Buzzelli Regatta and Windrider Owners Weekend, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Oct 2016

Real nice yacht club, the SSS on City Island. Hauled the s/v Embouchure down there to show it to some friends and catch up with WR17 sailors that I haven’t seen since last year. Not as many WR17s as in previous years, but a good group none the less. Some new owners were showing very good skills with their boats and had the chance to catch up with the Windrider / Nickels Boat Works folks. Was not there to race, no PHRF for this boat, just have fun. And to date, this is only one in this country. There are three others in FL, but they are the sport type, not the XL micro cruiser (Europeans call this Raid).

Video credit: Mind Slosh

Wind was NE and at 11+ on Friday. Little cooler with a high in northern FL pushing that air down the coast. Spent some good time out on the water chasing six WR17s around the bay, over to O’Learys tiki bar, out to Siesta Key and back. This boat is 15% longer, over 3x the weight of the WR17 and maybe 80% more sail area, maybe. So I was chasing the fleet on that reach. This tide was running out at the time, the gulf was choppy at Siesta and would have been a lot of tacking to completely circumnavigate Lido Key. So we headed back. On the way back, I had trimmed up nicely, Embouchure had good tiller feel and pointed much better than the WR17. Was able to hug the harbor west shore all the way back to the bridge on that one port tack. Was at SSS a good 30 minutes ahead of the fleet. NO matter was great fun to be out on the water. Waiting for a cli from a buddy who shot video while sailing along side.