This Tell Tales will also serve as a Notice of Race and provide Sailing Instructions for the annual Crow's Nest Regatta. The SI's are very similar to those for the Jim Pique Memorial Regatta. In addition, there are other items of interest for all hands.

• The Crow's Nest Regatta will be held on Roberts Bay on Saturday, Oct. 6. An informal registration will start at 0830 at which time sailors will rig their boats and put them in the water as soon as possible and sail your boats over to the Higel Park dock. A skippers' meeting is scheduled for the Pram Shed at 0930. There will be as many morning races as we can run, including a race in for lunch. Please bring your own lunch.

• Racing will resume in the afternoon. I would like to have a total of seven races so we can have a throw out, but the last one will be another race in to Higel Park. No races will start after 1600. We should be done by 1700.

• The starting and finishing line will be between the faded red flag on the race committee boat (Whaler No. 1) and an orange buoy. A three-minute sound signal starting system shall apply but flags will be shown as well. If a general recall is signaled for any class, that class will start after any waiting classes have started.

• There will be three starts: Portsmouth, using a blue flag; Red White and Blue using the Opti flag, and the Ernest Green Fleet, using a green flag. The round an end rule designated by the I flag shall apply if necessary.

• All classes will race a modified trapezoid. All marks, which shall be orange buoys shall be rounded to port. Portsmouth skippers will sail two laps, with a closed gate on the first lap, while both Optimist fleets will sail only one lap.

• Awards will go to the top three in each division. However, they will be presented at a special luncheon at the Crow's Nest Restaurant on Saturday, Oct. 13, beginning at 12 noon. We will have regular sailing that day, but our lunch break will be at the Crow's Nest. Sailors will eat free, but others will be charged $10 each. We need to give the restaurant a count, so please let Jabbo know this Saturday how many of you will be eating lunch at the awards ceremony.

• Those who plan to compete at the Beach Romp at Fort Myers Beach need to sign up Saturday, which is the deadline. So far, only person has put her name on the list. The boat load will be Saturday, Oct. 13 -- same date as the luncheon.

• The Dunedin Cup Regatta went very well. We had a great northeasterly breeze and sailed six races, three in the morning and three in the afternoon. Our sailors had a picnic lunch on one of the spoil islands. Then parents and siblings joined us for dinner at Sam's Seafood after a pool party at the motel where Jabbo was staying, near the Dunedin Marina.

• RWB results were: 1, Cara Patete, 8; 2, Marissa Phillips, 13; 3, Paul Kreider, 15; 4, Evan Langer, 24. Green Fleet results were: 1, Jonathan James, 6; 2, Andrew Sosa, 13; 3,Stefan Johnson, 21. The Dunedin Boat Club and the Dunedin Kiwanis Club, co-sponsors of the 23rd annual event, provided sailors with T-shirts and other goodies and even had a big banner, welcoming the Venice Youth Boating Association. Many thanks go to Celeste Patete for driving the 12-boat trailer to the regatta and to Tony Langer for fixing the flat that the trailer developed on the beach by the boat club.

• A few of our sailors have had to miss regattas or series races because of school work, and as much as we would love to have you sailing, we fully support your parents decisions. School work and grades must come first. We know that many of you have lots of homework and projects, but you need to budget your time accordingly so you won't miss any sailing.

• Speaking of regattas, please do not sign up unless you know you are going. And check with your parents first so that there is no misunderstanding. There have been a couple of cases where a sailor signs up and then discovers that his or her parents have other plans. But what is worse is when we load a boat and the sailor does not come. Barring some sort of emergency, that should not happen. We don't go to that many regattas, so make them count.

• If a sailor goes to a regatta independently (meaning the who group does not go), we will award him or her regatta points instead of giving you an excused or unexcused absence. However, you must participate in the regatta and not simply go to watch. And while we wish you well, where you finish in a regatta does not have any bearing on your series races. For regatta points, we give you an average of your race results that you acquire when you compete in a series race.

• Portsmouth standings in the fall series are: 1, Kyle D'Arcangelis, 7; 2, Sarah Vogelson, 8; 3, Jackie Sims, 11; 4, Mallory Phillips, 11; 5, Amanda Watson, 12; 6, Bryan White, 12; 7, J.P. Jaquith, 13; 8, Samuel Dolby, 15.

• RWB standings in the fall series are: 1, Cara Patete, 5; 2, Austin Smith, 14; 3, Paul Kreider, 14; 4, Alicia Muscato, 18; 5, Evan Dacey, 19; 6, Evan Langer, 24; 7, Chloe Dietrich, 24; 8, Marissa Phillips, 28; 9, Tyler Thorpe, 32.

• Green Fleet standings are: 1, Garrett Lawlor, 9; 2, Stephan VerHulst, 13; 3, Jonathan James, 13; 4, Ashlyn Weed, 13; 5, Sami Tornese, 14; 6, Aubrey Khachetoorian, 14; 7, Zach Jordan, 15; 8, Andrew Sosa, 23; 9, Stefan Johnson, 23.