"Super Bowl Sunday" brought out eight teams of frostbiters who braved very cold weather and light, shifty NE wind to complete five races. Top sailors for the day: 1. Pedro Lorson and Felicity Ryan (#536), 2) Ted Toombs and Monique Gaylor (#514) and 3. Doug Morea and Jason Hill (#653). There was no crew race.

The Larchmont YC Frostbite Fleet will sponsor the IC Dinghy Mid-Winters this year. Open to all IC Dinghy sailors, the two-day regatta will take place on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13-14 (President's week). In past years, the Annapolis Frostbite Fleet has hosted this event, but because they are hosting the 1999 Nationals April 17-18, they asked another frostbite fleet to do the honors. If you are interested in taking advantage of good competition close to Manhasset Bay, and would like information on the regatta schedule and housing, plus access to an official entry form, direct your web browser to sailingsource.com/interclub.

Update on the Around Alone Race: two sailors did not meet the noon, Jan. 30 deadline to be eligible to continue Leg 3 of the Around Alone. In Class 1, Fedor Konioukhov, from Russia, sailing Modern University for the Humanities, missed the deadline by one day. Robin Davie, Class II, from South Carolina sailing South Carolina, was 900 miles from Auckland at the noon deadline. As of January 31, Konioukhov has voluntarily retired from the race, but Davie has requested exemption to excuse his late arrival. Race rules allow for limited discretion in enforcing leg deadlines, but only a finding of "extraordinary circumstances" could help Davie. Race Director Mark Schrader indicated that Davie's request would not be considered until he arrived in Auckland. Both sailors plan to continue the race in an unofficial capacity. The start of Leg 3 (Auckland to Punta del Este) is noon on Saturday, Feb. 6. Remaining sailors, and possibly Konioukhov and Davie, will face the Southern Ocean and the fearsome Cape Horn. Details to follow, as information becomes available. ESPN2 will air a recap of the Around Alone Race - Leg 2 on Friday, Feb. 12 at 2 a.m.

On Friday, Feb. 5, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year will be announced at a luncheon reception in the Model Room of the New York Yacht Club. The favorites this year are San Francisco's Paul Cayard for skippering the Whitbread 60 EFLanguage to victory in last year's Whitebread Round the World Race, and Newport, RI's Betsy Alison for winning the ISAF World Women's Match Racing Championships and the World Women's Keelboat Championships. While both are favorites, both sailors face strong competition and nothing is certain until the last vote is cast. Your reporter is fortunate to be invited to this event and will bring you the results in next week's column.

As reported in earlier columns, skipper Paul Cayard with local frostbite sailor Ralf Steitz on AmericaOne is in Auckland for an intensive two-month training program for America's Cup 2000. Their January 20 update; In winds up to 20 knots, AmericaOne and AmericaTrue began a two-lap race, but halfway through the race both boats were forced to retire for the day due to gear damage. According to the report, "America's Cup 2000 is going to have plenty of breakdowns and the team that has prepared for a lot of the scenarios and knows how to keep the boat sailing in the race after a setback like we had today is going to win races that otherwise may have been taken from them."