Celebrating a legend at Ted Hood Regatta

The 2nd Annual Storm Trysail Club Ted Hood Regatta was held August 24-26 in Marblehead, MA. After the success of the inaugural 2017 event, which sought to celebrate Ted Hood and his legendary accomplishments in sailmaking, marine equipment, and yacht design, nearly 100 boats participated this year under glistening conditions on Marblehead Harbor

“Our objective is to keep big boat fleet racing alive in Marblehead,” said Regatta Chairman and Storm Trysail’s Marblehead Fleet Captain Clarke Smith. “This event provides a great venue for late summer racing, and we hope to build on the success of this year’s regatta for a tremendous event in 2019.”

In ORRez-1, Betsy McCombs and her crew on the Farr 395 Scherherazade won in convincing fashion, repeating their victory from last year. Behind Scherherazade in second place was Ben Chigier’s Summit 40 Escape Velocity 2, followed by Gary Weisberg in the J/111 Heat Wave.

Scherherazade was also awarded the Storm Trysail Club’s Steve Cruse Memorial Trophy which is awarded by the Storm Trysail Club’s Marblehead Station to a sailor who demonstrates exemplary character or performance during a race or event sailed in Marblehead waters. Steve was a world-class off-shore racer for most of his life, a legend in the sail-making industry and a great friend to many.

Dan Boyd’s team on the J/109 Wild Thing dominated ORRez- 2 with David Powers’ Beneteau First 36.7 Agora in second with third place going to Ward Blodgett / Liz Smith and their team on the J/33 Sirocco.

In ORRez- 3, Michael Maxwell won with his Pearson 30 Shenanigan while David Smith’s J/24 Airodoodle was second and Bob Minelli’s Ranger FUN23 String Theory was third.

The Jib and Main Class was won by Peter Ogren’s C&C 38 Menage A Trois. The Ted Hood Regatta included a 60 mile double-handed overnight race that started on day one which was won by Jonathan Green’s Class40 Privateer.

In the J/105 Class, Mark Masur won with his team on Two Feathers, followed by Ken Bowden on Knotless taking second place, and Jon Samel on Blown Away in third.

A large contingent of J/70s made up over half of the fleet racing in this year’s Ted Hood. Competitors from Europe to South America were on hand for what would be a final “tune-up” event before the J/70 World Championships will take place in Marblehead on September 25-29. Winning the J70 Class was Tim Healy followed closely by Brian Keane in second and Umberto de Luca in third.

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