Local Teams Claim Top Spots In Season Opener

Consistency was key for skipper Matt Lalumiere (Chester, MD) in the nine-boat Etchells fleet. Lalumiere and his teammates won two races and never finished below fourth place to lead his class after the first day of three at the 2019 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis.

“This is my fourth NOOD as an owner-driver, but I’ve raced a bunch of them,” said Lalumiere. “Etchells are a challenging beast to sail and we had some tricky conditions out there. The wind was all over the place and the current must have reached three or four knots at one point.”

On the last race of the day, Lalumiere started the race early, requiring him to restart. Superior boatspeed and smart tactical decisions allowed him to claw his way to the front of the fleet. “That was our only bad start,” said Lalumiere. “The rest of them were pretty consistent, so we were happy to come away with a fourth in that one.”

Having won the Etchells fleet at the Annapolis NOOD last year, Lalumiere looks like an early favorite to repeat his title in this year’s contest. “We’re just going to take it one race at a time,” said Lalumiere. “We know we can do well when we stick to our game plan. Right now, we’re just having fun.”

The Etchells are one of 12 fleets battling the wind and currents of the Chesapeake Bay this weekend for a chance to gain entry to the NOOD Caribbean Championship in the British Virgin Islands in October.

In the 18-boat J/105 fleet, one-design veteran Peter McChesney (Annapolis, MD) was leading the regatta before the fourth and final race of the day, but a sixth-place finish pushed him into second overall, 2 points behind Cedric Lewis and Fredrik Salvesen (Annapolis, MD). “I’ve sailed with most of my crew for 30 years,” said McChesney. “Some of us know each other from our time at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.”

A professional sailmaker and longtime one-design sailor, McChesney has won J/105 titles at past Annapolis NOOD regattas, as well as a J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship, J/22 North American Championship and J/70 Corinthian National Championship. McChesney looks to draw on his vast racing experience to get him to the top of the leaderboard.

“We definitely left some points out there,” said McChesney. “But tomorrow, our goal will be to stay in the hunt, and if it’s close going into the last day, we’ll think about getting a little more aggressive with the boats close to us to make sure we come out on top.”

In keeping with NOOD tradition, title sponsor Helly Hansen is sponsoring two youth teams for the event. One team is comprised of local high school sailors racing in J/80 fleet and the other is in the 30-boat J/70 fleet. Emma Snead (Annapolis, MD) skippered her team to a solid 12th-place standing after four races in the J/70s.

“We were really happy with our first race,” said Snead. “We hadn’t practiced in the boat much because the conditions were either too light or too heavy when we tried. But I got a lot better at steering throughout the day, especially on the upwinds, which was a great feeling.”

The team’s coach, Geoff Becker, was onboard to offer advice when needed. “It was great having him out there,” said Snead. “He’s a really good coach and knows a lot about the boats, so having him was really helpful.”

Snead normally sails dinghy classes like the Club 420 and FJ for high school sailing and the larger national youth dinghy circuits. “I love one-design racing, no matter what class I’m sailing. If it wasn’t one-design, it would be a lot harder to get into sailing. Because the NOOD comes to Annapolis each year, I had the opportunity to hop on a new kind of boat with my friends and go do this amazing regatta right here in our home waters.”

Peter Wagner, owner and helmsman of the J/111 Skeleton Key, trailered his boat from San Francisco for his third Annapolis NOOD. “We’re starting to become regulars,” said Wagner, “but we love racing in Annapolis. It’s a lot different than the conditions we get back home, so it keeps us sharp.”

Like many of the J/111’s at the Annapolis NOOD, Wagner is using the regatta to prepare for the J/111 World Championship in Chicago in August. “Our crew has been sailing together for a while so everyone knows each other really well. It’s good to get the boat to different venues, especially because San Francisco is so windy.”

Wagner used a conservative race strategy to accumulate a solid first day of results. “The key was getting off the starting line clean. We were able to get out to the left side of the course, which was the place to be most of the day, except that last race, when we managed to go from first to fifth on one windshift.”

