Detroit NOOD, Pro and Women’s Match Racing

SAILING WORLD DETROIT NOODThe 2003 NOOD regatta at Bayview YC ended on a high note Sunday, with sailors in 17 classes making up for a day lost due to big breeze on Saturday by racing either two or three races under a cloudless Michigan sky. A northwesterly wind of 15 knots greeted sailors as they arrived at the three race circles, and never dropped below 9 knots, despite a right shift in the early afternoon.“I have the world’s greatest crew,” said Chuck Holzman, of Farmington Hills, Mich., winner of the 12-boat Melges 24 class. “Pat Drummond up forward, Wally Cross on tactics, and Paul Kerber trimming. They allowed me to focus and just drive, I didn’t have to worry about anything.” Holzman, a past Great Lakes Champion in the J/80 class was sailing his boat, Flyer 02, in its second regatta. “Key West Race Week was our first event, but we were terrible,” said Holzman. “For the NOOD we put together a strong team and I’m pretty pumped up about the result. Holzman and company are aiming for the Melges 24 Worlds in San Francisco later this year.Marc Hollerbach and his crew aboard the North American 40 Mandalay were the only team to score a perfect record in the Detroit NOOD, taking five firsts in five races. “It was just one of those really rare regattas,” said Hollerbach. “How often do you feel as if you can do anything you want to do on a racecourse? We also had a great crew that did a superb job and made no mistakes. We also shifted gears very well; the backstay was moving all the time and so was the jib halyard.” Hollerbach actually gave credit to the second-place boat in the class for his crew’s ability to adapt well to the variations in wind strength. “John Barbour, who owns Velero VI, shifts gears better than anyone out there; he’s the gold standard in the fleet, and my guys were able to do that as well as him this regatta.” Hollerbach’s crew included son Adam, who drove the NA 40 while dad called tactics.Dan Marshall of Grosse Point, Mich., owner of the Cal 25 Clytie, and overall winner in the 18-boat Cal 25 class was grinning from ear-to-ear after accepting his first-place trophy Sunday afternoon. It was the second year in a row that Clytie had topped the class. Marshall is a true believer in the Cal 25, three years earlier, his Cal as well as three others, were totally destroyed in a fire at Bayview YC. Rather than call it quits after more than 20 years in the class, Marshall and two out of the three owners who had lost boats promptly bought other Cal 25s and resumed racing. “What more could you ask for,” asked Marshall. “We love the class, we’ve got really good competition, and the guys we sail against play the game cleanly and well.” When asked what he attributed his 2003 win to, Marshall answered simply: “Patience.” –Tony BessingerFor more of Bessinger’s story and to check results, http://https://www.sailingworld.com/SWEDISH MATCH TOURAfter two regattas in which he scored no tour points, Jesper Radich of Denmark upset the field to win the ACI HTmobile Cup, in Split, Croatia. Conditions were fluky and difficult throughout the regatta, and after dispatching the leader from the round robins, Karol Jablonski of Poland, in a one-race semi-final, Radich then beat James Spithill of Australia in a two-out-of-three final; but Spithill, the former OneWorld skipper, could find consolation in his second-place finish. His 20 Swedish Match Tour points boosted him into first place on the tour with two regattas to go. Former tour leader, Jes Gram-Hansen, of Denmark, finished eighth, picking up only 4 points and falling behind Spithill, 86 points to 84. Radich’s win moved him into a close third place with 78 points. Spithill will miss next week’s regatta on Lake Constance, in Germany–an event Radich won a year ago–but the Australian will return for the tour finale at the end of June in Marstrand, Sweden.http://www.swedishmatchtour.com, http://www.aci-matchrace.comSPENDING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR SAILING SUNGLASSES?Are the price tags on your sunglasses hurting your eyes? Dirty Dog offers the highest quality polarized lenses and flexible frames that won’t snap during that windward take down, for lots less than the other brands. According to Sailing World’s June issue, the “price is right” for