TELL TALES 22 (Mar. 28, 2008)

· In spite of the rainy weather, the Jabbo Gordon Regatta was a tremendous success. We had 99 entries and Ed Baird, helmsman for Alinghi, the America’s Cup winner, was there with his family from St. Petersburg. However, Tackle Shack did not make it after all. But many thanks go to all the sponsors, parents and friends who helped with what has become a monumental event.

· The results have been sent to Cec Cerutti, our webmaster and they should be on our website soon. Meanwhile, Stephan VerHulst finished fourth in the Green Fleet and Aubrey Khachetoorian came in eighth out of 32 boats. That’s almost as many as we used to have for the entire regatta. Cara Patete was fifth in the Red, White and Blue Optimist competition.

· Kyle D’Arcangelis won the Sunfish, while Samuel Dolby crewed for Bob Hill as they placed second in the Laser 2 category. Several former VYBA members did well in other fleets.

· This Saturday (tomorrow) will be regular sailing, but those who are planning to race in Sailfest at Sarasota next week (Apr. 5-6) need to sign up and be prepared to load their boats again. Since Sailfest is one of our major events, there will be no sailing here that Saturday, Apr. 5.

· There will be no sailing here during Spring Break because (hopefully) most of the boats will be on the 12-boat trailer headed for Sailfest. Also some of our instructors will not be available. Next year, if the school schedule allows it, we may have optional sailing during the week.

· Jabbo will be away from the Pram Shed most of next week because he is teaching a Level 1 (small boat) instructor course at Sarasota, Monday through Thursday. You may be able to reach him on the VYBA cell phone (468-1719), but please leave a message if he does not answer.

· Another reminder that the Florida Optimist State Championships will be held in conjunction with the annual Clark Mills Regatta in Clearwater on Apr. 12-13. A sign up sheet is posted.

· Three people -- Beth Anderson, Sheila Sosa and Bill Ward – responded to our plea for a copy of Tell Tales 3. It has been posted on the website already for your reading enjoyment. Thank you.

· So far, we have 15 youngsters registered for the summer program. We would like to have about 85 more. So, please tell your friends and neighbors. There are plenty of openings in all sessions.

· We received only two responses to our 420 and “graduate” Optimist courses that Bryan White will teach during the first four weeks of the summer. Plans are to have the 420 session during the first two weeks and Optimist classes during the second two weeks unless there is a problem.

· Another picture of Jonathan James appeared in the Friday-Saturday edition of the “Gondolier” as a result of his award winning historical essay for the Daughters of the American Revolution. Interestingly, his birthday will be Thursday, Apr. 3. Happy birthday and congratulations, again.

· Stu Gilfillen, director of Sarasota’s Youth Sailing Program, is planning on doing some practices on the Manatee River and that might give us an opportunity to do what we used to call a “Sail Away”. For example, a few years ago, we loaded the trailer and went up to a lake in the Lakewood Ranch area and did some sailing. It even developed into a regatta.

· Stu is also looking at a trip to the Scotia Bank Regatta in St. Thomas this coming summer and if there are some VYBA sailors who would be interested, they could join in the fun.

· This Tell Tales will be a little shorter this week and we probably will not have one next week.