• Submitted by: manso
• Editorial Articles
• 02 / 17 / 2011

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Thursday, February 17, 2011. SARASOTA - The planners of the ambitious Sarasota to Havana Regatta have scrapped their plans to glide 150 boats to Cuba in May after once-optimistic talks with federal officials fell flat.

Because the U.S. Treasury Department did not provide the Sarasota Yacht Club with the needed permits to travel to the embargoed nation by Tuesday's deadline, the sailors are scrambling to salvage the plans for a much smaller production.

Until the last few weeks organizers were hopeful they would get approval, but then the communication stopped, said Don Payzant, president of the SYC Foundation.

"I've called them, and I've faxed them, and I haven't heard anything," he said.

The deadline was set by the club's charitable foundation, charged with resurrecting the regatta which has not been successful since 1994, to ensure boaters had enough time to buy into the event.

"I think if we got permission in two weeks, we would probably regroup," Payzant said. "But you get to a point where you have to make financial commitments."

The club will try again next year to revive the regatta, which sailors hail as a more than 70-year tradition of sailing from the west coast of Florida to the island.

Last year, the club was also denied permission to sail to the Hemingway International Yacht Club outside Havana to compete in the Regatta Castillo del Morro, an international boating race.

But negotiations seemed more promising this time around, especially after travel restriction to Cuba were loosened early this year by President Barack Obama.

Don Payzant, president of the SYC Foundation, said, "I think if we got permission in two weeks, we would probably regroup, But you get to a point where you have to make financial commitments."

Because the U.S. Treasury Department did not provide the Sarasota Yacht Club with the needed permits to travel to the embargoed nation by Tuesday's deadline, the sailors are scrambling to salvage the plans for a much smaller production.

Until the last few weeks organizers were hopeful they would get approval, but then the communication stopped, said Don Payzant, president of the SYC Foundation.

"I've called them, and I've faxed them, and I haven't heard anything," he said.

The deadline was set by the club's charitable foundation, charged with resurrecting the regatta which has not been successful since 1994, to ensure boaters had enough time to buy into the event.

"I think if we got permission in two weeks, we would probably regroup," Payzant said. "But you get to a point where you have to make financial commitments."

The club will try again next year to revive the regatta, which sailors hail as a more than 70-year tradition of sailing from the west coast of Florida to the island.

Last year, the club was also denied permission to sail to the Hemingway International Yacht Club outside Havana to compete in the Regatta Castillo del Morro, an international boating race.

But negotiations seemed more promising this time around, especially after travel restriction to Cuba were loosened early this year by President Barack Obama.

The club managed to sign on more than 184 boats and attract the interest of national sponsors for the regatta, which they hoped would spur the local economy as tourists descended on the area.

Anticipating disappointment from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, organizers also planned a back-up trip to Miami in May.

The sailors are still eager to find a way to Cuba, though, and are exploring hosting a much smaller race -- with only 70 boats -- which will convene at a private marina in Key West and then head to Havana.

"Maybe we go to Key West, and if we wait another 30 days then we could do the second leg," Payzant said. "Logistically the plan for the 150 boats is twice as hard as 70.

No new plans have been solidified, Payzant said, and sailors would still need approval from OFAC.

Source: Herald Tribune