St. Petersburg Yacht Club Has Slim Lead

The St. Petersburg, Fla., Yacht Club has a narrow overall lead in the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s U.S. Challenge Cup regatta, based on the performances of their junior skippers sailing small dinghies inside the harbor Friday.

In the two-man, 13-foot Flying Junior Class, Mark Mendelblatt is the top scorer with 10 firsts and two seconds after 12 of 18 races for 11.5 points. Brett Davis has nine firsts and three seconds for 12.75 points. John Jennings, the club’s senior skipper, is in third place in the Schock-35 class with 29 points.

Three Schock-35 skippers scored wins in Friday’s three races. Seawanhaka Yacht Club’s Steve Benjamin won the fifth race to move up to second place in the class. Seattle Yacht Club’s co-skippers Mark Laura and Keith Lorence won the fourth race, and Long Beach Yacht Club’s Steve Flam won the sixth race.

Still holding a slim lead in the Schock-35 class is Bill Peterson of the California Yacht Club of Marina del Rey with 21.75 points. The club’s juniors are in sixth place in the Laser class and eighth in the Flying Junior, dropping the club to second overall. Peterson got three fifth places.