When the race committee hoisted its AP-over-A on the morning of the first day of racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in Annapolis, there was a collective sigh across the Annapolis YC’s dry sail lot. Yes, everyone was anxious to go racing after a year of tiptoe racing through the pandemic, but not everyone was keen to scuff off the rust in a 30-knot gale.

So, with coffees in hand, crews tinkered and mingled with friends. A few teams eventually sneaked out to practice in the harbor, but most of Rob Ruhlman’s crew went golfing instead. There was no good reason to go out and practice on their J/111, flogging sails and crew before their big-deal North American Championship. They hadn’t sailed since January, at the class’s winter championship in Key West, but they’d be ready, Ruhlman reasoned. Feeling ready and being ready, however, are two different things.

The one wrinkle they weren’t prepared for was the race committee’s use of a rolling three-minute starting sequence the following morning when starting signals finally got underway. The short countdown caught Ruhlman’s team off guard in the morning’s first race. Twenty-knot gusts only fueled the confusion.

“We had trouble getting used to the three-minute-start thing,” Ruhlman says. “I get it in Lasers, but with 37-footers?”

Without a good start in this class, Ruhlman says, it’s nearly impossible to get to the front. This would, of course, account for his Spaceman Spiff being sixth (of seven boats) in the first race of the regatta. Rust in the boathandling cog of the machine didn’t help.

“These boats are so even, and there are all top-notch guys that travel,” he says, “so there’s no room for mistakes.”

Peter Wagner’s team on Skeleton Key, trained in the big breeze of their ­hometown San Francisco Bay, were ­confident in the day’s chaotic blow and won the first races comfortably. They were able to get off the starting line clean and control their own race, Wagner says.

“That was pretty important because, with the shifts, things were changing quickly, and we had to be able to react to the changes as they happened.”

By the final race of the day, however, Ruhlman’s crew was in its groove. Their score line trended upward, with a second to close the day. Skeleton Key had its first stumble, hung out on the wrong side of a windshift and finishing fourth. “We got stuck a little too far left and couldn’t quite find a shift to come back,” Wagner says. “Our friends on Spaceman Spiff face-planted us at a critical moment, bouncing us back left and sealing our doom. That was a good move by them.”

That fourth also narrowed the series to mere points between the top three boats, with Spaceman Spiff lurking in fourth.

“We went home that day feeling fine,” Ruhlman says, “and not a single person walked out the door in the morning expecting to go out and win the day—or the regatta. We weren’t feeling a lot of pressure.”

Skeleton Key, however, was perhaps feeling the pressure and got caught over early in the morning’s first start.

“An OCS is almost impossible to overcome,” Ruhlman says. “In this fleet, getting back is incredibly difficult.”

Not only did Spiff win that one, but it won the next, inching the crew closer to the top of the mountain. “We always take it one race at a time,” Ruhlman says, “And, in fact, when we crossed the finish line in the last race [a fourth-place finish], my son said, ‘I think we just won the North Americans.’ I know he’s good with math, but I said I’m going to wait and see how the numbers work out.”

The story was similar for J.R. Maxwell and his mates on the J/22 Scooby. Their results after the breezy opening day were what he called “consistent” in the 15-boat fleet, and after winning the next day’s first two races, Scooby was well on its way to winning the regatta. But, like Wagner’s Skeleton Key, the race committee called Maxwell’s number—and it took a while. Looping back to restart, they looked up the course and knew the work ahead.

“We had to grind back from being second to last and finished fifth in that race,” Maxwell says. “It was all about staying in the puffs. It wasn’t always intuitive of where that was going to happen.”

A fifth in that race was good enough for the win. Sailing with Maxwell on Scooby were Jim Schmicker and Matt Spencer (and Bryan Pryor sailing on Saturday only), and as the winner of the J/22 class, they were also selected as the regatta’s overall winners, earning a berth to compete in the Helly Hansen Caribbean NOOD Championship in October in Sunsail-provided bareboats.

The J/35s are a legacy class of the Annapolis NOOD, and while the fleet was smaller in numbers this year with only four to show, the battle at the top of the fleet was a mighty one, with Roger Lant’s Abientot winning the tiebreaker over the perennial champions of James Sagerholm’s Aunt Jean. It took everything they had, Lant says, plus a little luck.

“Aunt Jean is very, very fast upwind, so if you let them get away, it’s a tough battle after that, so we worked on a strategy to deal with them on the starting line,” Lant says. “But we carried out our plan, and it went well.”

What exactly was that plan?

“The boat that won the start won the race,” Lant says. “They were looking for space on the starting line, and we were looking to engage, so [on the first day] we engaged them fairly hard.”

When Aunt Jean won the day’s first two races the following morning, Lant had only one option: to win the final race. He who wins the last race wins it all.

“We knew we had to control him at the start,” Lant says, “but we also had to win the start and get clear.”

They also needed top-shelf crew work.

“I’m the most fortunate skipper on the course,” Lant says. “I have a core crew that has been sailing together for three years, and the skills keep building, and we had some of the most fabulous crew work I’ve ever seen on the boat—exceptional.”

Lant, of course, got his win and local bragging rights—for now.

On the same circle were the J/80s, also an Annapolis NOOD legacy class. Conor Hayes and Jeff Kirchhoff’s J/80, More Gostosa, didn’t have a stellar first day, but on the second, “flawless crew work” saved them.

