(St Petersburg, FL)- The 2019 edition of the Helly Hansen St Petersburg
NOOD Regatta took place from February 15th to 17th, hosted by St
Petersburg Yacht Club. This year’s event may go down in history as one
of the best three days of sailing ever on Tampa Bay! Epic conditions
every day, with sunny warm weather (70s F), and fresh southeast to
southwest breezes ranging from 6 to 17 kts- in other words, true
“Chamber of Commerce” conditions with shorts, t-shirts, and shades being
the wardrobe of the weekend.
Thirty-seven of the 106 keelboats participating were J/Boats crews
(34%). Those 250+ J sailor certainly had a rocking good time, making the
most of the spring-like weather to enjoy the famous “Tiki Bar” on the
second floor of St Petersburg YC’s terrace. Participating teams
included one-design fleets for J/24s, J/70s, J/88s, and J/111s and a few
J/crews sailing PHRF handicap, too! Again, it was another “de facto”
J/Fest for J enthusiasts across America.
Fabulous Friday
The first day of the regatta dawned with a sunny day and a harbor
postponement. That was a good thing. Since virtually all weather
forecasts and GRIB files showed the seabreeze starting to roll in before
noontime and increasing into the 8-12 kts range by late afternoon. It
turned out to be a good call, as the fleet left the docks at 11:30am to
head out to the race course for three good races in SE to SW winds of 6
to 12 kts. It was great sailing for all the one-design fleets on all
four circles and the competition was tough!
The competition was not lost on Maddy Ploch sailing on the J/70 circle.
The high school student jumped into the boat for the first time in over a
year and a half. Despite shaking off rust today she and her crew-
including her father (Mark Ploch) as tactician- finished the day in
third overall.
"You look over your shoulder for one second and you already lose two
boat lengths looking at the guy next to you," Ploch says. "It’s really
good competition here and I am actually really excited to come back
again tomorrow and use some of the information I got today and apply it
for every race that comes after."
Ploch's forte is offshore long-distance racing - she has a few thousand
miles under her belt from racing to Bermuda twice and doing boat
deliveries - but she is no stranger to NOOD regattas having competed in
her first one when she was 12 years old.
"It's very different racing, you have to be in a different mindset," she
says. "The start is one third of the race on a short course. It's
always about boat speed, tactics and strategy - when to cut your losses
and when to duck and bite the bullet. I was glad to have some light wind
today to get my bearings straight and remember the feel of the boat.
But, it would great to have more breeze in the coming days to keep
things exciting and sail the regatta in all conditions."
Leading the J/70s after the first day was Peter Bowe’s TEA DANCE SNAKE, followed by Travis Odenbach’s HONEYBADGER in second.
Fast out of the blocks in the J/24 class was Carter White’s YouREGATTA,
scoring a 1-2-3 to lead with 6 pts. Following them were Mike Quaid’s
ICE CUBE in second and Robby Brown’s ANGEL OF HARLEM in third.
The J/88s had very closely fought racing. After three races, Bill
Purdy’s WHIRLWIND was leading with 9 pts, followed by Mike Bruno’s WINGS
and Andy & Sarah Graff’s EXILE tied at 10 pts each.
Similarly, the J/111s were all essentially tied up. The leaders were
tied at 6 pts each, Rob Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF and Ian Hill’s SITELLA.
Just one point back was Jeff Davis’ SHAMROCK.
Spectacular Saturday
The second day of racing started off with a good breeze out of the south
that, ultimately, swung into the southwest and increased to 10-15 kts
for most circles. All circles got in at least four races and the sailors
were sent home at 2:30pm in the afternoon!
White’s YouREGATTA continued to lead the J/24s, but the rest of the
podium saw changes. David Ogden’s BUCKAROO crew from Toronto, Canada
leapt into the second spot with a 3-1-2-1 for 17 pts, while Quaid’s ICE
CUBE dropped to third with a 4-3-3-2 for 21 pts.
Similar movement was seen in the J/88 class. Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION team
managed a 2-1-1-3 to lead with 17 pts, followed by John & Jordan
Leahey’s DUTCH team from Denver, Colorado that had 21 pts. One point
back was Bruno’s WINGS with 22 pts.
The J/70s saw their standings shuffle dramatically amongst the leaders.
Odenbach’s HONEYBADGER crew knocked it out of the park on Saturday; they
were now leading after blowing off their erstwhile competitors with
straight bullets to lead with just 12 pts. Second was now occupied by
Bowe’s TEA DANCE SNAKE with a 6-2-6-4 tally on the day for a 22 pts
total. Third was still the young Ms. Ploch on USA 88 with 23 pts.
Beginning to pull ahead in the J/111 class was the Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN
SPIFF, posting a scorchingly hot tally of 1-3-1-1 for a total of 12 pts
on the day! Ouch, that’s putting the big hurt on the fleet! Then, Hill’s
SITELLA hung on to second with a 2-2-3-3 for 16 pts and Davis’ SHAMROCK
remained in the third position with a 3-1-4-2 for 17 pts.
