Marblehead, Mass. — After cancelling
yesterday's races, due to stormy weather conditions, the Sperry Top-Sider
National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta finally kicked off its 11th
year in Marblehead
today in what many considered to be excellent sailing conditions.
"It's
remarkable how the weather changed so drastically; yesterday it was deemed
unsafe to go sailing and today we could not have asked for better weather," said
local Marblehead skipper Jennifer Mancusi-Ungaro. "The sun was shinning, the
wind was blowing, and we were all very excited to begin racing."
Today's
races featured eight of the ten boat classes competing in Marblehead this weekend,
including the IODs, J/24s, J/105s, Sonars, Town Class, Rhode 19s, Etchells and
Viper 640s.
Each
fleet completed two races today toward the weekend-long series with seven of
today's eight fleet leaders hailing from Massachusetts,
including three Marblehead
locals.
Among
today's fleet leaders was local skipper Peter
Morgan of Marblehead,
who finished today with a pair of bullets, the only skipper to do so. Morgan
and his boat Steelaway III won the
J/105 fleet title at the 2007 Marblehead NOOD regatta and appear to be well on
their to repeating at this year's event.
Racing
will continue tomorrow, Saturday July 26 with all 10 fleets competing, and will
conclude on Sunday, July 27, where one boat will be named the overall winner in
Marblehead.
Marblehead's overall winner
will be invited to participate in the 2008 NOOD Regatta Championships in the British Virgin Islands in November to compete aboard
Sunsail 39's against the overall winners from each stop on the nine-regatta
Sperry Top-Sider NOOD circuit.
The
Marblehead NOOD regatta is the seventh stop of the nine-event series and is
consistently one of the most well-attended events on the NOOD schedule.
Following
Marblehead, the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD regatta
series will set sail for Larchmont,
N.Y., Sept. 6-7, 2008. Additional
venues for 2008 include St. Petersburg, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; Annapolis, Md.; Seattle, Wash.; Detroit, Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; and Houston,
Texas.
The
NOODs routinely attract a very diverse group of competitors, from America's
Cup, Olympic sailors, professional sailors and world and national champions to
local day sailors participating in their first regatta.
Created
by Sailing World in 1988, the NOODs
attract nearly 2,000 boats and more than 30,000 competitors and spectators
annually. Each event in the series features multiple days of sailboat racing
for one-design models from 20 to 70 feet in length. In addition to local
sailors, sailing's top stars — including America's Cup and Olympic champions
— are well-represented at the NOODs. Competitive sailors rate the NOODs as the
top national event in each region of the country.
For
more information on the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD regattas, visit www.sailingworld.com.
Sperry
Top-Sider is the national title sponsor of the 2008 Marblehead NOOD, which is
presented by Sailing World. Support sponsors who will join the event
include Gill, Sunsail, North Sails, ClearPoint High Definition Weather,
Active.com, Furuno and Lewmar, Flagship Adventures and Mount Gay Rum.
About Sperry
Top-Sider
Since
1935, Sperry Top-Sider has been the leading brand of footwear for those who
love the water. From its introduction of the world's first siped rubber outsole
for nonmarking traction, to advanced technical fabrication to combat the
elements, Sperry Top-Sider remains the vanguard of high-performance amphibious
footwear and apparel. Available around the globe in fine independent, marine,
outdoor and department stores, Sperry Top-Sider is the official footwear of US
Sailing, the National Safe Boating Council and Team Horton-Nichols. Based in
historic Lexington, Massachusetts, Sperry Top-Sider supports a
wide range of water-related activities through its many sponsorships, including
Acura Key West, the National Safe Boating Council and Sperry Top-Sider NOOD
regattas. Sperry Top-Sider is a division of the Stride Rite Corp., a subsidiary
of Collective Brands Inc. For more
information, visit www.sperrytopsider.com.
