.tv
Who's sailing?
It's November and Thanksgiving is the holiday that's on our minds so I'm thankful I happened upon some sailors that are out there having fun on the water despite the circumstances.
Here's a description from 10 years ago: http://www.sailinganarchy.com/fringe/brokenarrow.htm and here's a quote from this website about who's sailing.... in this Regatta:
- ' Peoples' disabilities ranged from brain disorders (that fits a lot of you sailors),
leg and arm amputees, genetic abnormalities and blindness.' -
The St. Pete Sailing Club was busy this Nov. 2011, even though the free sailing program was shut down due to Boat Show being in town, however, the IFDS Regatta is 'on' so there's some action brewing. The participating sailors come from all over(I talked with some guys from Canada and some gals from England) and they're getting ready for their races on the upcoming weekend.
One guy I spoke with was tinkering with sailing gear(stuff I called jewelry when I was liveaboard sailor) the entire time I chatted with him . He sat in a van that was strewn with various sailing gadetry with his wheelchair parked nearby. He had driven to St. Pete, Sonar sailboat in tow, to compete in this race. Wow! He made me feel like a slacker.... Anyway, while chatting he mentioned other places they've raced, like Charlotte Harbour, as he described the conditions they sailed in last year....30k wind....on a 23' sailboat....with real handicaps(i hope that's politically correct)...yeah that was extreme enough to capture my attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I chatted up these happy folks and as you can tell by their smiles and wind/sun kissed faces they've all been sailing recently....
The 2012 NOOD St. Pete Race provided some sailing fun this February and I was able to see a bit of it on the final day which brought in some "fun" weather for the racing sailors. I noticed a lot of smiles on their faces and asked a few about bruises which they all happily agreed to receiving. Happy sailing!!!! ????
Sunday brought choppy conditions on Tampa Bay and supposedly wind gusts in the 20s but I felt it was a bit more later in the day. Of course there's no "reefing" in this kind of weather for these kind of sailors.... (see side article/quote:)
Here are a few on their way in....
It' was an overcast day with wind, gusts, sprinkles, light rain....Great!
Here are some links:
http://www.sailingworld.com/nood-regattas/st-petersburg
and for sailing photos:
http://thephotoboat.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-st-pete-nood.html
Who's sailing??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
