Tampa Distance Race, this spring

Hello All,

Last year we had a short two day distance race (22 miles one way) from the Davis Island beach to the Sunshine Skyway where we spent the night and returned to Davis Island the following day.

This year there is a proposal to change the course to start at the Clearwater Sailing Center, sail to the Skyway and return to the Clearwater Sailing Center. The advantages of starting at CSC is the trailers are bit more secure over night and the OA is confident we can have a post race dinner hosted by CSC on Sunday. Not something we can easily do at DI on Sunday.

So for those that are interested in doing this race please weigh in. Are the perks of starting and finishing at CSC and sailing the gulf instead of the bay a more attractive option? I think CSC to Skyway is a little shorter than DI to Skyway.

The OA has a lead on a sponsor so this will be an event that should be worth your time. It was still a lot of fun last year and we did it without sponsorship so...

Not sure if it's a factor for you guys or not but...

(imho) clearwater beach is a much more "fun" place to be, and to spend a night or 2 than davis island or dumpy and dead at night - downtown tampa (surrounded by pretty scary neighborhoods).

clearwater beach (right near the CSC) is a fun part of town with lots of restaurants, bars and the pier 60 silliness (jugglers, pirates, street performers, etc).
the "neighborhoods" that surround clearwater beach are luxury condos and very nice houses

In, possible dates?

uhhhh... I mean calendar dates. I'm pretty sure I'll have my date for this regatta.

Damn, sounds like my employees . . .

Late March early April. Mid April through May is packed.

Davis Island is hardly a scary place.

Depending on the date I will do this race again. I like the CSC- Skyway idea. A little rough guesstimating and I get more like 36 miles if it matters.

Davis island is (mostly) fine, but I was referring to down town tampa..

You are correct it is a bit longer than I thought. I used a cool online mapping tool http://www.freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm to verify.

I am in if dates (calendar dates smart guys) work out. Any thoughts on dates yet?

dont care whether we are inside or outside as both sound fun. Or we go full Macho .

Does CSC have a boat ramp?

They do but it's super shallow for a long way out. They use a trailer extension and a tractor to launch their power boats. I'm sure there is a public boat ramp close by that would fit your needs.

I don't know of any public launches on clearwater beach nor Sand Key (where the csc is) - http://www.bigpinellas.com/fish/boatramps.shtml

There's a boat ramp at the Seminole Boat Ramp about 1-2 miles north east of the CSC (on the mainland, not the clearwater beach / sand key) but it's not far at all and there are well marked channels to get you through and to the gulf (or CSC - but the waters can be very shallow around there)

You might want to consider the Belleair Causeway ramp. About the same distance from CSC as Seminole and should be an easier car drive, ramp to club.