Record J Fleet @ SW NOOD Annapolis

Flynn's J/80 Overall NOOD Winner!

(Annapolis, MD)-   The enormous 120+ boat J Fleet (nearly 62% of the entire NOOD fleet) were met with better than expected weather conditions, soaking in the sunny skies and gentle warm breezes from the southerly quadrant for most of the weekend and even the partly cloudy, extremely shifty winds on Sunday did little to diminish sailors enthusiasm for this remarkably well-run event.

The J/22s saw Greg Fisher's WHAT KINDA GONE establish an early lead on the first day and sailed a solid, consistent series with scores of 2-1-1-9-4-5-2-5 for 29 points.  Jeff Todd racing HOT TODDY was also in the hunt on the first day just behind Greg Fisher and fired off two firsts in the last two races to finish  second just four points back with a 8-7-2-4-5-4-1-1 score for 32 points.  While these two Annapolis teams showed their tail feathers to the fleet, the outsiders led by Travis Odenbach from Rochester, NY sailing INSTIGATOR fought hard over the three days to climb into contention to finish third with a 1-8-5-16-2-2-3-6 for 43 points, beating David Kerr racing SHARK SANDWICH on a tie-breaker.

Other than two tactical memory lapses in races 2 and 7 (yes, does happen when we all get older), Tony Parker's venerable J/24 BANGOR PACKET "schooled the kids" in the J/24 class.  Tony's 2-10-1-2-1-1-9-3 for 29 points were a strong performance from this experienced team, leading second place finisher Paul Van Ravenswaay on MILLENIUM FALCON by eight points.  Paul's 1-14-2-1-3-3-8-5 record put him in a tie for second with Tim Healy's 7-5-7-6-2-7-2-1 record.  Third on the tie-breaker was Tim Healy from SailNewport, fourth was Club Nautico de Olives' Ken Johnson from Buenos Aires, Argentina on TEAM OJOTA and fifth was Pat Fitzgerald on RUSH HOUR.

With thirty-six boats, the J/80 was not only the largest, but the most competitive class at this year's SW NOOD Annapolis- the fourth stop of the J/80 USA Tour leading to the J/80 Worlds in Newport.  There were significant swings in performance for all the leading teams in the top ten.  Fairing better than most was past World Champion Terry Flynn from Ft Worth Boat Club winning with a 9-3-3-2-1-6-6-2 record for 32 points to overcome J/80 class newcomer Brian Keane (past J/105 North American and Key West Champion).  Brian's SAVASANA sailed a 3-13-1-7-13-1-1-10 record to hang in for second with 49 points.  Third was past J/80 champion Jay Lutz and Gary Kamins sailing for California YC, overcoming a very slow start to finish with a flourish, garnering a 14-19-4-1-2-5-3-9 record for 57 points.  Fourth was Jason Balich/ Matt Allen from Jubilee YC, another Marion/Buzzards Bay sailor like Brian Keane and fifth was Henry Brauer from New York YC.  For their performance in this large, closely fought J/80 class, Terry Flynn also received the Best Overall Performance for the NOOD, qualifying him for the SW NOOD Nationals in the British Virgin Islands!

The J/30s had a great regatta with many closely contested finishes with boats overlapped and finishing within seconds of each other.  After the smoke cleared, Bob Rutsch/ Mike Costello sailed a remarkable series after their modest first day performance to post a 4-1-2-5-1-1-1-1 record for 16 points!  Not to be outdone, Lawrence Christy posted a 1-3-4-3-2-2-2-3 series to finish just four points off the pace.  Ron Anderson from AYC finished third, fourth was National YC's George Watson and fifth was Glenmar Sailing Association's Phil Heldrich.

The J/35s also had a fun and incredibly competitive series amongst the top four boats with a tie-breaker to end all tie-breakers determined in the eighth and final race!  Bill Wildner's MR BILLS WILD RIDE from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron took a 1-1-6-1-1-1-2-1 record to dominate the J/35 class, winning by 18 points! But, the real drama was taking place just behind them.  Chuck Kohlerman sailed MEDICINE MAN to a strong finish after a very slow start on Friday to win a THREE-WAY tie-breaker for second!  MEDICINE MAN's record of 8-2-4-9-2-4-1-2 was just enough to beat Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel's AUNT JEAN (5-6-1-4-7-3-3-3 scores) and Barry Moss's BAD COMPANY (3-5-9-2-3-2-4-4 scores) to finish second, third and fourth, respectively!  After starting off the regatta strong on the first day, Maury Niebur on BUMP IN THE NIGHT completed the series in fifth.

The J/105s saw local hotshot Peter McChesney from Annapolis YC lead the series starting the first day and never relinquish his lead, sailing to an unassailable 1-1-5-1-3-5-2-3 record for 21 points over Royal Canadian YC member Jim Rathbun sailing HEY JUDE (Jim finished 2nd in the 2009 J/105 North Americans at American YC).  Jim's tally (3-2-16-3-12-4-1-1) with two firsts in the last two races were not enough to overcome a forgettable third race and a 40% penalty in the fifth race to challenge Peter's fast team for the series lead.  Third is Jim Coningsberg from AYC, fourth Arthur Libby from AYC and fifth Will Crump from NYYC.

The first stop on the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy (also doubling as the Mid-Atlantic Coast Championships) saw the two class leaders dueling for the top of the leader-board throughout the series.  A potent combination of good speed, local knowledge plus a bit of luck enabled Bill Sweetser's RUSH, the local Annapolis YC boat, to sail to an incredibly consistent 1-1-2-1-1-3-1-3 score for thirteen points.  Second was Rick Lyall's Block Island-winning STORM from Cedar Point YC sailing to a 4-4-1-3-2-2-2-2 record for twenty points.  Just behind this duel of the class titans were Steve McManus sailing his SAYKADOO very well to third place, just nipping Craig Wright's AFTER THOUGHT in fourth.  Fifth was Tony Syme's LOGOS.   More NOOD sailing news at Sailing World's site.   Photo credits- Tim Wilkes