LIGHT AIR RULES THE NOOD

BARRACUDA SURVIVES LAST SECOND PROTEST PENALTY TO WIN 40.7 NA CROWN

(Sunday, June 17, 2007) "Fantastic fleet, fantastic regatta, can't wait for the next opportunity to be out there!" Those were the words of Barracuda's bowman, Matt Reid, as he summed up his experience on the just concluded Chicago NOOD Regatta and the Beneteau 40.7 North American Championship. It was Matt's boat, Barracuda, skippered by Steve Pelke, that emerged as the fleet winner on Sunday, after five races in three days in mostly 5 knots of wind or less.

Many wind predictions for each day of the event called for "less than 5 knots". It wasn't too encouraging unless the sea breeze filled in, which luckily it did -- at least enough to get in five races during which wind more than about 8 knots was rare, except briefly, halfway into the very last race on Sunday.

A record number of twelve 40.7's competed in this event, the Chicago National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta which is also this year's Beneteau 40.7 North American Championship for 2007. This year was champion Barracuda's second NOOD with the fleet. It was rookie boat, Mojo's first NOOD with the 40.7's. Mojo is owned by Gary Powell, Jeff Comeaux and Scott Ruhlander.

Although this was Turning Point's first turn at the Chicago NOOD it was not so for the majority of their crew. Most of Turning Point's crew are long-time veterans of the well-sailed Finesse, skippered by Alan McMillan, and a member of the fleet from 2002 until 2006. Turning Point's owner, Peter Schmidt, has allowed former Finesse crew members Dave Hardy and Bill Bartz to compete in events this year when he is not in town. Dave is skipper, and Bill and several other former Finesse crew such as Nicole Radek, Jessica Hardy (Dave's wife), Darcy Cook, Mark Schneider, Mikey, and others were crew.

The first attempted race on Friday started in about 5 knots of wind only to see that meager breeze begin dying to less than 3 knots halfway up the first beat. Three blasts of the race committee's horn announced the abandonment of that race. After a two and a half hour postponement another race was started in 5 knots of breeze. Ron Buzil's Vayu jumped to an early regatta lead on Friday by winning that first and only race of the day.

Upon the fleet's return to harbor on Friday, many of the 40.7's formed a raft on the wall of Chicago Yacht Club in preparation for the fleet's NOOD raft party. Boats rafted were: Excalibur, Tsunami, La Tempete, Vayu, Temptationj, Mojo, and Collaboration. The fleet's social directors, Tory Enerson and Bryan Hayes, both on Tsunami, quickly moved the refreshments to the raft and unloaded coolers full of ice, beer, rum, mixers, and snacks aboard Vayu, the designated party boat. Over one hundred 40.7 sailors and their friends and relatives, representing eleven of the twelve competing boats, swapped stories and jokes over the drinks. By some reports there were more sailors at the 40.7 party than at the NOOD party going on under the CYC tent.

When the party was in full swing, attention was called to an informal ceremony aboard Vayu, during which a certificate of achievement was presented on behalf of the fleet by Ron Buzil to La Tempete's long-time tactician, Steve Youngson, who will soon be departing Chicago for a world cruise with his wife aboard their own Valiant 42.

Saturday, day two of the regatta, saw more light and shifting air. On the upwind leg of the first race of the day the wind began a big right shift as many of the boats were still trying to fetch the windward mark. Collaboration tacked about three times trying to point at the mark on port tack, and each time got headed and had to tack back. Meanwhile, Excalibur was chugging in from the right under spinnaker and the downwind leg turned into an upwind reach with genoas set. Barracuda set their standard for the regatta by winning this race. At the end of the day's racing, Barracuda had a commanding lead of 9 points in the regatta. Bob O'Brien was Barracuda's tactician and John Boyle her driver. Tsunami was in 2^nd place and Collaboration and La Tempete were tied for 3^rd and 4^th place with 21 points apiece, and the tie-breaker going to Collaboration. With two 10^th place finishes, Vayu had fallen to 5^th place despite another bullet in the last race of the day.

A protest at the end of the day by Collaboration against Turning Point for an alleged infraction of Rule 18.3, Tacking at a Mark, resulted in the protest being withdrawn.

The wind prospects for racing on Sunday were bleak. The prediction was for less than 5 knots. At 1025 the race committee signaled a postponement. The Lake resembled a sheet of glass. A raft of five 40.7's quickly formed consisting of Das Boot, Vayu, Excalibur, Tsunami and Collaboration. Many of their crew took to the water and the rest socialized and moved from boat to boat. After an hour the wind began to fill in at 4 to 5 knots, the raft broke up, and the race preparatory signal was made. One race was held this day, won by Bogdan Stojkowski's Temptation, who gained the lead over Tsunami at the leeward mark when Tsunami had difficulty lowering their spinnaker.

A protest by Vayu against Barracuda at the very finish of the race for an infraction of Rule 18.2, Giving Room and Keeping Clear while overlapped at a mark and Rule 11, On the Same Tack, Overlapped, resulted in Barracuda, represented by her driver, John Boyle, accepting a 40% scoring penalty in arbitration. The penalty, though costing Barracuda 5 points, did not cost them the regatta, but put them in a tie with Tsunami at 21 points apiece, with the tie-breaker going to Barracuda.

Final Results:

A history of the past eight years results of the Chicago Beneteau 40.7 Fleet can be viewed at: Chicago 40.7 NOODS