TeamPatStrong tops St. Pete NOOD

St. Petersburg, FL (February 16, 2020) – First-time Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta St. Petersburg skipper David Starck and his teammates on TeamPatStrong closed the regatta with a six-point overall lead in the Lightning fleet, winning the 23-boat class and earning a berth in the Helly Hansen NOOD Caribbean Championship.

“We are a really competitive international fleet, but at the same time, it’s very much a family class,” said Starck, of Amherst, NY. “My crew this weekend was my brother Tom, and Jenna Probst. We raced against Jenna’s parents and her brother, Tanner [who finished sixth and third in the class, respectively]. Plus, I’m competing against my 13-year-old daughter Sabrina. I love it.”

Stark and his teammates had been locked in a tight series with Lightning class runner up, Bill Faude’s Blue Light Special, but in today’s moderate breeze they easily won both races. He attributed their performance to good communication on the boat and patience with the weekend’s variable conditions.

“We felt good across all the ranges,” said Stark, “which ranged from drifting to blowing 15 to 20.”

Another first-time St. Petersburg NOOD skipper winning top honors was David Jannetti in the J/70 class. With a 1-5 scoreline today, Jannetti and his teammates on Very Odd cemented their lead. While they finished fifth in the final race, Jannetti said it was the result of a strategic decision to ensure no surprises from Dave Kerr’s second-place USA 1516.

“We were keeping tabs on them and doing a loose cover,” said Jannetti. “While that was our worst finish, it was still the right thing to do.”

Jannetti, of Miami Beach, Fla., said he is already planning his return. “St. Pete is such a fun and vibrant city. We enjoyed great sailing all weekend; and it has been a great way to warm up for next weekend’s J/70 Midwinter Championship.”

Peter Duncan’s Melges 24 USA 829 was the only team of the regatta’s 193 competitors to finish the series with a perfect scoreline, winning all seven races. Duncan’s team used the regatta to train for the upcoming Melges 24 World Championship. Duncan’s tactician, Victor Diaz de Leon, said the regatta was beneficial for familiarizing themselves with their new boat.

“Our goal was to learn and to work together,” said Diaz de Leon. “Matteo [Ramian], who has won two Melges 24 World Championships, has been helping us get up the learning quickly. Tactically, one thing I learned was that a little bit more wind makes a big difference in these boats, so it’s more important to jibe and stay in the breeze more than we might on a J/70.”

For A-Class Foiling Catamaran’s Bruce Mahoney, of La Porte, Texas, this weekend’s regatta was especially valuable as he looks ahead to the A-Class North American and the World championships, hosted by St. Petersburg YC in October. With a 10-knot breeze for this morning’s first race, Mahoney was fully foiling and noticeably faster, but when the wind died later in the morning the racing was much closer.

Michael Quaid, of Williston, Vt., skipper of the J/24 Ice Cube, is a longtime NOOD competitor, and while his team finished third in 2019, this was his year.

“To win feels great,” said Quaid, praising his longtime crew and its light-air sailing skills. “We scored four firsts when it was light, but when the breeze came up like in Saturday’s first race, it was our worst finish [fourth place]. The mid-range conditions today were my favorite; it made for a lot closer racing. It was very tactical and exciting.”

Iris Vogel and her team on Deviation finished on top of the six-boat J/88 fleet with five first-place and two fifth-place finishes. She said the key to her team’s success was not to panic, especially after a few bad starts.

“This fleet is so competitive,” said Vogel, of New Rochelle, NY. “There are no favors in this fleet; all the racing is very close and every little move counts. What saved us was good crew work, making the right calls and keeping our head out of the boat. The conditions were constantly changing all weekend.”

Racing was held from February 14 to 16.

Series information – Event details – Results – Facebook

Final Results (Top Three):

Flying Tiger (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Stripes, Gary Brown , USA – 1 -1 -6 -3 -2 -5 -1 ; 19
2. Diego, Tom Bolland , CAN – 2 -4 -5 -1 -1 -1 -5 ; 19
3. Tigerman, David Shepherdson , USA – 5 -3 -2 -4 -3 -4 -3 ; 24

J 24 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Ice Cube, Michael Quaid , USA – 1 -4 -3 -1 -1 -2 -1 ; 13
2. Sabotage, Nate Vilardebo , USA – 2 -1 -1 -2 -7 -3 -4 ; 20
3. Lucifer’s Hammer, Chris Jackson , USA – 4 -2 -2 -3 -3 -4 -2 ; 20

Lightning (One Design – 23 Boats)
1. Team PatStrong, David Starck , USA – 5 -1 -5 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 16
2. Blue Light Special, Bill Faude , USA – 1 -5 -1 -8 -2 -4 -12 ; 33
3. 15582, Tanner Probst , USA – 3 -10 -3 -1 -6 -3 -7 ; 33

