GHOST Smokes J/105s, AIRODOODLE Two-Peats J/24s @ NOOD(Marblehead, MA)- The Sperry Topsider Marblehead NOOD regatta featured the inaugural J/70 New England Championship and fleets of J/105s and J/24s-- all co-hosted by the famous trio of yacht clubs in the harbor (Eastern YC, Boston YC and Corinthian YC). Of the 150+ sailboats participating, the largest brand represented were J's with 42 boats (28% of the fleet) sailing in the waters off Marblehead. The sailors were treated to a wide variety of weather conditions and in the end, the J/70s had very close racing with just 15 pts separating the top six while the J/24 and J/105 fleets saw runaway leaders take top honors.
Continuing
their string of 2013 regatta wins in J/70s was Bennet Greenwald's team
on PERSEVERANCE, taking the top spot by the narrowest of margins over
local Marbleheaders- Jud & Cindy Smith on USA 179. In fact, both
boats led the fleet from the very first day and after three days of
racing ended up tied on total points, but after the toss race was
factored in Greenwald's team won by just two points net. Joel Ronning's
CATAPULT team again managed to finish on the podium, taking third
overall with 20 pts net. Local hero Tyler Doyle (some of famous
sailmaker in Marblehead, Robbie Doyle) sailed his best regatta so far,
taking fourth in class. Also sailing a strong series was the team of
Heather Gregg-Earl & Joe Bardenheier on MUSE Powered by Atlantis
Weathergear for 5th place. Heather was also top women J/70 skipper,
followed closely by Suzy Leech on JUNKANOO in 6th.
The
largest J/class, the eighteen J/105s, were treated to a bit of a
"schooling" by another local Marblehead hero, Bob Slattery sailing the
famous GHOST. Counting six 1sts for the scoreline, Slattery's team won
by a country furlong with six net pts for a 15 pt win, an unusual event
to occur in the highly competitive J/105 class. Behind them was the
duel for second and third with five boats all having a clear shot at the
podium. Locals Fred deNapoli on ALLEGRO SIMPLICITA sailed a steady
3-3-2 in the last three races to seal the deal and grab second overall
with 21 pts. Having an excellent regatta was Charlie Garrard on MERLIN
with 26 pts, also sailing a solid 2-4-4 to snag third overall. The rest
of the top five included Peter & Doug Morgan on STEELAWAY in fourth
and fifth was Jon & Stuart Wales on BANTRY.Last year's J/24 class winner, Jubilee YC's John Denman on AIRODOODLE, simply smoked everyone, counting seven 1sts in their tally for a total of 9 pts net, winning by 8 pts. Second was Mike Taber's team on XINGU, taking the only two remaining 1sts, for a total of 17 pts. A distant 3rd was John Wells on SHELDON J with 25 pts. The remainder of the top five was Mike Lachmayr's BLACKFIN in fourth and Greg Williams GRACE UNDER PRESSURE in fifth. Sailing Photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com. For more J/70 New England's & Marblehead NOOD sailing information
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