Congrats to an old Friend!

It has been some time since I sat my fat ass in the cockpit of a DN, but I am sure that the last time I did, I sailed against Matt Struble. Matt is a few years younger then I am and a truly fantastic sailor. He has won big events in everything from the Worrell 1000 to now the DN Ice boat Worlds!

Matt is a super nice dude and has always been a great competitor. I am very happy to see that he has won the Worlds in the fleet that he has continued to sail in.

I just wish the DN class would get their shit together a little bit on the Web side of life. The results are nowhere to be found and there does not appear to be much in terms of pictures. I did find two shots and that is really it. If any of you that check my site out have a link to the full results and to some pictures please shoot me a comment with a link.

Congrats again Matt!

(the above picture is one of Ron Sherry about to launch off the starting line. Ron finished 4th)

Sailing in the NOOD

Hey All

I have been trying to get on line for two days to just give a bit of an update, but the wireless at the hotel sucks!

We have had two good days of sailing. Yesterday was cold as....miserable actually but today the sun came out and it was a little lighter breeze wise so it was a much more comfortable day.

We on Frequent Flyer have had a good event so far. We have a string of first. Some not as easy as others. We have been lucky a few times, fast at times and just plain out crew worked most of the times.

We have a nice 12 point lead I think, I have not seen the results today, so we have to sail tomorrow. Which sucks as they are calling for cold and big big breeze tomorrow.

Again the NOOD regatta format is the best of the value sailing you can get. It was a good party last night for most and good times had by all.

Yesterday saw some awesome high speed wipeouts by ALL the teams, in the Melges 32 fleet. Those boats seem pretty fast but very twitchy!

Anyway, if we keep the string alive we will win the family competition with my brother as he had two shockers today. The first race he was 11th and the last race he finished 3rd, I think. So as long as we keep out shit together tomorrow we will have the family bragging rites as well.

I will try to get some pictures from my sister to post in the near future.

Cheers
Tac

St. Pete NOOD

There used to be a saying about St. Pete. "the land of the newly wed and the nearly dead!", well that certainly could be kind of true when you look at the fleets are being sailed at this great event.

BTW, I truly believe that the NOOD regattas are the best value in all of sailing! While Key West, Miami Race Week, Block Island and several other high end regattas, all offer great sailing the NOOD regattas are the best bang for your buck in sailing PERIOD! For the money you spend on one regatta entry fee at the big regattas you can almost do the entire NOOD curcuit.

Anyway off the soap box back to the St. Pete NOOD regatta 07. I was just asked by my Dad to sail with him at this event. He had a crew bail due to work committments, as mentioned in my previous post I am quite stoked about that. But as I was looking over the entry list something stuck out like a well, a J-105 bow sprit. The overwhelming theme in this regatta is 15-20 year old designs making an incredible comeback in the sport.

Just look at the list.

13 Wavelength 24's
23 J-24's
10 S2 7.9's
14 Ulitimate 20's
6 Olsen 30's
6 Tripp 26's
7 T-10's
6 Hobie 33's (as class that I won a NA's in back in 1985!)
8 Sonars, (the class that got me my World Championship trophy)

That is 93 of the 199 boats that are listed as entries. I did not even touch on the Corsair boats, (I am not sure when they first came out), or start the arguement as to whether the J-105, J-80 or Melges 24 should qualify for this topic or not. Shit even the Melges 32 is really a 10 year old boat! So I guess nothing is really new in the world.

But I think much like the NOOD regatta platform the boats that I listed above give their owners great bang for the buck, a good structured OD support system, some great sailors and most of all a boat that sail very well. Well OK, (in my opinion), the J 24 does not fit that last bill, but there are 23 of them there!

Anyway, for all of you that are driving from the Michigan, IL, Ohio and Upstate New York areas, including my family, Please drive safe and keep the boats on the trailers behind you and the wheels on the road! Are we about ready for this white shit stop falling?

I know that I am. See all you NOOD'ers in St.Pete!
Cheers,

Tac