Tuesday October 25th, 2011

5th Annual Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Sarasota, Florida, USA

This Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous is held annually in honor of a very popular Sarasota local multihull sailor Bob Buzzelli, who died a few years ago, in order to keep his memory alive. He left several valuable boats to his sailing club's youth program amongst other things. So, his name is revered around their club (Sarasota Sailing Squadron).

The event had classes for Corsair trimarans, Stiletto catamarans (designed by another Sarasota local Peter Wormwood), beach cats, Weta's and Windriders. I managed to win the fairly small Corsair class by a considerable margin; 5 firsts, a second a third and a fourth. In the Corsair class was a C-31; two C-28Rs; my Dash 750; Larry Geller's Sprint 750 MK I; an F-27; and a C-24 Mk II. The Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous is growing every year and the goal is to make it the largest gathering of multihulls in the USA. I hope to work on building up the Corsair class.

We were blessed with great wind for almost all the races.

First Day

Friday was a 35 mile distance race - which turned out to be a screaming screacher reach to a turning mark off Longboat Key Pass and back, with some spinnaker work thrown in as the breeze laid down and shifted aft towards the finish. With Mike McGarry crewing for me, my Dash was the first Corsair to finish the distance race, almost beating a Formula 30 catamaran. We won that race overall on corrected time.

Second Day

The second day consisted of four windward leeward races. The Corsairs started with the Stiletto 27s and 30s and it was fun to judge our performance against those larger boats. We managed to beat most of the bigger cats in most races - and all of them in some races. On corrected time, we consistently corrected out ahead of them. In our own Corsair class, we won all four races boat for boat and on corrected time. So, we went into the final day with a nice safety margin.

Third and Final Day

The final day had mixed conditions. The first race was in light-ish air, but the second race was a real drifter. We managed a second by some fluke but the consensus amongst the racers was that the race should have been abandoned. The third race was held in a rapidly freshening wind but the race committee had set a very short course and it turned into a wild sprint. Although we wished that race had been longer, it was a great way to finish the weekend. It was somewhat frustrating to be heading back to the dock with the wind at its best of the day.

Final Results

Final results had me and my crew on a Dash 750 in first, John Novak on a C-28R in second, and Larry Geller on his Sprint 750 MK I, "Third Tri" (his first tri was an F-27 and second tri was a C-36) was pushed out of second place that he held on Saturday into third place.

Supporting Activities

During the course of the event we were treated to talks by multihull designer Jim Brown, and epoxy/composit guru Meade Gougeon (of West System epoxy fame). Lots of food, free beer, and lots of opportunities to renew old friendships and start new ones.

Packing up

After the racing I packed my Dash up in an hour, drove the 500 miles home and was tucked up home in bed just after midnight. All in all a great weekend.

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