SAVASANA Wins 70s, ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA Takes 105s, AIR BAGS Pops 24s(Marblehead, MA)- Over the three-day weekend from July 28th to 31st, the sailors participating in the final event of the highly popular HELLY HANSEN NOOD Regattas were treated to a wide variety of conditions by Boston Yacht Club's experienced RC Committee and PRO's. There were three large J/one-design classes participating- J/70s, J/105s and J/24s.
An
outstanding performance was put in by Brian Keane’s J/70 SAVASANA,
which finished the series with a second and won by a slim 4 points.
SAVASANA’s biggest move was made on Saturday, however, with three race
wins. “[On Saturday] it was pretty consistent, the breeze was coming
from the right and we worked hard to start up by the boat and actually
were able to win the boat almost every race and then head over to the
right. And everything happened from there.”On Sunday, he says, “We were consistent, we were quick. I think sometimes we got some lucky breaks but our boat speed was particularly quick this week. All of the NOODs are amazing events. Think about how many boats are here - and it’s not just that, but in the J/70 class there are national champions and world champions, so the competition is huge. Every NOOD that we’ve gone to is a must-go event because of the caliber of the competition. This was excellent.”
The rest of the 28-boat fleet were experiencing pretty wild “chutes & ladders” scorecards. In the end, consistency paid off for Jud Smith’s AFRICA to take second place with 29 pts net. Having to overcome an OCS in race 3, Will Welles’ SCAMP did well to win the last two races to shoot up the ladder into third position with 33 pts. Rounding out the top five was Dave Franzel’s SPRING, taking 4th place despite winning two races. Fifth place went to John Brim’s RIMETTE, also having to overcome an OCS in race three, but otherwise sailing a very consistent series.
Winning the Corinthians’ Division was Stein Skaane’s SHRED, at one point holding on to third place overall on the second day, but posting three double-digit races in a row shredded their ambitions for a top three
overall finish. Second in Corinthians was Alden Reid’s RASCAL and this was Dann Goedkoop’s LOCOMOTION.The sixteen-boat J/105 fleet saw very close racing between a past Marblehead NOOD Champion, Fred deNapoli’s ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA, and Mark & Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS from Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX. Both boats counted double-bullets in their tallies, with deNapoli’s crew winning by three points. With Masur’s TWO FEATHERS in a solid second place, it was a battle for the rest of the top five. Third was Steve Goldberg’s AIR EXPRESS, fourth Ken Bowden’s KNOTLESS and fifth was Ernie Hardy’s JAGUAR.
It
was a battle of the SEA BAGS in the J/24 class. For the first two
days, Erica Beck Spencer’s SEA BAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM as leading the
regatta. However, a strong comeback on the last day of racing by Carter
White’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM created a tie-breaker scenario with each
team sitting on 16 pts each, with White’s crew prevailing over Spencer’s
by collecting four 1sts. Third was Mike Taber’s XINGU with 24 pts,
fourth John Denman’s AIRDOODLE winning a tie-break over Chris Keimig’s
LITTLE MARTHA on 27 pts each. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images. For more HELLY HANSEN Marblehead NOOD Regatta sailing information
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