Saturday was a challenging day on the water for the hundreds of sailors competing in the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta in San Diego. Sailors faced shifty winds and rough seas on two racecourses set on the ocean off Coronado Island.
San Diego-native John Laun, the 2015 Helly Hansen NOOD San Diego Overall Winner, found the conditions demanding, but he and his crew aboard Caper established a comfortable lead in its J/120 class, which saw four different boats win each of four races.
“It was a great day,” Laun said. “The sea state was very confused for the first couple of races in particular. There were big wind shifts and big changes in wind direction, so it was very challenging.”
Those big shifts resulted in an abandoned race at the beginning of the day for the Etchells fleet. But the wind eventually shifted westerly and held steady with more reasonable oscillations, according to Lifted skipper Jim Cunningham. His crew heads into Sunday in the top spot in its class.
“The combination of the chop and the swell made the sea conditions particularly challenging,” Cunningham said. “We set our boat up pretty loose, because we needed a lot of power, and just made an effort to get off the starting line cleanly. We had three good starts, focused on keeping the bow down and going straight. We didn’t want to let conditions dictate the course of the boat.”
The crew generally sails out of San Francisco, but Cunningham looks forward to the NOOD Regatta because the fleet is “always competitive” and has “good depth” no matter how many boats come out.
“You can’t let your guard down,” he said. “People are always coming at you. So if you have a bad leg, or a portion of a leg, you’re right back at it.”
In the Beneteau First 36.7 class, team Kraken leads by one point after three races. Skipper Thomas Shepherd of Oceanside, Calif., chose to race conservatively due to the “random” wind shifts, but found that favoring the right side of the course paid off for his crew, who placed in the top three in each race.
“In the end, it came down to our crew, who were exemplary today,” Shepherd said. “I put them in some fairly sticky situations calling some last-minute changes, and they just kept making it work.”
This was Shepherd’s “best first day” at the Helly Hansen NOOD since first participating more than five years ago. Heading into the final day of the regatta, Shepherd plans to focus his energy on the top two or three boats.
“Now that we’ve established a points hierarchy, we’re going to concentrate on the boats that are our biggest opposition, covering them and making sure they can’t get away, ” he said. “They’re going to give us the most trouble — so we’ll have a lot of fun with that.”
The Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design Regatta in San Diego continues through March 18.
More results below. For comprehensive results, visit yachtscoring.com.
For more information, visit sailingworld.com/nood-regattas.
DAY TWO RESULTS (TOP THREE)
Etchells (One Design – 12 Boats)
1. Lifted, Etchells, Jim Cunningham, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2 -1 -1 ; 4
2. Elizabeth, Etchells, Tom Carruthers, San Diego, CA, USA, 4 -2 -2 ; 8
3. Rhino, Etchells, Bruce Nelson, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 -3 -5 ; 9
Beneteau First 36.7 (One Design – 8 Boats)
1. Kraken, Beneteau First 36.7, Thomas Shepherd, Oceanside, CA, USA, 1 -2 -3 ; 6
2. Kea, Beneteau First 36.7, Chick Pyle, San Diego, Ca, USA, 5 -1 -1 ; 7
