Stening on fire at M30 NOOD regatta in Annapolis
by Peter Campbell on 26 Apr 2008
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron member Guy Stening and his crew of Optimum are second overall in the M30 class after day one of the 2008 Annapolis National Offshore One-Design Regatta (NOOD) on the US East Coast.
Sailing his US-based M30 for the first time, Stening today notched up a scorecard of 2-2-3-5 for 12 points, seven behind the leader Barking Mad, skippered by American Jim Richardson, a former Farr 40 World Champion and runner-up in the 2007 M30 World Championship.
Barking Mad, representing the New York Yacht Club, has scored three successive wins and a second to be on 5 points. Barking Mad and Optimum are followed by two local M30s from the Annapolis Yacht Club, which is hosting the huge regatta.
A fleet of 264 boats is contesting the three-day regatta in a wide range of US and International one-design classes. The Annapolis NOOD is one of a series of regattas created by Sailing World in 1988 and now attracting 2000 boats and 30,000 competitors each year.
The Annapolis regatta is the first of three regattas Stening plans to contest in his lead-up to the 2008 World Championship for the M30 (previously Mumm 30) class, to be sailed at Newport, Rhode Island, in October.
He placed a close fourth overall in the 2007 Worlds in Sardinia late last year and has since won the 2008 Australian Championship conducted by the RSYS with his Sydney-based boat Optimumm.
He bought the US based M30, Optimum, from prominent American yachtsman Phillipe Karne. The boat has been raced only once, in the 2006 World Championship, and the Annapolis NOOD Regatta is Stening's first sail with this boat.
Sailing with Stening are Australians Steve McConaghy (tactician), Darren Jones (boat captain and mainsail), Tristian (Stan) Eldershaw (trim No 1), Tim Davis (trim No 1), Tim Davis (spinnaker trim), Zac Seymour (pit) and American Curtis Florence (bow). All sailed with him the 2007 World Championship.
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