Meanwhile, in PHRF 2 Racing Spinnakers, sitting in second after five
races was Ray Mannix’s J/29 SEMPER FI with George Cussins’ J/105 FIRE
& ICE in third, just a scant point in arrears.
Supercalifragilistic Sunday
It was another beautiful sunny day for the final day of racing. Once the
sea breeze patiently filled in by noontime, it built quickly into the
8-12 kts range from the S to SW. Racing got underway and most classes
completed two races for a regatta total of eight to nine races by the
1400 hrs time limit.
At each Helly Hansen NOOD regatta, organizers select one team from among
its class winners to challenge the 2018 Caribbean NOOD Championship
winner. This year’s winner in St. Petersburg was the J/70 class winner,
Travis Odenbach, skipper of HONEYBADGER. He and his crew earned a berth
in the Helly Hansen NOOD Caribbean Championship regatta, hosted by
Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands in October 2019.
This was a particularly sweet win for the Pittsford, New York, native
and his team that won their class by 15 points. Previously, Odenbach was
the regatta’s overall winner, but was unable to attend the Caribbean
Championship due to a conflict with the J/24 North Americans.
"I have been doing the NOOD since then trying to redeem myself and my
crew won’t sail with me if I skip it again," said Odenbach. "We tried
pretty hard to win and this is a gift. We are really excited and we are
not going to skip this year!!”
"With 75 degree temperatures and 10 to 12 knots of breeze, it's been one
of the best years that I have been in the NOOD here," continued
Odenbach. Odenbach, a successful J/24 racer, is relatively new to the
J/70 and attributes his success to his crew who is enjoying the boat and
also some lessons on the water over the weekend.
"One
of the things I learned was how to drive through waves and understand
that the boat doesn't go any faster or slower if you go really low
through the waves. So, we powered up, crashed on through, and it seemed
to really work out going upwind," he said. “Good starts, getting off
the line clean, and letting the crew do the rest was our recipe to
success.” Crew members on HONEYBADGER included Ian Coleman, Patrick
Wilson and Brendan Feeney.
Rounding out the top three in the J/70s were Maddy Ploch’s USA 88 crew
taking home the silver, while Bowe’s TEA DANCE SNAKE picked up the
bronze.
Top marks in the J/88 fleet went to Iris Vogel and the crew of
DEVIATION, who struggled with shifty conditions and battled through a
four-way tie for second place on the first day of racing. The team found
its groove over the next two days and focused on boatspeed.
"In this fleet, we just had to be fast," says Vogel. "Everyone is so
close and so good. One mistake and you go from first to fifth. Our goal
was to get a good start, and go as fast as we can, and hold on to it."
The balance of the podium went to the Leahey’s DUTCH in second place and Bill Purdy’s WHIRLWIND in third position.
White’s YouREGATTA split 1st and 2nd in the last two races with Ogden’s
BUCKAROO to maintain their lead in the J/24 class. Behind Ogden was
Quaid’s ICE CUBE in third.
The J/111s saw the Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF hang on to their lead to
take the class win. Behind them, it was an anxiety-ridden last two
races, culminating in a tie-breaker. Such is the scenario for the
incredibly tight racing in the class. Winning the tie-break on 21 pts
each was Davis’ SHAMROCK over Hill’s SITELLA.
Finally, PHRF 2 Racing Spinnaker class saw Mannix’s J/29 SEMPER FI get
on the podium, again, for what seemed like the dozenth time in the St
Pete NOOD Regatta! His crew from Largo, Florida took home the silver.
They were followed by Cussins’ J/105 FIRE & ICE in third position.
Watch the
interview of the Overall Winner- Travis Odenbach and HONEYBADGER team
Sailing video highlights
Friday-
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72ijfe
Saturday-
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72iztl
Sunday-
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72kina
For
more Helly Hansen St Petersburg NOOD Regatta sailing information
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
(St Petersburg, FL)- The 2019 edition of the Helly Hansen St Petersburg
NOOD Regatta will be taking place from February 15th to 17th, hosted by
St Petersburg Yacht Club, with sailing on Tampa Bay. Continuing the
trend from past years, the J/family of sailors continues to grow across
the spectrum of experience and competition. Of the 162 boats
registered, 106 are keelboats, and of that 34% (or 36 boats) are J/Boats
crews. In terms of “sailor participants”, the J/crews number over 50%
of the regatta, at least 250 sailors that are on J/24s, J/70s, J/88s,
J/111s, & J/PHRF teams! Yet another “de facto” J/Fest for
enthusiasts across America.
J/88 WING Soars, J/111 SPACEMAN SPIFF Zooms to Class Wins
J/88 Midwinters
J/111 Midwinters
(St Petersburg, FL)- The third weekend of January marks the occasion for
the annual J/Fest St Petersburg Regatta, hosted by the St Petersburg YC
in Florida. Sailing will take place from January 25th to 27th, with
the teams of J/88s and J/111s racing on Tampa Bay.
northeast,
watch for these teams to be near the top of the leaderboard; Iris
Vogel’s DEVIATION from New Rochelle, NY; Dave Tufts’ GAUCHO from
Rochester, NY; and Mike Bruno’s WINGS from American YC in Rye, NY.
