Blue Bird Day to Launch San Diego NOOD

San Diego, CA (March 13, 2015) – The largest national sailboat racing circuit in the United States, the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design Regatta series, kicked off its second stop of the season in San Diego with teams vying for individual class trophies and the regatta’s overall prize — a trip to the British Virgin Islands in the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Championship, hosted by Sunsail.

Five one-design classes raced on San Diego’s South San Diego Bay today, greeted with bright sunshine and winds that built from 5 knots to 17 knots, making for what local sailors said were perfect conditions. Winds, however, were fickle earlier in the day, which lead to a challenging for race for current J/70 class leaders, Jeff Janov and his team on Minor Threat.

“The starting lines were pretty square most of the day but we were starting near for the [race committee] boat because we wanted the right side of the racecourse, for a bit of current advantage, and the wind was coming from that way,” said Janov. “They were first around in the first race, jibed, and seemed ready to escape clean, but the wind died momentarily, allowing trailing boats to close the gap and sneak past.

“We kept telling each other to relax. It was one of those situations where you just had to wait and see how it played out,” said Janov. “We won that race, but we were sailing alongside Dave Ullman most of the downwind leg, so that was exciting to be doing that. He passed us pretty easy, but we stayed focused, tried hard and got back into it.”

Janov later said, “I would have been happy to be in the top eight given the talent in this fleet, but there is no mincing words, Willem [Van Way] and Victor [Diaz de Leon], the way they do tactics and strategy is impressive. They bounce ideas off each other and I just drive.”

The International 14 fleet consisted of seven boats. Kris Henderson’s Courageous sits in first place with two of three race wins. In the nine-boat Ultimate 20 class, Junta, belonging to Mark Allen, holds the lead by 2 points.

With the lead in the 14-boat Viper 640 class is Alex Steele’s Last Call, of Costa Mesa, Calif. Winning two of three races and up by 4 points, Steele said it was an extremely competitive fleet.

“Race one was super weird and we weren’t sure which side to come in. We did a hard left, looked good and had one tack on the second beat ultimately pulling it out,” said Steele. “The second race we had a bad first beat, but was then good. We did three ducks in the first five minutes – like a chain effect – and had good pressure. Race three we just sailed and were in the groove.”

The five classes from today will continue racing through Sunday, with the Beneteau First 36.7, Beneteau First 40.7, J/105, J/120, and Flying Tiger to race on Saturday and Sunday. The nine teams entered in the North Rally Race will compete on Saturday.

To recognize exceptional 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, March 15, at the culmination of the event.

The overall winner of the San Diego NOOD will join Grant Dumas, of St. Petersburg, Fla., and the crew of the Tripp 38 “Warrior,” along with other victors, in the British Virgin Islands in the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Championship hosted by Sunsail.

Day One Results (top three in class)

Buccaneer 18 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Wonder, USA5250, matt davis – 1 -1 -1 ; 3
2. Sneaky Trouble Maker, USA5247, Cameron Holland – 2 -2 -2 ; 6
3. Erin Morgan, USA5239, Alexandra Heisler – 4 -3 -3 ; 10

J/70 (One Design – 17 Boats) *
1. Minor Threat, USA490, Jeff Janov – 1 -2 -4 ; 7
2. Bliss, USA249, Vince Brun – 11 -1 -1 ; 13
3. Cake, USA351, Scott Deardorff – 4 -3 -10 ; 17

Viper 640 (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. Last Call, USA153, Alex Steele – 1 -1 -3 ; 5
2. F.N.G., USA148, James Sears – 2 -3 -4 ; 9
3. KAA, USA129, Garrett Johns – 3 -6 -2 ; 11

International 14 (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Courageous , USA1192, Kris Henderson – 1 -1 -3 ; 5
2. Guillo Goes Sailing, USA1168, Paul Galvez – 2.5 -2 -1 ; 5.5
3. Astralgus, USA1161, Brad Ruetenik – 2.5 -4 -2 ; 8.5

Ultimate 20 (One Design – 9 Boats)
1. Junta, USA26, Mark Allen – 1 -1 -3 ; 5
2. Toon Town, USA178, Michael Eisenberg – 4 -2 -1 ; 7
3. 222, USA222, Travis Gregory – 2 -3 -4 ; 9

* Revised after scoring change.

Event details – Complete results

Report by event media. Photos by Paul Todd/Outside Images.