The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in Chicago captured the essence of competitive amateur sailing, featuring the impressive Melges 32 team of Jeremy Alexis and Jocelyn Saxon’s Fleetwood. On the waters of Lake Michigan and against the Chicago skyline, this team displayed its new chemistry and drive to perfection.

Their crew composition is diverse and tight-knit, with Jeremy introducing their weekend lineup: “We had Patrick Norris, Abby Brown, Jonathan Goldsberry, Benny Allen, Emery Williams and Josh Putnam.” The team’s approach is characterized by a quiet efficiency, with Jeremy highlighting that “everybody knows their jobs. They just got their jobs done, and everything was very smooth.”

As the speed machine in its nine-boat PHRF Spinnaker division (rating band), managing the fleet wasn’t so easy Saxon says: “We’re a really fast boat [PHRF 21], and it’s really hard to gauge where we are. It’s not one-design racing, which we’re used to.” This uncertainty added an extra layer of complexity to their fleet management.

Their boat handling in the weekend’s moderate winds was noteworthy. “We just really want to make sure we keep this crew together and continue to build the chemistry that we have,” Alexis says. This commitment to team development has been a key factor in their success.

The team’s performance was impressive, especially in lighter winds. “We do really well in light wind,” Saxon says. “Obviously, we’re a super light boat.”

While the team’s scoreline was perfect over eight races, the racing was closer than the scores would indicate Alexis says. “If we didn’t sail a perfect race, those C&C 115s were coming for us. They were knocking on the door the whole time. And that’s what kept us so focused.”

Looking forward, the team has ambitious plans. Alexis is hoping their win inspires others to consider the Melges 32 for PHRF racing. “They’re amazing boats.”

The team’s division win earned them a berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta’s Caribbean Championship in the BVIs in October. The win is a significant milestone for the team. The championship is “the most iconic thing that a non-pro sailor” could experience, Alexis says.

The team’s approach to sailing is a blend of technical skill, strategic thinking, and genuine enjoyment. Alexis says the team dynamic is what makes the Fleetwood squad what it is. The core team, Saxon says, “has come together really nicely. We all get along really well. Have a lot of fun.”

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If there’s a theme to be realized at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago, it is one of perfection, and we’re talking both the caliber of races over three days and that of perfect scorelines of a handful of teams that simply excelled in the weekend’s light to moderate winds.

Among the picket-fencers was Jeremy Alexis and Jocelyn Saxon’s team on the Melges 32 Fleetwood. In its nine-boat PHRF Spinnaker division, Fleetwood aced all eight of its races, a few of them by good margins. Multiple port-tack starts made it clear they were in to win it and tactician Johnny Goldsberry wasn’t afraid to call it.

“It was nice to have the fastest boat in the fleet and get ahead and sail our own race with starts like those,” says Alexis. “It was good for us to be able to stay in clear air while the C&C 115s battled it out among themselves.”

The win in Alexis’ home waters is a culmination of months improving the boat and the team, attending high-level regattas over the past few months.

“We did them all with mostly the same crew, which is pretty amazing and it’s great to come to our hometown and finally win one. We’ve been working with Quantum Sails and have a good code zero and staysails that are fast. We’ve also work with a couple of pros, which has been essential to getting the boat dialed in and sorted. We recognized here that our boathandling is definitely getting better.”

Alexis was thrilled with the event and happy to win the division, but more importantly the regatta’s overall winner title, which earns the Fleetwood crew a berth at the Caribbean Championship in the BVI in October. As the Chicago challenger, the team will face overall winners from the regatta series’ other regattas, as well as the defending champion. The racing will take place in Sunsail’s fleet of 41-foot charter boats.

“It was just fantastic racing,” is Alexis’ summary of the regatta. “Lake Michigan really delivered. As did the race committee. They kept it rolling and we had a lot of great fair racing. This is a good example where PHRF works. If we didn’t sail a perfect race those C&C 115s were coming for us. They were knocking on the door the whole time. And that’s what kept us so focused and making sure that, you know, every corner was good, every tack was good.”

Saxon has raced the Helly Hansen Regatta (nee-NOOD) as many as 15 times and says she’s been eager to win the overall title. “To actually get to go the BVI is so exciting as an amateur racer,” she says. “And fortunately for us, we’re a little bit familiar with heavy boats. We’ve chartered a J/109 here in Chicago for the last few seasons just to do one-design racing, so I think we’re going to be pretty good in the BVI.”

On the third and final day, with the promise of wind, the regatta’s ORC and PHRF distance racers were dispatched on 14 and 12-mile races, respectively. With wind holding steady at sub 8-knots, it was indeed a day for slippery boats of the fleet, including Jeffrey Davis’ J/111 Shamrock, which won its second race of the weekend.

ORC2 honors went to David Baker’s Handsome Pete, a Beneteau First 10R, after winning today’s race and thereby winning a tiebreak over George Jackowiec’s Tartan 10 Out of the Blue.

