(Seattle, WA)- From May 16th to 18th, the one-design focused Sperry Top
Sider Seattle NOOD regatta will be held in the waters of Puget Sound.
One hopes the sailors will be blessed with great sailing on Friday with
sun and good breeze since the weekend forecast looks very “classic” Seattle (a bit of wind, some rain and misty southerly breezes.Joining the fray are one-design fleets of J/24s, J/70s, J/80s and J/105s. The most significant fleet happens to be the venerable J/24s, with a dozen of the area’s veterans going at it hammer and tong. Potential fleet leaders could be Chris Snow & Pat Dore on BABBA LOUIE, Scott Milne on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH (a past NOOD 24 winner) and Jasper Van Vliet from Mill Valley, CA sailing EVIL OCTOPUS!
The
J/70s are starting to prosper in Seattle and this will be their debut
in the Seattle NOOD. Hard to know how it will shake out for this fleet
other than the fact that Mike Pitt’s DaSPENCER has the most experience
so far. Andy Mesher’s PERIDOT and Bill Henry’s RIP VAN WINKLE will be
doing their best to overcome their experience deficit in the 70s with
plain smart sailing.The J/80s will surely be seeing Bryan Rhodes’s CRAZY IVAN, Bill McKinnon’s SKYE ROCKET and Stan Moen’s UPROAR in a three-way tussle for regatta honors.
Several of the top J/105s will be sailing this weekend in this growing Pacific NW class. However, included are several new faces as well, so it will be interesting to see how the weekend shakes out for the 105 clan. Certainly teams like Lorenzo Migliorini’s ALLEGRO VIVACE, Jerry Diercks’s DELIRIUM, Erik Kirsten’s JUBILEE and Jim Geros’s LAST TANGO, all leaders in the Seattle Grand Prix last fall, should be factors in this weekend’s top five, too.
One J/24, Chris Archer’s CHALLENGER, is sailing the NORTH Rally Race, making its debut at the 2014 Seattle NOOD. The NORTH Rally Race, a one day, random leg, PHRF-scored race is perfect for new-to-racing sailors, families, custom boats that don’t fit within the One Design concept of the NOODs as well as the avid racer that only has one free day. After the racing on Saturday the Rally Class can swap stories and raise a glass with their fellow NOOD sailors at the regatta party. The more the merrier!! Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson and Tim Wilkes.com. For more Seattle NOOD Regatta sailing information
|