When it’s said that every point counts, Hayes would agree because one point was ultimately the difference. Having won the penultimate race, Hayes knew the points were extremely close between his team and Daniel Wittig’s Turbo Sloth, but he had no idea how close. All he could do for the last race was keep Sloth in his wake.

“We had a tough start in that last race,” Hayes says. “We wanted to start at the pin but got shut out. We were able to tack out immediately onto port and were in phase. From there, it was a matter of staying in more wind. It helps to have boatspeed and a good crew to be able to get out of bad situations.”

Similar accounts were common across the 153-boat regatta, even over on the 40-boat J/70 line that was so thick with professionals, you could practically see dollar bills streaming behind in their wakes as pro-am teams fought tooth and nail for narrow lanes and clean air.

Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger was king for a day after the first, but the late assault came from USA 419, with Terry Hutchinson on the tiller. Even he had to pull off a few miracles.

In the start of Sunday’s first race, for example, Hutchinson doubted his GPS starting instrument, hesitated, and was immediately buried after the start. “We didn’t trust the Velocitek,” Hutchinson says. “We were poked, and I didn’t pull the trigger. It was a rookie mistake.”

Hutchison? Rookie? Pshaw.

With the focus of his crew, Scott Nixon, Dan Morris, Gil Hackel and Jennifer Wulf, they clawed their way back to an eighth-place finish—no small feat when the flood tide was running in at full tilt. It was this comeback, Hutchinson says, that ­ultimately won his team the regatta.

“It’s amazing how hard this racecourse is in Annapolis,” Hutchinson says of the home waters he’s supposed to know like the back of his hand. “The course location was hard because the current was good on the right, but there was pressure and shift on the left, so you had to balance the two. You did not want to be in the middle. In the first race, the leader came out of the right, and in the second, the leader came out of the left. Each leg was unique to itself, which kept us on our toes.”

Over on the J/30 line there were 10 boats, but the battle was really between the top three—Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello’s Bebop, Bruce Irvin’s Shamrock, and Tristan Keen’s Infectious Smile. The three of them were passing ones, twos and threes like hot potatoes, but Bebop ultimately snagged the win. “My crew had not raced together since 2019,” Rutsch says, “so to get back together and go out in 20 knots and not break anything was amazing. We had a killer first race—with a monster lead—on the first day, and that really got us going for the weekend.”

Rutsch has lost track of how many times Bebop has won the NOOD since his father bought the boat in 1983—maybe 11 times—but winning it never grows old. “I used to say to my dad, in the ’80s and ’90s, ‘Man, I hope we’re still around after 25 years like the Alberg 30s.’ We’re still out there. They’re still out there. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Speaking of the Alberg 30s, it was Pat Siedel’s Laughing Gull that set one of the regatta’s picket fences, often finishing five minutes ahead of the fleet. “When it was really sporty on Saturday, most of the guys were flying No. 2s and blades,” Siedel says, “but we opted to reef down and go with a No. 1, and that really helped us. Plus, the guys were all over the crew work.”

Flawless boathandling is also what got Jose Fuentes and the Caramba Etchells squad to the top of its fleet. Fuentes, who lives over the border in Washington, D.C., says the NOOD is his No. 1 regatta, and this one felt especially important, sailing in honor of former crewmate and local sailor Geoff Ewenson, who recently passed away. Ewenson, he says, would have been proud. “I don’t think we had a speed edge over the rest of the boats,” Fuentes says. The big difference was the crew work. It was flawless—every tack, every ­rounding, every jibe.

Making easy work of the regatta in the J/24s was Tony Parker’s Bangor Packet. Tyler Moore’s squad prevailed in the Viper 640s, and Bill Zartler’s experienced team owned the 21-boat J/105 fleet from start to finish. In the new North Sails Doublehanded Distance Race, Mike Beasely and Chris Coleman conquered the windy 20-mile racecourse to win on Beasley’s GP26, Rattle N Rum. ν

The post Racing Back to Normal at the Annapolis NOOD appeared first on Sailing World.

Preliminary results

“Challenging, puffy conditions” is how J/111 skipper Peter Wagner described conditions on the second day of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis. “We had to keep our eyes out of the boat and change gears frequently, but it was really good racing.”

With three races in winds that started near 20 knots and faded and shifted through the day, Wagner and his crew on Skeleton Key, emerged as the top boat in the seven-boat J/111 fleet, winning the first two races and finishing fourth in the third. The outcome, he says, was better than he expected having not raced the boat since August 2019.

“It’s been a long time,” Wagner says. “We got out to do some boathandling work in San Francisco before we brought the boat here, but no racing, it was just putting ourselves through our paces and making sure the boat was still functional.”

For the day’s first two races, Wagner says, they were able to get off the starting line clean and control their own race, sailing the course as efficiently as possible. “That was pretty important because things were changing quickly and we had to be able to react to the changes as they happened. In the third race, we ended up on the wrong side of one windshift and the result showed, but that will happen sometimes. In that race, you had to be on the right [side of the course]. We got stuck a little too far left and couldn’t quite find a shift to come back. We almost did, but our friends on [Rob Ruhlman’s] Spaceman Spiff faceplanted us at a critical moment, bouncing us back left and sealing our doom. That was a good move by them.”

Wagner says his team did a great job settling into their roles after a long absence and their boathandling and speedwork were as good as could be expected. For tomorrow, the third and final day of racing, Wagner’s goal is to continue sailing well and not worry about the rest of the fleet, which are not far behind on the scoreboard. “It’s about incremental improvements,” he says, “and for me, I guess the one area to improve getting back in sync with my mainsail trimmer, so we’ll continue to focus on that.”

