Brian Keane and his team on the J/70 team Savasana have always been quick in Marblehead. As a local, Keane knows the waters well and his has been a perennial top team at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series at Marblehead Race Week, but this weekend, a last-minute addition of local wizard and National Sailing Hall of Famer Jud Smith certainly got the team off to a good start on a day that left most competitors wondering where wind would come from—or if it would come at all.
Thus was the opening day of the final stop of the national regatta series, which ushered sailors out to Marblehead Channel in a fresh northerly that would eventually fight with an afternoon sea breeze that did eventually come.
It was especially challenging for the J/70 fleet, contesting its New England Championship. The location of their race circle on the “Brimbles Line” had them sailing with and through the Town Class and 28-boat Rhodes 19 fleet. Short courses, lots of traffic, dramatically shifty winds and a day-long tide switch threw all sorts of challenges at the fleet. Savasana put up a 6-2-1 to lead the fleet after three races, but they lead by only a single point over second and third-placed teams, Dave Franzel’s Spring and Jim Raisides and Charlie Pendelton’s Bad Hombres (top Corinthian), respectively.
Adam Roberts and Alden Reid, on Ripcord, made seemingly easy work of the conditions in the 28-boat Rhodes 19 fleet, the largest fleet of the regatta. The duo put up a 1-2 to start the series with an 8-point lead over Stephen Uhl and Kathleen Lane on Woodstock. The top-five are tight, however, with past regatta winner Matt Hooks winning the second race to claw back points from his 14th in the first race of the day.
Rex Antrim’s Albatross leads the 13-boat Town Class fleet with a 3-1 and has 3 points to spare over past winners Berit and Karen Solstad’s Lille Venn. The sisters won the first race, but found themselves batting in mid-fleet in the next.
The regatta’s “Outside Line,” which features the IODs, Etchells and J/105 classes found itself smack in the middle of the two winds fighting each other, and the second race of the day turned inside out when the wind switched 180-degrees. The race committee let it play out. Ron Zarella’s team on the Etchells Bob managed a 3-3-1 to end the day with a 5-point margin over Robert Hitchock’s team on Chemical Monkey (9-1-2).
The IODs, which are sailing for a new perpetual trophy named after fleet stalwart Bill Widnall, are making the local legend work hard to get his name on the trophy’s first plaque. Greg Mancusi-Ungaro’s Viking went 3-1-2 to Widnall’s 1-4-3 scoreline, but last year’s overall winner—Carolyn Corbet’s Elektra—is tied with Widnall at 8 points apiece.
Charlie Garrard’s Merlin leads the J/105 fleet with two race wins and a third, while Chris and Marek Zaleski, and Jacob Bradt atop the Viper 640 fleet with a 1-2-5 and a 5-point lead over Peter and Rachel Beardsley. The Viper 640 fleet, with 19 entries, is contesting its New England Championship.
Saturday’s racing will welcome a 27-boat Lightning fleet that has assembled for its Atlantic Coast Championship, as well as the 19 sailors of the ILCA fleet.
