The Greater Tampa Bay Area Commodore’s Cup was hosted by Ship 915 located in Gulfport, Florida. There were six teams with participants from four different ships. Ship 915, Ship 210, Ship 185 and Ship 956 were the participating ships. The regatta was run using Club 420s with Ship 210 providing the sixth 420 so all crews could sail. The weather conditions were excellent, sunny skies with the high in the high 80s, requiring sun screen. Bathing suits or shorts and t-shirts under life jackets was the dress for the day. The first four races had winds just under 10 knots with the fifth and final race under light conditions. The course was windward/leeward and took the first boat about thirty to forty minutes to finish. The final boat to finish was usually not more than two or three minutes behind with competitive racing. The last race was the exception in light air, with the fleet spread out and the last boat just finishing under the time limit
After race five Thomas Weiss and Reid Nelson from ship 210 took home top honors.
The crews were polled as to whether we should run the regatta every year or just for Koch Cup qualifying. It was unanimous that the regatta be run every year with the wining Ship hosting the next years regatta and taking home the perpetual trophy, similar to the America’s Cup. We then had a discussion about Koch Cup by the two teams that had raced in the a previous Cup. The memories and contacts were a main reason given for a desire to return and race in the next Koch Cup.