While Wagner and the regatta’s 10 other classes were doing laps around buoys on three individual racecourses, the North Sails Doublehanded Distance Race fleet—nine boats with two-person crews—were laying tracks around Chesapeake Bay in one fast and physical test of teamwork. Race winners Mike Beasely and Chris Coleman, in their lightweight 26-footer, had their hands full, but made quick work of the 20-mile course.

“We knew we had to make our gains downwind so we pushed pretty hard,” Beasley says. “We had two jibes into the bottom mark and there was a bit of indecision on my part on what sails to use on the reach down the Eastern Shore, but we eventually got it all sorted and played the windshifts aggressively on the beat back toward Thomas Point Light. We knew the 40-footers were coming at us pretty hard but were able to get the right sail combination up for the reach. Full credit to Chris, my bowman.”

Beasely had never raced the boat doublehanded in strong breeze—he normally races with five or six crew—so the experience was useful for future shorthanded races he plans to do. It was a day of learning, he says. “We had some systems sorted out,” he says, “but this is a new level of sailing the boat. Today, it was about the old saying—to finish first, first we have to finish—so that was the primary goal.”

The North Sails Doublehanded Distance Race course started with a downwind leg that required carefully orchestrated jibes, and then on the next leg Beasely “put up every sail that we own.” They started with only a furling jib set on the end of the sprit, which Beasley says wasn’t enough sail area, so they put up the bigger spinnaker.

“We had a bit on at times, and I’m sure everyone did as well, but it was fun,” Beasley says.

The most challenging part of the day? The two jibes: “I’ve got the tiller between my legs and Chris is on the spinnaker sheets. We basically pre-set the main with the traveler in the middle. With this boat we have to put the runners on, so we don’t pull the sheet on until the runners are made. The spinnaker is just flagging for a portion of the jibe, but once the runners are made and the main is across, we can get back to planing.”

There was plenty of planing in the early races of the morning for the regatta’s J/70 sailors, using the event as warm up for their upcoming North American Championship, and these conditions suited the day’s overall leader, Travis Odenbach and his crew on Honeybadger. Odenbach and crew won the first two races, finished fourth in the next and now sit atop the standings with a 2-point lead.

“The course today was right favored, but then left toward the top of the beat,” Odenbach says. “We said we had to get on port as soon as possible. In the first race, we had a terrible start, ducked a few boats right away and popped out. No one tacked on us so we were pretty much clear up the rest of the course.”

That was kind of the story for the second race as well; but this time we actually got a good start and were able to tack 3 minutes after the start on the port. Those two first races were kind of easier for us because it was windy enough we could just plane. Toward the end of the second race it started to be more about switching between modes. We were leading the third race, but at the bottom of the course it got light and we got passed by three boats that did a great job getting downwind. It got tricky in the end.”

Odenbach and his team— Orrin Star, Ian Coleman, Andy Horton—have raced plenty this winter in Miami, but the waters off Annapolis are far trickier. Odenbach says that played a factor in his starts today. “It was me getting used to starting in current again. I struggle with that sometime, being a lake sailor, and that’s why the first start was not great, the second was OK and the third was good, so I guess I got used to it.”

With racing cancelled on Friday because of strong winds, the three-day regatta has been compressed into two race-packed days, so the regatta’s race committee were keen to get maximum races today across all circles. Races will start early again on Sunday, after which one overall winner will be selected to compete in the Helly Hansen NOOD Caribbean Championship in October.

The post Race-Packed Saturday for Helly Hansen NOOD Annapolis appeared first on Sailing World.

Anticipation was high on the morning of the first day of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis where 153 teams have assembled to race in the Chesapeake’s first major regatta of the season. With a wind forecast predicting gale force winds, however, the sailors were sent home early to wait it out until tomorrow.

“We were seeing sustained 27 knots at Thomas Point [lighthouse],” said Annapolis YC’s Race Director Kevin Reeds. “The spikes were getting consistently higher and the waves were already 3 to 4 feet.”

While some sailors were disappointed with the day’s cancellation, most were happy to sit out what would surely have been a gear-buster of an outing. With two more race days ahead, the general sentiment was to preserve boats and sailors alike.

“It was definitely the right call,” said Terry Hutchinson, a professional sailor who’s raced in conditions far more extreme over his long career. “If there’s red flags going up everywhere, that’s a good sign to not do it.”

Hutchinson and his teammates, as well as many others at the Annapolis YC sailing center used the opportunity to work on their boat and ensure it was ready for an earlier start time Saturday morning.

But not all teams stayed ashore. Several took to the harbor to gain some invaluable high-wind sailing experience, including Doug and Amy Stryker, who rallied their teammates onto the bay for a few hours practice in their J/105 Mayhem, which is virtually new to them.

The Strykers recently purchased the used J/105 from the U.S. Naval Academy and have put more than 300 manhours into make the boat race ready. Today’s practice, says Stryker, was about making sure the crew race ready as well.

“This will be our third time sailing it,” says Doug Stryker, “and it was our first time sailing it in that much wind. Half the crew was at our house this morning and I said, “Let’s go practice,’ and they, said ‘absolutely not.’”

Stryker convinced them it would be a good use of their unexpected downtime so they relented and hoisted their sails as the wind whistled through the marina.

“We mainly wanted to make sure all the sails went up and down,” Stryker says, “but it was also about building confidence with the crew. I wanted to show them this boat is easier to sail than the J/30 [their previous boat] and they all came in and said it actually really fun.”

