NOODS regatta sets sail after a very stormy first day

MARBLEHEAD – After canceling Thursday’s races, due to stormy weather conditions, the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta finally kicked off its 11th year in Marblehead Friday in what many considered to be excellent sailing conditions.”It’s remarkable how the weather changed so drastically; yesterday it was deemed unsafe to go sailing and Friday we could not have asked for better weather,” said local Marblehead skipper Jennifer Mancusi-Ungaro. “The sun was shinning, the wind was blowing, and we were all very excited to begin racing.”Friday’s races featured eight of the 10-boat classes competing in Marblehead this weekend, including the IODs, J/24s, J/105s, Sonars, Town Class, Rhode 19s, Etchells and Viper 640s.Each fleet completed two races Friday toward the weekend-long series with seven of the eight fleet leaders hailing from Massachusetts, including three from Marblehead.Among Friday’s fleet leaders was local skipper Peter Morgan of Marblehead, who finished with a pair of bullets, the only skipper to do so. Morgan and his boat Steelaway III won the J/105 fleet title at the 2007 Marblehead NOOD regatta and appear to be well on their to repeating at this year’s event.Racing continues today with all 10 fleets competing, and will conclude on Sunday.Marblehead’s overall winner will be invited to participate in the 2008 NOOD Regatta Championships in the British Virgin Islands in November to compete aboard Sunsail 39’s against the overall winners from each stop on the nine-regatta Sperry Top-Sider NOOD circuit.The Marblehead NOOD regatta is the seventh stop of the nine-event series and is consistently one of the most well-attended events on the NOOD schedule.Following Marblehead, the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD regatta series will set sail for Larchmont, N.Y., Sept. 6-7, 2008. Additional venues for 2008 include St. Petersburg, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; Annapolis, Md.; Seattle, Wash.; Detroit, Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; and Houston, Texas.The NOODs routinely attract a very diverse group of competitors, from America’s Cup, Olympic sailors, professional sailors and world and national champions to local day sailors participating in their first regatta.Created by Sailing World in 1988, the NOODs attract nearly 2,000 boats and more than 30,000 competitors and spectators annually. Each event in the series features multiple days of sailboat racing for one-design models from 20 to 70 feet in length. In addition to local sailors, sailing’s top stars – including America’s Cup and Olympic champions – are well-represented at the NOODs. Competitive sailors rate the NOODs as the top national event in each region of the country.For more information on the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD regattas, visit www.sailingworld.com.Sperry Top-Sider is the national title sponsor of the 2008 Marblehead NOOD, which is presented by Sailing World. Support sponsors who will join the event include Gill, Sunsail, North Sails, ClearPoint High Definition Weather, Active.com, Furuno and Lewmar, Flagship Adventures and Mount Gay Rum.