Indian River Yacht Club hosted the Florida District over the weekend of April 11^th & 12^th for the Florida District Championship.

The weekend kicked off with many Scots arriving on Friday afternoon and early evening; the much anticipated Space-X rocket launch was delayed due to weather and was pushed off until Monday evening; however, the weather delay that was not good for rockets was great for sailboats!  Brisk southerly breezes settled in both days allowing for some great, tight sailing for eleven Scots.

The truly big news of the weekend did not take place on the water, but rather at the end of the Skippers Meeting when our District Governor, Mark Taylor, proposed to his lovely girlfriend Michelle, asking for her hand in marriage !

Scot sailors are really one big family and let’s wish them all the happiness in the world.

The Race Committee did an excellent job getting in six races over two days; after a postponement on Saturday waiting for the sea breeze to fill in, the breeze built nicely throughout the afternoon.  Sunday went off on schedule and the boats were all back in & out of the water by 1:00pm.

The regatta ended with a tie between Mid-winter Champions Jeff & Amy Linton and Florida District Series Champion Tom McNally, with Jeff & Amy taking it on a tie-breaker, followed by Dave & Kim Thinel rounding out the top 3. The FSSA Foundation donated medals for the District Champions, along with the Indian River Yacht Club commissioning a new perpetual trophy that featured a space shuttle made from an actual shuttle tile.

Results are here.

Thank you to all the sailors, IRYC and many volunteers that made the regatta a success. We look forward to everyone marking their calendar for next year’s Florida District Championship.

Have you been to the Flying Scot, Inc., factory to pick up a new boat?  Watch a film about Dave Batchelor picking up FS 6092 with new owner Joe Price recently.  They got a great tour of the factory from our builder, Harry Carpenter.  It really illustrates the love and care that goes into building each and every Flying Scot.  Doesn't it make you want to order one of your own?  I sure want one!  Watch the film here.

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Have you always wanted a brand new Flying Scot like this one and didn’t know how to make that happen?  This one is sold, but now may be your chance to get one of your own!  The Flying Scot Sailing Association is raffling off a brand new Flying Scot, built by our builder Harry Carpenter at Flying Scot, Inc. in Maryland. The boat will be raced rigged in the color of your choice and will include a galvanized trailer and a full suit of sails, including a custom spinnaker.  Of course, you can feel free to add other options at your own cost.

Here’s how it works.  Chances to win are available as of the 2015 Midwinters in Sarasota, Florida, in March, and the winner will be chosen at the North American Championships at Bay Waveland in Mississippi in June. FSSA will have 250 available tickets at $100 each – that makes your chances 1 in 250, some pretty good odds.  And you may buy more than one ticket.  NOTE: Membership in the Flying Scot Sailing Association is not required to enter!

The proceeds after paying for the boat will go to the Flying Scot Foundation to help ensure the future of Flying Scot sailing. Instructions for entering either online or via mail are here.  Get yours soon and good luck!

Each year at the Midwinters, the sailors nominate a fellow sailor for the Allen Douglas Memorial sportsmanship award, given to an individual who demonstrates behavior that is deserving of this honor.  It is one of the most prestigious perpetual awards awarded by the Flying Scot class.  Each nomination is written with the name of the nominee and the reason that person should be considered for the award.  This year we were unable to award this trophy to any individual because the voting resulted in a tie between 2 very deserving individuals - Amy Smith Linton and Ron Pletsch.  As a demonstration of how honorable both of these people are, each felt the award should be given to the other person.  Ron being the gentleman that he is gave Amy the keeper trophy, however both names will be engraved on the perpetual award.  Mr.Douglas and his family would be proud of this choice.  Thanks to Amy and Ron for all they do for the Flying Scot family to promote the class and make us happy to know both of them.

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No need to postpone today!   Incredible conditions on Sarasota Bay for Day 2 of the Midwinters with 10 -15 MPH NNW winds and a beautiful cloud-free sky with temps in the 80's again!  The RC ran 3 W-L races, the first one was scheduled to be 5 legs but was shortened to 4 and we finished downwind between the gates.  The Second race was 5 legs and the third race was 4 mile-long legs.  Everyone got a real workout today and there were lots of close calls and a bit of noise on the race course - very different from yesterday. 

The Race Committee did a great job of keeping things moving and we were abe to get out on time and get back in by 4PM, plenty of time to socialize and get to the keg early!  Having 6 of a maximum of 8 races completed by Day 2 is great, meaning even if we have a bad weather day, we already have 6 races in!

As of Day 2 the leaders in the Championship Division are (1) Zeke and Jay Horowiz, (2) Jeff and Amy Linton and (3) Paul Abdullah and Alex Krumdieck.  In the Challenger Division the leaders are (1) Jim Leggette and Mike Funk (2) Randy Rubinstein and Jim Cavanagh and (3) David Strawbridge and Joseph Connolly III.

Full results re here.