They weren’t out there long—just long enough to build the confidence they need to take on the regatta’s 21-boat fleet. The Strykers, like many others at the Annapolis NOOD are eager for races, but they’ll have to wait until racing kicks off with the first warning signal at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The post Gale Warning Keeps Racers in Harbor at Annapolis NOOD appeared first on Sailing World.

The post Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis Virtual Skippers Meeting appeared first on Sailing World.

Despite a shortened day of racing due to afternoon storm conditions on Saturday, fleet rivalries are stoked at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis. The event’s 10 fleets completed either two or three additional races in moderate breeze and drizzle, setting the stage for an earlier start tomorrow for the final day of racing.

In the nine-boat J/80 fleet, the top spot is at play between longtime friends and competitors, Will Crump (R80) and John White (USA 1162). In today’s two races, their teams traded off first and second places, with Crump retaining his 5-point lead on first place overall.

“It’s not unusual for us to be duking it out in a regatta,” Crump said. “We have a great friendship and rivalry between the boats, so it’s really fun to be there. The level of competition on the course is interesting—all the other boats are constantly challenging us, and it is really great racing.”

Crump plans to do what it takes to finish strong for Sunday’s final races. “In the overall tally I think we’ve beaten him [White] more than he’s beaten us, but you never know. To stay on top tomorrow, if we have to, we’ll get after John and his team right away in the starting sequence,” he said with a laugh.

Applying a more conservative racing strategy thus far, Doug Stryker and his teammates on the J/30 TOTALed Mayhem plan to continue playing it safe for the final day, especially to stave off Bruce Irvin aboard Shamrock, who has been challenging hard and sits 5 points behind in second place. For its performance today, Irvin’s Shamrock was selected as the North Sails Local Boat of the Day.

This year, J/30 teams are also racing for their East Coast Championship title. After six races, Stryker’s squad has racked up five second-place and one first place finish, and he hopes that consistency will be enough.

According to Stryker, Shamrock is “the boat to beat this year,” he said. “They’ve really improved over the past few years and we’ve been trading off the lead almost every leg it seems. Our goal is to play it safe; not bang any corners or take any flyers. We just want to hold on to the lead and come out on top.”

After winning two races today on the J/22 course, Jeff Todd’s Hot Toddy is now leading the six-boat fleet on a tiebreaker over a team of Naval Academy midshipmen, at 9 points apiece.

“We had a bit more pressure [wind] than yesterday, but it was still very shifty out there, especially racing near the Severn River,” Todd said. ” I’m glad we were able to get two races in before the afternoon storms. You never know what you’ll get sailing in Annapolis in August, and we’ve been really fortunate to have good racing so far.”

Todd expects more breeze tomorrow morning, and will employ a defensive strategy over the young collegiate sailors. “We plan to focus on our boatspeed, keep things going and keep ourselves between the Navy boat and the mark as much as we can.”

Regardless of speed, tight racing carries through across many of the fleets, including the six-boat Alberg 30 classics. Class leader, Tim Williams, likens sailing the heavy keel boats to “Racing tortoises.”

“It’s a great class, but moving 9,000 pounds of boat, it’s exhausting but still exciting,” he said.

He should know. Williams has raced Alberg 30s—specifically LinGin—since the age of nine, when his grandfather bought the boat in 1972. Over the past 45 years, LinGin has been a fixture in his family and they’ve been racing together on the Chesapeake.

After finishing today’s two races with first- and fourth-place finishes, Williams and LinGin remain on top of the Alberg fleet, although Laughing Gull has them matched at 14 points.

“Alberg is not like a lot of classes where crew numbers and weight matter so much,” Williams said. “This is a raceboat that we can bring new sailors along and hang out with us and experience racing, without it having an impact on performance.”

Racing will begin earlier Sunday, with a 10 a.m. start scheduled for the 79 teams competing. Results and race documents are at 2020 Helly Hansen NOOD Annapolis Results

The post Saturday’s NOOD Racing Sets Up a Few Sunday Showdowns appeared first on Sailing World.

Top J/80 class skipper John White (Annapolis, MD) won three of eight races over three days, finishing the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta weekend series 21-points ahead of runner-up Daniel Wittig’s Turbo Sloth. It was in impressive performance given the team hadn’t sailed together since October 2018 and White’s USA 1162 never finished worse than fourth place in the 23-boat fleet. White attributed his win to the collective skill of his crew, which included his son Kevin on the bow, trimmer and team boss Debbie Gosselin in the middle, and Johnathan Bartlett as tactician.

“Jonathan was on fire this weekend and had us going the right way all the time,” White said. “We had the best boathandling of any boat out there. I would get us in trouble early on and they’d get me out of trouble. The boats are shockingly close in speed, and this weekend it was current and windshifts that made a difference, as well as going fast in a straight line.”

As winner of his class, White was chosen as the Annapolis Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta’s Caribbean Challenger. He sailed in the British Virgin Islands 10 years ago, and says he won’t need much convincing to go and represent the Annapolis Yacht Club in October. White will join the first two challengers from St. Petersburg and San Diego to compete in identical 47-footers provided by Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands.

For Bruce Golison (Long Beach, CA), winning the 2019 Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD in the J/70 fleet was a small step on the road to a larger goal. “I’m 62-years-old and still looking to win my first world championship,” said Golison. In a class defined by boatspeed, Golison and crew have spent the past three years honing their skills in the hottest one-design fleet in the country.

