Chesapeake Racing Beat Getting in the Groove
I
The Annapolis NOOD Regatta 2011
t’s much easier to confess your early season rustiness or faux pas when you’ve collected some silverware at the top of your class, as the winners of the 2011 Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One-Design (NOOD) Regatta proved while rehashing the April 29 to May 1 event. Two solid days of 15-knot winds made for a strong start to the annual event; yet even the strongest competitors made mistakes all racing sailors can learn from.
##The Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD Regatta April 29 to May 1 unfolded in terrific sailing conditions with wind shifts and currents as challenges. Photo by Dan Phelps
70 June 2011 SpinSheet
“I
A Few Faux Pas
was over early once, but I still won the race,” says Annapolis sailor Gary Jobson, winner of the 13-boat Etchells division on Whirlwind. “In race five, we rounded the windward mark in second, right next to the guy in first. We didn’t gybe right away; he did. We went from a comfortable second to almost last. Rounding the next mark, one of my crew, Jud Smith, suggested we start the race over. We then passed seven boats. It was our worst finish at fifth place, but it was our best race.” Tony Parker, who took top honors in the J/24 class on Bangor Packet, as he has four times in the past, shares his clumsy maneuver: “We lost a guy over the side at the weather mark with our spinnaker up. He was completely separated from the boat. This was the first time in 32 years of sailing J/24s that I have lost a person over the side completely… We were in first at the time. Other than having the thirdplace boat almost run him over, we were fine!” John Potvin, who was the victorious skipper on Slam Duck in the Catalina division with seven bullets in eight races, says that other than a round-up and the loss of a guy (the one on the clew, not a person, this time), “The worst was on the final race upwind; we were on starboard and had a collision with another Catalina 27 on port. Very minor, but it caused us to do a crash tack. We would have had an eighth first had it not been for the incident. We finished one boat length behind Catawampus.” Taking top honors for the first time as skipper in this event, Allan Terhune, winner by 15 points in the J/22 class on Dazzler, says, “We got greedy in race five and took the spinnaker down too late when we were leading the race. We really fumbled it up and went from first to second. We spinsheet.com