A common denominator for many members of the Platinum Point Yacht Club in Burnt Store Marina, Florida is a background with sailing in their younger years, often involving competitive racing. On Monday, April 3, 2017 those sailboat racing enthusiasts who still practice their sport in Burnt Store Marina gathered at the club for their annual Awards Luncheon.

The race season, which is open to anyone with a boat moored in Burnt Store Marina, consists of two Series of Monday afternoon races, complemented by three long distance races and several Saturday fun races. The Fall Series begins at the end of October and runs to mid-January. The Winter Series starts after the annual Golden Conch Regatta in January and runs until the end of April. During the 2016-17 season a total of ten boats participated in at least one race and a core group of six to eight boats were out most weeks. They ranged in size from the diminutive Harbor 20 keelboat to an Irwin 38 almost twice as long and eight times as heavy. Most of the boats ranged from 29 to 32 feet in length. These boats of varying lengths, weights and sail plans are able to race competitively against each other through the application of a complex handicapping system called West Florida Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (WF PHRF). Similar systems are in place throughout other parts of North America. Unlike in golf where a person’s handicap is a function of their own personal past performance, the PHRF rating is based upon each type of boat’s theoretical performance based upon its design, fine tuned over the years by actual experience of each type of boat racing against the other types.

Following is a summary of the PPYC 2016-17 race results:

Fall series – 1^st place – Spirit, Fred Horwitz and Graham Segger

Winter series – 1^st place – Bonnie Lass, George Darrell and Tony Newing

Useppa race – 1^st place – Magic Moments, Ron Marker

Long Distance race – 1^st place – Bonnie Lass

Coffey race – 1^st place – Bonnie Lass

 

Overall Season Results:

1^st place – Bonnie Lass

2^nd place – Spirit

3^rd place – Buckeye II, Art Gates

 

Sportsman of the Year:

If you spend much time around sailboat racers, you may at some point hear the term Corinthian Spirit mentioned. I found a very good discussion of this code written by Abby Freeman, a young college sailor. She states that the Corinthian Spirit is the code through which we judge our actions and gauge our decisions on the racecourse and in our personal lives. Sailing is a self-governed sport where each competitor must possess a high moral standard and personal code of ethics in order to have a fair race. The Corinthian spirit is a law greater than ourselves that maintains the underlying foundation for sailboat racing as well as the way in which competitors choose to live their lives.

Each year the PPYC racers vote for a Sportsman of the Year, drawn from the competitors and volunteers who help organize and manage the races. This year Manny Perez was awarded this very prestigious award. Manny regularly captained the race committee boat, a role which often placed his beautiful boat at very close quarters with the very competitive race boats. Special thanks also to Tom and Mel Fleming, Vince Core, Wendy & Ray Hollworth,  and the many other club members who volunteered their time and boats to ensure a successful year.