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Sea Sure 2025

Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta takes off in San Diego

by Evily Giannopoulos 17 Mar 2018 16:51 AEDT 16-18 March 2018
National Sailing Hall of Fame honoree Dave Ullman of Newport Beach [pictured in red] and crew aboard a J/70 boat at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta San Diego © Paul Todd / www.outsideimages.com

Optimal conditions on San Diego Bay made for a solid first day of racing at the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta on Friday. This is the second of five stops in the nation's largest and longest-running sailboat racing circuit, now in its 30th season.

Nearly half of the regatta’s entrants participated on the first day of racing and the rest will join for races Saturday and Sunday. In the J/70 fleet, the largest of the weekend, local sailmaker and professional sailor Chris Snow and the crew aboard Cool Story, Bro lead the fleet with 11 points after three races.

Snow credits a conservative approach and good boatspeed to his team's early success in a traditionally competitive fleet.

"The rule of thumb is you can't win the regatta on the first day, but you can lose it," Snow said. "Sailboat racing is a game of risk versus rewards, and the best strategy is to not take a big risk at the start [of each race] and let your boat speed do the work for you. So our strategy was to have a good solid day and not make any mistakes."

Despite shifty conditions for the first race of the day, team Cool Story, Bro placed first. The wind strengthened for the following two races. Snow said the favorable conditions make it easier for his team to “to get out in front, which takes a little bit of the stress out."

With seventh- and third-place finishes in the following races, Snow leads his class by a single point. The J/70s are laden with top sailors and, according to Snow, it's still anyone's game.

"This fleet is very competitive, and that makes it fun for everybody. If you finish in the top 10, it's an accomplishment."

That perspective bodes well for the Santa Barbara Yacht Club (SBYC) Youth Team, a crew of high school-aged sailors participating in the regatta. The youth team is currently placed ninth in a class full of veterans and pros. Echoing Snow's strategic insight, SBYC's tactician Payne Donaldson, 16, said his team's game plan is to "go fast, sail conservatively and start well."

After an impressive second-place finish during the first race, Donaldson’s teammates faced a few "communication and boat set-up" issues in the day’s second race. "But we came back with sixth place during the third race, so it was a good day. We sorted out the problems we needed to."

As one of three youth teams in the J/70 fleet, the young sailors are sailing to qualify for the US J/70 Youth Championship this fall, defending the club's 2017 title.

"We picked this event because it's one of the closest qualifying events and one of the first," said crewmember Caden Schivlauer, 16. "The team was here last year and we know this venue pretty well, so it just felt natural to come back."

In the Viper 640 class, the regatta’s other marque sportboat fleet, Jeff Grange and his team on Venom — who, like Cool Story, Bro, lead their fleet by one point going into day two — carried on the theme of a calculated start to the weekend.

"Our mindset going into day one is that you can't win the regatta the first day, but you can certainly lose it," Grange said, echoing Chris Snow almost verbatim. "So we just wanted to make sure we had no major errors and didn't give anyone leverage against us."

The Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design Regatta in San Diego continues through March 18.

For more information, visit sailingworld.com/nood-regattas.

Results after Day 1:

PosSail NoYacht NameOwner/SkipperR1R2R3Pts
J 70
1  USA 369Cool Story BroSnow/ Brigden17311
2  USA 34Perseverance Bennet Greenwald92112
3  CAY 580SugoiChris Raab61512
4  MEX 755RosebudPamela Rose310215
5  MEX 383VagazoFabian Gomez‑Ibarra56819
6  USA 3HuckleberryJim Murrell104721
7  USA 32USA 32Bruce Cooper451625
8  USA 490Minor ThreatJeff Janov1331026
9  USA 1156SBYC Youth Team (Corinthian)Paul Harteck219627
10  USA 250nunuhunuSteve Wyman817429
11  MEX 540540David Hochart7111432
12  USA 58OGSPat Toole1291132
13  18Helly Hansen Jr. Crew (Corinthian)Jack Egan1481941
14  USA 201Avet 21 (Corinthian)Curt Johnson1518942
15  USA 70Newport Youth Team (Corinthian)Maxwell Mayol11161744
16  USA 699Fly (Corinthian)Kyle Collins18141244
17  USA 328NamasteThomas Tunberg20121547
18  USA 351CakeScott Deardorff16131847
19  USA 821Kawau BayDrew Belk19201352
20  USA 59Jaya (Corinthian)Craig Tallman1715UFD57
21  USA 391Cachondo (Corinthian)Mike Gridley21222063
22  USA 158Pegasus (Corinthian)Paul Martecchini22212164
23  USA 177El Cucuy (Corinthian)Shane StephensDNF232270
24  USA 81Monkey HouseSteve HendricksDNSDNSDNS75
I 14
1  USA 1200AstraguluBrad Ruetenik1135
2  USA 1162ErisMikey Radziejowski2215
3  USA 1203CrumpederoTerence Gleeson3328
4  USA 1195Forty TooJohn Clark54413
5  USA 1193USA 1193Channing Hamlet4DNSDNS22
6  USA 1177Lucky DogRon BoehmDNSDNSDNS27
7  USA 1176James ClarksonJames ClarksonRETDNSDNS27
8  USA 117WoodyMichael LeitchDNSDNSDNS27
Viper 640
1  USA 149VenomJeff Grange2136
2  usa 204It's All GoodJay Golison1427
3  USA 223Nice ASPMike Pentecost3317
4  USA 267SerpentineTimothy Carter82616
5  USA 192BreakawayEric Chadwick49417
6  USA 130AmateursMark Folkman58518
7  USA 247BoomslangGeoff Fargo75921
8  USA 64Clown SchoolTodd Downey67821
9  USA 221F.N.G.James Sears96722
10  USA 187Covfefe SOG Geoff McFarland11101233
11  USA 26USA 26James Baurley13131036
12  129PNW DudesSteve 14111136
13  USA 38Loco 7Ed Feo12121438
14  CAN 191Moistened BintJohn Leyland10151540
15  USA 212Boiling PointDaniel Milefchik15141342
16  USA 243Donkey PunchDom Simonetti16DNF1649

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