“We really had to keep our heads out of the boat this weekend,” said Golison. “It was shifty out there, and on our course, we couldn’t get much current relief by going to a side. We stuck to the middle most of the time and used our speed to get us out of tough situations.”

RELATED: 2019 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis: Sunday Images

As an experienced sailor from Southern California, Golison keeps his J/70 on the East Coast to take advantage of larger fleet sizes, but he plans on taking it back to California for the summer to prepare for the world championships in Los Angeles next year. “I hope I have it in me,” said Golison. “There’s not many sports that you can still be competitive at 62, but we have great focus on our team and we’re all putting in the work. We really want this.”

In the nine-boat Etchells fleet, Matt Lalumiere (Chester, MD) repeated his victory from 2018 despite his mainsail coming down midway through the first race today. “It was crazy,” said Lalumiere. “It was raining pretty hard and we heard a bang and the mainsail fell straight down. Luckily it just popped out and nothing was broken.”

Lalumiere’s crew was able to muscle the sail back up in time for them to get back in the race, which they eventually won. “The crew did a great job recovering from that one,” said Lalumiere. “The wind was all over the place and the current was ripping down from the bridge, so we were able to put a few shifts together and claw our way back into it.”

A third-place finish in the final race wrapped up the event for Lalumiere and crew. “We did a good job of keeping the second and third-place boats behind us, which is all we had to do. The rain definitely made things difficult, so props to the crew for getting it done.”

For Matt Schubert (Annapolis, MD) in the 23-boat J/22 fleet, 4 points separated him and former college rival J.R. Maxwell (Annapolis, MD) heading into the final race. In the end, Schubert came out on top. “A bunch of people were in the mix,” said Schubert. “It seemed like a lot of them were so fixated on getting out of the current that they missed a few windshifts, so we did a good job of staying in phase and keeping in the pressure.”

Maxwell had been putting pressure on Schubert the entire series, and continued to do so to the end. “When we rounded the last mark heading up to the finish we knew we had it locked up,” said Schubert. “There was a big gap between us and the third-place boat, so we took a breath and pushed on to the finish. J.R tried to tack on top of us and steal our wind a few times, but we it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.”

James Sagerholm (Annapolis, MD) sailed his boat, Aunt Jean, to five race wins in the four-boat J/30 fleet. “It was a lot closer than it looks on paper,” said Sagerholm. “We won a few of those races by less than a foot.”

A veteran of the J/35 class, Sagerholm has been racing his boat since 1985. His accomplishments include wins at many past Annapolis NOOD regattas and the J/35 North American Championships. “It’s great having this event come into town every year. There’s a bunch of J/35s in the area, so this is a good chance for us to get out and race.”

On the Viper 640 course, Tyler Moore (Hampton, VA) and Reed Baldridge (Newport, RI) went head-to-head as the two were separated by a single point at the start of the day. In the first race, Moore controlled Baldridge off the starting line, but a windshift had his opponent back on top halfway up the leg. After a tacking duel near the top of the first upwind leg, Baldridge rounded the weather mark ahead.

“There were at least four lead changes in the race,” said Moore. “We passed them on the last downwind, but we went to the wrong end of the finish line and gave it right back.”

Moore’s mistake set up a winner-take all showdown for the final race of the event, but Moore was able to control the left side of the course in the final race and win it easily. “We had the entire fleet in our mainsail window, so from there on, all we had to do was not screw it up.”

In the J/105 fleet, Peter McChesney (Annapolis, MD) closed out the regatta with a first and a second to take the championship. “We sailed clean, played the shifts, and had an overall conservative last day,” said McChesney. “We didn’t do anything fancy. Our goal was to get two solid scores to finish it.”

The victory marks a reunion for McChesney’s crewmates, who sailed with each other for more years than they would like to admit. “It means a lot to us to be able to come here and perform at the NOOD,” he said. “We had a lot of fun both on and off the water, and the conditions offered plenty of challenges. Our strategy was to stay out of trouble and start in the middle of the line. We have good boatspeed so we never had to do anything crazy to be in the mix. Once we started the last race clean, we knew we were going to win.”

Top three finishers in each class (complete results at: yachtscoring.com)

J 22 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. Bayhead, J 22 22, Matt/Lori Schubert , Annapolis, MD, USA – 9 -1 -4 -3 -2 -4 -5 -2 ; 30

2. Scooby, J 22 22, J.R. Maxwell , Arlington, VA, USA – 1 -8 -2 -1 -9 -2 -10 -1 ; 34

3. Escape, J 22 22, Todd Hiller , Youngstown, NY, USA – 2 -3 -7 -2 -5 -6 -8 -8 ; 41

J 24 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Bangor Packet, J 24 24, tony parker , Washington, DC, USA – 1 -1 -10 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 17

2. Spaceman Spiff, J 24 24, Pete Kassal , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -5 -1 -4 -5 -4 -3 -3 ; 27

3. SISU, J 24 24, James Bonham , Bethesda, MD, USA – 5 -2 -5 -2 -3 -6 -2 -2 ; 27

J 30 (One Design – 13 Boats)

1. TOTALed MAYHEM, J 30 30, Doug & Amy Stryker , Crownsville, MD, USA – 2 -3 -1 -1 -2 -7 -1 -1 ; 18

2. Bebop, J 30 30, Bob Rutsch & Mike Costello , Chevy Chase, MD, USA – 1 -3 -3 -3 -3 -2 -7 -2 ; 24

3. Shamrock, J 30 30, Bruce Irvin , Davidsonville, MD, USA – 3 -2 -5 -3 -1 -5 -6 -5 ; 30

Etchells (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Marge, Etchells 30, Matt Lalumiere , Chester, MD, USA – 2 -1 -1 -5 -1 -9 -1 -2 ; 22

