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A Passion for Sailing, A Love of Tampa Bay: by Mary Kelley Hoppe John Jennings has sailing in his blood. He grew up in St. Petersburg with Tampa Bay in his backyard. It was love at first sea: "As a kid, Tampa Bay was a wonderful place to grow up. We could dive, fish and spear off the flats with nothing to fear except the occasional summer squall." The former St. Pete Yacht Club (SPYC) Commodore (1986-'87) and local sailing luminary comes by his passion honestly. He was raised by a sailor. Dr. Bill 'Doc' Jennings, himself a SPYC Commodore in the 1950s, moved his family and beloved 56-foot schooner, Mistress, from Indiana to Florida in 1940. "One of the reasons he chose St. Pete was because on a survey chart he saw that Tampa Bay was one of the best bodies of water to sail on year-round." He wasn't alone in that assessment. Sailing contemporaries of 'Doc' Jennings, including fellow Midwesterner Vince Lazzarra, were equally enchanted with the city by the bay. John's first boat was a moth boat, a simple, open design less than 11-feet long. Racing sailboats on Tampa Bay was a daily ritual, the perfect way to pass the dog days of summer.
Along the way, he became a doctor, establishing a chiropractic clinic, tracing again his father's footsteps, while devoting weekends to regattas. Capping an already impressive racing career, Jennings won the coveted Mallory Cup (U.S. Men's Sailing Championship) in 1970 and 1973. Setting aside his own sailing aspirations for a period, he then turned his attention and skills to grooming a new generation of sailors when he took over SPYC's junior sailing program. Through a partnership he helped craft, the city leased an empty storage facility at Demen's Landing to the yacht club for $1 a year. Jennings coached, cajoled and cultivated hundreds of young sailors including his two sons, while fostering a life-long love of the water in those with a more casual interest. St. Pete lands SORC
"Then as now," according to A Nautical Heritage: The St. Petersburg Yacht Club Story, "most were ignorant of the sport but thrilled by the boats maneuvering in a good breeze·" The race became an important international yachting event until political upheaval in Cuba brought it to a halt in the 1950s. That momentary misfortune would set the stage for the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC). One of sailing's most coveted regattas, SORC thrust St. Petersburg into the international limelight, attracting the likes of Dennis Connor and Olin Stephens, and filling the harbor with 70 to 110 of "some of the most beautiful wooden boats you've ever seen." For two to three weeks in February, everyone with a boat slip had to remove their boat to make way for the racers. Some boats showed up requiring finishing work; almost all needed local crew, and there were plenty happy to oblige. The first leg of the circuit was St. Pete to Venice via Boca Grande. The second race was St. Pete to Ft. Lauderdale. Sailors and crews from around the world spent almost a month here before heading on to Ft. Lauderdale for the next series of races. And there were always locals competing - SPYC's Charley Morgan, Ted Tolson and Mark Ploch, to name a few. The grand race eventually died out in the 1980s as the sailors tired of the time and cost required One SORC regular was none other than the "Mouth of the South" - a thirty-something Ted Turner, pre Jane Fonda. Turner, says Jennings, didn't have much money then, "but he always had a girlfriend." Jennings sailed with Turner on the 12-meter American Eagle, an older version of one of the America's Cup contenders. Starting at noon in St. Pete and finishing at daybreak in Venice after rounding Boca Grande, Jennings recalls blustery conditions, piercing cold, and a miserable back leg into the wind. While Turner napped, John steered "over one wave and through two. By the time we finished we had fish in the dodger." "It's a Corinthian sport," says Jennings. "You put your money into a large hole in the water, and you get a tin cup - well, hopefully it's sterling." |
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He soon graduated to more serious sailing, winning the coveted Florida Sailing Association (FSA) Junior Sailing Championship three years running, in 1956, '57 and '58, the first step up the ladder to the national racing circuit. While few made it to the top rung, Jennings qualified for the finals of the U.S. Junior Championship in 1956. He went on to win the FSA Men's Championship five times between 1960 and 1973.
St. Petersburg's storied heritage in yachting dates back to the 1930s, when George Gandy Jr., after whom the Gandy Bridge is named, and Commodore Rafael Posso of the Havana Yacht Club helped establish the St. Petersburg-Havana Race. The 284-mile race became a city event with throngs of spectators jamming the "Million-Dollar" municipal pier.