J/112E Dominates PHRF Class
(Marblehead, MA)- The Eastern Yacht Club hosted their annual Ted Hood Regatta in conjunction with their amazing local partners, the Corinthian YC and the Boston YC for a fleet of both one-design racers and offshore PHRF handicap sailors. The sailors enjoyed great camaraderie and fun ashore at Eastern YC. However, the weather was less than cooperative. Friday’s racing was light winds, followed by a beautiful day with very lumpy shifty northeast winds on Saturday. Then, the combination of a massive High over the Canadian Maritimes and a giant Low southeast of Cape Cod conspired to produce massive 8-10 foot waves and 15-30 kt winds on Sunday from the ENE, resulting in a complete cancellation of all sailing on Sunday.
The eight-boat J/70 class witnessed a blitzkrieg, appropriately enough, by a boat named SHRED; Stein Skaane’s crew scored four straight bullets. Second was Frank McNamara’s CHINOOK with a 2-3-2-2 for 9 pts, and third was Jim Raisides & Charlie Pendleton’s BAD HOMBRES’ with a symmetric 3-4-3-4 tally for 14 pts.
The seventeen-boat J/105 class saw a new force in the class show up at the top of the podium. Thoroughly dominating this tough class on their penultimate day was famous Houston sailor Bill Zartler, crushing the fleet with a 1-3-1 to take home the gold on his famous DEJA VOODOO from Lakewood YC. Just one point back was another famous J/105 sailor from Houston, Texas, Ken Horne’s FINAL FINAL. Then, as if the drum roll had not ended yet, Rolex Big Boat Series Champion Tim Russell and his famous crew on NE*NE (which includes Brent Draney J/105 champion tactician) took the bronze medal! That is a star-studded podium for the J/105 class!
In the ORR 1 Division, Fred deNapoli’s J/124 ALLEGRO MALVAGIO took third in class. They were followed by Gary Weisberg’s J/111 HEAT WAVE in fourth and Tom Mager’s J/122 GIGI in fifth place.
Chris Zibailo’s J/112E DOPODOMANI won the ORR 2 Division in dramatic fashion with three bullets in their scoreline!
Then, in ORR 3 Division, Ward Blodgett & Liz Smith’s J/33 SIROCCO sailed a solid series to nearly take the class win. They posted an exemplary 3-1-2-2 for 8 pts to take the silver.
In PHRF Non-Spinnaker Class, Sam Foster’s J/40 CAHOOTS from Marblehead, MA won their class! For more Ted Hood Regatta sailing information