Please select your home edition
Edition
J Composites J/99

Father-son duo top their fleet for H / H Sailing Worlds at Marblehead Race Week's Coveted Trophy

by Sarah Renz 31 Jul 2022 23:35 PDT July 28-31, 2022
Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta at Marblehead Race Week © Paul Todd / Outside Images

The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series at Marblehead Race Week, it's been said, is a regatta of mental endurance. With four days of races and no discards, every race and every point counts. There can be no quit until the final leg is sailed, especially in the waters off Marblehead Harbor where the local sailors know that the wind and weather conditions are never the same from one day to the next. And no lead is ever safe.

"It can be a marathon, and when you finish four days you do feel like you've done a lot," said Jim Taylor, of Marblehead. With his son Nat on the helm of their Rhodes 19 Jabberwok, the Taylors won the highly competitive 21-boat fleet and the coveted Cressy Trophy, awarded to the winner of the regatta's most competitive fleet.

The father and son team on Jabberwock started their regatta on Thursday with respectable finishes of 5-11-5, and that 11th, said Jim Taylor, was their worst result over 11 races.

"We had to recover from an OCS (over the starting line early) and that was our one double-digit result," Taylor said. "We probably sailed the best on Friday, which was a wild day with big windshifts and dramatic changes in the wind speed. We sailed those conditions really, really well. That was about as well as I have ever sailed in those conditions, which are usually really frustrating for me."

On Saturday, the wind piped up, which favored Taylor and his son, which are on the heavier side weightwise. "Peak winds were in the high teens and we were just plain faster," he said. "With two Taylor butts over the rail we were fast and were able to just sail away."

The father and son duo have been sailing the Rhodes 19 together for nearly 10 years, but the elder Taylor won Marblehead Race Week in the 1980s. "It was a completely different thing back then, and the talent level is nowhere near where it is right now," he said. "It's very high with college sailors joining the fleet and the one thing we like about the boats is that they are all pretty much equally slow, which keeps the racing close. If you do it right you gain a few lengths here and there, but that's about it."

On the same racecourse, the local Town Class, which continues to grow in numbers every year to an impressive 20 entries at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta, was equally competitive over three days of racing, and in the end, local sailmaker Chris Howes with Town Class stalwart Bart Snow topped the fleet on the final day—by only 1 point over the crew of Bill Heffernan and Larry Brown, of Needham, Mass.

"This fleet has gotten so much more competitive over the past few years," said Howes, the 2021 Town Class National Champion who only joined the class five years ago. "Everyone's coming along and there are better sailors, so it's getting harder and harder."

Howes, a sailmaker, says his new sails helped him in the weekend's windy conditions, and his goal going into the regatta was to be relaxed, have fun, and be consistent. This approach was working until the first race on the final day when he realized after the start that his boat's centerboard was in the wrong position. "We lost four boats immediately," he said, "and we went from being first with an 8-point lead to being down by 1 point."

In the final race, however, Howes and Snow maintained their focus, kept tabs on the boats they needed to beat and finished second, which was just enough to secure the win and the class's perpetual trophy.

With nearly 140 entries across 10 classes, there were plenty more close battles across the fleet, and especially so in the J/70 division, which had two 2023 J/70 World Championship qualifying berths to play for: one for a pro team and one for an all-amateur squad. The latter was bagged by locals Charlie Pendleton, Jim Raisides, Abi Borggaard and Wade Waddell on Bad Hombres after a roller coaster of a regatta. They struggled on Friday, recorded their best results on Saturday, and then almost lost it all on the final day.

"On Friday, we had our worst ever day at Race Week," Raisides said, "but it speaks to the resiliency of the team that we went out and there on Saturday and had three top-10 finishes and were the third boat overall for the day—that shows a good team."

The foursome on Bad Hombres were OCS in the first race of the final day, had to return to the start and managed to climb back to score a 20 in the 30-boat fleet. With only one race remaining, they put their disappointment behind them and focused on getting back the points they'd given up.

"Our whole thing was to just keep playing forward and working for points," Raisides said. Scoring an impressive 11th in the final race was enough to win the berth by a slim 2 points.