2. Make Mine A Double, Etchells 30, Jeff Borland , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -8 -2 -2 -4 -4 -2 -3 ; 26

3. Playmaker, Etchells 30, Alan Kelly , Bethesda, MD, USA – 6 -7 -7 -3 -8 -2 -3 -1 ; 37

Alberg 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. LinGin, Alberg 30 30, Tim Williams , Arnold, MD, USA – 1 -2 -2 -1 -1 -2 -1 ; 10

2. Prudence, Alberg 30 30, William Jensen , Rosedale, MD, USA – 2 -3 -1 -5 -3 -1 -3 ; 18

3. Windswept, Alberg 30 30, Lanny Helms , Severna Park, MD, USA – 3 -1 -4 -4 -2 -4 -5 ; 23

J 35 (One Design – 7 Boats)

1. Aunt Jean, J 35 35, James Sagerholm / Jerry Christofel , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 -1 ; 8

2. Abientot, J 35 35, Roger Lant , Alexandria, VA, USA – 3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -3 ; 15

3. T-Bone, J 35 35, Bruce Artman , Tracys Landing, MD, USA – 2 -3 -3 -3 -4 -3 -2 ; 20

J 105 (One Design – 18 Boats)

1. Dog House, J 105 34.5, Peter McChesney , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -3 -2 -6 -1 -2 -1 ; 16

2. Mirage, J 105 34.5, Cedric Lewis/ Fredrik Salvesen , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -4 -1 -3 -4 -4 -5 ; 23

3. Jester, J 105 34.5, Hugh Bethell , Baltimore, MD, USA – 3 -2 -7 -1 -3 -8 -4 ; 28

J 111 (One Design – 8 Boats)

1. Skeleton Key, J 111 36.5, Peter Wagner , Atherton, CA, USA – 4 -1 -1 -4 -2 -1 -1 ; 14

2. Spaceman Spiff, J 111 36.5, Rob Ruhlman , Cleveland, OH, USA – 1 -3 -3 -2 -7 -2 -2 ; 20

3. Slush Fund, J 111 36.5, Jim Connelly , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -5 -4 -3 -5 -5 -3 ; 27

RS 21 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. Zim Sailing #2, RS21 21, Ben Chafee , Bristol, RI, USA – 3 -2 -1 -1 -1 -3 -3 ; 14

2. Zim Sailing #1, RS21 21, Carson Turowski , Bristol, RI, USA – 1 -4 -2 -5 -3 -1 -1 ; 17

3. Team Sail22, RS21 21, Sean Wilson , Culver, IN, USA – 4 -1 -3 -2 -2 -4 -2 ; 18

J 70 (One Design – 30 Boats)

1. Midlife Crisis, J 70 22.75, Bruce Golison , Long Beach, CA, USA – 1 -4 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -1 ; 13

2. Honeybadger, J 70 22.75, Travis Odenbach , Pittsford, NY, USA – 3 -2 -4 -2 -5 -8 -3 -4 ; 31

3. Surge, J 70 22.75, Ryan McKillen , New York, NY, USA – 2 -6 -3 -8 -2 -1 -6 -7 ; 35

J 80 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. , J 80 26, John White , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -1 -4 -4 -3 -3 -1 -2 ; 19

2. Turbo Sloth, J/80 26, Daniel Wittig , Annapolis, MD, USA – 4 -5 -1 -2 -15 -9 -3 -1 ; 40

3. Feisty, J 80 26.3, Trudy Murphy , Toronto, Ont, CAN – 9 -16 -2 -1 -1 -1 -4 -8 ; 42

Viper 640 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Big Rooster, Viper 640 21, Tyler Moore , Hampton, VA, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -5 -2 -2 -3 -1 ; 17

2. Ullman Sails, Viper 640 21, Austin Powers , Yorktown, Va, USA – 2 -2 -3 -2 -1 -1 -3 -2 -3 ; 19

3. Evil Hiss, Viper 640 21, Mary Ewenson , Annapolis, MD, USA – 5 -3 -6 -3 -2 -4 -1 -1 -4 ; 29

NS Rally – Cal 25 (Saturday Only) (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. White Cap, Cal 25 25, Timothy Bloomfield , Sherwood Forest, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. ZEPHYR, Cal 25 25, David Hoyt , Glen Burnie, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

3. Quintet, Cal 25 25, Mike Miller , Severna Park, MD, USA – 3 ; 3

NS Rally – Cruiser (Saturday Only) (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Muskrat, J105 Mod 34.5, nicholas iliff , Arnold, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. LAZY BEAR, Jeanneau 349, CATHERINE GUIADER , USA – 2 ; 2

3. Atlas, C&C 121 40, Peter Holden , annapolis, md, USA – 3 ; 3

NS Rally – Spinnaker (Saturday Only) (One Design – 10 Boats)

1. Flashpoint, J 100 32’8, Dan Leonard , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. Patriot, Farr 30 30.9, US Patriot Sailing / Peter Gibbons-Neff , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

3. Blockade Runner, Farr 30 30, Bruce Bingman / Taran Teague , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

The post Local Skipper John White Wins J/80 Class And Championship Berth appeared first on Sailing World.

