If you tell someone that you raced in the NOOD(pronounced "nude"), you would probably see some raised eyebrows or shocked expressions. Actually NOOD stands for National Offshore One Design. This is a multiple day regatta for one design boats or similar boats that rate the same under a handicap system. This regatta had it's start many years ago in other parts of the country and finally made it's appearance in the northwest about four years ago. It's primary sponsor is "Sailing World" magazine.
For the NOOD, I was invited to race on "Swan", a Thunderbird 26 class boat from the Bremerton area. This is a very competitive class of 11 boats.
The committee sets three starting areas for the different classes. The small dinghies raced on the south course in front of Shilshole Marina. The intermediate sized boats(Vipers, J24's, Tbirds, SJ 24's and SJ 21's) raced the middle course just north of Meadow Pt. And the larger/faster boats(Melges 24's, Performance 30's, J105's and 6 Meter's) used the northern course near Pt Wells.
Over the three days from Friday to Sunday, we got off seven races. On Saturday we got off three races in winds to 10 knots before the wind shut off.
Saturday we only got in one race. The winds were from the north and very light and even the lead boats used most of the time available to finish the race.
On Sunday, the wind shifted back to the south and the rain moved in. We got three more races in on Sunday. In the last race, we had some fun with one of the buoys. It had a long anchor line and it caught on the keel. After we cleared it, it bounced back and caught the boat behind. When the next boat finally cleared the buoy, it bounced back and touched the third boat! All three of us had to sail a circle to exonerate ourselves from the infraction.
Each day, the party tent was open for post race activities. We went home each night. The owners son had a small boat and in 40 minutes we were back to Brownsville. In the mornings, we returned to Shilshole on the small boat. Better than driving a car!
Results can be found here:
Pictures by Jan can be seen here:
Boats at the dock after the racing on Friday.
Boats at the dock after the racing on Friday.
Boats at the dock after the racing on Friday.
A J105 towing a couple of 6 meters back into Shilshole Marina.
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