In the PHRF 1 Distance Race, Bryan Sims’ Custom Perry 58, Suspect, won the day’s race, but Tomek Kokocinski’s Koko Loco, a Beneteau 39, finished second to win the class outright. John Notch’s Baltic 35, Exeter, won its second race to sweep the PHRF distance division.

The small boats of the regatta, tucked closer to shore off Montrose Harbor, enjoyed a full series of races for ILCA 6 and 7 sailors. Roman Plutenko was top ILCA 7, and Emilio Bocanegra Lopez went undefeated in the ILCA 6. Macatawa Bay YC’s junior racing team, with Lucas Nykamp on the helm, came on strong on the final day to win Youth Keelboat Invitational title. Macatawa’s team also won SWRS invitational in Detroit a week earlier.

The J/109 and J/88 classes sailed for their Great Lakes Championships, and for the 109s it was Evan Jahn’s Team Tumbler that won the regatta with only 3 points on its rivals on Jim Caesar’s Liquid Lounge 2. The racing was tight until the end, with each of these two teams winning a race on the final day.

Lindsay Duda and her teammates on the J/88 Sin Duda won five of eight races to secure its Great Lakes Championship by 6 points, a spread that doesn’t fairly reflect the tight racing of this fleet all weekened—and all winter for that matter.

“The last three days were great racing,” Duda says. “Everyone was in the mix. We’ve brought in a new tactician [Hector Guzman], so Annapolis [Helly Hansen Regatta in May] was our first time as a team. We’re learning to communicate and get through maneuvers, and this weekend we really starting to gel. Clean maneuvers, smart tactics and clear air really helped us get out front.”

Their rivals on second-placed Piranha was 5 points behind and a constant threat Duda says. “They are so fast, and they were right there the whole time.”

Craig Roehl and Edward Mui went 2-1 for a 16-point win in the Tartan 10 class and Cate Muller-Terhune’s team on Casting Couch close out an incredible regatta with a lead so large they were able to sit out the last race in the J/70 series. Richard Witzel’s Rowdy was runner up and Bob Willis’ Rip Rullah was the top Corinthian. Eva Wilson’s Convergence was the fleet’s top Mixed-Plus team.

As a display of the competitiveness of Chicago’s Beneteau 36.7 fleet, the race committee rolled through three general recalls until getting a fourth start off for the final race today. Out of the scrum emerged Jarrett Altmin’s Soulshine, which broke a mainsail halyard in the day’s first race and rebounded with another win in the nine-race series.

Overnight leaders in the J/105s, Clark Pellet’s Sealark, which was helmed by Pellet’s friend, David Brown, won the final race to lock the J/105s series handily. Brown praised the team, especially his MVP, Russ Radke. “

“Russ is the biggest reason for our success this weekend,” Brown says. “He’s the tactician, main sheet trimmer, rig tuner, and crew coordinator, giving all crew maneuver commands. Russ’s eyes and constant feedback made it incredibly easy for me to just drive and concentrate on speed. Clark has a fantastic crew all around, especially Russ. He’s the hero.”

With the conclusion of the 35th edition of the Chicago the series continues next in Marblehead, Massachusetts in July, and the Caribbean Championship with Sunsail in October.

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A light northeasterly breeze on the second day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in Chicago was good enough for the race committee to send the regatta’s eager distance race teams in ORC and PHRF on their respective 20 and 14-milers. And while the handicap fleets laid their wakes across Lake Michigan the regatta’s full complement of one-design fleets got off to a delayed start. New additions today included the Sonars of the Youth Invitational Keelboat team from area yacht clubs as well as the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes vying for their District 20 championships.

While the biggest boats of the ORC 1 fleet were across the finish line by the time Jeffrey Davis’ crew finished and dropped sails, the scorer’s calculations had the experienced J/111 team corrected to the top of the results sheet, followed by Peter and Nina Wright’s Neo 43 Roma. The two boats are distinctly different in their designs—the Neo voluminous and beamy and the J/111 narrow and light—and with more windward-leeward oriented racing over the 20 miles than reaching, it was a Shamrock sort of day.

Davis and sailmaker Wally Cross are transitioning the one-design to an offshore-racing leaning program for this summer’s 150th edition of the Chicago YC’s Race to Mackinac. For the better part of two days at the Chicago YC, Cross and several crewmembers have been working on the boat, and it is clearly ready for primetime, winning its 15-boat ORC division 1 fleet’s opening race.

George Jackoweic’s Tartan 10 Out of the Blue was ORC 2’s top boat, followed in the standings by Robbie Devlin’s slick Italia 11.98 Drumleck and David Baker’s Beneteau First 10R Handsome Pete.

The ORC fleets were followed by three waves of PHRF divisions, and after nearly four hours of racing, Steve Daube’s C&C115 Paradigm Shift emerged as the corrected time winner of its nine-boat PHRF 1 division. Daube, however, wasn’t on board for the victory; he was at work and let his crew take over for the weekend. The team scored a race win for the big guy back at the office, and when we caught up with them celebrating after the race, they were thrilled.

