ISSA High School Single Handed Championship
for the
2011 Cressy Trophy
St. Petersburg Yacht Club & SAISA
October 30-31, 2010
October 30 -31: 36 of the top high school Laser and Laser Radial sailors in the country, each representing one of 7 districts arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida to compete for the ISSA 2010 Singlehanded Championship. Host district for the regatta was the South Atlantic Interscholastic Sailing Association (SAISA) and St. Petersburg Yacht Club was the regatta venue sailing out of the St. Petersburg Sailing Center. Twelve races were completed in the Laser division and eleven in the Radials in two days on Tampa Bay in a variety of conditions. Principal Race Officer, Carole Bardes, and Regatta Chairman, Tom Wallace with an army of race committee volunteers did a fantastic job of getting all the races completed in sometimes challenging conditions.
Practice races were held on Friday in a very light breeze (4 - 6 knots). At the start of racing on time at 10:30 AM Saturday, the wind velocity was 14 – 16 knots and slowly decreased in the morning. The breeze held at 5 – 7 knots until mid-afternoon out of the northeast. Support Coaches and Parents watched the racing from the St. Pete Pier and sailors were allowed to approach from the finish to the pier to communicate after each race. Sailors were back at the dock by about 5:00. 9 races were completed in the Radial class and 10 in the Laser class the first day. At the end of the first day of racing, Nevin Snow of Cathedral Catholic High School, PCISA was winning the Lasers and Ian Barrows of Antilles School, SAISA was on top of the Radial fleet.
A regatta banquet was held Saturday evening at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
On Sunday morning the wind conditions were too light to start racing and the fleet was postponed on shore until 12:16 when there was sufficient breeze to send them back out. A southeasterly wind increased from 5 – 9 knots and provided for 2 more races in each fleet before the cutoff time of 3:00 pm.
In every race, there was intense competition between the leading sailors in each division. In the end, Nevin Snow of Cathedral Catholic High School, PCISA won the Laser fleet in a tie breaker over Chris Stocke of Sarasota High School, SAISA in second and Michael Zonnenberg, H.B. Plant High School, SAISA was a close third. Only eight points separated the top two competitors in the Radial division with Ian Barrows of Antilles School, SAISA winning first, J.Mitchell Kiss of Black River Public School, MWISA in second and Jack Swikart of Rumson-Fair Haven High School, MASSA.
Thank you to Laser Performance for supplying the boats for this event and to St. Petersburg Yacht Club for their hospitality and excellent race management.
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