San Diego NOOD Regatta Preview

(San Diego, CA)- The 2018 edition of the Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD Regatta will be taking place this coming weekend from March 16th to 18th, hosted by the famous San Diego Yacht Club on Point Loma.  The regatta has become synonymous with the start of the sailing season for most teams involved in one-design and round-the-cans racing in the San Diego region.  In fact, it has to a large degree replaced the SCYA Midwinters, held two weeks earlier, as the premiere event to start the season for various J’s; including the J/70s, the J/105s, and the J/120s.

The forecast is promising, with temperatures ranging from mid 60s F in the day, with predominantly sunny skies and winds varying from 8 to 15 kts from the West to Northwest.  Perhaps postcard-perfect conditions ordered up by the  San Diego Chamber of Commerce?!

Looking forward to such “shorts and shades” weather, not surprisingly, is the largest class at the event- the 25-boat strong J/70 fleet.  That is a healthy turnout and there are a number of new faces in the crowd, along with wily veterans from SoCal one-design battles in the past.  Teams to look for on the leaderboard should be Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara YC and fellow club member Scott Deardorff sailing CAKE (a boat that survived the big fires and mudslides in Santa Barbara). From California YC are Curt Johnson’s AVET 2.01 and Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT.  Top San Diego YC crews include Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE and the Snow/Brigden duo on COOL STORY BRO 2.1.4.  King Harbor YC is fielding several teams including Craig Tallman’s JAVA.  Representing Newport Harbor YC will be Chris Raab’s SUGOI.  Perhaps the “long-distance” traveler award is a toss-up between Fabian Gomez-Ibarra’s VAGAZO crew from Coronado, Mexico and Pamela Rose’s ROSEBUD from Chicago YC.

In addition to the “open” fleet competition, there are three Corinthian “youth” teams vying to qualify for a spot in the 2nd US J/70 Youth Championship to be held at St Petersburg YC in November 2018.  Those teams include San Diego YC’s “Helly Hansen Jr Crew” skippered by Jack Egan, Santa Barbara YC’s Youth Team helmed by Paul Harteck and the “Newport Youth Team” led by Max Mayol from Newport Beach.

The J/105s are fielding a talented fleet of ten boats with many familiar faces hoping to get a jump on their friendly competitors in their first regatta of the year.  Many past SDYC NOOD champions and podium finishers are in the mix, including Jon Dekker’s AIR BOSS, Steve Howell’s BLINK, Stew Cannon’s J-OK, Chuck Driscoll & Tom Hurlburt’s JUICED and Jeff Brown’s new boat- SWEET KAREN.

With a half-dozen boats, the J/120s are all about consistency and who’s showing up for the party with a well-oiled machine in the form of crew- trimmers and tactician!  It is never easy to handicap this fleet.  Nevertheless, watch for the usual suspects like John Laun’s CAPER, Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER, Ruddy Hasl’s HASL FREE and Tom & Terri Manok’s POLE DANCER to be somewhere near the top of the leaderboard.  Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images.  For more Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD Regatta sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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