Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Opens 2015 Season in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, FL (February 13, 2015) – The largest national sailboat racing circuit in the United States, the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta series, opened its 28th season in St. Petersburg with 130 teams competing on Tampa Bay, vying for individual class trophies as well as the regatta’s overall prize—an invitation to the Helly Hansen NOOD Championship Regatta in the British Virgin Islands in October, where they will face overall champions from NOOD regattas across the country.

With 10-knot winds and bright sunshine on Tampa Bay, competitors enjoyed a full day’s races yesterday. There are nine individual one-design classes [one-design means the boats are identical] and two handicapped divisions [finish times of unique boats are adjusted at the conclusion of each race].

A top-performer on the day was John Spierling’s team on the S2 7.9 Rebel. Spierling, the team’s skipper, of Shelby Township, Mich., won all four of his fleet’s races and leads his series.

“We had good starts and just tried to sail our own race, with clear wind and not getting too close to other boats,” said Spierling. “We weren’t leading all of our races initially, but we had good boatspeed downwind, and that’s where we made our gains. The crew was really good at looking for wind and windshifts, and doing all the right things.”

Tampa Bay’s winds can be fickle in their direction and strength, a racing sailor’s biggest challenge, but local professional sailor, Marty Kullman wasn’t fazed by the unpredictable conditions. After four races Kullman’s team on New Wave leads the regatta’s 20-boat J/70 fleet, the largest class of the event. New Wave finished second in its first two races and won the next two to establish a comfortable overall class lead in the three-day series.

“Today was incredible—sort of a rare day for St. Petersburg, with strong winds and big shifts,” says Kullman. “When the wind direction changes as much as it did, right or wrong, one mistake can be dramatic. Our results were about being patient, and that’s credit to Steve Liebel [the team’s tactician]. We’ve sailed together as a team for a long time and that, too, was a major factor in being able to react quickly to changes.”

In one of the regattas two time-handicapped classes (PHRF 1), local skipper Grant Dumas, on the 38-foot Warrior, won two of four races to lead its series by 8 points to Mike Kayusa’s Davis Island-based 30-foot Raven. Dumas says today was the result he’d been waiting for since putting his boat on the land two years ago to undergo an extensive renovation project. “Today the boat felt great—finally—after two years of misery working on it. It’s very fast in strong winds, so those were our conditions. I hope we have the same tomorrow.”

To recognize exception individual performances in each boat class, NOOD Premiere Sponsor, North Sails, will present daily awards for the top three daily crews in each class. Additionally, on each Saturday of the season, North Sails will present the best performing local boat with an award for that day’s best racing. The final awards will be presented on Sunday, February 15, at the culmination of the event.

The St. Pete NOOD regatta is a spectator-friendly event and the races can be seen from the Municipal Pier or aboard private boats. Race start times are dependent on wind and weather, but are scheduled to begin at approximately 10:00 a.m. each day.

Along with new title sponsor Helly Hansen, we welcome back renewing sponsors including: Mount Gay Rum, North Sails, Sunsail and West Marine.

Event website – Results

Day One Results: top-three in class

Sonar (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Bandit, USA810, Andrew & Melissa Fisher – 1 -1 -3 -1 ; 6
2. Valiant, USA674, Rick Doerr – 2 -4 -1 -2 ; 9
3. Pingrrrrr, USA774, Susan Davidson – 3 -2 -2 -3 ; 10

VX One (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. VX Racing, USA178, Brian Bennett – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. BobSled, USA135, Robert Bilthouse – 5 -2 -2 -3 ; 12
3. Flash Rider, USA185, Michael Norris – 3 -4 -3 -2 ; 12

Ensign (One Design – 10 Boats)
1. Salt Life, USA146, Sean Adams – 1 -1 -2 -2 ; 6
2. Vision, USA2020, Zeke Durica – 2 -5 -1 -4 ; 12
3. Brou Ha Ha, USA1008, Stephen Clark – 3 -4 -6 -1 ; 14

Lightning (One Design – 12 Boats)
1. Dazzler, USA15449, Allan Terhune, Jr – 3 -2 -3 ; 8
2. 15445 , USA15445 , Matt Fisher – 5 -3 -1 -1 ; 10
3. 15296, USA15296, Geoff Becker – 2 -9 -2 ; 13

A Cats (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. ShackAttack, USA192, Ken Marshack – 3 -5 -2 ; 10
2. el Presidente, USA320, Bailey White – 5 -6 -1 ; 12
3. Zhik, USA2, Mike Krantz – 4 -4 -5 ; 13

J 70 (One Design – 20 Boats)
1. New Wave, USA246, Martin Kullman – 2 -2 -1 -1 ; 6
2. Catapult, USA187, Joel Ronning – 4 -4 -4 -3 ; 15
3. Rascal, USA48, Will Welles – 6 -1 -7 -2 ; 16

Melges 24 (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. Zingara, CAN629, Richard Reid – 1 -1 -4 -2 ; 8
2. Hot Mess, USA118, Rob Britts – 3 -2 -2 -1 ; 8
3. The 300 , USA839, Steven Boho – 7 -4 -1 -3 ; 15

J 24 (One Design – 12 Boats)
1. Honey Badger, USA5432, Travis Odenbach – 2 -1 -1 -4 ; 8
2. Long Shot, USA2917, John Poulson – 3 -2 -4 -1 ; 10
3. Lifted, CAN4025, Evan Petley-Jones – 1 -4 -5 -2 ; 12

S2 7.9 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Rebel496, USA496, John Spierling – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. ALZYK, USA508, AL Wolczyk – 5 -2 -4 -2 ; 13
3. See Ya, USA290, Tony Millan – 3 -5 -2 -3 ; 13

PHRF 1 (PHRF – 9 Boats)
1. Warrior, USA42341, Grant Dumas – 1 -3 -2 -1 ; 7
2. Raven, USA17, Mike Kayusa – 7 -1 -4 -3 ; 15
3. Madcow2, USA46453, David/Ed German/Ruark – 5 -5 -3 -2 ; 15

PHRF 2 (PHRF – 9 Boats)
1. Semper Fi, USA152, Raymond Mannix – 2 -1 -1 -1 ; 5
2. WildKat, USA63082, Harvey Ford – 1 -3 -3 -4 ; 11
3. Family Circus, USA40429/32829, Robert Wetmore – 4 -5 -2 -3 ; 14

Report by event media.