Smith Tops 70s, Denman 24s & Dexter 105s(Marblehead, MA)- Not surprisingly, the Marblehead contingent of “home boys” took all the top honors in the 125th running of Marblehead Race Week that wrapped up on Sunday with 158 boats competing.
This years’ Race Week, officially known as the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta at Marblehead Race Week, drew competitors from as far away as Texas, as a result of the event’s reputation, not to mention the historic Marblehead yachting traditions. While Friday’s sailing was nice, Saturday was superbly wet, drenching, somewhat “thundery”, and decidedly crappy (same for sailors in the always sunny Newport, too!). Sunday was at least a reprieve on the theme with some nice sea-breezes late in the day.
For the J/105 fleet, it turned out to be a down-to-the-last race finish that was eventually won by the CIRCE’s CUP of Marblehead, skippered by Ric Dexter. They accumulated 19 points, beating out Fred deNapoli sailing ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA, who finished with 20 points.
At
one time during the regatta, one of the top boats hailing from Texas
and owned by Mark Masur, TWO FEATHERS, had a chance to take it home to
the Lone Star State, but Marblehead’s sailing talent prevailed to take
the top two spots, while the Texan finished third with 21 points."The J/105 fleet in Marblehead is really strong. We can race here three times a week if needed, and this helps keep the fleet intact. It’s just great to be racing here this week," Dexter said. For second place finisher Fred deNapoli, it was tough racing all the way through. "They got us by one point," he said. "So, it was actually possible that five boats could have won it. We were covering one of those boats, the Texans, and while we were covering them Circe’s Cup got out in front and [secured] the win."
Another
not so surprising outcome in the J/24 fleet was the fact that if they
were “on their game” the AIRDOODLE gang led by John Denman would totally
dominate their friends in the J/24 Worlds of light air “go left”
MarbleDead. Yup, in fact, they did. Chris Clancy’s LITTLE MARTHA could
do nothing to overcome AIRDOODLE’s fabulously smart, insightful,
sailing, happy to take second with such a remarkable display of the art
of sailing. Huh? Check out the next chapter in this soliloquy if they
ever show their feathers at the J/24 Worlds in Newport. Third was Mike
Taber’s XINGU.Perhaps what was most interesting in the world of one-design J/70 sailing was to see the battle for the top five in the fleet. While the “Smith family” on AFRICA took first quite easily with four 1sts, two 2nds amongst their nine-race scoreline, the balance of the top five was nothing but normal based on recent regattas. Second was Stein Skaane on SHRED, starting out tied for the lead after the first three races, but settling into a comfortable second place. Third was the Bill Lynn Matt Hooks team on SCAMP, narrowly beating Will Welles on RASCAL with 31 pts. Fifth was Tyler Doyle’s crew on USA 245. Sailing photo credits- Sir Leighton O’Connor For more Marblehead NOOD Regatta sailing information
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