J/Crews Enjoy Sunny Ted Hood Regatta

(Marblehead, MA)- How nice can sailing possibly be off Marblehead, MA in the summer time?   Sometimes amazing, as was the case this past weekend for the annual Ted Hood Regatta.  Fleets of J/70s, J/105s and PHRF handicap boats enjoyed three days of racing with winds below ten knots, with plenty of sun!

The event was hosted by the trio of famous Marblehead clubs- Boston YC, Eastern YC and Corinthian YC- with each club hosting a circle for the various fleets.

Following on his win in the J/70 Corinthian Nationals at Buzzards Bay Regatta, Brian Keane’s SAVASANA seems to be developing a lot of momentum going into the AUDI J/70 World Championship that starts in a fortnight at YC Costa Smeralda’s facility in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy.

With Stu McNay, USA Olympic 470 sailor and World Champion, as his tactician, Keane’s crew could seem to do no wrong, except for one nearly catastrophic 12th place in the 4th race.  They won five of the seven races to finish with 19 pts and the regatta win!

Hot on their tail all weekend long was Bruce Golison’s crew from California racing MIDLIFE CRISIS- sailing by far the most consistent series in the top five with all finishes in the top 4!  While never winning a race, Golison’s crew ended up with 21 pts for the silver.  Taking the bronze with 23 pts total was Peter Duncan’s high-powered RELATIVE OBSCURITY crew, coming off a 2nd in the J/70 Europeans in the United Kingdom and having won the finale of the ALCATEL J/70 Cup in Italy with all of Europe’s top J/70 sailors competing.  Rounding out the top five were Bruno Pasquinelli’s crew from the Fort Worth Boat Club in Texas in 4th place and Tom Bowen’s REACH AROUND team from Annapolis YC in 5th place.

In the J/70 Corinthians Division, it was Tyler Doyle’s USA 245 that took honors with 60 pts total, followed by Stein Skanne’s SHRED in 2nd with 62 pts and Frank McNamara’s CHINOOK in 3rd with 63 pts- close, eh??  Those results, literally, came down to the last race and the last leg of the regatta!

Meanwhile, in the J/105 one-design class, it looked like it was just about a “walk-in-the-park” for Nicole Breault & Bruce Stone’s GOOD TRADE.  The J/105 team from San Francisco, skippered by Nicole Breault, dominated the Marblehead fleet with a 1-3-5-2-1-1-1 scoreline for 14 points. Her team consisted of Dave Marshall at bow, Halsey Richartz at mast and tactics, Casey Williams at pit and jib trim, Jamie Ewing at main, and co-owner Bruce Stone at spin trim.

The top local team skipperedd by Fred deNapoli on ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA was 13 points behind with 27 points, followed by Matthew Pike and Dave Nelson's GOT QI with 35 points.

Nicole and Bruce are on a roll in the J/105 class, having won three regattas on SF Bay (St Francis YC Spring One Design, SF Bay J/Fest and SF Yacht Club Resin Regatta), plus Cedar Point One-Design, Storm Trysail Block Island Race Week, Buzzards Bay Regatta and now the Ted Hood Regatta- the latter two skippered by Nicole.

Nicole commented on their regatta, ”It was great to get back to Marblehead and its picturesque harbor and its strong racing heritage. I remember coming here to race in the USYRU Bemis championship in the 1980s and the 420 North Americans in the early 1990s.  So, it was fun to return in a big-boat and run into many friends from those years. The hospitality was terrific and we plan to be back in a few years for the J/105 North Americans!”

In the world of PHRF handicap racing, there were plenty of stories to tell and, like their one-design colleagues, many “shoulda-coulda-woulda’s” going around the race track.

In PHRF 1 Class, J/teams dominated the top five overall.  Gary Weisberg’s J/111 HEATWAVE took 2nd, Tom Mager’s J/122 GIGI was 3rd, Ed Kaye’s J/111 PRAVDA was 4th, and Ben Chigier’s J/122 ESCAPE VELOCITY was 5th.

In PHRF Class 2, Dan Boyd & Mitch Wiest’s J/109 WILDTHING closed out their regatta with double bullets, wishing they had found that formula earlier in the series.  Nevertheless, they ended up 4th, only 5 points out of first place!  Tough fleet they were in!

PHRF 3 Class saw Ward Blodgett & Liz Smith’s J/33 SIROCCO earn their handicap-racing debut to take second place in class!

Then, in PHRF 4 Class, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the J/24 was none other than Dave Smith’s J/24 AIRODOODLE, dominating with six 1sts in seven races!  Wow, a fast J/24 is forever young!  Peter Pappas’ J/80 AIRPLAY completed J domination of the class, taking second with just 12 pts.  For more Ted Hood Regatta sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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