The Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta will return to San Diego on March 16-18, 2018. Organized by Sailing World and sponsored by Helly Hansen, the NOOD is the largest national sailboat racing circuit in the United States. Although this is only the 20th year of the NOOD in San Diego, 2018 marks the 30th year total of NOOD Regattas around the country.
The three-day event, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) and Coronado Yacht Club, will feature sailing on three venues (two ocean and one south San Diego Bay), and one cruising course located in San Diego Bay. Back this year will be the North Sails Rally on Saturday for boats that do not fit in a one design class.
San Diego is the second stop in the five city national tour that culminates with the Helly Hansen NOOD Caribbean Championship Regatta in the British Virgin Islands this October. Race organizers calculate an overall winner based on the strongest overall finish in the most competitive class, and that overall winner is presented with an invitation to the Championship Regatta in the BVI.
The NOOD format is largely one-design racing, meaning that sailors will compete in fleets of identical boats. The event has evolved in recent years to also host a fleet of PHRF racers. To ensure fairness for these boats, race organizers will factor in time allowances to score the boats of different sizes and designs.
Upwards of 50 boats are already entered, with more entries expected in the next few weeks. The NOOD always attracts many out-of-town sailors to compete with the local talent.
Back this year will be Greg Stewart on his 6m, Sprig, who won his class in the 2017 North Rally race. “I had a great time last year in the rally last year. This year I am excited to have Dave Reed and Jon Easley, both of whom sailed with me in the 2017 Rally and the 2017 6m Worlds, sail on the Sprig for the 2018 rally.”
John Laun, winner of the last year’s J/120 class on caper, is also on the 2018 NOOD entry list.
“The San Diego NOOD Regatta traditionally kicks off the annual J/120 Southern California Championship Series of 7 high profile regattas. We always look forward to a great regatta with close competition on the water and fun camaraderie ashore for the J/120 Fleet. Our caper was fortunate to win last year, but no J/120 has had back to back wins in NOOD since at least before 2003 – so we have our work cut out for us and history is not on our side.”
SDYC Junior Sailing has been invited to participate in the San Diego NOOD Regatta for the second year in a row. Last year the team sailed in the highly competitive J/70 fleet in South Bay. The juniors learned a lot and also got the experience of a regatta outside of junior dinghy sailing with many pro sailors who they look up to. The SDYC coaching staff is working hard to put together a boat and a team for this year’s event.
Racing is scheduled to begin at 12:30pm on Friday, and 11:30am on Saturday and Sunday. Stop by the south end of Shelter Island for spectating opportunities as the boats race out and back into the bay. Weekend racing will be farther offshore, and best viewed from a private spectator boat. The awards ceremony will be held at San Diego Yacht Club after the completion of races on Sunday, March 18 where prizes will be awarded by class.