Saturday, July 30, 2016

Marblehead NOOD Preview

J/70s sailing off Marblehead NOOD (Marblehead, MA)- The final event of the highly popular HELLY HANSEN NOOD Regattas will be taking place this weekend in Marblehead from July 28th to 31st at Boston Yacht Club.  It has become an enormous one-design event and featured in the regatta is the largest keelboat fleet- the J/70s with twenty-seven boats!  Not to be outdone is the largest “big boat” fleet, the sixteen boat J/105 class and, of course, the classic J of them all, the dozen boat J/24 class.  All boats will be competing for the honor of being selected as the Overall Winner to join past HELLY HANSEN NOOD Regatta winners in the British Virgin Islands for the NOOD National Champion sailing cruising boats with refrigerators, yakuzzi’s, blenders and swim ladders.

The twenty-seven boat J/70 class is a world-championship level fleet, featuring top teams like Jud Smith’s AFRICA, John Brim’s RIMETTE, Brian Keane’s SAVASANA, Will Welles’ SCAMP, and Dave Franzel’s SPRING.  In addition, top regional crews that will be pushing the envelope include Holly Fabyan’s ASTERIA, Andrew & Melissa Fisher’s BUTTON FLY, Frank McNamara’s CHINOOK and Tim Finkle’s JUNIOR crew from Youngstown YC from New York.

The local J/105 fleet always sports a great turnout.  For this 2016 edition, sixteen boats are participating with past Marblehead NOOD Champion, Fred deNapoli’s ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA, leading the charge.  They will be chased hard by perennial J/105 adventurers- Mark & Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS from Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX.  Also, in the frame for most of the event should be Steve Hollis’ SIROCCO and Ken Bowden’s KNOTLESS.

With a dozen boats, the J/24s always will have good fun sailing with top-notch competition.  Past Marblehead NOOD Champions include- John Denman’s AIRDOODLE, Carter White’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM, and Erica Beck Spencer’s SEA BAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM!!  Wow, that’s some tres amigos/amigas to have to contend with!!  Hoping to do battle with that trio are Chris Keimig’s LITTLE MARTHA from Sail Newport in Newport, RI and Alex Bolan’s SAMURAI TAKEDOWN.  For more HELLY HANSEN Marblehead NOOD Regatta sailing information