The new Offshore Sailing Team at USF St. Petersburg aims to equip students with skills and safety knowledge that will benefit them beyond college.
The team holds practice every Monday and Friday at 3:30 p.m., and participates in regattas on the weekends using waterfront-provided J-24 keel sailboats that range from 20 feet to more than 40 feet in length.
This past weekend, several sailors from USFSP participated in a regatta here in St. Petersburg. After a tough day of racing in a little breeze, they finished third in a competitive fleet. While the team has only raced an all-USFSP boat in two regattas this season, members have been regularly visiting the podium while sailing on boats owned by members of the community. Many more regattas are planned for this spring and summer, including team races at Hampton University and Christopher Newport University this weekend.
“We are currently working to raise funds in order to participate in more regattas,” said Kendall Johnson, one of the club’s two public relations specialists. “We are also practicing to race to the Keys and possibly Mexico.”
Practicing for these extensive regattas requires hard work, dedication and teamwork.
“We accept anyone on the team, and encourage students with a passion for sailing to try it out,” said Paul Perry, the vice commodore of the team. “Newcomers are welcome. We have sailors with years of racing experience on the team, while we also have sailors who haven’t set foot on a sailboat before this season. It’s a challenge to improve both platforms at the same time, but everyone seems to enjoy teaching the newer sailors with an eye towards the future. They just might have to practice for a bit before they can hop into the longer distance races.”
“We are fortunate to have a great relationship with local sailors,” he said. “After our very first race, several of our sailors were approached with an opportunity to race on a J-40 the next day. One was able to join and since then, I have had boat owners contacting me practically every weekend requesting sailors for upcoming races.”
Perry will be participating in a race from St. Petersburg to Ft. Meyers this Memorial Day Weekend. This long-running race has been a tradition since the 1940s. It involves a 100-mile course starting near the St. Petersburg Pier and ending in San Carlos Bay near Ft. Meyers. Though he hasn’t raced that distance before, Perry feels prepared.
“I mean sailing is sailing,” said Perry. “Whether it is 10 miles or a hundred, you’re still sailing as fast as you can in a boat on the water. The only difference is the length of the course and a few minor things in between.”
Though it is not yet confirmed, the team hopes to have a showing in the 2015 Alice Petrat Bone Island Regatta this summer. It is a 188-nautical-mile race from St. Petersburg to Key West, which takes approximately 48 hours of constant sailing to complete.
The team also hopes to place members on boats in the Regatta Del Sol next spring, an annual race to Mexico.
“It’s difficult to organize that sort of race,” said Perry. “Sailing a hundred miles in view of the coast is one thing. Sailing for a week without seeing land is a much larger undertaking. We hope to eventually have a boat in the race manned by just the members of the Offshore team, but for now I would be ecstatic to be able to place some sailors on boats in need of crew.”
Each month, two sailors are chosen as Sailors of the Month. They receive new gear sponsored by Doyle Sailing and have their skills recognized by the community. This month’s sailors are sophomores Michael Trebilcock and Charlie Bess.
“I love that we are able to set everything aside to help each other get better,” said Bess. “It means a lot when you can go sailing with anybody on the team, and they have the passion to either learn from you or help you, and that’s something you don’t see everyday.”
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