Well, we didn't have the best weather, or the most wind. That's just how it happens some years. But we did have one heck of a good time.
Over 200 boats and almost 1000 sailors showed up to Annapolis to compete in the 2016 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Sponsored by Sailing World. We had 13 classes competing in four divisions, with the North Sails Rally bringing in another 20 boats to compete in a single day of distance racing on Saturday.
Friday's weather brought in light winds and a "flip your coin" strategy for sailors, with the wind erratically choosing which side of the race course to fill on. At least it wasn't raining... too hard. The best day weather-wise was certainly Saturday (although the wind disappeared relatively early in the day), for the North Sails Rally, which sent sailors around a series of government marks. Brad Kauffman and his crew onboard Gotcha, the Farr 30, took home the award in the spinnaker division, with Jon Opert taking home the cruising class (non-spin) honors onboard Orion, his Hanse 371. Race committees were anticipating little to no wind on Sunday, but instead sailors were treated to 10-12 knots of breeze with 100 percent chance of showers. Sailing wet is better than not sailing at all, though (right?), and each division got in two races before coming in to warm up and dry off.
Check out the full gallery by Dan Phelps for SpinSheet here.
The regatta's overall winner was chosen from the J/22 class, which brought in 25 boats from around the country. Texan Terry Flynn and his crew came out on top, with 20 points in six races.
In the other classes, however, Maryland-based teams dominated. Pete Kassal (Spaceman Spiff, J/24), Tim Williams (LinGin, Alberg 30), and Tim Bloomfield (White Cap, Cal 25) all won their fleets in Division 1. In the J/70 fleet, Geoff Becker came out on top with 35 points in six races. The J/70 fleet had 43 boats in it. Pete McChesney was the top performing Corinthian boat, coming in 7th place with 64 points. John White took 2015 off, but came back to dominate the J/80 fleet with his Boat of No Name. He had three bullets in six races (nice work) in the 22-boat fleet.
Check out the full gallery by Dan Phelps for SpinSheet here.
The new fleet this year was the C&C30 One Design class, which brought in 12 boats. Coming out on top was Nyabinghi from Bristol, RI, owned by Angus Davis. Bob Moran's BobSled was the top-performing local boat, who had 34 points and came in fourth (tying James Madden's Stark Racing Mad VIII for points).
Check out the full gallery by Dan Phelps for SpinSheet here.
For a full list of cumulative results, click here.
In other news, Annapolitan Dee Smith has won selection to the Rio 2016 U.S. Paralympic Sailing team in the 2.4mR one-person keelboat. Smith, who is 63, is a veteran of the America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race. The 2016 Paralympics will be his first, however.
