Ewenson leads C&C 30 to NOOD Rally Race win

Annapolis, MD. (May 2, 2015) – Less than favorable wind conditions arose on day two of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in Annapolis, giving sailors a shortened day of racing, with winds peaking at four knots. Saturday’s races allowed only one of 14 fleet classes to finish. NOOD Premier Sponsor, North Sails, presented awards to its Rally Race winner, the only class to complete a full race, as well as the most spirited local boat.

A new feature the regatta series, the North Sails Rally race encourages local competitors to participate in a low-key day of racing for one day only, with a long distance race within the Bay. The 13.4 mile pursuit, where the slowest boats in the fleet are given an earlier start with the faster boats following behind, finished late into the afternoon with 13 boats in the class.

Geoff Ewenson, directing Walt Thirion’s C&C 30 Themis, led the rally fleet to victory finishing in a time of 1:46:27, while Monkey Dust received the award for Most Spirited Local Boat. In second place of the rally, the Farr 280 Still Messin came in with a time of 1:54:13, followed by a second Farr 280 named Boat, with a time of 1:54:13.

“The weather didn’t cooperate 100 percent, but the NOOD persevered. It wasn’t ideal conditions the entire time sailing, but for us it was a new boat that we are only scratching the surface on,” said Ewenson. “To be able to sail against Farr 280s with them having done a few more events than us, we did well. To see the number of boats out participating in an event that they wouldn’t even be involved in without the rally, is a huge thank you to North Sails for really promoting it.”

Skipper Adam Esselman of Still Messin, from Grand Rapids, Mich., said “It was fun to get out there and go racing, whether it was pursuit or not – it was good to have some wind rather than no wind like it was predicted.” Esselman noted that he and the crew got to work with pros like Farr’s Ian Gordon on Friday, which gave them fun things to try out and take the input from them to see what works best. He later added, “every regatta race that we do puts ourselves that much closer to being good with the boat. To go from Charleston to here, and coming back today from being over the start line early– we still kept on racing with our heads in the game. Overall, we are happy with today’s results.”

The overall winner of the Annapolis NOOD will join Grant Dumas of St. Petersburg, Fla., and his crew of the Tripp 38 Warrior and John Laun’s Caper crew of San Diego, Calif., along with other victors in the British Virgin Islands to compete in the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Championship hosted by Sunsail.

Racing concludes Sunday, May 3.

Event details – NOOD results – Rally Race results