The spring sailing season begins!
The first regatta of the season was Midwinters East held at Ocean Springs Yacht Club in Ocean Springs, MS. This has been the first event of the season for me for the last few years and despite being a 1000-mile drive it’s a great start to the season. A great yacht club, and highly motivated event organizers, combined with a really nice sailing venue makes the long drive worth it.
This year’s event delivered three days of perfect sailing weather. Mild temperatures and nice breezes. Three days of wind in the 10-15 range makes for some really nice sailing. The first day was forecasted to start out nice but then get very windy which never happened, it stayed 12-14 all day. Day 2 was on the forecast but again 12-15. The final day was forecasted to be lighter and while it started out at 8 knots the wind quickly picked up in the low teens. We went out to practice the day before racing started it was a solid 20 twenty knots for that session. Who can complain about that, four days of great sailing. After a winter of miserable weather, it was nice to wear flip flops again.
66 boats participated in eight classes in the regatta. The number of classes was higher than normal but PRO Mark Santorelli managed it all seamlessly. We mostly sailed longer courses to allow the fleets to spread out a bit which I really enjoy.
An interesting twist to this event was a youth class on Waves. Four boats participated and they were having a really fun time. One of the boats had two young girls taking turns driving and they were really enjoying it. They sailed by me at one finish so excited to have finished second in the race.
A great start to the season. Long drive home and my sleep meter is finally out of the red zone, but we are ready for more.
Michael/Krista and the Ocean Springs team, great work. We will be back.
Rich
Lots of photos at
Dannyrobertson.smugmug.com/Hobie-Mid-Winters-East-2023/
Results
