Mount Dora Annual Regatta
April 21-22, 2001

by Mindy Strauley

Each year I look forward to the Mt. Dora Regatta.  We head to Mt. Dora each April, mostly to have fun in a great town, with the actual racing being secondary.  This has also become an annual adventure for the "Dunedin Windlasses", a group of Florida women who sail weekly out of Dunedin.

Typically a Mt. Dora regatta consists of the Sunfish class finding some fault with the race committee, some yelling at those trying to run the race, and the ultimate protest of the race committee.  This year was not different.

In reading the race instructions, everything that was complained about in the previous two years was clarified in bold letters this year.  I thought, "maybe we would have an uneventful two days on the water."  But no, that would have been boring.  Three incidents stick in my mind:

• First up, the five-minute sequence in the instructions was arbitrarily changed to 3 minutes and written on a board on the race committee boat.  You had to take notice this on your own, because there was no signal, so you needed good eyesight to be aware of the switch.  (Thank god for Lasik surgery!)   Some were late to start due to this. Oh well!
• As the first race is in progress, the lead boats (John, Paul, and myself) were heading toward the leeward mark asking each other ---how many times were we to go around (we knew all races would be windward-leeward courses but the number of roundings would be signified by the RC).  As we pass by the pin boat we ask them.  They responded, "I don't know, wait a minute and I will call the race committee."  Well, if Paul and John weren't going to sit there luffing for an answer, then either was I.  We kept sailing and decided among ourselves to go once around (there was no course posted on the committee boat).  John is in the lead and probably not trusting Paul and I to go once around.  So, as he approaches the finish he luffs in front of the race committee trying to confirm the course.  Well as Paul nearly passes John, John goes for the once around finish, whew!
• Lastly, imagine not being able to make the pin on starboard tack for 5 out of the 7 races (the committee boat had a slight drifting problem... on Sunday, they brought out two anchors).  This forced everyone to start on port, so you can imagine the dangerous close calls we had.

To sum it up, winds were 8-15mph throughout the weekend.  No gators were sighted, even with a few capsizes. No sore throats were reported and, most importantly, all had a good time on and off the water.

When Paul and I returned home from our Mt. Dora adventure, we received a letter from the race organizer, Martin Zonnenberg.  He wanted to thank the Sunfish class for attending the event and ask what could they do to increase Sunfish participation next year.  I plan to recommend that they do not change a thing, and challenge each and every Sunfish sailor reading this story to attend next year's Mount Dora adventure.

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