San Diego NOOD
Onboard the Ultimate 20 Red Viking, Mike Ellis, of Newport Beach, Calif., brought a ringer who goes by the name of Pease Glaser, the 2000 Olympic Women’s 470 silver medalist, and after two races on the opening day of the 2004 Sailing World NOOD Regatta, hosted by the San Diego YC, Ellis’ choice of skipper has proven to be a wise one. Tonight, after a taxing short day on the water, Ellis and sixteen other teams are enjoying opening-day leads. Sharing the San Diego Bay south course with the Ultimate 20s were eight well-traveled Holder 20s. Jim Rasachi’s My Sweetie -N-Me, delivered via Interstate from Las Vegas, owns a 4-point lead over it’s homestate rivals on Britta Rottschy’s Scraps, and the Arizona contingent on Ken King’s PMS. Other leaders on the South Bay circle include the local team on Julie and Gary Mitchell’s J/24, Geraldine, with 2-1 finishes in the 6-boat J/24 class; Robert Miller’s J/80 Jester, from El Paso, Texas, leads the 7-boat J/80 class. Nearby, the regatta’s dinghy classes, the International 14s and 505s, were tearing up the bay at high rates of speed. As the breeze continued to build to 8 knots, so did the finishing margins, and as the afternoon wore on, the veterans shined: Kris Bundy’s Larry 2, from Seattle, finished 6-1-1 for a 1-point lead over Alan Diercks. Ron Boehm’s Almost Lunch is third, 2 points out of first. In the 5-boat 505 fleet, locals Bill and Dan Jenkins fired off three wins and sit with 3-point lead. Preston Holder, of Del Mar, Calif., leads the Martin 16s. On the ocean course south of Point Loma, the Beneteau 36.7 and Beneteau 40.7, first-time classes at this event, were picking their way through the shifts. Onboard the 36.7 Hammertime, skipper Tom Lewin, of Buffalo, N.Y., led his team to a 3-1 day, but Tom Hirsch’s Kaizen, from San Diego, went 2-2 to tie the 8-boat series–for these two, it all starts anew tomorrow. In the 5-boat 40.7 fleet, local Mike Honeysett’s Wiki Wiki had a perfect day and goes into tomorrow’s racing with a 2-point lead over Brian Ganz’s Austin, from Carlesbad, Calif. As expected, the J/105 fleet delivered the regatta’s largest class turnout with 26 boats, and Barney Flam’s Flambouyant, from Long Beach, Calif., closed the day with bragging rights over Ed Cumming’s Bold Forbes, of Del Mar, with a 3-2 performance. Cummings finished seventh in the first race, but a win in the second brought them back to within 3 points. Scott Birnberg’s Indigo 3, from Long Beach, is third, also 3 points out. The second to largest turnout came from the Etchells class, with 19, and as usual the racing was tight at the front. Bill Hardesty’s local squad went 2-1 for a 3-point lead over Craig Fletcher’s It’s OK, from Newport Beach. Leaders in the Melges 24, Soling, 1D35, J/120, and J/35 fleets are: Sheldon Ecklund’s Tickler, Ian Wareham’s Ghost Rider, Jeffrey Brizes’ Kill-A-Watt, John Laun’s Caper, and Herb Zoehrer’s Z-Force, respectively.
