Pollard (GBR) leads opening day at Florida NOOD

by Event Media on 17 Feb 2007 On the opening day of the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta in St Petersburg, Fla, wild weather conditions proved a challenge for the record 195 boats competing.

John Pollard, of Torquay, England, won all three races in the 44-boat fleet Melges 24 and leads the regatta by four points, the blustery, chilly conditions on Tampa Bay felt a lot like home. 'It was very similar,' he said. Eamonn O'Nolan, also of the United Kingdom, finished second in the race. 'But we like the warm. That's why we come to Florida.'

Another British team doing well was the Sonar crew of John Robertson, which won the first race, then added a third and a second and has a 4-point lead in the 7-boat class.

Gusting 15-17 knot northerly wind combined with a sharp dip in temperature – where the high temp registered a mere 40 degrees – and created an unusual test for competitors who traveled to the west coast of Florida despite the snow storms that crippled the nation’s travelers earlier this week.

The 2006 overall NOOD Regatta champion, John Storck (Huntington, NY) and his J/80 Rumor lead their 9-boat class. Son Erik, a senior who sails at Dartmouth College, drives the boat while the elder Storck trims the jib. Along with Dave Waldo and Stanford University Sailing Team coach Jay Kehoe onboard, Rumor posted a 6-1-1 to lead.

'In the first race we were trying to get everything set because we didn’t practice as much as we wanted to,' said Erik Storck. 'In the first race we had a couple of problems and made a few bad decisions at the mark roundings. After that we decided to be a bit more conservative at the start in the second race. We were able to hold our competition out at the start and hang on to our lead the entire way. The wind was really up and down all day. We changed our rig before every race. My father is very much a student of the game and he is in charge of the rig settings.'

Walter Caldwell (Clear Lake Shores, Texas) and his Le Cluster is in second place with 10 points, while Emotional Rescue, one of three J World Annapolis racing teams here this week, is in third with 11 points.

In addition to the J/80 class, on Course C the Corsair 28R and Corsair 24 classes competed. Bert Rice (Gulf Breeze, Fla) swept all three races, finishing the day aboard his Mark Twain with three points. The rest of the class had trouble keeping their boasts in control and many did not compete in the second and third races. Overall, Kurt Gregory (St Petersburg) is in second place with 13 points, while Patrick Nugent (Palm Harbor, Fla) is in third with 18 points.

The Ultimate 20 class is led by Brad Boston (CAN), who also swept all three races. Boston and his team on Honour have a significant 9-point lead on their closest competition, Van Sheppard (CAN) on Wizz, with 12 points, and Mark Dobie (Hayward, Wis) with 13, in third place.

Although it might seem that the larger the number of boats competing the harder it is to win a race, let alone win all three races. That theory was crushed today by Great Britain’s John Pollard, who leads the 44-boat class Melges with three wins and a total score of three points. The closest competition seemed to be in the top eight boats, but local sailor Doug Fisher (Sarasota) counted a 6th and 9th separated by an unfortunate OCS (on course side or over the starting line early) to stand in 21st place.

Two other classes competed with the Melges 24 class on Course B: the J/105 and J/24 classes. Worth Harris (Raleigh, NC) leads the J/105s with seven points, while Daniel Borrer (St Augustine Beach, Fla) leads the 24-boat J/24 class with nine points.

Racing continues tomorrow, February 17 and concludes on Sunday, the 18.

2007 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta - St. Petersburg Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, Fl

Day 1 Preliminary Results (February 16, 2007) - Top 3 places in each class

Course A

Hobie 33 (6 boats)
1. Steven Attard, Temperance, Mich., Viva Las Vegas, (2)*-1-1, 2 points
2. Christian Schaumloffel, Virginia Beach, Va., Mirage, 1-(2)-2, 3
3. Jim Blakewell, Oklahoma City, Okla., Barbarella, (3)-3-3, 6
*denotes discard race

J/109 (7 boats)
1. Jon Halbert, League City, Texas, Vitesse, 2-1-1, 4 points
2. Steve Rhyne, Seabrook Texas, Mojo, 1-3-2, 6
3. Brian & Stephen Tedeschi, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Tastes Like Chicken, 3-2-3, 8

Melges 32 (8 boats)
1. Jeff Ecklund, Fort Lauderdale FL Star, 1-1-3, 5 points
2. Carroll / Kullman, Tampa Fla., New Wave, 2-3-1, 6
3. Caleb Everett, San Francisco, Calif., Stewball,8-2-2, 12

Olson 30 (5 boats)
1. Chris Cyrul, Soddy Dai, Tenn., Opus Dei, 2-2-1, 5 points
2. Sandy Curtiss, Lake Bluff, Ill., Rocking Horse, 1-3-3, 7
3 102 Bob Bozeman St. Petersburg FL Twisted Fate, 4-1-4, 9

