SD NOOD: Clear skies, hot competition

The three day Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in San Diego (Mar 13-15) couldn’t have had nicer weather, with record heat and enough wind to fill the scorecards for the 89 competing teams. Racing was held for 12 one-design classes, with the larger keelboats racing on the ocean course off Point Loma and the smaller sportboat and dinghy fleets on San Diego’s South Bay course. The event also included the North Sails rally, a low-key random race on Saturday within the Bay. Overall winner of the event was John Laun and the crew of the J/120 Caper.

Additional details from event media…
San Diego, CA (March 15, 2015) – The final day of racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in San Diego wrapped up with John Laun, Commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club, and his crew aboard the J/120 caper, winning its 10-boat fleet, as well as the regatta’s overall title, which earns his team a berth at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Championship, hosted by Sunsail, in the British Virgin Islands in October.

Laun, whose core crew has sailed together for 10 years, says the key to their success is they don’t take themselves too seriously. That, and a keen familiarity with the weather conditions experienced off Point Loma this time of year.

“There were two weather systems that were fighting for a bit on Saturday, and ultimately calmed down on Sunday,” said Laun. “The race committee had to postpone the first race today, but eventually hit it off great in 15 to 18 knots.

“The starts were exciting and the first weather mark always had crowds,” added Laun, “but our tactician, Bill Campbell, is magic. He’s good at the overall view of where we want to be on the course. We were starting at different places on the line in this regatta, and were lucky to get off the start line clean in all of them.”

Laun also attributed Caper’s good starts to his longtime bowman, Sam Peterson. “He’s always good at keeping me from being over early, and once we were off and clean the trimmers worked their tails off to accelerate when we needed to. The mantra here in San Diego is to go right, but this time we went left a few times and it worked.”

Chick Pyle’s Beneteau 36.7 Kea was recognized on Saturday as the North Sails Local Boat of the Day, following an outstanding performance in its eight-boat fleet. Pyle’s crew went on to win its class with 11 points, followed in the standings by Jerry Twomey’s Kodachrome with 13 points and Thomas Shepherd’s Kraken in third with 16 points.

The three-boat Beneteau First 40.7 class concluded two days of racing with Mark Stratton’s Lugano as the top finisher. The seven-boat J/105 class had Dennis Case and his crew on Wings in first place, topping Gary Mozer’s Current Obsession, by a single point.

The North Rally Race, a new feature to the regatta series that encourages local competitors to participate in a long-distance race on Saturday, had nine boats enjoying a beautiful day on the bay. Thomas Taylor’s Garbo won the rally with Kokopelli2 second and Rush Hour third.

Mark Allen’s Junta led the Ultimate 20 fleet from Day One to win its series, while John Harrop and his team on Justice won the four-boat, Flying Tiger class. The 14-boat Viper 640 class saw seven races over three days with Alex Steele’s Last Call ultimately winning by 15 points. Andrew Picel’s USA 101, a Flying Tiger 7.5, won the three-boat Fast 20 class.

The regatta’s biggest fleet, the J/70s, featured 17 boats. The highly competitive class, which was packed with professional sailors, enjoyed seven races on San Diego’s South Bay. Vince Brun’s Bliss won on the final day after scoring two second-places finishes. Scott Deardorff’s Cake followed in the standings with 32 points. Jeff Janov’s Minor Threat led the regatta after the first day, but ultimately finishing third with 32 points. Aboard Minor Threat were Janov’s two young sons, competed in their very first NOOD regatta.

Of the regatta’s high-performance dinghy classes, the International 14 fleet featured seven entries: Kris Henderson’s Courageous was the top I-14, followed in the standings by Brad Ruetenik’s Astralgus and Paul Galvez’s Guillo Goes Sailing, second and third, respectively. Matt Davis’ Wonder was the top Buccaneer 18.

Event details – Complete results