some other person spreading this<br />
unbelievable rumor told me they cost about $1000 apiece, and<br />
there were 553 of them. There is no way they would spend half a<br />
million on parking meters and then get rid of them less than a year<br />
later. You made that up.<br />
And then spend thousands more to remove them Cool Hand<br />
Luke would have done it for free. He went to jail for just removing<br />
a few.<br />
What’s the world coming to<br />
Editor<br />
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club<br />
Hosts and Sponsors three prestigious<br />
Tampa Bay & Gulf Races 2013<br />
All three regattas qualify for the SPORC Trophy<br />
(The St. Petersburg Ocean Racing Challenge)<br />
and the Suncoast Boat of the Year<br />
Special one-time entry fee if entering all three regattas at the same time —<br />
Pusser’s Rum Cup, Suncoast Race Week and Crown Cars Regatta<br />
Go to the SPYC Web Site Regatta Page for Details<br />
32nd Annual<br />
SPYC Invitational<br />
Pusser’s Rum Cup<br />
March 2<br />
Originates at & returns to SPYC downtown location.<br />
2013<br />
29th Annual<br />
Crown Cars Regatta<br />
March 23<br />
Location will be the SPYC at Pass-a-Grille location<br />
Racing in the Gulf of Mexico.<br />
35th Annual Suncoast Race Week<br />
Presented by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in cooperation<br />
with Bradenton Yacht Club & Davis Island Yacht Club<br />
April 4-7<br />
Venue to be announced in the Notice of Race.<br />
All NORs will be on the<br />
St. Petersburg Yacht Club Website at www.spyc.org and<br />
West Florida Yacht Racing Association<br />
at www.wfyra.org<br />
News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS February 2013 13
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