the new Wet Glass model. We offer the new Wet Glass to Grand Prix Sailor readers at 25 percent off only through http://www.dirtydog.com/product.phtml?ID=150 Enter this code “swgps” at check out, for discount to apply.CHARLES RIVER TEAM RACE CHAMPSThe Boston Longfellows topped a talented field of 24 teams in the fifth annual Charles River Team Race Championship. This year’s event was sponsored by Atlantis Weather Gear, which donated shirts to all of the competitors and gear for the volunteers who braved the cold rain on Sunday to help run the event. A total of 252 races were completed in conditions ranging from 3 to 18 knots, with torrential downpours all day on Sunday. Each team sailed 20 races, with victories against teams with better records being worth more than those coming against a less successful team. Somerville Silver Panda, winner of last year’s US SAILING Hinman Trophy, took an early lead and held onto first place through the end of the elimination round. In a close second for the elimination round was the current world champion team, Cape Cod Whishbone. East Coast Amateur Hour and the Boston Longfellows also managed to sail consistently and stay in the top group for the duration of the event. These teams qualified for the final four, which was initially scheduled to be a single round robin. As this round ended, Silver Panda held a narrow lead over the other three teams. But typical of the team-racing ethos, because the racing among these four teams had been so intense and since the rain had finally stopped, Silver Panda agreed to sail another round robin. In terms of the final results, this decision proved costly, as they went 1-1 in their first two races, while the Longfellows and Whishbone again went 2-1. Sailing in their final race against the wily veterans of East Coast Amateur Hour, Silver Panda needed a win to take the title. They sped off to an early lead and appeared to be headed to victory, but Robbie Richards was able to get some favorable Charles River shifts and sail into first place, giving Amateur Hour the race, and making the Boston Longfellows the Champions. Final Standings (Championship Round Robin): 1. Boston Longfellows 4-2, 69 points (Jessi Dimock, Jon Baker, Sue Bonney, Sean Doyle, Rich Bell & Ramsey Key) 2. Cape Cod Whishbone, 4-2, 68 points (Tim Fallon, Karen Renzulli, Graeme Woodworth, Leigh Woodworth, Tim Wadlow & Ery Largay) 3. Somerville Silver Panda (2-4) 66 points 4. East Coast Amateur Hour (2-4) 48 points.For more info, www.ustra.orgIMS 40 REGATTANine IMS designs raced last weekend in the IMS 40 Class’s annual regatta hosted by the Stamford (Conn.) YC. A 15-knot easterly gave the fleet a lumpy day on Long Island Sound, followed by a second day in smoother water, with up to 20 knots from the north. Bob Bayer’s ILC 40 More War Stories stumbled out of the blocks in the first race with a sixth but won the next two races to finish Saturday tied with William Felton’s Tripp 41 Montana. On Sunday, the Tripp-designed More War Stories moved well ahead by trading a first and a second with Brian Connolly’s Nelson/Marek 39 Siren, while Montana slipped off the pace and eventually lost a tiebreaker for second overall to Scott Weisman’s Pterodactyl, designed by Brendan Dobroth. http://www.stamfordyc.com/sailing/racing/ims40.htm http://www.ims40.orgAROUND ALONE IS COMPLETEThe Around Alone fleet has long since scattered from their finishing berths in Newport, R.I., but on Saturday, Derek Hatfield, the adventurous Canadian who pitchpoled and dismasted off of Cape Horn during Leg 4 of the race, sailed across the finish, and into third overall in Class 2. Hatfield, a first-time circumnavigator has been lauded by his competitors as one of the most determined of this year’s crop of skippers. After pitchpoling, he limped to Ushuaia where he awaited a new mast. Once re-rigged, he returned to the location of his pitchpoling and restarted the leg. He was nearly a leg behind when the rest restarted, and while his competitors enjoyed a long, lazy stopover in Salvador, Brazil, for the final leg, Hatfield’s check-in was a mere 24 hours. Truly alone on the racecourse, he later joined the Around Alone awards ceremony by satellite phone, and then returned to tend his Bob Dresser-designed Open 40 Spirit of Canada. His time for the leg was 