(Chicago, IL)- The final day of the Chicago Sperry Top-Sider NOOD
Regatta greeted sailors with gorgeous weather and consistent 5-10 knot
wind, setting the stage for a full day of racing on Lake Michigan. The
sailors could not have been luckier. For the third straight day, the
crews had been enjoying unseasonably fabulous sailing weather. If you
recall, last year's event was punctuated by a epic front spitting
massive thunderbolts, squalls, hail, horizontal rain and pouring "cats
& dogs"! Enjoying the wonderful sailing was none other than the J/111 IMPULSE sailed by Dr. George Miz, Pete Dreher and Mark Hatfield. With a 1-5-6-1-3-1-2-4 record for 23 points, they won their first major J/111 regatta on a tie-breaker over Steve Dabrowski's NIGHTHAWK, with a record of 4-4-3-3-2-3-1-3 also for 23 pts. With a half-dozen entries, the J/111 class had very competitive fleet racing one another, as evidenced by very close scores. With two races to go in the eight race series, it was anyone's guess as to what the podium would look like when the spray cleared on the race course. Past NODO Regatta winner, KASHMIR sailed by Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson and Mike Mayer, finished only 1 pt out of first place! KASHMIR's 5-3-4-2-1-5-3-1 for 24 pts was good enough for the bronze. Fourth place just 1 pt back was Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL with a 2-2-1-4-5-2-4-5 for 25 pts; a strong start but slow close on the last day meant they finished just out of the money. Win-Place or Show in the last race sealed the deal for the top three!
For the J/105s, this year again saw one team simply dominate the regatta, with some new faces on the top of the heap. Blane Shea and crew on STRIKING started off strong and never let up on their classmates. STRIKING knocked out a striking scorecard of four 1sts, two 2nds and two 5ths to win with 18 pts, four pts clear of Tom and Gyt Petkus' VYTIS-- a past regatta winner. Third was Clark Pellett's team on SEALARK scoring two 1sts, four 4ths, a 3rd and 6th to finish with 27 pts to grab third place. Like their J/111 brothers, the 105s also saw the last spot on the podium come down to the final race. In this case John Weglarz's crew must've had the inmates already running THE ASYLUM as their last three races of a 4-3-7 sunk their chances for a bronze, finishing just 2 pts back from 3rd overall.
In the J/109s, the top three also had a tough three-way battle for the top three. Again, the last two races made all the difference as some teams stepped up to the plate and "closed the deal" while others faded a bit and tumbled down the standings. In the end, Dave Gustman's team on NORTHSTAR won the battles and the war, scoring a 3-2-1-2-2-2-6-3 for 21 pts to win class. Second was Don Meyer's CERTAINLY with a 1-7-5-3-1-3-4-2 scoreline for 26 pts and 2nd place. Just missing second by one point was Kevin Saedi's MOMENTUS, finishing third while collecting three 1sts along with a 2-3-6-6-7 for 27 pts.
In ORR3, Mitch Padnos' new J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON sailed a very strong regatta to finish 2nd overall with a 2-5-2-3-2-1-3-1 tally for 19 pts. Mitch's new J/122 replaces his J/124 which he raced for years in the Chicago-Mackinac Race. The new SUFFICIENT REASON was previously SKYE, which has won the Chicago-Mackinac in Class and Overall three times, once as a fully-crewed boat and twice as the overall Double-handed Class winner. For more Sperry Topsider Chicago NOOD Regatta sailing information