With building winds and driving rain pelting the Chesapeake Bay, 190 teams returned to the water for the final day of racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta.

The post 2019 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis: Sunday Images appeared first on Sailing World.

Over two days of racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis, 190 teams have endured light and shifty winds on the Chesapeake Bay, with the competition especially tight in the 23-boat J/22 fleet. After six races, J.R. Maxwell (Annapolis, MD) and Matt and Laurie Schubert (Annapolis, MD) are tied for first with 23 points apiece.

“I’ve known Matt since our college sailing days,” said Maxwell. “He went to the Merchant Marine Academy and I went to Tufts, so it’s great mixing it up with him years later at the NOOD. Most of our college sailing buddies have kids now, so it’s a little different than the old days, but the competition is just as fierce.”

“J.R. is a phenomenal sailor,” said Schubert. “It’s really fun to be tied with him heading into the last day. There’s nine or ten boats that could win most races, so we’re really happy to be where we’re at.”

With Sunday’s forecast calling for stronger winds, there’s still plenty of racing left and Todd Hiller (Youngstown, NY) currently lurking in third place, 2 points from the top spot. “It could get sporty tomorrow,” said Schubert. “I think most of the competitors will sail their own race, but if J.R. decides to come after me, I’ll be ready for the challenge.”

On the J/80 course, tactician John Bartlett (Annapolis, MD) is racing with longtime friend, John White, who leads the 23-boat fleet after six races. “The Chesapeake Bay is really localized with breeze like this,” Bartlett said. “Sometimes you’re lucky when you’re in the right spot, and sometimes things get really tough.”

Bartlett has been calling tactics for White since the 1980s, and their friendship reaches far beyond the racecourse. “John is a great sailor,” Bartlett said. “His preparation is top-shelf, and he’s really good at making the boat go fast, so we always have a chance.”

RELATED: 2019 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis: Saturday Images

Though White leads his class heading into the final day, he’ll have to keep tabs on Trudy Murphy (Toronto, Ont) who catapulted herself into second place with three race wins today. “They’ve been sailing really well,” said Bartlet. “Trudy is getting off the starting line and staying clean up the course. They’ve beaten us in four out of six races, so we’ll have our hands full with them tomorrow.”

The Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta’s North Sails Rally, a one-day, one-race affair for the area’s cruiser/racers, started near the entrance of Annapolis Harbor. Sailors enjoyed a multi-leg course out to the middle of the bay and back. With light winds and strong currents, the racecourse, although short, required acute attention to the bay’s subtle and changeable conditions.

Dan Leonard’s J/100 Flashpoint won the spinnaker division easily, and in the non-spinnaker fleet, Nicholas Iliff’s J/105 Muskrat made quick work of the racecourse. Iliff’s J/105, which he’s owned since 1994, is a modified version of the popular 34-foot one-design. Muskrat has a deeper keel and a carbon-fiber mast than the standard J/105, and the crew prefers lighter winds.

“If it’s not too breezy, we are good,” says Iliff, who credits his crew with turning in a perfect performance, particularly his brother Tony, who trims the mainsail. “Today we saw 10 knots, which is about the maximum breeze we like before the boat gets tender. It was a perfect day for us.”

Muskrat had a clean start and maintained a comfortable lead for most of the race, but when the wind went light near the finish, Iliff says there was a touch of concern onboard as trailing boats closed distance.

“It was a straight-forward race, with a close reach each way, but today we had a bit more current than we normally do. On the way back, we had to take a tack downwind, which forced us into a bit of a hole.”

With patience, Iliff and his teammates persevered for the win in what he says is a casual start to their racing season: “It was nice, easy and straightforward, so it was just a matter of good sail trim and going fast.”

In the Viper 640 fleet, Tyler Moore (Hampton, VA) led the nine-boat fleet by 5 points heading into Saturday. After three races today, however, Moore’s lead shrunk to a single point after Reed Baldridge (Newport, RI) won two races. “Those guys were out for blood today,” said Moore. “They’re a bunch of young guns, so we’ll have to keep an eye on them tomorrow.”

Moore and his wife, Jane, sailed with another husband and wife duo, friends Tim and Karen Fallon, of Rhode Island. Saturday’s racing is shaping up to be a battle between the old and wise against the young and strong.

“They were hammering us today,” said Moore. “They got out ahead of us at one point and absolutely ruined our race, so hopefully we can return the favor tomorrow. We still have the lead so hopefully we’ll get some breeze and be able to sail away from them tomorrow.”

The Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis wraps up Sunday, with the next event of the five-event regatta series in June in Chicago.

Top three finishers in each class (complete results at: yachtscoring.com)

J 22 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. Scooby, J 22 22, J.R. Maxwell , Arlington, VA, USA – 1 -8 -2 -1 -9 -2 ; 23

2. Bayhead, J 22 22, Matt/Lori Schubert , Annapolis, MD, USA – 9 -1 -4 -3 -2 -4 ; 23

3. Escape, J 22 22, Todd Hiller , Youngstown, NY, USA – 2 -3 -7 -2 -5 -6 ; 25

J 24 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Bangor Packet, J 24 24, tony parker , Washington, DC, USA – 1 -1 -10 -1 -1 -1 ; 15

2. Spaceman Spiff, J 24 24, Pete Kassal , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -5 -1 -4 -5 -4 ; 21

3. SISU, J 24 24, James Bonham , Bethesda, MD, USA – 5 -2 -5 -2 -3 -6 ; 23

J 30 (One Design – 13 Boats)

