Sailing World San Diego NOOD
Jed Olenick’s regular spinnaker trimmer on the J/120, Dr. No, Major Jason Sprigman, is flying helicopters in Iraq, but his stand-in for this year’s Sailing World San Diego NOOD regatta, is filling in perfectly. Dr. No, last year’s uncontested winner in the J/120 class is on top again after winning all three of its races today. “The day belongs to our tactician Joe “The Intimidator” Cramer,” says Olenick, of Olivenhain, Calif. “His calls were brilliant.” But Olenick adds that there’s more to their second-day turnaround (yesterday they were fifth overall). “With four new crewmembers on the boat, we found we were second-guessing each other all day,” says Olenick.” Today, we said that everyone would focus on their jobs and have fun. That was the big adjustment.” Sail-trim and rig adjustments on the water were also critical today as winds for the early morning races were lighter, but midway through the day, the whitecaps kicked up and so did the action. In the 26-boat J/105 class, which has been enjoying close racing around the racecourse, Ed Cumming’s Bold Forbes, from Del Mar, Calif., started with a seven before going 1-2 in the following races. That was good enough to give him the lead–but they’re tied with Geoff Lognecker’s Nemesis, from La Jolla, which went 2-5-1 on the day. In the 20-boat Etchells class, Tom Hughes’ Wiki Wiki, of Seattle, put three top-10 finishes on the board, including a win in the second race, to slide into the lead with a 1-point cushion over local Jeff Pape. Yesterday’s leader, Bill Hardesty, went 11-2 before sitting out the last race for reasons unknown. In the Melges 24s, Sheldon Ecklund’s Tickler, from Fort Lauderdale, held onto its Number 1 spot, but Bill Wright’s crew from Larkspur, Calif., won two races today to tie the series. Newcomers in the eight-boat Beneteau 36.7 class, Tom Lewin and his entire crew from Buffalo, N.Y., are enjoying leading their first-ever regatta in San Diego. How did this squad of lake sailors end up so far from home? “This is the start of one-design sailing for the 36.7,” says Lewin of the two-year-old Farr design. “There were boats here with owners that wanted to race them, but there’s not enough crew, so we brought ours and so did other teams from the East.” One of those teams, he adds is First Today, a team from Lake Ontario. First Today is second overall, only 1 point shy of Lewin’s Hammertime. “The funny thing is that they’re our rivals back home,” says Lewin. “We come all the way the way to San Diego, and we’re still battling with them. They came on strong today so we’ll be watching out for them tomorrow.” Class leaders after today are as follows: Soling: John Walker; One-Design 35: Stig Osterberg’s Zsa Zsa; Beneteau 40.7: Mike Honeysett’s Wiki Wiki; J/35: Herb Zoehrer’s Z Force; Holder 20: Jim Rosaschi’s My Sweetie-N-Me; J/24: Julie and Gary Mitchell’s Geraldine; J/80: David and Amanda Hammett’s DNA; Ultimate 20: Red Viking, skippered by Pease Glaser; 505: Bill and Dan Jenkins on Agave; I-14: Brad Ruetenik’s Stark & Dormy; Martin 16: Jeff Reinhold. -Dave Reed
