Members of the Melges 24 division hang out while waiting for the wind to pick up and the postponement flag to drop.
Nearly 1,000 sailors gathered at the St. Petersburg YC this morning to kick off the 2009 Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta…and then they had to wait.
Less than ideal wind conditions forced the race committee to postpone racing for the majority of the day, but the wind picked up in the afternoon and the 150 boats in 15 fleets headed out on Tampa Bay. All five fleets sailing on Course C were able to finish two races each, while the fleets sailing on Course A and B were only able to complete one race each. David O’Reilly’s Ardor leads the 44-boat Melges 24 division, the regatta’s largest, and John Poulson’s Long Shot leads the 14-boat J/24 division.
Racing resumes tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. and continues through Sunday. Each fleet will crown a champion, and the organizer will name one overall winner. The overall winner will be invited to participate in the 2009 NOOD Regatta Championships in the British Virgin Islands in November to compete aboard Sunsail 39s against the overall winners from each stop in the NOOD regatta series.
Following St. Petersburg, the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta series will sail on to San Diego, Calif., on March 20-22, 2009. Additional venues for 2009 include Annapolis, Md., Seattle, Wash., Detroit, Mich., Chicago, Ill., Marblehead, Mass., Larchmont, N.Y., and Houston, Texas.
For complete results, click here.
