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This past weekend the annual Commodore's Cup, sponsored by The Naples Sailing and Yacht Club, was held in the Gulf of Mexico, just off Naples pier. With gusts well over 30 knots and an average in the mid 20s, it led to blustery conditions to say the least. Although attendance was down from previous years, about 16 boats showed up to mix it up on the breezy gulf.

The wind conditions were pretty close to the predicted reports, with the wild northeast winds all weekend. Luckily, the wind did not shift to the north that kept the seas down to two footers just off shore. Any more north would have led to much choppier sea conditions with seas over five feet.

Two boats from Marco attended. Tippecanoe owned and skippered by Dan Kendrick, fleet captain of S.A.M.I., and my own Toad Hall. Tippecanoe was in Spinnaker A division and we were in Spinnaker B. Dan had a full crew and I was confident with my line up. On board I had Krusty, Springbok, Mr. and Mrs. Cheerful, Tapeworm, and myself for Saturday, and Three Sheets would replace Mrs. Cheerful on Sunday.

Krusty and I delivered the boat Friday afternoon and we all met the next morning at the dock to get down to racing. On the way out, we reefed the main in anticipation of heavy winds and loaded the number three jib. Dolphins played with the stern and rudder of the boat on the way out — which is usually a good sign. One even got me wet. I think it was intentional.

Once out near the starting area, we checked in and started practicing tacking. The winds were heavy as predicted and sport boats practicing asymmetric spinnakers were broaching all over the place. Even though the seas were not bad, the heavy winds made the possibility of being overpowered a real one, if you were not careful.

Mrs. Cheerful was in charge of time and we were soon in our start sequence. We hit the line with the pack and had a good start. We held to the left side of the course while most of the others headed to the right. At the weather mark, the class A and sport boats launched their chutes for the first run and most of them had trouble. We chose to be more conservative and decided to just pole out the jib on the run. As the competition reached off with the spinnaker, we headed right to the leeward mark doing six to eight knots.

At the leeward mark, many of the boats with spinnakers up had trouble again. We simply hardened up and were back on a beat. The second half of the race went much the same way and we wound up with first place in our class.

The second race dealt everyone much the same conditions. In the second race, our competition ran into some problems and decided to drop out of the race. Tippecanoe fought hard and got a first in the second race. That left them tied for first with a tough boat, Maria from Naples, going into the final race on Sunday.

The next morning, the conditions were almost an exact copy of the day before. The race was a staggered start or what some call a Swedish start — where every boat starts on their own according to their PHRF handicap rating. The slower boats start first and the idea is that everyone should be bearing down on the finish line with the boats placing as they cross the line. In other words, first boat over wins.

The 10-mile course used buoys placed near Doctors Pass and Gordon Pass, which resulted in a reach-reach with no true beats. This favored the larger boats with more waterline but was still a fun race.

As we rounded Gordon Pass and headed to the finish, Maria was charging up behind us and Tippecanoe was just behind them racing to the finish. At the line, Tippecanoe got them by a boat length and won their class. We finished first in our class again and won ours. With three in the bank, we came about and headed for home.

Later that evening, The Naples Sailing and Yacht Club hosted a top notch awards ceremony and dinner with Fleet Captain Jerry Watkins at the wheel. The racing was good, the organization was good, and I think the club put on a fine event. The Marco Island Yacht Club is holding its fall regatta next weekend — Nov. 18 and 19. Hope to see you there. Have a great week.