(Chicago, IL)- The Chicago YC again played host to this year’s HELLY
HANSEN Chicago NOOD Regatta sailed from June 12th to 14th. The fleet
experienced an enormous variety of conditions over the three days, from
crazy, almost surreal weather on Friday to easy-going, classic Lake
Michigan gentle breezes over the next two days. The Chicago NOOD had
one-design fleets of J/70s, J/105s and J/109s and a variety of J/Teams
sailing in both PHRF Class and the North Sails Rally on Saturday.Friday’s sailing brought wet and crazy conditions to the fleet of 135 boats. Overcast skies accompanied the inaugural race day with winds topping out at 14 knots, making for a competitive regatta from the beginning. Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club member Martin Johnsson and his crew aboard the J/70 AQUAHOLIKS won all four of their races. Going into the second day of racing Saturday, Johnsson was the one to beat in the 13-boat class. John Heaton’s EMPEIRIA was in second place, and John Arendshorst’s 20/20 was close behind in third.
Peter
Priede’s J/109 FULL TILT lived up to their name by putting in an
excellent day of racing that won them three first place finishes in
their class. The small, but competitive, fleet of five boats were the
first boats to start racing Friday. Tied for second after the first day
were David Gustman’s NORTHSTAR and Kevin Saedi’s MOMENTUS- both former
winners of the Chicago NOOD regatta!Tom and Gyt Petkus on their J/105 VYTIS had a similar day to their J/109 colleagues. They are leading their fleet and took home a 1-1-5 while Clark Pellet’s SEALARK was tied in second on 9 pts with Jon Weglarz’s THE ASYLUM.
After
the racing on Saturday, the Sailing World crew caught up with the J/88
RAMBLER crew on the docks. A pretty laid-back crew they are! So laid
back, in fact, they hadn’t even checked the results of the North Sails
Rally PHRF 2 class! “Oh wow, we won? Holy sh*%$!” said skipper Benjamin
Wilson. The crew, made up of Wilson’s J/105 and J/111 racing buddies
from year’s past, sailed the 20.7 nm course in shifty, light breeze and
sunny conditions— unusual for early summer sailing on Lake Michigan.
“The conditions were challenging today,” said Wilson. “For us, we have
to be really good with our upwind sailing and our point. Sometimes, we
weren’t accomplishing that. We tried to go to a Code 0 to the first
mark, but that didn’t work out well. We made some adjustments, and once
we started getting to the points on the course where we can start
reaching and running we do a lot better.” Wilson, who is a volunteer
assistant volleyball coach for the Loyola Ramblers men’s Volleyball
Team, plans to take the J/88 RAMBLER offshore for the Chicago-Mac next
month. “It’s a solid team, we’ve all known each other forever and we
keep sailing together. I’m cruising, I get to hang out with my friends- -
RAMBLER just keeps rambling.”
Sunday
provided the fleet with yet another nice day of sailing. In the end,
the first day’s results didn’t change for the top three in the J/70
class. Johnsson’s AQUAHOLIKS team kept rolling and won by a significant
margin. Second was Heaton’s crew on EMPEIRIA just holding off a
late-minute charge by Arendshorst’s crew on 20/20. Fourth was Bob
Willis’ team aboard OLE TIPSY THREE and fifth was Blane Shea skippering
GEMINI. A similar scenario held true for both the J/105 and J/109 classes. Winning the J/105s was the husband-wife team of Tom & Gyt Petkus sailing VYTIS. Second was Pellett’s SEALARK and third was Weglarz’s THE ASYLUM. Filling out the top five was Ken Ganch’s GONZO and fifth was Sandy Curtiss’ ROCKING HORSE.
Priede’s J/109 crew on FULL TILT kept pressing on regardless and won two more races to close out a win in their class. Gustman’s NORTHSTAR was second, followed by Saedi’s MOMENTUS in third, Jim Murray’s CALLISTO in fourth and Scott Sims’ SLAPSHOT in fifth (yes, he’s a former hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks- this year’s Stanley Cup Champions!).
In the North Sails Rally divisions, David Hughes’ J/100 BARRACUDA took third in ORR Cruising divisions. IN the PHRF Offshore I class, Frank Giampoli’s J/120 JAHAZI was second and Jim Gignac’s J/130 SALSA finished third. As mentioned above, Ben Wilson’s J/88 RAMBLER won PHRF Offshore 2 going away. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images. For more HELLY HANSEN Chicago NOOD sailing regatta information
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