Marblehead ONE Regatta Fun 4 All!

J/70s, J/105s, PHRF Enjoy Perfect Weather
Marblehead, MA- The ONE Regatta (Offshore New England's) in Marblehead was conducted in ideal conditions over a period of three days, 26-28th of August, off Marblehead MA. The three Marblehead yacht clubs (Boston, Corinthian & Eastern) provided outstanding Race Committees on three courses. This year, it was Eastern YC’s turn to host the shore-side festivities and unparalleled post-race experience!

For the J/105 class, the Boston YC RC did a brilliant job by orchestrating no less than 10 races in very difficult conditions at times, led by PRO Karen Tenenbaum. This was an all time high number of races for this event, spanning over 30 years (formerly called "PHRF NE's").

The fleet of fourteen J/105s had a star-studded cast: "Merlin" sporting no less than two Mallory Cup winners; "Got Qi" with stand-out intercollegiate sailor Dave Nelson at the helm- last year's winner and multiple MA Bay Champions; "Blown Away", Fleet 2 captain Fred deNapoli's "allegro Semplicita" with intercollegiate All-American Nick Burke calling tactics; and visiting teams from as far away as Dallas, Texas (including last month's Marblehead NOOD regatta runner up- "Two Feathers").

After an extremely challenging first day it was a local boat, "Knotless", helmed by Marblehead sailor Ken Bowden who topped the leader board, and another new addition to the fleet, "Aqua Boggie" (formerly "Steal Away"), in the hunt with "Got Qui" and "allegro" fighting it out for 3rd and 4th.  The second day the PRO Karen Tenenbaum ran no less than 5 races, and when the smoke cleared once again, "Knotless" held the lead, while "Got Qui" and "allegro" were in close pursuit.  The final day's 3 races saw Nelson and deNapoli trade off firsts with a “do-or-die” final shoot out with the score tied.  DeNapoli was over early by a foot and so after 10 races Nelson and his team went on to win the final race and the event by 2 points, well earned!  Hard to imagine a better series, a great warm up for the North Americans!

The highly competitive J/70 class produced a surprise winner!  Steine Skanne sailed SHRED to victory over a rock-star studded group of sailors, including Stew Neff’s AFRICA in 2nd place and Henry Brauer’s RASCAL in 3rd.  The balance of the top five included Ted Johnson’s VITAMIN-J and the duo of Chris Boulter/ Tyler Doyle on CLOWN CAR finishing 4th & 5th, respectively.

Over in the PHRF world, it was tight racing for the J/111s and J/122 in PHRF Class 1.  Top J/crew was Tom Mager’s J/122 GIGI in 3rd place followed by Gary Weisberg’s J/111 HEATWAVE in 4th position.  The big winner in PHRF Class 3 was Daniel Boyd’s J/109 WILDTHING, counting all bullets in their winning 6 pts net scoreline!  Third was the Blodgett & Blodgett team on the J/33 SCIROCCO.  In the newly created JAM Class (jibs & mains), it was Jeff Kent’s J/35 BLACK SEAL that won class!   For more Marblehead ONE Regatta sailing information