(San Diego, CA)- This weekend marks the second major event in the Helly
Hansen Sailing World NOOD events for the summer of 2017. The host will
be the San Diego YC and three large one-design fleets of J’s are sailing
(J/70, J/105 & J/120) in the Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD Regatta.
Racing will take place from March 17th to 19th in two principal sailing
areas- down in South Bay just past the majestic San Diego city
waterfront or off the southwestern tip of the picturesque Point Loma
Peninsula and the beaches of North Island (home to the US Navy’s Pacific
fleet).The sailors will likely be preparing for light to moderate conditions all weekend with benign temperatures in the upper 60s. Friday’s forecast shows overcast skies with westerly winds shifting into the SW quadrant at 4-8 kts; Saturday looks more promising with mostly sunny skies and a decent SW sea breeze building into the 6-10 kts range; then Sunday dawns overcast and sailing looks a bit questionable, but with promise of a late-developing seabreeze from the WNW of 4-8 kts.
The
eighteen J/70s have a great turnout of leading West coast teams. In
addition, joining them are at least three Youth teams that are hoping to
qualify for the U.S. J/70 Youth Championship in Newport, RI later this
summer. Those youth teams include the HELLY HANSEN JR CREW skippered by
Jack Reiter representing the host SDYC; Luke Pierce sailing CAKE,
representing Santa Barbara YC; and Robert Garret skippering SLOOP JOHN
B, representing Newport Harbor YC. These three teams will have great
racing against such West coast luminaries like Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS
from Santa Barbara YC (ex J/24 North American Champions), David
Schumann’s BOTTLE ROCKET from San Francisco YC, Craig Tallman’s JAYA
from Kings Harbor YC, Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT from Cal YC, Dave
Vieregg’s SOGGY DOLLAR from SDYC and the lone Mexican crew- Fabian
Gomez-Ibarra’s VAGAZO. 
Not
surprisingly, the eleven J/105s that are primarily from the host SDYC
are showing up in force. Most all top crews from previous years will be
in the mix, such as Steve Howells BLINK, Stew Cannon’s J-OK, Chuck
Driscoll & Tom Hurlburt’s JUICED (the crazily bright orange boat!),
Rick Goebel’s SANITY, Tim Fuller’s STEADFAST and Dennis Case’s WINGS. Like their J/105 colleagues, the seven J/120s entered mostly hail from San Diego YC, but the two “outsiders” from the Los Angeles area will be a threat to the local’s domination on the leaderboard. Those two challengers include Tom & Teri Manok’s POLE DANCER from Carlsbad, CA and Tim Hogan’s SHAMROCK from Newport Harbor YC. Planning on holding their own and fly the SDYC burgee onto the winner’s podium might be John Laun’s CAPER, Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER, Rudolph Hasl’s HASL FREE, Mike Hatch’s J-ALMIGHTY and Ernie Pennell’s MAD MEN. For more Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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