S2 7.9 (8 boats)
1. Spike Boston, Point Edward ON CA Frequent Flyer 1-1-1, 3 points
2. Joe/Jeff Pawlowski, East Amherst, N.Y., Magic, 4-2-2, 8
3. John Spierling, Shelby Twp, Mich., Rebel, 2-3-3, 8

Tartan 10 (5 boats)
1. Simon/ Buckles, Loraw, OH Liquor Box, 1-2-1, 4 points
2. Jeff Sampson/ Jim Ward, Lakewood, Ohio, Looking For LaFonda, 2-1-3, 6
3. Ken Schram, Mason, MI, Britsar, 3-3-2, 8

Wavelength 24 (12 boats)
1. Edwards/ Gates, Satellite Beach, Fla., Whatta Ride, 1-2-1, 4 points
2. Steven Choate, Robert La., The Bear, 2-1-2, 5
3. Kevin Lemonds, London, Ohio, Outtamind, 3-3-3, 9

Course B

Melges 24 (41 boats)
1. John Pollard, Torquay, Devon, GBR, Excellent, 1-1-1, 3 points
2. Othmar Mueller von Blu, Great Falls, Va., Ganne, 3-2- 2, 7
3. Bob Dockery, Longboat Key, Fla., Barracuda, 4-6-3, 13

J/24 (24 boats)
1. Daniel Borrer, St. Augustine Beach, Fla., Jesus Lizard, 1-7-1, 9 points
2. Paul van Ravenswa, Annapolis, Md., Millennium Falcon, 3-3-4, 10
3. Robby Brown, St. Petersburg, Fla., Preperation J, 2-8-3, 13

J/105 (18 boats)
1. Worth Harris, Raleigh, N.C., Rum at Six, 1-4-2, 7 points
2. Steve and Dee Olinger, St Petersburg, Fla., J'Makin' Waves, 7-3-1, 11
3. Ed Chappell, Lexington, Ky., Another Hazard, 2-5-4, 11

Course C

Corsair 28R (5 boats)
1. Valdek Kwasniewski, Venice, Fla., Hi Five, 2-3-1, 6 points
2. Kathryn Garlick, Terra Ceia, FL (no boat name), 1-4-2, 7
3. Tom Reese, Niagara Falls, N.Y., Flight Simulator, 3-2-3, 8

Corsair 24 (4 boats)
1. Bert Rice, Gulf Breeze, Fla., Mark Twain, 1-1-1, 3 points
2. Kurt Gregory, St. Petersburg, KeyWee, 2-8\DNC-3, 13
3. Patrick Nugent, Palm Harbor, Fla., Vorpal Blade, 8\DNC-8\DNC-2, 18

Ultimate 20 (13 boats)
1. Brad Boston, Point Edward, Ontario, CAN, Honour, 1-1-1, 3 points
2. Van Sheppard, Kanata, Ontario, CAN, Wizz, 3 -2-7, 12
3. Mark Dobie, Hayward, Wis., Zipper, 4-6-3, 13

Viper 640 (6 boats, two races)
1. Justin Scott, Greenwich, Conn., Tusker, 1-1, 2 points
2. David Guerra, Cantonment, Fla., Water Moccasin, 2-6/DNF, 8
3. Kay VanValkenvur, Lynn, Mass., Qirq, 6/DNF-6/DNF, 12

J/80 (9 boats)
1. John Storck Jr., Huntington, N.Y., Rumor, 6-1-1, 8 points
2. Walter Caldwell, Clear Lake Shores, Texas, Le Cluster, 2-5-3, 10
3. JWorldRacing, TeamBlue, Annapolis, Md., Emotional Rescue, 1-6-4, 11

Tripp 26 (6 boats)
1. Tom Freeman, St. Thomas, Ontario, CAN, Slapshot, 2-2-2, 6 points
2. Dennis Hannick, King George, Va., Radio Flyer, 3-3-1, 7
3. William J. Zehner Jr., Panama City, Fla., TrippNautic, 1-1-7\DNC, 9

Sonar
1. John Robertson, Sunderland, GBR, Chimera, 1-3-2, 6 points
2. Rick Doerr, Clifton, N.J., Valiant, 4-5-1, 10
3. Ira Perry, Dartmouth, Mass., Voila, 2 -1-8\DNF, 11

Sperry Top-Sider is the national title sponsor of the St. Petersburg NOOD which is presented by Sailing World and Mount Gay Rum. Support sponsors who will join the event include Gill, Sunsail, North Sails, Heineken, Amstel Light, Active Network and Tacktic.

The 2007 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regattas will sail into nine cities in 2007, including Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; Detroit, Mich.; Houston, Texas; Larchmont, N.Y.; San