48d:21h:56 m:25s for an overall elapsed time of 245d:15h:44m:45s. Hatfield says he will continue to pursue ocean racing, next time with an Open 60. “I know the race is doable again,” he told the media, “and I know what to do now. I’d like to blow up my boat into a 60, it was right on target for this race, but I would change a few things. It can be better and given time on the water and the right budget I could be very competitive, perhaps even win the next race.” www.aroundalone.comBOATU.S. SANTA MARIA CUPLosing only three of 22 races–and none when it really counted–Liz Baylis of San Rafael, Calif., won the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup. The Grade 1 ISAF match racing regatta was sailed in J/22s and hosted by the Eastport YC in Annapolis, Md., over the weekend. Sailing in a 10-boat field chock full of potential Olympians, Baylis proved she hasn’t lost any of the touch that earned her the 2002 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship last summer and the 2002 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award a few months ago. Joining Baylis in the final four were Paula Lewin of Bermuda, a former collegiate All American at M.I.T., Italy’s Giulia Conti, and top women’s Yngling sailor Betsy Alison of Newport, R.I. Baylis was even tougher in the semi-finals and the finals that she’d been during the round robin, knocking out Alison 2-0 in the semis and Lewin 2-0 in the finals. In the petit finals, Alison claimed third. Sailing with Baylis were Californians Aimee Hess and Karina Shelton, and local J/22 star Nancy Haberland. Baylis will defend her world championship in two weeks in Sundsvall, Sweden.For more on the Santa Maria Cup, www.boatus.com/news/releases.aspCOLLEGE SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPSThe first of the three Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association spring championships got underway this morning in Detroit. The ICSA North American Women’s Dinghy Championship is being put on by the Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association and the University of Michigan at Grosse Point YC and will run through Wednesday. The ICSA North American Team Race Championship will be held out of the Crescent Sail YC, June 5 to 7, and the ICSA/Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship will be at the Bayview YC on June 8 to 10. All three regattas will be sailed in new Club/Collegiate 420s provided by Vanguard Sailboats.Twenty-five colleges from the seven ICSA districts qualified for the championships, with nine schools sending competitors to each of the three regattas: College of Charleston, Harvard University, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, St. Mary’s College, Tufts University, University of Hawaii, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin.For more info, or to check the latest results, http://www.collegesailing.org or http://www.mcsasail.org/champs/OLYMPIC DEVELOPMENT REGATTA COMING UPIn an effort to expose more young sailors to the Olympic classes, US SAILING will hold its first Olympic Development Regatta in Newport, R.I., from June 17 to 21. The event is open to any sailor between the ages of 19 and 25 who is interested in starting an Olympic campaign or merely learning more about an Olympic class.Sailors will get three days of coaching from the core U.S. Sailing Team coaches: Gary Bodie, Luther Carpenter, and Skip White. The event will conclude with a two-day regatta. The following classes can participate: 470 (men and women), Mistral (men and women), Finn, Europe, 49er, Tornado, and Yngling.To register online for US SAILING’s Olympic Development Regatta, please visit www.ussailing.org/youth/racing. For more information about the event, please contact James Appel at 410-266-3173.GRAND PRIX SAILOR is compiled by the editors of Sailing World magazine. If you’d like to subscribe, see http://https://www.sailingworld.com/ Contributing Editors: Tony Bessinger (tony.bessinger@sailingworld.com), Dave Reed (dave.reed@sailingworld.com), Stuart Streuli (stuart.streuli@sailingworld.com), John Burnham (john.burnham@sailingworld.com)_______________________________________________________________________Powered by List BuilderTo unsubscribe follow the link:http://lb.bcentral.com/ex/sp?c=9890&s;=A4D117EE373B00EA&m;=207