2nd Annual Boca Ciega Yacht Club Bikini Cup, Gulfport, FL, May 11 After almost 50 years, the traveling Bikini Cup lands for a second year in Gulfport By Ellen Henderson, Chair, 2013 Bikini Cup Regatta
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lthough the Bikini Cup held at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club in Gulfport, FL, on May 11 was titled as the “2nd Annual,” the Bikini Cup in the Tampa Bay area has a history that goes back decades. It all started in 1964 with the inaugural Bikini Cup Regatta hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. It was the era of the Beach Boys and the “Itsy, Bitsy, Teeny, Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot…” SPYC eventually changed the event name to the Darlene Clark Challenge. On June 25, 1967, Windjammers of Clearwater initiated its first Bikini Cup Regatta. They raced in the Optimist Pram Fleet out of the Maritime Youth Center on Clearwater Beach. In November ’67 the Ladies Pram Fleet became the Windlasses, racing in Clearwater until 1974, when they moved to the Dunedin Pram Fleet headquarters. Led by Capt. Shirley Zinn in 1981, the Windlasses became independent from the Windjammers. In 1984, Bay Racing Chair Nancy Hood revitalized the Windjammers’ Bay Racing Program. With more women racing in the club’s program, the Bay Bikini Cup participation started to grow. Meanwhile, wives, girlfriends and female friends of the big boat owners, as well as a few female boat owners, raced in the Gulf off Clearwater Beach, and the Windjammers Gulf Bikini Cup was established. There was a big shakeup in 1986, when a male boat owner was observed helping to set the whisker pole. This was a clear violation of the rule of no physical assistance from the
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Miandros, A Pearson Wanderer 30, skippered by Corrine O’Donnell, took second in the All-Female Crew division. Photo by Dan Chesnut (owner of Miandros).
male owner, unless it was an emergency. After much debate and a vote by the membership at two different consecutive monthly meetings, the Windjammers allowed that in the next Bikini Cup Race in
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