The Florida State Championships, part of the Jaguar Series sailed in Biscayne Bay, FL concluded with yet another win by Bill Hardesty and crew. Hardesty has dominated the winter series with his eye set on a win at the 2008 Etchells Worlds hosted in Chicago this spring. Though conditions were challenging, Hardesty’s consistency was what led him to the top. Saturday’s races were delayed three hours on shore, waiting for the breeze to fill, however Sunday’s breeze more than made up for the lack of wind on Saturday. The 25+ knots of wind on Sunday resulted in broken booms, backstays, and torn sails at best. The unlucky few will have fiberglass and gelcoat repairs to be fixed before the final race of the series at end of this month.

With 89 boats on the line for this regatta, starts, mark roundings and finishes proved to be tight and exciting. The final beat in race two was supposed to be an upwind finish that ended up being a spinnaker run due to the wind shift. Our lesson learned; assign a crew member to keep an eye out for the boats around you at a tight finish. The race committee didn’t show us finishing in race 2 and without knowing exactly what boats we finished with, we weren’t much help to the committee. They did give us a finshing place after all was said and done, but it was subjective to say the least. Stay tuned for highlights of the Midwinters in a few weeks.