(Chicago, IL)- One of the biggest regattas that exists in the Sailing
World NOOD events circuit is the Sperry Topsider Chicago NOOD. It has
consistently drawn fleets of over 200 boats and is a central part of the
Chicago summer-time sailing season, the first part of the "Big Three"
must do events- NOOD, Chicago-Mac and Verve Cup.J/Teams have been strong supporters of the event and this year sees that level of involvement in fact increase with a growing J/111 One-Design Class. Stalwarts like the J/105s, J/109s and even the J/30s and J/35s in Level Classes continue to have great competition with good fleets in attendance.
With a half-dozen entries, the J/111 class has a very competitive fleet racing one another, as evidenced by how the fleet has improved over the course of the past year. Top Key West Race Week finisher, Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL, will be applying some of their lessons learned against the best Grand Prix teams down South to remain in the hunt. Past NOOD Champion and Mac Race podium finishers, KASHMIR sailed by Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson and Mike Mayer will certainly be a factor for the top three. It will be a tough call to say how this fleet ends up as even the smallest shift with a bit of velocity is producing big gains for boats even on the periphery of the pack upwind, so no one gets away with breakaway wins. With good crews on all boats, Steve Dabrowski's NIGHTHAWK, George Miz's IMPULSE, Rich Witzel's ROWDY and Tom McIntosh's MISTY will all win races during the course of the regatta.
For the J/105s, this year again sees the return of good teams, led by past champion Tom and Gyt Petkus on VYTIS and upcoming fast teams like Jon Weglarz's THE ASYLUM and Clark Pellet's SEALARK. In the J/109s, several top teams are in attendance, include past champion Kevin Saedi's MOMENTUS and Irv Kerbel's K-III. In the Level 35s, look to see Larry Schell's J/35 TOUCH OF GREY and Bruce Metcalf's BOZO'S CIRCUS near the top of the leader board. In ORR3, Mitch Padnos' J/124 SUFFICIENT REASON will be a factor in this division. For more Sperry Topsider Chicago NOOD Regatta sailing information