3. Melokia, Beneteau First 36.7, Mike Whittemore, Coronado, CA, USA, 2 -5 -4 ; 11
J 105 (One Design – 10 Boats)
1. J-OK, J 105, Stewart Cannon, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 -5 -2 ; 8
2. Zuni Bear, J 105, Richard Bergmann, San Diego, CA, USA, 4 -3 -4 ; 11
3. Juiced, J 105, Tom Hurlburt / Chuck Driscoll, San Diego, CA, USA, 10 -2 -1 ; 13
Beneteau First 40.7 (One Design – 4 Boats)
1. Silhouette, Beneteau First 40.7, Warren Gross, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 -2 -2 -1 ; 6
2. Lugano, Beneteau First 40.7, Mark Stratton, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2 -3 -1 -3 ; 9
3. Wiki Wiki, Beneteau First 40.7, Mike Honeysett, Ramona, CA, USA, 4 -1 -3 -2 ; 10
J 120 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Caper, J 120, John Laun, San Diego, CA, United States, 2 -1 -2 -2 ; 7
2. CC Rider, J 120, Charles Nichols, San Diego, CA, USA, 5 -2 -1 -4 ; 12
3. Hasl Free, J 120, Rudolph Hasl, San Diego, CA, USA, 3 -3 -4 -5 ; 15
Flying Tiger 10 (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Abacus, Flying Tiger 10, Timothy Chin , San Diego, CA, USA, 1 -1 -4 -3 ; 9
2. Justice, Flying Tiger 10, John Harrop, San Diego, CA, USA, 5 -3 -1 -1 ; 10
3. Arsenal, Flying Tiger 10, Andrew Picel, Cardiff, CA, USA, 2 -4 -2 -2 ; 10
TP 52/Pac 52 (ORR – 3 Boats)
1. Rio, Pac52, Manouch Moshayedi, Corona del Mar, CA, USA, 1 -1 -3 ; 5
2. Gladiator, TP52, Tony Langley, Retford, Nottinghamshire, GBR, 2 -2 -1 ; 5
3. Nimbus, TP52, Eduardo Saenz, Mexico City, Mexico City, MEX, 3 -3 -2 ; 8
J 70 (One Design – 24 Boats)
1. Perseverance, J 70, Bennet Greenwald, San Diego, CA, USA, 9 -2 -1 -1 -8 -3 -2 ; 26
2. Cool Story Bro, J 70, Snow/ Brigden, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 -7 -3 -4 -5 -12 -1 ; 33
3. Rosebud, J 70, Pamela Rose, Aventura, FL, USA, 3 -10 -2 -5 -4 -8 -3 ; 35
I 14 (One Design – 8 Boats)
1. Astragulu, I 14, Brad Ruetenik, Encinitas, CA, USA, 1 -1 -3 -1 -2 -3 ; 11
2. Eris, I 14, Mikey Radziejowski, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, 2 -2 -1 -2 -3 -9 ; 19
3. Forty, Too, I 14, John Clark, Point Richmond, CA, USA, 5 -4 -4 -3 -1 -2 ; 19
Viper 640 (One Design – 16 Boats)
1. Nice ASP, Viper 640, Mike Pentecost, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, USA, 3 -3 -1 -4 -1 -1 -2 ; 15
2. It’s All Good, Viper 640, Jay Golison, Long Beach, CA, USA, 1 -4 -2 -1 -4 -6 -4 ; 22
3. Venom, Viper 640, Jeff Grange, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 2 -1 -3 -17 -2 -2 -1 ; 28
F 18 (One Design – 12 Boats)
1. The Beast, F18, sten sorensen, La jolla, CA, USA, 1 -2 -5 -1 ; 9
2. Teratornis Vetterae, F18, Travis Vetter, San Diego, CA, USA, 4 -1 -4 -3 ; 12
3. Casi Listo, F18, Scott Miller, Ramona, CA, USA, 5 -3 -2 -6 ; 16
North Sails Rally A (One Design – 4 Boats)
1. Troublespot, Farr 30, Oliver Michaelis, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 ; 1
2. Athena, Beneteau 44.7, David Cheresh, Encinitas, CA, USA, 2 ; 2
3. Aeolos, First 44.7, Gregory Price, San Marcos, CA, USA, 3 ; 3
North Sails Rally B (One Design – 5 Boats)
1. Junta, Ultimate 20, Mark Allen, Holladay, UT, USA, 1 ; 1
2. American Girl, Alerion Express 28, Lisa Leweck, San Diego, CA, USA, 2 ; 2
3. Sprig, 6m, Greg Stewart, San Diego, CA, USA, 3 ; 3
North Sails Rally M (One Design – 4 Boats)
1. UnEven Keel, Farrier F82R, Mark Berdan, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 ; 1
2. Merlot, Corsair 970, Richard Allen, DENVER, CO, USA, 2 ; 2
3. Flexible Flyer, Corsair 31UC Trimaran, Peter Lucas, Valley Center, CA, USA, 5 ; 5