“We had some new crew so the strategy was to go slow and steady and not screw up any sets and get clear air,” says Paradigm Shift’s fill-in skipper Will Dixon. “A lot of boats were favoring the pin so we started in the middle of the line, nice and easy.”

Immediately after the start, the team hoisted its biggest spinnaker and was off and running. All went smoothly, Dixon says. “Because of the new crew we took our time with sail changes and spent a lot of time determining which sail was going to be the best for the next leg.”

When Dixon finished, he figured they were either fourth or fifth on corrected time, but pleasantly surprised to learn they’d won. “We stayed offshore a bit thinking it was stronger,” he says, “so the first half of the race were just trying to match with the fleet and we ended up correcting out over Dire Wolf [a highly-customized 1D35] by 53 seconds or so. That’s incredible after 20 miles and four hours of racing.”

John Notch’s Baltic 35 Exeter was the top boat in PHRF 2, correcting over William Bartz’s Hunter 355, Ranger.

In the Beneteau 36.7s, Jarrett Altmin’s Soulshine added a 1-5-2 to its scoreline to pad its overall lead to 15 points. Scot and Yvonne Rhulander’s Mojo added to its winning streak and remains the regatta’s sole undefeated team. Lindsay Duda’s Sin Duda also put two more wins to its scoreline to bring its lead to 5 points over its perennial rivals on Andy Graff’s Exile.

Evan Jahn’s team on the J/109 Tumbler now has the fleet’s full attention as seven of them vie for the class’s Great Lakes Championship. Tumbler’s win in the second race of the day was the result of a precision start at the pin end of the line that allowed them to immediately tack, cross the fleet and sail their way to a wire-to-wire win. Five points now separates Tumbler and second-placed Lounge Lizard II.

After two days and seven races, Clark Pellett’s J/105 Sealark is at ease at the front of the 14-boat fleet. Pellett’s “longtime shipmate” David Brown is filling in on the helm for the weekend, however as Pellett is tied up with work. Brown, a seasoned sailor with decades of racing experience, is a first-timer to Chicago’s J/105 buoy-racing fleet, but given the results of the first day (three race wins) you’d never know it.

“I’ve only done the Chicago to Mackinac Race with Clark, not any buoy racing,” Brown says. Despite some trepidation, however, Brown quickly found his rhythm. “The crew work is impeccable,” he says. “And a fast boat makes anybody look good.”

Despite a strong start to the series, Sealark’s second day of racing was a mixture of triumph and learning. “We won the first race with a good, nice, clean start,” Brown says. The second race proved trickier, and an OCS made them work harder for their fourth-place finish. “I didn’t anticipate how quickly [the boat would] accelerate,” he says. 

They got jammed in the third race, and the best they could claw back to was seventh—an impressive feat in this competitive one-design fleet. With a self-deprecating chuckle, he summed up his day: “I told the guys, I’m human and thank you for digging us out.”

Despite the finishes, at the end of the day, Sealark stretched its lead to 10 points, and Brown’s strategy for tomorrow’s racing is simple: “We’ll protect the lead,” he says, and “cover the boats we need to beat.”

On the one-design circle further north near Chicago’s Belmont Harbor, Craig Roehl and Edward Mui crew on the Tartan 10 Meat fleet continue to have their way with three top-five finishes, but the team of the day is Stephen Pratt and Lisa Thomas’ The Penguin, which won two races and beat Meat in all three. Cate Muller-Terhune’s Casting Couch won three more races to grow its lead over the talent-laden J/70 fleet to 20 points.

In the ILCA fleets, Emilio Bocanegra Lopez won all five races in the ILCA 6 division and Clayton DeBruyn did the same in the ILCA 7s.

The racing team from Macatawa Bay YC, winners of last weekend’s Youth Keelboat Invitational at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Detroit, leads the Sonar racing with a 4-point lead over Chicago’s Corinthian YC squad.

The post Long Miles and Close Finishes For Chicago Distance Racers appeared first on Sailing World.

The Chicago racing scene is famous for its legendary boats, the names of which are prolific in the club’s trophy case. These are the many legacy sailing teams that return to Lake Michigan racecourses year after year, faster and more polished than the last. Among them are Scott and Yvonne Rhulander’s Mojo, long-reigning champions of the Beneteau 40.7 fleet at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, and a team that finds themselves in a similar position after the first day of this 35th edition of the Chicago summertime classic.

As the first major regatta of the season, some of Mojo’s competitors in the seven-boat class may not have been quite ready for the intensity of close-quarters buoy racing, but team Mojo was practiced and ready to win races.

“We did the spring opener and another so we’ve been on the water longer than most other teams this year,” says Yvonne Rhulander. This was partly due to the addition of a new crewmember on the bow team, Ryan Schumm, filling in for the boat’s regular bowman. “That’s part of the reason we practiced early, and today the foredeck team, which included our sun Luca, was amazing.”

