■ RACE REPORTS
20th Annual Lost Bay Regatta, Point Yacht Club, Perdido Bay, Josephine, AL, Sept. 15 By Kim Kaminski Twenty years ago, a group of fun-loving sailors hosted a sailboat race—known today as the Lost Bay Regatta (thus, “perdido”)—followed by a beach party that was complete with live music and dancing in the sand. Today, the fun-loving sailors from the Point Yacht Club continue to host their infamous sailboat race and beach party. Sailors travel from all over the northern Gulf coast to join in the racing, raft-up and beach party celebration. Over the years, the regatta has evolved from a handful of local boats to almost 100. Various factors have had their influence on the regatta—including tropical storms, love bugs, hurricanes, damaged clubhouse facilities and lack of wind. But the regatta has endured and this year marks its 20th anniversary. A grand total of 59 entries registered this year with 53 completing the race. (Four did not compete and two did not finish.) Fourteen classes (four Spinnaker and 10 Non-Spinnaker) made up the two-fleet divisions. A triangle course was set up in the middle of Perdido Bay. Principal Race Officer Tooty Barnett from the Southern Yacht Club
News & Views for Southern Sailors
designated that the Spinnaker class would race three times around the racecourse, and Non-Spinnaker classes would go twice around. Thanks to a tropical system that passed to the north of the coastal area, race day brought sunny skies and fair breezes, which held up for the day. Following the races, competitors enjoyed live music by the local band Bust, along with a delicious fried mullet dinner catered by Cliff Stapleton Catering. Awards were unique handcrafted studio pottery and clay sculpture trophies designed by Steve and Dee Burrow from the Sea Oats Studio. Two perpetual trophies were also presented to the fleet winners. The 2007 trophy honors went to: Zane Yoder and crew from the Fairhope Yacht Club on Wild Cherry, who earned the Paul Schreck First Place Spinnaker Fleet Trophy, and Denny Blume and crew from the Point Yacht Club on ZigZag who earned the Paul Mueller Memorial Trophy for first place in the Non-Spinnaker (Genoa) fleet. The Lost Bay Regatta was made possible by the generous support of its members, sponsors, and advertisers, including Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, Blue Water Ships Stores, the Mueller family and Pirates Cove Marina along with the sailors who rallied together throughout the years. Despite all the hurdles that were thrown in front of this ambitious yacht club, they are having fun on the water, dancing in the sand again and again…because you can’t keep a good club or a fun race down! Here’s to 20 more years of being “lost” in fun at the Lost Bay Regatta.
SOUTHWINDS
November 2007
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