Awesome Conditions, Awesome J Sailing(San Diego, CA)- This year's Sperry Topsider San Diego NOOD event was a tale of two fleets- those who sailed and the "also-rans" (those who didn't). As one might expect, given the beautiful conditions on Saturday and the epic, windy, wavy, wet conditions on Sunday, only the entire fleet of J's sailing in San Diego completed the entire series as both a brand and as complete one-design fleets-- others simply didn't sail or had many who simply dropped out. Twenty five knots on Sunday?! Most J sailors look upon such conditions with glee, and did so whole-heartedly!
Of the forty-one J's sailing in this year's NOOD Regatta (about 33% of the fleet) it would be hard to tell which fleet loved the conditions the most-- the J/105s, J/120s, J/80s or J/109s.
Of
all the fleets, perhaps the most predictable outcome was the
performance of Kurt Johnson from California YC on his J/80 AVET.
Sailing to a record of four 1st, a 2nd and two 3rds, he won their seven
race series by 8 pts. Second was Balboa YC's Dan Gribble sailing MONKEY
SHOULDER to a 4-4-4-1-2-2-3 to come on strong towards the end of the
regatta to secure their position with 20 pts. In a tie-breaker for
third place were John Steen on UNDERDOG and Steve Wyman on NUHUNU. In
the end, John's 2-2-5-7-54-4-1 for 25 pts beat out Steve's 5-3-2-7-1-3-4
for 25 pts. Not far off the predictability index was Tom Brott's J/109 ELEKTRA, perhaps one of the best-sailed J/109s on the Pacific Coast. With straight bullets over four races, they dominated their competition for just a grand total of 4 pts. Lying second was Rex Butler's JD with straight 2nds for 8 pts. Third was Daylen Teren's GREAT BALLS OF FIRE with straight 3rds!
Next
up, the J/120 class. Like their J/105 brethren, this is perhaps one of
the least predictable groups as the combination of crews and skippers,
time of day, horoscopes, biorhythms, Mayan calendars and the sort seem
to have an enormous influence on the various team's performances.
Nevertheless, some of the top teams maintained form, stayed in the hunt
and managed to keep things quite interesting for the top SIX teams.
OK. Cool stuff. That's REAL one-design racing. Four boats, four
firsts. Staying out of trouble pays off in this fleet. Hitting corners
does not. Starting out strong were John Snook on JIM with a 2-1 and
Mike Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY with a 1-2; just off the pace was Peter Zarcades
on MELTEMI with a 3-3. After two races, this top three might be the
regatta leaders going forward? NOT. As a group, they had to fight to
stay in contention with only John Snook's JIM hanging on for dear life
to close out with a 2 pt win to be J/120 class champion for the
regatta. Second place was late closer, past champion Chuck Nichols on
CC RIDER, a familiar name at the top of the leader board just two points
back with a 4-6-2-1 for 13 pts. Behind him was the bloodbath of a
sailing version of the "Shootout at the OK Corral". Tied for 3rd were
Gary Winton's SHENANIGANS and Peter's MELTEMI with records of 5-4-3-2
and 3-3-4-4, respectively, for 14 pts. Gary's SHENANIGANS winning the
tie-break. Fifth was Mike's J-ALMIGHTY, an early regatta leader closing
out with a 1-2-6-6 for 15 pts.
The
J/105s were tough as nails as one might expect amongst this competitive
fleet. After all, if past NOOD Champions and Pacific Coast Champions
like Dennis & Sharon Case's WINGS, John Demourkas' ROCKIN &
GROOVIN and Rick Goebel's SANITY aren't amongst the top of the leader
board, you know the fleet is tough. In the end, it was a "northerner"
from Long Beach YC, Gary Mozer's crew on CURRENT OBSESSION 2 that
dominated the last day with a 1-1 to add to their 5-3 Saturday scoreline
to win by just one point to become the J/105 NOOD Champions. Second
was a strong performance by Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE to capture a
2-2-5-2 tally for 11 pts. Third was Rick's SANITY team with a 3-5-2-3
score for 13 pts. Fourth was John's ROCKIN & GROOVIN team with a
7-1-3-5 score for 16 pts. And, fifth was local champs Dennis and Sharon
Case on WINGS with a 1-4-10-4 record for 19 pts. Sailing photo credits- Mark Brughe For more Sperry Topsider San Diego NOOD Regatta sailing information