Team Mojo won all three of its races, a few by significant margins, and while this is nothing new for the squad, today’s motivation was all for Scott’s brother who passed away yesterday, and a crewmember recovering in the hospital.

“We went out with the sentiment that the whole day was about making them proud; people. We rallied for them.”

Jarrett Altmin’s Beneteau 36.7 Soulshine has been a regular at the Chicago regatta as well, and while Altmin’s team was third overall in 2024, they’ve stepped off to commanding lead, winning three of four races to pad an impressive cushion of 11 points over Silviu and Christina Petrea’s team on Nomad. James Clouser’s Joie De Vie was the day’s other race winner.

Like Mojo, Soulshine enjoyed an ace substitution on the bow with Rod Salazar, and as result, the team’s sail handling around the corners was sharp. “We have a crew that’s been together for more than a decade,” Altmin says, “and today was all about clean corners and low drama. Ours is a quiet boat and while we have good upwind speed our downwind speed was really good and that’s something we struggle with sometimes.”

The difference today, the Chicago-based skipper says, was a matter of smoother communications between the spinnaker with the spinnaker trimming team and great calls from tactician Jeremy Kaughman. “It was a big line for 12 boats o that enabled us to clean starts,” Altmin says, “but everyone got off the line easily too. We didn’t have the best of starts, but they were low stress and we were able to get around the course without any drama.”

In the six-boat ORC division, Shawn O’Neill’s Sydney 38 Eagle, picked up right were it left off at the regatta last year, with three race wins that gave them 4-points on top of John Gottwald’s Grand Soleil 44 Eagles Wings.

Jeremy Alexis’ immaculately prepared Melges 32 Fleetwood, which has been racing events on the East Coast throughout the winter, won all three of its races in the nine-boat PHRF spinnaker fleet. Mark Croll’s C&C 115 Reflection went 3-2-2, but today’s conditions were right in the wheelhouse of Alexis’ lightweight sportboat. With a crack team, a fast boat, and great boathandling, Fleetwood has set a benchmark for the fleet right out of the gate.

The J/88 fleet, racing for its Great Lakes Championship title, enjoyed the same battles among the top three teams that have been racing at other stops of the Regatta Series. In May, in Annapolis, it was Andy Graff’s Exile, winning over Lindsay Duda’s Sin Duda, but after today’s three races, Sin Duda has the upper hand by two points. Duda’s team won two of three races with Graff winning the third.

Seven J/109s are also sailing for the class’s Great Lakes Championship, and here again Michael Hendrie’s Bull, winner in 2024, is atop the standing, but only just. With a seventh in the first race of the day, Bull rallied to win the next two and is tied with Evan Jahn and Alex Millet’s Tumbler.

The Tartan 10 fleet, with 17 boats, has Craig Roehl’s team on Meat off to a stellar start with 8 points after four races. Darren and Kristina Beck’s Kaze, which won the opening race, is 12 points in arrears.

Cate Muller-Terhune’s team on Casting Couch is stepped off with an incredible first day, winning three of four races and leads Margaret McKillen’s Megatron by 12 points, and in the J/105s, Clark Pellet’s Sealark, with David Brown filling in as helmsman for the day, almost had a clean sweep of four races, with Rich Stearns’ Team Five winning the last race of the day to pulling to 7 points shy of the lead.

The regatta’s distance race fleets join the racing for the weekend, along with the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 sailors for the District 20 championship, as well as the regatta’s Youth Invitational Keelboat sailors in Sonars and Dragon Force 65 RC racers providing club-side entertainment for the post-racing party at host Chicago Yacht Club.

The post Chicago Opener Has Usual Suspects On Top appeared first on Sailing World.

Chicago’s Laura and Tone Martin have a lot of Mackinac races between them and for this summer’s edition they’re together onboard their new-to-them Farr-designed STP65, Sagamore. Aiming for line honors and a section win, the Martins assembled a crew of friends and longtime mates and immediately set out to learn the boat’s systems and build playbook for getting right sails flying at the right time. Two days of distance racing at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago was a start and Sailing World‘s Dave Reed joined them for a day to capture the experience. Come onboard to see how the Sagamore team gets this boat around the track in its second race.

The post Sagamore Ridealong in Chicago appeared first on Sailing World.

FINAL RESULTS

REGATTA PHOTO GALLERY

Brian Kaczor’s Team on Erica was ready for the big breeze coming their way on the third and final day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago, but they were unprepared for how difficult it would be to defend their lead and pull off a win in the ever-competitive Tartan 10 fleet. After six challenging races in all ranges of wind, Team Erika’s winning margin was a single point, and it was this point they had fight for in the final race.

“We hung on to first place, barely,” Kaczor said. “We had a tough day with tactics and my driving, but we were able to make up a lot of it on the downwind stuff.”

