Lightning Circuit: Miami Midpoint

North Sails rep Greg Fisher and his team of JoAnn Fisher and Steve Davis will be keeping us updated on the this year's Lightning Southern Circuit, which begins in Savannah, GA (March 11-12), and continues on to Miami, FL (March 14-15) and St. Petersburg, FL (17-19).

(Wednesday, March 15 - Miami, FL) After the traditional stop at EZ Kwik and the breakfast buffet at Coral Reef YC, 50 boats were soon on the racecourse Tuesday for the beginning of the Miami Midwinter Regatta. It was a typical beautiful day on Biscayne Bay, and although the breeze was a bit around to the right at 190 degrees, it was still up to 15mph at times. While many were under the impression that the breeze might fade right, and therefore protected the right side, the left proved to be the way to go, especially at the top end of the beats.

Jeff Linton and David Stark once again traded close finishes with Jeff ending the day with a 6,2,1 and David with a 8,1,2. Neal Fowler is close behind with a 1,6,5. Taylor Lutz, the Optimist Champ, really was on a roll with a 3,7 and was very speedy, especially downwind. Unfortunately a 21st in the last race dropped him back a bit overall. Deb Probst, past Highlander National Champ, was on fire as well with a 2,4 in the first 2 races. However, an unfortunate capsize in the 3rd race drop her out of contention. Our team, with my wife JoAnn steering, had a fun day...though we had a bit of trouble getting off the start line. Unfortunately I was one of those feeling that protecting the right would be wise. Steve will be the tactitician today!

As if the racing wasn’t enough, a great pasta dinner at Coral Reef YC proved to be an adequate set-up for Amy Linton (Jeff's wife and expert tactician) and her mischievous ways. How about a couple of hula-hoops to make a bunch of sailors feel totally inadequate? Contest MC Brian Hayes got folks moving, though we all agreed that he might want to redirect his professional interests toward being a ringmaster for Big Time Wrestling. I am not sure you'd call the ensuing competition the North American Championships, but there was some serious attempts at keeping it swinging for more than 2 seconds.

To say the men were weak in this event would be fair...in fact only Victor Lobos posed any competition to the women. He "hula’d" for a solid 46 seconds - a very proud moment for us men, and it earned Victor a standing ovation. Neil Fowler, while unable to keep up with Victor, won the masters contest. However, the women, lead by Chantal Leger (who also cuts hair - see earlier report), Toby Moriarty, and Judy Gorman were quite impressive. Toby stopped when she got bored. Judy won after 2 minutes! But it was Chantal who had all the moves.

It did seem that three long races on Tuesday took their toll on the group, and the gang was slightly more subdued than usual.... and many retired early (or earlier) as a result. Wednesday calls for two more races, with reports that the wind will climb into the 20's. That should make for a quick day, and then we’ll be off to St Pete tonight! We'll have a final report tonight! - Greg Fisher

Click here for results (scroll down to bottom to view)

View all Circuit reports:
Savannah, Miami (One, Two, Three), St Pete (One, Two, Three, Four)