1. TOTALed MAYHEM, J 30 30, Doug & Amy Stryker , Crownsville, MD, USA – 2 -3 -1 -1 -2 -7 ; 16

2. Shamrock, J 30 30, Bruce Irvin , Davidsonville, MD, USA – 3 -2 -5 -3 -1 -5 ; 19

3. Rag Doll, J 30 30, Rob and Beth Lundahl , Frederick, MD, USA – 4 -1 -2 -4 -4 -6 ; 21

Etchells (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Marge, Etchells 30, Matt Lalumiere , Chester, MD, USA – 2 -1 -1 -5 -1 -9 ; 19

2. Make Mine A Double, Etchells 30, Jeff Borland , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -8 -2 -2 -4 -4 ; 21

3. Hat Trick, Etchells 30, David Pryor , Norfolk, VA, USA – 4 -2 -3 -7 -5 -3 ; 24

Alberg 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. LinGin, Alberg 30 30, Tim Williams , Arnold, MD, USA – 1 -2 -2 -1 -1 ; 7

2. Prudence, Alberg 30 30, William Jensen , Rosedale, MD, USA – 2 -3 -1 -5 -3 ; 14

3. Windswept, Alberg 30 30, Lanny Helms , Severna Park, MD, USA – 3 -1 -4 -4 -2 ; 14

J 35 (One Design – 7 Boats)

1. Aunt Jean, J 35 35, James Sagerholm / Jerry Christofel , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 5

2. Abientot, J 35 35, Roger Lant , Alexandria, VA, USA – 3 -2 -2 -2 -2 ; 11

3. T-Bone, J 35 35, Bruce Artman , Tracys Landing, MD, USA – 2 -3 -3 -3 -4 ; 15

J 105 (One Design – 18 Boats)

1. Dog House, J 105 34.5, Peter McChesney , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -3 -2 -6 -1 ; 13

2. Mirage, J 105 34.5, Cedric Lewis/ Fredrik Salvesen , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -4 -1 -3 -4 ; 14

3. Jester, J 105 34.5, Hugh Bethell , Baltimore, MD, USA – 3 -2 -7 -1 -3 ; 16

J 111 (One Design – 8 Boats)

1. Skeleton Key, J 111 36.5, Peter Wagner , Atherton, CA, USA – 4 -1 -1 -4 -2 ; 12

2. Spaceman Spiff, J 111 36.5, Rob Ruhlman , Cleveland, OH, USA – 1 -3 -3 -2 -7 ; 16

3. Slush Fund, J 111 36.5, Jim Connelly , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 -5 -4 -3 -5 ; 19

RS 21 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. Zim Sailing #2, RS21 21, Ben Chafee , Bristol, RI, USA – 3 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 8

2. Team Sail22, RS21 21, Sean Wilson , Culver, IN, USA – 4 -1 -3 -2 -2 ; 12

3. Zim Sailing #1, RS21 21, Carson Turowski , Bristol, RI, USA – 1 -4 -2 -5 -3 ; 15

J 70 (One Design – 30 Boats)

1. Midlife Crisis, J 70 22.75, Bruce Golison , Long Beach, CA, USA – 1 -4 -1 -1 -1 -2 ; 10

2. Surge, J 70 22.75, Ryan McKillen , New York, NY, USA – 2 -6 -3 -8 -2 -1 ; 22

3. Honeybadger, J 70 22.75, Travis Odenbach , Pittsford, NY, USA – 3 -2 -4 -2 -5 -8 ; 24

J 80 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. , J 80 26, John White , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 -1 -4 -4 -3 -3 ; 16

2. Feisty, J 80 26.3, Trudy Murphy , Toronto, Ont, CAN – 9 -16 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 30

3. Vayu, J 80 26, David Andril , Annapolis, MD, USA – 7 -2 -8 -8 -2 -7 ; 34

Viper 640 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Big Rooster, Viper 640 21, Tyler Moore , Hampton, VA, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -5 -2 -2 ; 13

2. Ullman Sails, Viper 640 21, Austin Powers , Yorktown, Va, USA – 2 -2 -3 -2 -1 -1 -3 ; 14

3. Evil Hiss, Viper 640 21, Mary Ewenson , Annapolis, MD, USA – 5 -3 -6 -3 -2 -4 -1 ; 24

NS Rally – Cal 25 (Saturday Only) (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. White Cap, Cal 25 25, Timothy Bloomfield , Sherwood Forest, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. ZEPHYR, Cal 25 25, David Hoyt , Glen Burnie, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

3. Quintet, Cal 25 25, Mike Miller , Severna Park, MD, USA – 3 ; 3

NS Rally – Cruiser (Saturday Only) (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Muskrat, J105 Mod 34.5, nicholas iliff , Arnold, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. LAZY BEAR, Jeanneau 349, CATHERINE GUIADER , USA – 2 ; 2

3. Atlas, C&C 121 40, Peter Holden , annapolis, md, USA – 3 ; 3

NS Rally – Spinnaker (Saturday Only) (One Design – 10 Boats)

1. Flashpoint, J 100 32’8, Dan Leonard , Annapolis, MD, USA – 1 ; 1

2. Patriot, Farr 30 30.9, US Patriot Sailing / Peter Gibbons-Neff , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

3. Blockade Runner, Farr 30 30, Bruce Bingman / Taran Teague , Annapolis, MD, USA – 2 ; 2

The post College Rivals Tied Atop NOOD Regatta’s Competitive Fleet appeared first on Sailing World.