Their downwind speed in top-end conditions, Kaczor says, was all down to the crew (Corey Fast, Christa Georgeson, Scott Melanson, Seth Morrell, Brian Nelson, and Chuck O’Donnell). “They were the key in the last race. We had to catch one more boat and there was no question that the chute had to go up to catch that one boat in front of us,” he said. “The crew was amazing, and was able to handle that and pull it off.”

The class win also earned Kaczor’s team the regatta’s overall title and a berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Caribbean Championship in October, hosted by Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands. The team will face winners from the regatta series’ other stops, as well as the 2023 defending champion.

For many sailors in the fleet, Sunday’s strong winds were reminiscent of Friday’s. A fast-building northwest wind pushed boats, gear, and crew to their limits, with more than one team reporting breakages and blown sails. Still, the Chicago and Corinthian YCs gave the sailors a full slate of races and enough stories to share all summer. This edition of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta will certainly be remembered for its testing but tasty champagne conditions. Beneteau 36.7 skipper Robert Nelson’s lasting memory was challenges his team on Free Radical faced in the final race while persevering to win the class.

“It was incredibly close racing,” Nelson said. “The biggest key for us on Friday was keeping the boat under control and under the chute. We made out that day and were 1-2-1. Keeping your air clean and the boat under control. When it’s as windy as it was, with the Beneteau 36.7, the winning technique is the helm and main trimmer being in sync. This was some of the most competitive racing I’ve experienced in this fleet and I’ve been in the fleet since 1996.”

On the One-Design White Circle, Andy Graff’s Team Exile experienced its share of broaches, as they had on Friday, and had a tough day today but pulled off a 4-point win. “We entered the day with a 1-point lead and in the first race we just covered the boats near us in the standings. In the last race I didn’t know the scores of the boats behind us, but we didn’t want to put a kite up—knew we just had to finish. The last race was a hard race…we were just trying to get around without hurting anything or breaking anything.”

In the J/105 class, John Kalanik’s Pura Vida pulled off an impressive win in the big breeze, earning the team’s first win in the boat. “We went in leading and had two good races and were still leading,” says Jim Elvart, Kalanik’s helmsman for the weekend—they trade off between helm and mainsail trim. “But in the last race we hit the weather mark. We were last for a bit and had to come back to save enough points. Over the weekend we had a few great experiences, but this is a great first regatta win for this new team.”

The regatta’s distance racers were again treated to 20 miles of fast sailing that had the first boats across the line after less than four hours. Thomas Papoutsis J/133 Renegade won its second race of two to win its ORC 1 division; Ben Wilson’s Rambler won its ORC 2 division and Tomasz Kokocinski’s Koko Loco 2 survived the day to enjoy a 1-point win in PHRF 1. Ben White’s Farr 38 Radiance was the top boat in PHRF 2 with a second in the day’s race, which was won by Branwell Lepp’s J/105, It Wasn’t Me.

Action on the Green Circle continued into the final race with Scot and Yvonne Ruhlander’s team on Mojo strolling away with the class win with a 10-point margin over Tom Weber’s La Tempete.

Michael Hendries’s J/109 Bull was a standout performer this weekend with four wins in six races. Hendrie has been racing the boat for 14 seasons as its helmsman under the ownership of local sailor Jim Murray [Calisto], but this was his first win as the new owner and driver of the boat, renamed Bull.

“It was a relief to win,” Hendrie said. “I didn’t sail much last year and to come to this regatta and pull it all together was a relief because we started with a few mishaps on Friday—our jib halyard shackle broke twice and that set us back initially.”

Bull was down by 3 points going into the day, but they made their move to the top of the scoreboard with a win in the first race. “We had a great start, tacked, crossed the fleet and knocked it out from there. It was shifty, though, and we played the shifts really well in that race.

“But the next two races we did not have great starts—were over early on the third one, came back and were able to claw our way back in that big breeze. We are good and set up well for the heavy breeze, we’re comfortable in it. When the big breeze comes on, we were able to minimize the errors and sail fast.”

Shawn and Jerry O’Neill’s Sydney 38 Eagle won its ORC division; Tod and Heidi Patton’s J/122e Blondie was the top PHRF Spinnaker winner and Jim Murray’s Calisto Racing [Hestia] was the top J/70, winning four of six races to beat out Laura Sigmond’s Norboy by 5 points. Norboy was the top Mixed-Plus J/70 team and Bob Willis’ Rip Rullah was top Corinthian.

Roman Plutenko and Csilla Gal were the regatta’s top ILCA sailors (6 and 4, respectively) with three races counted.

The post Kaczor’s Tartan 10 Erica Wins Regatta Series Chicago appeared first on Sailing World.

