Season starter at St. Petersburg NOOD

St. Petersburg, FL (February 14, 2020) – Iris Vogel, of New Rochelle, NY, skipper of the J/88 Deviation, won her recent midwinter championship and is continuing their winning streak on the opening day of St. Petersburg NOOD.

Light winds proved challenging for the race committees and the regatta’s 193 teams racing in 13 different classes, allowing for only one or two races to be completed.

While Vogel came away with the only win for the J/88s today, it wasn’t easy. “We were deep at the first weather mark, but just focused downwind going from puff to puff,” Vogel said. “The team did an excellent job coming back to win the race.”

Four of the six J/88s hail from New York and have moved south for winter training. Vogel says the level of competition in the class is very high as a result. “We are an active travel fleet; not to mention every team is well sailed and it’s anyone’s win at each regatta,” Vogel said. “The racing is that close.”

As the City of St. Petersburg continues to grow into a major tourism destination, the regatta continues to attract more teams from around the country. The S2 7.9 class, with 13 teams, for example, represents eight different states, all arrived on trailers from as far as Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Jeff Mootz and Michael Doyle, of Wayzata, Minn., are long-time partners in Just One More and had a good start to the regatta, winning the first race just ahead of last year’s S2 7.9 fleet champion, John Spierling’s Rebel, from Shelby Township, Mich.

“Maybe this is our year,” said Mootz, who has finished third and fourth overall in past St. Pete NOODS. “We hope so. We were able to just hold off Rebel. They had gotten ahead of us, but on that last downwind leg we were able to just get inside of him and jibe for the finish.”

Not all boats, classes, and sailors are from out of town, however. Local sailors competing at the NOOD look forward to the out-of-town competition to improve their skills. The Lightning is one of the world’s most popular classes of sailboats, and many Florida-based teams are among the best, including 21-year-old skipper Tanner Probst who finished fourth at the 2018 Lightning Junior World Championship in Athens, Greece.

Probst, with his crew Anna Palmer and Will Jeffers, are currently in third place in the 23-boat Lightning fleet behind Bill Faude’s Blue Light Special from Chicago, and John Bauman’s Raging Bull, of Boca Raton, Fla. Jeffers contacted Probst two weeks ago and offered him a chance to skipper the boat; an opportunity Probst couldn’t pass up.

“It’s great to get back into the boat after not sailing it since last summer,” Probst said. “And even though it was light and shifty today, it was a fun day.”

The Probst family is well represented in the Lightning fleet with Tanner’s mother and father (Deb and Adam Probst) racing together on board Starck NOOD. His younger sister is crewing for David Starck on Team PatStrong. The young Probst said side bets have not yet been placed between the family on who would be the top finisher.

Series information – Event details – Results – Facebook

Day One Results (Top Three):

Flying Tiger (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Stripes, Gary Brown , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Diego, Tom Bolland , CAN – 2 ; 2
3. Ninja, Joe Hummel , USA – 3 ; 3

J 24 (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Ice Cube, Michael Quaid , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Sabotage, Nate Vilardebo , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Team Exit Strategy, Rick Jarchow, Jr , USA – 3 ; 3

Lightning (One Design – 23 Boats)
1. Blue Light Special, Bill Faude , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Raging Bull, John Bauman , USA – 2 ; 2
3. 15582, Tanner Probst , USA – 3 ; 3

Sonar (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Sonar, Tanner DeMarzo , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Princess, Diane Fowler , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Puff, Laura Root , USA – 3 ; 3

A Class Foiling (One Design – 22 Boats)
1. USA 311, Bruce Mahoney , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Linda, Christopher Stocke , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Arete, Sam Carter , USA – 3 ; 3

A Cats Classics (One Design – 21 Boats)
1. none, OH Rodgers , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Drifter, Chris Bolton , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Silver Bullet, Ben Hall , USA – 3 ; 3

Melges 24 (One Design – 15 Boats)
1. USA 829, Peter Duncan , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Rhumb Runner, Tim Bowman , USA – 2 ; 2
3. Surfin Mary, Chris Carnell , USA – 3 ; 3

J 88 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Deviation, Iris Vogel , USA – 1 ; 1
2. Whirlwind, William Purdy , USA – 2 ; 2
3. One Too Many, Lawrence Cutler / Andrew Weiss , USA – 3 ; 3

J 70 (One Design – 17 Boats)
1. USA1516, Dave Kerr , USA – 1 ; 1
2. E.L.E., Matt Braun , USA – 2 ; 2
3. More Thrills, Tim Snyder , USA – 3 ; 3

S2 7.9 (One Design – 13 Boats)
1. Just One More, Jeff Mootz / Michael Doyle , USA – 1 -2 ; 3
2. Matros, Tom Bryant , USA – 3 -4 ; 7
3. Scratch, Paul Latour , USA – 6 -3 ; 9

PHRF 1 (PHRF – 12 Boats)
1. Shambhala, J A Booker , USA – 1 -1 ; 2
2. Sitella, Ian Hill , USA – 2 -4 ; 6
3. Spaceman Spiff, Jim Sminchak , USA – 3 -3 ; 6

PHRF 2 (PHRF – 8 Boats)
1. Smokeshow, Paul Sevigny , USA – 1 -1 ; 2
2. YardGoat, Jamie Myers Brent Bacon , USA – 5 -2 ; 7
3. Breezin Bayou, Stephen Mitcham , USA – 2 -5 ; 7

PHRF 3 (PHRF – 13 Boats)
1. Meltemi, Alexander Korakis , USA – 1 -3 ; 4
2. Semper Fi, Raymond Mannix , USA – 5 -1 ; 6
3. Family Circus, Robert Wetmore , USA – 3 -4 ; 7

Source: Laura Muma/NOOD

Operating since 1988, Sailing World’s National Offshore One Design Regattas, known as the “NOODs,” are the longest-running and most popular sailboat racing series in North America. Every NOOD regatta attracts regional, national, and international talent to compete against the local community on their home waters.

The 32nd edition of the National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta Series returns to the same five venues across the USA in 2020 before it sets offshore again for the Caribbean NOOD Championship in the British Virgin Islands.

St. Petersburg, FL
February 14 – 16, 2020
St. Petersburg Yacht Club

San Diego, CA
March 20 – 22, 2020
San Diego Yacht Club
Coronado Yacht Club

Annapolis, MD
May 15 – 17, 2020
Annapolis Yacht Club

Chicago, IL
June 12 – 14, 2020
Chicago Yacht Club

Marblehead, MA
July 23 – 26, 2020
Corinthian Yacht Club

Caribbean NOOD Championship
British Virgin Islands