Sonar (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Shamrock, John Twomey , IRL – 4 -3 -1 -1 -1 -3 ; 13
2. Sonar, Tanner DeMarzo , USA – 1 -2 -3 -2 -3 -2 ; 13
3. Fawkes, Kevin Holmberg , USA – 5 -1 -2 -4 -4 -1 ; 17

A Class Foiling (One Design – 21 Boats)
1. USA 311, Bruce Mahoney , USA – 1 -1 -3 -1 -1 -1 -5 ; 13
2. Bas Clas, Bob Hodges , USA – 8 -2 -1 -4 -2 -3 -2 ; 22
3. Red Gear Racing, Robbie Daniel , USA – 4 -4 -2 -3 -6 -5 -3 ; 27

A Cats Classics (One Design – 20 Boats)
1. none, OH Rodgers , USA – 1 -1 -2 -4 -1 -3 -2 ; 14
2. USA 165, Bob Webbon , USA – 14 -3 -1 -5 -4 -8 -4 ; 39
3. Cowbell, Woody Cope , USA – 16 -2 -3 -1 -6 -6 -9 ; 43

Melges 24 (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. USA 829, Peter Duncan , USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 7
2. Vixen, Alex Shafer , USA – 4 -5 -3 -2 -4 -3 -2 ; 23
3. Team 505, David King , USA – 8 -2 -2 -4 -5 -7 -3 ; 31

J 88 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Deviation, Iris Vogel , USA – 1 -5 -1 -1 -5 -1 -1 ; 15
2. Exile, Andy Graff , USA – 6 -1 -3 -3 -1 -4 -3 ; 21
3. Whirlwind, William Purdy , USA – 2 -6 -2 -6 -3 -3 -2 ; 24

J 70 (One Design – 15 Boats)
1. Very Odd 1513, David Jannetti , USA – 4 -2 -4 -1 -1 -1 -5 ; 18
2. USA1516, Dave Kerr , USA – 1 -1 -1 -6 -5 -4 -3 ; 21
3. Honeybadger, Travis Odenbach , USA – 8 -3 -2 -5 -3 -2 -1 ; 24

S2 7.9 (One Design – 13 Boats)
1. Just One More, Jeff Mootz / Michael Doyle , USA – 1 -2 -2 -4 -2 -5 -2 ; 18
2. Rebel, John Spierling , USA – 2 -12 -1 -1 -3 -2 -1 ; 22
3. Matros, Tom Bryant , USA – 3 -4 -10 -2 -1 -1 -9 ; 30

PHRF 1 (PHRF – 12 Boats)
1. Spaceman Spiff, Jim Sminchak , USA – 3 -3 -1 -1 -3 -1 -1 ; 13
2. Sitella, Ian Hill , USA – 2 -4 -2 -2 -1 -2 -3 ; 16
3. Wicked 2.0, Douglas Curtiss , USA – 9 -2 -5 -3 -4 -6 -2 ; 31

PHRF 2 (PHRF – 8 Boats)
1. Breezin Bayou, Stephen Mitcham , USA – 2 -5 -1 -1 -4 -1 -5 ; 19
2. Smokeshow, Paul Sevigny , USA – 1 -1 -4 -7 -1 -3 -4 ; 21
3. Fire & Ice, George Cussins , USA – 3 -6 -2 -6 -3 -2 -3 ; 25

PHRF 3 (PHRF – 11 Boats)
1. Meltemi, Alexander Korakis , USA – 1 -3 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 11
2. Semper Fi, Raymond Mannix , USA – 5 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -12 ; 24
3. Mahalo, Pat Lawler , USA – 4 -7 -4 -6 -5 -3 -3 ; 32

North Sails Rally – Cruiser (PHRF – 14 Boats)
1. Surge, Charles Archer , USA – 1 ; 1
2. After You, John Gardner , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Emerald Mistress, Jack Thompson , USA – 3 ; 3

North Sails Rally – Racer Cruiser (PHRF – 8 Boats)
1. Prime Plus, Frank Hanna / Mark Requa , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Abeona – Rally, Joseph Toth , USA – 2 ; 2
3. No Way Jose, Jose Suarezhoyos , USA – 3 ; 3

Source: Laura Muma/NOOD

Operating since 1988, Sailing World’s National Offshore One Design Regattas, known as the “NOODs,” are the longest-running and most popular sailboat racing series in North America. Every NOOD regatta attracts regional, national, and international talent to compete against the local community on their home waters.

The 32nd edition of the National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta Series returns to the same five venues across the USA in 2020 before it sets offshore again for the Caribbean NOOD Championship in the British Virgin Islands.

St. Petersburg, FL
February 14 – 16, 2020
St. Petersburg Yacht Club

San Diego, CA
March 20 – 22, 2020
San Diego Yacht Club
Coronado Yacht Club

Annapolis, MD
May 15 – 17, 2020
Annapolis Yacht Club

Chicago, IL
June 12 – 14, 2020
Chicago Yacht Club

Marblehead, MA
July 23 – 26, 2020
Corinthian Yacht Club

Caribbean NOOD Championship
British Virgin Islands