Preliminary Results

Regatta Photo Gallery

As Tomasz Kokocinski and his crew of the Beneteau 40.7 Koko Loko 2, secured dock lines and flaked sails at their slip at the Chicago Yacht Club, the sky suddenly darkened and strong gusts shook their boat’s rigging. They were happy to be at the dock having finished their 23-mile distance race just ahead of the approaching squall, but they were equally delighted to learn they’d won their PHRF division on corrected time

“It was a really cool race with all sorts of conditions,” Kokocinski said. “It was light to moderate and later down totally, and then up 15 to 18 knots at the end, which was a really nice way to finish.”

Kokocinski typically races his Beneteau 40.7 in the local one-design fleet, but for the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago he prefers the distance racing option as preparation for the annual Mackinac Race. As Mac Race winners they clearly know how to get the most from this popular cruiser/racer.

“It’s a heavy boat with a lot of furniture, so we really have to watch the speed,” Kokocinski said. “We’re going pretty well in the light wind, but we made the decision to jibe toward the city where the wind came from and that was our big jump early in the race. There were only one or two other boats that came with us and when the wind did die, everyone that was further out in the lake stopped. We were in the middle, closer to the city, which was better, and maybe a bit of luck.”

Benjamin White’s Farr 38 Radiance won its PHRF 2 division, besting William Bartz’s Hunter 355 Ranger and David Baker’s Beneteau First 10R Handsome Pete, second and third respectively.

Thomas Papoutsis, ORC1 J/133 Renegade was the top boat in ORC 1 and Ben Wilson’s J/99 Rambler was the top team in the ORC 2 division, which was a close battle from start to finish among the top-three finishers. While Rambler won on corrected time, only 10 seconds of corrected time was the difference between the two J/122s that ultimately claimed second and third.

“It was a really good race,” said Andrew Kerr, crew on Mathew Songer’s Evvai. “It was a downwind spinnaker start and the boats that went out on the lake made early gains. It was on the long beat back in a fading breeze that we were pleased to lead the whole time, but we gave up the lead at the end to [Douglas Evans’] Elbow Room. They hooked into a shift and were able to get ahead. They’re an excellent team, and we were 1-2 at the finish, but it was great sailboat racing, great race management and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

While the distance racers laid tracks across Lake Michigan, the buoy racing fleets picked up where they left off after yesterday’s high-wind survival fest. Today’s benign conditions, however, did nothing to change the pecking orders in most fleets.

Scot and Yvonne Ruhlander’s Beneteau 40.7 Mojo extended its winning streak to four and now has 5 points of cushion to Thomas Weber’s team on La Tempete. Raymond Douglas Kristine Maybach’s team on the J/109 Courageous won the day’s first race but posted a fifth in the next, which reduced their lead to 3 points, with Michael Hendrie’s Bull within striking distance with one more race day remaining.

Shawn and Jerry O’Neill’s team on the Sydney 38 Eagle posted a 1-2, winning the ORC fleet’s first race by a country mile, but John Gottwald’s Grand Soleil 44 Eagles Wings won the second race to shave the O’Neill family’s lead to 3 points.

Tod and Heidi Patton J/122e Blondie went 1-2 in its seven-boat PHRF Spinnaker fleet and now has a 5-point lead over Jamie Downing’s much smaller Beneteau Platu 25 Ravn.

On the One-Design Red Circle, with the Tartan 10s and J/70s, shifting winds wreaked havoc on the race committee, which managed to get in two races before abandoning a fourth. With only one race sailed on Friday and two today, Brian Kazor’s Erica leads the standings with a 3-point cushion over Amy Cermak’s Diamond Girl. Edward Mui and Craig Roehl’s Meat, winner of the third race, moved into third overall, only 6 points from the top. Jim Murray’s Calisto continued its winning streak with two wins in the J/70 fleet. Laura Sigmond’s Norboy went 2-2-4 and now sit 5 points behind Calisto.

The three ILCA dinghy fleets, blown out on Friday, got in two races today after a long morning wait for wind. The regatta’s 2023 winner, Roman Plutenko, won both races in the ILCA 7 and Csilla Gal won both races in the ILCA 6. JP Crabb is the top ILCA 4 sailor after two race wins as well.

Distance Race fleets will have another long one tomorrow for some fast miles and the forecast is for a building breeze, which should allow every fleet to complete a full set of races to wrap up the weekend series.

The post Distance Racers Play Wind Roulette at Regatta Series Chicago appeared first on Sailing World.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

Cliché as it may sound, the Windy City indeed lived up to its reputation on the opening day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago, hosted by Chicago Yacht Club with more than 150 race teams participating. The warm bright morning sunshine and the blocking of the architectural giants of the lake front may have duped many of the competitors into thinking conditions were benign as they slipped their lines this morning. But out on the open water, northwesterly gusts peaked into the high 20s, catching many teams off guard. The day was good fast sailing for some, while for many others today’s races were all about the preservation of gear, sails and crew. 

Those who were willing and able excelled in the gusty conditions, however, including Richard Stearns’ team on the J/105 Five. They won the day’s only race for the 105s, and while others in their fleet played it safe by sailing runs under main and jib only, Stearns’ crew had no trepidations in setting the spinnaker. “There were four strong women keeping everything going at the front,” said crewmember Lindsey Hernandez. “We didn’t wipe out once, and the driving was perfect.”

