If there’s a theme to be realized at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago, it is one of perfection, and we’re talking both the caliber of races over three days and that of perfect scorelines of a handful of teams that simply excelled in the weekend’s light to moderate winds.
Among the picket-fencers was Jeremy Alexis and Jocelyn Saxon’s team on the Melges 32 Fleetwood. In its nine-boat PHRF Spinnaker division, Fleetwood aced all eight of its races, a few of them by good margins. Multiple port-tack starts made it clear they were in to win it and tactician Johnny Goldsberry wasn’t afraid to call it.
“It was nice to have the fastest boat in the fleet and get ahead and sail our own race with starts like those,” says Alexis. “It was good for us to be able to stay in clear air while the C&C 115s battled it out among themselves.”
The win in Alexis’ home waters is a culmination of months improving the boat and the team, attending high-level regattas over the past few months.
“We did them all with mostly the same crew, which is pretty amazing and it’s great to come to our hometown and finally win one. We’ve been working with Quantum Sails and have a good code zero and staysails that are fast. We’ve also work with a couple of pros, which has been essential to getting the boat dialed in and sorted. We recognized here that our boathandling is definitely getting better.”
Alexis was thrilled with the event and happy to win the division, but more importantly the regatta’s overall winner title, which earns the Fleetwood crew a berth at the Caribbean Championship in the BVI in October. As the Chicago challenger, the team will face overall winners from the regatta series’ other regattas, as well as the defending champion. The racing will take place in Sunsail’s fleet of 41-foot charter boats.
“It was just fantastic racing,” is Alexis’ summary of the regatta. “Lake Michigan really delivered. As did the race committee. They kept it rolling and we had a lot of great fair racing. This is a good example where PHRF works. If we didn’t sail a perfect race those C&C 115s were coming for us. They were knocking on the door the whole time. And that’s what kept us so focused and making sure that, you know, every corner was good, every tack was good.”
Saxon has raced the Helly Hansen Regatta (nee-NOOD) as many as 15 times and says she’s been eager to win the overall title. “To actually get to go the BVI is so exciting as an amateur racer,” she says. “And fortunately for us, we’re a little bit familiar with heavy boats. We’ve chartered a J/109 here in Chicago for the last few seasons just to do one-design racing, so I think we’re going to be pretty good in the BVI.”
On the third and final day, with the promise of wind, the regatta’s ORC and PHRF distance racers were dispatched on 14 and 12-mile races, respectively. With wind holding steady at sub 8-knots, it was indeed a day for slippery boats of the fleet, including Jeffrey Davis’ J/111 Shamrock, which won its second race of the weekend.
ORC2 honors went to David Baker’s Handsome Pete, a Beneteau First 10R, after winning today’s race and thereby winning a tiebreak over George Jackowiec’s Tartan 10 Out of the Blue.
In the PHRF 1 Distance Race, Bryan Sims’ Custom Perry 58, Suspect, won the day’s race, but Tomek Kokocinski’s Koko Loco, a Beneteau 39, finished second to win the class outright. John Notch’s Baltic 35, Exeter, won its second race to sweep the PHRF distance division.
The small boats of the regatta, tucked closer to shore off Montrose Harbor, enjoyed a full series of races for ILCA 6 and 7 sailors. Roman Plutenko was top ILCA 7, and Emilio Bocanegra Lopez went undefeated in the ILCA 6. Macatawa Bay YC’s junior racing team, with Lucas Nykamp on the helm, came on strong on the final day to win Youth Keelboat Invitational title. Macatawa’s team also won SWRS invitational in Detroit a week earlier.
The J/109 and J/88 classes sailed for their Great Lakes Championships, and for the 109s it was Evan Jahn’s Team Tumbler that won the regatta with only 3 points on its rivals on Jim Caesar’s Liquid Lounge 2. The racing was tight until the end, with each of these two teams winning a race on the final day.
Lindsay Duda and her teammates on the J/88 Sin Duda won five of eight races to secure its Great Lakes Championship by 6 points, a spread that doesn’t fairly reflect the tight racing of this fleet all weekened—and all winter for that matter.
“The last three days were great racing,” Duda says. “Everyone was in the mix. We’ve brought in a new tactician [Hector Guzman], so Annapolis [Helly Hansen Regatta in May] was our first time as a team. We’re learning to communicate and get through maneuvers, and this weekend we really starting to gel. Clean maneuvers, smart tactics and clear air really helped us get out front.”
Their rivals on second-placed Piranha was 5 points behind and a constant threat Duda says. “They are so fast, and they were right there the whole time.”
Craig Roehl and Edward Mui went 2-1 for a 16-point win in the Tartan 10 class and Cate Muller-Terhune’s team on Casting Couch close out an incredible regatta with a lead so large they were able to sit out the last race in the J/70 series. Richard Witzel’s Rowdy was runner up and Bob Willis’ Rip Rullah was the top Corinthian. Eva Wilson’s Convergence was the fleet’s top Mixed-Plus team.
As a display of the competitiveness of Chicago’s Beneteau 36.7 fleet, the race committee rolled through three general recalls until getting a fourth start off for the final race today. Out of the scrum emerged Jarrett Altmin’s Soulshine, which broke a mainsail halyard in the day’s first race and rebounded with another win in the nine-race series.
Overnight leaders in the J/105s, Clark Pellet’s Sealark, which was helmed by Pellet’s friend, David Brown, won the final race to lock the J/105s series handily. Brown praised the team, especially his MVP, Russ Radke. “
“Russ is the biggest reason for our success this weekend,” Brown says. “He’s the tactician, main sheet trimmer, rig tuner, and crew coordinator, giving all crew maneuver commands. Russ’s eyes and constant feedback made it incredibly easy for me to just drive and concentrate on speed. Clark has a fantastic crew all around, especially Russ. He’s the hero.”
With the conclusion of the 35th edition of the Chicago the series continues next in Marblehead, Massachusetts in July, and the Caribbean Championship with Sunsail in October.
