David Hein’s F16 sail shows its Falcon. Hein came from Rocky River, OH, to sail in the Buzzelli. Photo by Rachel Harvey.
Corsairs fighting it out in close quarters. In the foreground, on the right, is Bob Neff on Consensus. In the middle is Randy Smyth on his Farrier25c, and on the far left is Tom Reese on Flight Simulator. Photo by Rachel Harvey.
after his uncle Bob Buzzelli. The Corsair/Farrier class showed some competitive racing with both Randy Smyth, on his F25c, and Tom Reese, on Flight Simulator, a Corsair 28R, each taking three firsts. With only three points difference, Randy took first and Tom second. Third place was a tie between Larry Geller on Third Tri, a Corsair 750 Sprint, and John Novak on Overdo, a Corsair 28R, with each getting 24 points. The Portsmouth class was great fun to watch with tight starts. Sean and Kathleen Tracy on their Hobie 16 Kat Toyz took a bullet every single race. Peter Bogacz on SuperCat 19 took a second, closely followed with only three more points by Angelo Mehtala on a Hobie 16. James Burns, the fourth boat, went in when his traveller broke during the first race but made it back out for the rest of the regatta. The F18 class was won by Olympic 2016 hopefuls Sarah Newberry and John Casey. Sarah took four bullets while second-placers Jeremy Herrin and Erick Weinstein took five bullets. There was a protest between the two first-place contenders that was lost by Jeremy, which cost him the first place. Matt McDonald finished third. You can read Jeremy’s regatta report at www.naf18.com. This was an excellent preview of the excitement we will see next year when the Squadron will be hosting the F18 Americas the week after the Buzzelli. The F16 class was quite the spectacle to watch, with 11 boats flying colorful sails. Ravi Parent, who came up through the Sarasota Youth Sailing program, placed first with four bullets, Sam Armington took second, and Sandra Tartaglino—with a mere half point behind—took third. The Weta class was quite competitive, as well, with also a mere three points separating the first-placer, Mike Mead, from the second-placer, Robert Bilthouse, followed by Dick Hitchcock of Weta Florida, one of the regatta sponsors. The WindRider class saw great participation with more than half the group racing, while the rest were enjoying the wonderful cruising grounds of Sarasota Bay. Bruce Matlack,
fleet captain, stole the show by taking seven firsts of 11 races. Jim Rodenkirk, who drove down from Wisconsin, took second, closely followed by another local sailor, Brian Dahms, in third. WindRider, also one of the sponsors, was well-supported by owner Robert Sanberg and the company’s presence. Charlie Barmonde, Stiletto-cartwheel-acrobat—in real life a ceramic artist—created and presented the wonderful Stiletto Trophies. He also presented the Robert Buzzelli Perpetual Trophy to Bill Fisher—who sailed his Stiletto 30, Two Sexy—for his lifetime sailing accomplishment. This year, only one trophy went to New York and one to Wisconsin, and the rest remained in Florida. The food was good, the racing was great, and the venue the best at “The World’s Greatest Sailing Club”—the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. More details are at the regatta website at www.BuzzelliMR.com. For photos, go to http://thatsme. zenfolio.com/buzzelli2012.
News & Views for Southern Sailors
Next year’s Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous will be on Oct. 17-20, 2013—the third weekend in October.
SOUTHWINDS December 2012
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