Stearns, a veteran helmsman, has plenty of experience in all conditions and was happy with the team’s performance. “It was all having them pulling the sails around perfectly timed,” he said. “I’m just following what they’re doing.” 

The J/105 class shared the White Circle with the Beneteau 36.7s and J/88 fleets. The J/88s were the first fleet start of the morning and as they were rounding their first weather mark, the forecasted wind increase came on fast, and quickly built into the high 20s. As soon as their spinnakers were full, boats were simultaneously wiping out. Daniel Burns, bowman on John and Jordan Leahey’s Dutch, confessed to three broaches for his time in one race—a personal record for him. “They were fun though,” he said. “We did it in style. We were surprised by the first one, but the next two we were like, ‘let’s just get this over with.’”

Using a smaller spinnaker for the day, Grace and Michael Gillian’s Julia won the J/88’s only race, finishing ahead of Andy Graff’s team on Exile. Dave Dennison’s Pirahna was third. 

Robert Nelson’s Beneteau 36.7 Free Radical beat Silviu and Cristina Petrea’s Nomad in their fleet’s only race. Earle Atwater and Chris Metcalf’s Program were third and happy to have survived the day with sails and boat intact. 

Atwater’s advice once ashore and safely in their slip at CYC, was to “remember to ease the lazy guy in the jibe,” to avoid the broach. That didn’t happen once, so for the remainder of the race, they sailed the runs under jib and main only. “We were safely in third so we figured,” Atwater said. “So, why blow it?”

The big boats of the Division 3 racecourse, set straight east of host Chicago Yacht Club, were fortunate to get in two races. Scot and Yvonne Ruhlander’s crew  on the Beneteau 40.7 Mojo, racked up wins in both races and begin the series with a 3-point lead over Thomas Weber’s La Tempete. Mojo was quick upwind and clean on the runs by eventually leaving the spinnaker in its bag. Weber’s team was equally quick upwind, but could not match Mojo’s pace. 

“We’ve been doing it a long time,” said Tempete, nonplussed with the wild conditions. “We kept it together, but we got it rocking pretty good in the waves at times. Upwind, once we got it in the groove and everything tuned well, it was pretty easy. On the first upwind leg I had some trouble on port tack, but on the next three upwind legs we got it dialed in really well. The main trimmer gave me more play on the main and we were able to keep our speed up.”

Raymond Douglas and Kristine Maybach’s crew on the J/109 Courageous also won both races and have a 3-point lead over Jim Caesar’s crew on Liquid Lounge II. Both teams managed their spinnakers well enough to capitalize on good starts. 

The collective experience of Shawn and Jerry O’Neill’s crew on the Sydney 38 Eagle had them confidently guiding their boat around the course. Careful sail handling and clean starts got them two wins on the day to lead the ORC division. The disappointing news from the ORC division was the dismasting of Phil Dowd’s Farr 40 Inferno. They’d finished second in the day’s first race, but halfway down the first downwind leg of the second race, while leading the fleet, the mast broke and had to be cut away and scuttled to prevent damage to the boat. 

Tod and Heidi Patton’s J/112e Blondie also went two-for-two in the PHRF spinnaker division and have a 3-point lead over Jim Banovitz and Gary Feracota’s Aria, a Beneteau Figaro 3 that was quite quick on under jib and main only. 

Only one race was sailed on the One-Design circle with Brian Kaczor’s Erica winning the Tartan 10 race, ahead of Adam Prettyman’s Two Trailer Park Girls and Amy Cermak’s Diamond Girl. Jim Murray’s Hestia was the top J/70, edging out Laura Sigmond’s Norboy and James Prendergast’s USA167. 

The Laser divisions did not complete races due to the high-wind conditions, but will be on the water tomorrow along with the Distance Race divisions, with more than 30 teams getting underway in the early morning for what promises to be another challenging day on Lake Michigan.

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FINAL RESULTS

Inside Chicago Harbor, the northerly wind blowing through the protected mooring field was deceiving. Conditions appeared benign enough to send the sailors out for the final day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago, but out beyond the breakwater, whitecaps frothed and the weather stations reported the truth: it was gnarly out on Lake Michigan, just too much for safe racing. Ahead of the official 0900 morning signals, organizers made the preemptive call and hoisted signal flag N over signal flag A on the yardarm: Racing was abandoned and the previous day’s preliminary results were toggled to final. With two solid days of racing in the books, the regatta came to early close, but competitors were happy to have a complete series.

From among the winners of 17 individual classes and 162 teams, one overall winner was later selected to represent the Chicago regatta at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship in October.

