Full House at Marblehead NOOD

Marblehead, MA (July 30, 2016) – Steady, moderate winds and sunny skies made for perfect racing conditions on Saturday as 55 Laser and Laser Radial sailors joined the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta at Marblehead Race Week. With more than 190 entries in 10 classes, this is the largest Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD in years.

Marblehead is the only one of five national stops in this year’s series that includes dedicated races for the singlehanded Lasers, known for physically demanding and competitive fleets that attract master-level sailors including current and past Olympians.

Marek Zaleski, of Norwalk, Conn., dominated with first-place finishes in all five races, while Marblehead sailor Nicole Torrie edged out the competition in the Laser Radial class and finished the day with a one-point lead.

For the largest boats in the regatta, moderate winds mean close racing, and Saturday proved to be just that in the J/105 fleet. Fred deNapoli, of Danvers, Mass., led Allegro Semplicita to the top spot with two second-place finishes. As the fleet lead, his team will fly the Wilmington Trust Leader Spinnaker in Sunday’s races.

As part of its premier sponsorship of the Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD, Wilmington Trust, a leading provider of wealth and institutional client services, is providing a new spinnaker to the overall winner in the J/105 class.

In the popular J/70 class, the Weston, Mass.-based team on Savasana climbed to the top spot after one fourth-place and three first-place finishes. Five local teens competing as the first-ever Helly Hansen Junior Crew at Marblehead Race Week ended the day at fifteenth overall of 26 teams.

The Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD overall winner, selected based on the strongest finish in the most competitive class, will be invited to compete in the 2016 Helly Hansen NOOD Championship Regatta on Oct. 23-28 in the British Virgin Islands.

Event details – Scoreboard – Facebook

Source: Evily Giannopoulos, Bonnier Corp