The 2019 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis continues Saturday and Sunday with races scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. each day. The overall winner will be selected Sunday afternoon.

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

J 22 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. Scooby, USA468, J.R. Maxwell – 1 -8 -2 -1 ; 12

2. Free Thom, USA789, Jake Doyle – 6 -2 -1 -4 ; 13

3. Escape, USA1586, Todd Hiller – 2 -3 -7 -2 ; 14

J 24 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Spaceman Spiff, USA2575, Pete Kassal – 2 -5 -1 -4 ; 12

2. Bangor Packet, USA2503, tony parker – 1 -1 -10 -1 ; 13

3. SISU, USA3750, James Bonham – 5 -2 -5 -2 ; 14

J 30 (One Design – 13 Boats)

1. TOTALed MAYHEM, 526, Doug & Amy Stryker – 2 -3 -1 -1 ; 7

2. Rag Doll, USA53260, Rob and Beth Lundahl – 4 -1 -2 -4 ; 11

3. Shamrock, USA33504, Bruce Irvin – 3 -2 -5 -3 ; 13

Etchells (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Marge, USA1327, Matt Lalumiere – 2 -1 -1 -5 ; 9

2. Make Mine A Double, USA819, Jeff Borland – 1 -8 -2 -2 ; 13

3. Hat Trick, USA1342, David Pryor – 4 -2 -3 -7 ; 16

Alberg 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. LinGin, USA244, Tim Williams – 1 -2 -2 ; 5

2. Prudence, 62, William Jensen – 2 -3 -1 ; 6

3. Windswept, 562, Lanny Helms – 3 -1 -4 ; 8

J 35 (One Design – 7 Boats)

1. Aunt Jean, USA53408, James Sagerholm / Jerry Christofel – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4

2. Abientot, USA42979, Roger Lant – 3 -2 -2 -2 ; 9

3. T-Bone, USA41870, Bruce Artman – 2 -3 -3 -3 ; 11

J 105 (One Design – 18 Boats)

1. Mirage, USA328, Cedric Lewis/ Fredrik Salvesen – 2 -4 -1 -3 ; 10

2. Dog House, USA202, Peter McChesney – 1 -3 -2 -6 ; 12

3. Jester, USA143, Hugh Bethell – 3 -2 -7 -1 ; 13

J 111 (One Design – 8 Boats)

1. Skeleton Key, USA115, Peter Wagner – 4 -1 -1 -4 ; 10

2. Spaceman Spiff, USA93, Rob Ruhlman – 1 -3 -4 -2 ; 10

3. Velocity, USA008, Martin Roesch – 3 -2 -3 -5 ; 13

RS 21 (One Design – 6 Boats)

1. Zim Sailing #2, 5, Ben Chafee – 3 -2 -1 -1 ; 7

2. Team Sail22, 2, Sean Wilson – 4 -1 -3 -2 ; 10

3. Zim Sailing #1, 3, Carson Turowski – 1 -4 -2 -5 ; 12

J 70 (One Design – 30 Boats)

1. Midlife Crisis, USA26, Bruce Golison – 1 -4 -1 -1 ; 7

2. Honeybadger, USA40, Travis Odenbach – 3 -2 -4 -2 ; 11

3. Joint Custody, USA419, Ray Wulff – 4 -1 -5 -6 ; 16

J 80 (One Design – 23 Boats)

1. , USA1162, John White – 1 -1 -4 -5 ; 11

2. Turbo Sloth, USA1313, Daniel Wittig – 4 -5 -1 -3 ; 13

3. More Gostosa, USA1153, Kevin Hayes / Jeff Kirchhoff – 5 -3 -6 -1 ; 15

Viper 640 (One Design – 9 Boats)

1. Big Rooster, USA231, Tyler Moore – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4

2. Ullman Sails, 2, Austin Powers – 2 -2 -3 -2 ; 9

3. Meow!, USA235, Cole Constantineau – 4 -5 -2 -4 ; 15