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Local sailor wins NOOD regatta

By Dave Ellis, Times Correspondent
Published February 20, 2008

The National Offshore One Design (NOOD) regatta sponsored by Sailing World magazine and run by St. Petersburg Yacht Club produced sunburns and smiling faces during the three-day weekend. Tampa Bay near the Pier was filled with 175 boats in 17 classes.

The St. Petersburg NOOD is the first in a series of such events nationwide. This one is always among the largest.

The temperature was unseasonably warm, and the wind does not cooperate on such days. Nevertheless, racing continued, and Sunday's fleet was rewarded with a bit stronger conditions.

The largest fleet was the Melges 24 with 49 boats, while the J/24 drew 26 racers. There was tight racing in all the fleets with ties for first in several.

Local sailor Robbie Brown won the J/24 class and was selected as the regatta's winner, which awarded Brown and his crew with a Sunsail Charter and an invitation to race against the future 2008 NOOD regatta winners in the Caribbean in November.

Todd and Gen Fedyszyn of St. Petersburg placed second, and Mark Liebel of Bradenton took third.

The speedy Melges 32 class was won by New Wave, which was sailed by Tampa Bay area sailors. Martin Kullman and Mike Carroll and crew Matt Bryant, Pete Merrifield, Ron Hyatt, Jay Kuebel, Jay Jennings, Steve Liebel and Judah Rubin won Friday and Sunday, only stumbling Saturday.

Paralympic sailor Paul Callahan raced his Sonar with J.P. Creigneau of Gulfport, John Gray Parker and Jeff Madrigalli to win the class by 10 points. This is remarkable because spinnakers were used, and this was an open event, not a disabled sailor event. USA Olympic representative Rick Doer placed fourth, and St. Petersburg Paralympic sailor Jennifer French was fifth place while winning one race.

Sarasota's Doug Fisher won the Corsair 28R class, and St. Petersburg's Peter Katcha was second. For more stories and complete results, head to www.sailingworld.com.

505 & A-CAT MIDWINTERS: St. Petersburg sailor Ethan Bixby and crew Eric Boothe were always near the top of the 22-boat 505 fleet at Fort Desoto's east beach. They won four of nine races. Ben Moon, who is from Australia but now lives in St. Petersburg, is new to the A-Cat but topped a strong 24-boat fleet.

Lower Tampa Bay produced significantly more wind than near the St. Petersburg city waterfront. Several boats capsized at least once, including the winners. For full results, head to www.usa505.org.

VALENTINE'S DAY REGATTA: There were 322 sailors at the annual St. Petersburg Yacht Club junior regatta, one of the largest small boat regattas in the country. Wind on Saturday proved to be too light for good racing, but Sunday had plenty.

Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon of Team FOR and Davis Island YC won the tiebreaker over Raul Rios of Puerto Rico to top the 177-boat Gold Fleet in Optimist Dinghies. SPYC sailor Cam Hall won the Laser 4.7 while Mateo Vargas and John Wallace from the club took the first two places in Laser Radial. Emily Billing of Clearwater YC was the first girl, placing sixth in the 37-boat Radial fleet.

[Last modified February 19, 2008, 20:57:21]