The other world-championship berth went to John Heaton's team on Empeiria, the top J/70 of the weekend, which stunned the fleet on Saturday by winning all three races.

"It was a beautiful regatta, with epic conditions for Marblehead," said Heaton, whose team of Zeke Horowitz, Zach Mason and Will Felder mastered the changing winds that spanned from south to west, to light and strong, especially on Saturday.

"A lot of it is due to the guys, and that the boat is set up so I can drive it without intervention," Heaton said. "I was just driving and the whole time the crew was talking about where the wind was, the clouds and the shifts. We had good starts and good speed, but these guys were banging the shifts perfectly. It was a proud day for me to watch the team click so well together."

Other class winners were: Ege Özgül in the ILCA 7, Max Dressel in the ILCA 6, Tomas Hornos' Destiny in the Etchells, Charlie Garrard's Merlin in the J/105, Marek Zaleski's Team Z in the Viper 640, Diane Reid's Ellementary in the L30s, and Bill Widnall's Javelin in the IOD class. Widnall and crew, which won all but one of its seven races, also earned the regatta's overall title and a berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Championship with Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands in October.

For complete event information and results, click here.

For more information on the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series events, visit www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series

Related Articles

Sailing World Regatta Series: Chicago Overall
Gnarly conditions on Lake Michigan make it unsafe for racing on the final day Inside Chicago Harbor, the northerly wind blowing through the protected mooring field was deceiving. Conditions appeared benign enough to send the sailors out for the final day. Posted on 12 Jun 2023
Sailing World Regatta Series: Chicago Saturday
Distance racers battle the wind and the clock For Daniel Koules' team on the Beneteau First 40 Badge, that was the difference between finishing and not finishing after navigating a patience-testing 30-mile distance race on the second day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Posted on 11 Jun 2023
Sailing World Regatta Series: Chicago Friday recap
With winds on the tamer side, conditions were ideal for teams to reacclimate While Daniel Floberg was at work on a glorious summer Friday in Chicago, he turned the family J/88 Misty to his friend Will, who started in high gear on opening day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Posted on 10 Jun 2023
Sailing World Regatta Series: Chicago preview
The annual Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series kicks off the action When the calendar in Chicago finally rolls over to June, the entire city, from the Lake Shore to the West Side comes alive with an unmistakable urgency and hustle: like, hey man, summer's too short, so let's get to it, and make the most of it. Posted on 8 Jun 2023
HH Sailing World Regatta Series Annapolis overall
One point. That was the winning difference for Bruce Irving's teammates on his J/30 Shamrock One point. That was the winning difference for Bruce Irving's teammates on his J/30 Shamrock, champions of the J/30 East Coast Championship at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Annapolis. Posted on 8 May 2023
HH Sailing World Regatta Series Annapolis Day 2
Scoreboard shuffle The second day of a three-day regatta is referred to as "moving day," where competitors weigh greater risk and reward to advance up the leaderboard, and as a result, there's often quite a bit of shuffling in the standings. Posted on 7 May 2023
Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series preview
Ready, set Annapolis The first weekend of May is reserved for the big start of the Annapolis sailing season, so here comes the 2023 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series. Posted on 3 May 2023
Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series overall
J/24 Wharf Rat team exceed their expectations Christian Seidel and his teammates on the J/24 Wharf Rat, had no expectations of winning their division at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in San Diego. Posted on 20 Mar 2023
Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series day 2
A day of dominance The question of the morning around the San Diego Yacht Club as racers waited out an hour postponement for the morning fog to burn away was, "Who here can actually beat Chick Pyle?" Posted on 19 Mar 2023
Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series day 1
Smooth start to sailing in San Diego The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series San Diego got under way on Friday with the fleets of San Diego's South Bay circles enjoying a slowly building west breeze that allowed four races to be completed in most classes. Posted on 18 Mar 2023
Armstrong 728x90 - Wing FG Board Range - BOTTOMPredictWind - GO! exec 728x90 BOTTOMSavvy Navvy 2024