Jeffrey Davis, skipper and owner of the J/111 Shamrock, emerged as the challenger and while his team delivered the boat back to its homeport of Cleveland, Ohio, the veteran skipper shared his thoughts on the weekend’s races and the developing dynamics of his winning crew of Bob Knestrick, Danny Corrigan, Samantha Foulston, Stu Johnstone, Michael Lis and Travis Odenbach. Shamrock won five of six races.

Sometimes, winning a three-boat fleet can be just as difficult as a larger fleet, especially when everyone’s at the same level, like it was for the J/111s this weekend in Chicago.

Yes, we’ve raced against each other in the past, so they’re fairly well-matched boats. The J/111 class is fairly strict, so we’re very competitive, all of us. I think this weekend was really a function of the fact that we tend to be light-air sailors and inland like sailors, and so for us, we really thrive in these kinds of conditions.

Flat water, light air, shifty conditions are your strength then?

They really are. The boat is really set up for light air. I think the crew, we’ve all been sailing together probably for about 15 years. And since our base is in Cleveland, Ohio, for us, it’s a light-air lake. So, these conditions really fit our boat, our rig, our tune and ourselves. We set up the boat for light breeze. But as most sailors know, you gotta pick the shifts. And there’s a little bit of luck involved.

In the first and second race, we did a good job of really picking the right shifts and the right side of the course to be on and we had good starts. In the third race, we wound up second and it was really a function of us being on the wrong side of the course. And it’s really hard to come back from that. You know, when your competitor keeps picking the right shifts, you just never catch up.

Having only two boats to beat, how did that change the tactical approach to the weekend?

We tended to stay pretty close together, in part because we’re using this for North Americans, which will be here at the Chicago Yacht Club later in the year. So, we wanted to see what kind of conditions we would have and what kind of conditions that we would be competing in and what the setup of our boat was going to be like compared to others. There was a little bit of match racing going on and a little bit of that in terms of our tactics.

Speaking of tactics, you had a new crew calling the shots this weekend.

We did. We’ve been sailing for about 15 years with Wally Cross who was unable to sail this regatta, so we had a new tactician. Travis just did a great job. He built on what we have been working on with Wally at Quantum Sails, and Travis just expanded the base for us. He brought in some new ideas, but he amplified some of the things that we normally do.

What were some of his ideas that made a difference over the weekend?

We’ve spent a lot of time maybe over tweaking the rig. He was more inclined to just set the rig to the standards that we have developed and not make as many changes. His focus was a little bit more on tactics, especially the start.

Did you notice the change from the first day of racing into the second?

I think each day and each race we got better and the chemistry developed more. We did have one day of practice which helped us a lot. Then, what you gradually see is we’ve developed a language. After you’ve been sailing with somebody like Wally Cross and the same team for 15 years, you get accustomed to the communication style everybody has. Travis was new and he had to try to adapt to our communication style and we had to adapt to his. It made a huge difference once we started getting on the same language especially in the starts and the comfort in the corners. The corners are where you’re usually gonna mess up. And because we all spoke the same language and we got more comfortable with each other, it just got smoother and the crew work got better.

You’ve got a big event coming up later this summer.

We do have North Americans coming back here and it’s something that we’ve been working on for most of the year. Last year we had a very disappointing North Americans for us. It was based in Cleveland, but we were over early in the first two races and the fleet is so tight and so competitive. We wound up fourth, but this year, we’re really looking forward to coming back and we’ve got something to prove.

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Final Results

Four minutes. For Daniel Koules’ team on the Beneteau First 40 Badge, that was difference between finishing and not finishing after navigating a patience-testing 30-mile distance race on the second day of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Chicago. Earlier this morning 35 teams set off from a starting line near the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse with one hard deadline: finish by 1600. Only 13 boats managed to do so and Badge was almost another casualty to the time limit.

“We knew that when we made the turn at Montrose [the final mark of the course near Montrose Harbor] we had to get to the finish, and somehow we were able to make up some time,” Koules says. “It was a good point of sail for us and we were comfortable with what we were doing, and the crew made every effort to get us across the line.

What exactly transpired over the nearly 30 miles, five hours, 10 sail changes and nine-mark roundings was a blur for helmsman Koules, but his navigator, Jim Gignac, plotted the course says the key to both finishing within the time limit and winning the ORC1 division was one easily identifiable point in the race. “The forecast called for the thermal to build in the afternoon, but it came early and that was where things changed. There was a battle between the thermal and the southeasterly and you had to find your way through. It was a matter of understanding where the thermal was and where it wasn’t and not going to where it was dying…you could see the light spots creeping across the course.”

At one point, Gignac says, they were making their way north under jib on port tack, and 100 yards east of them was a boat with flying a spinnaker. “We elected to just live with jib, fight through it, and wait for the shift. When it finally came, we popped the spinnaker and got away from rest of the fleet.”

Jeff and Jane Hoswell’s Nelson Marek 46 Skye was the only other boat in the 10-boat ORC1 division to finishing within the time limit, but in the ORC2 division, which sailed a shorter course, all but one completed the course on time, but even then, they were cutting it close.

“There was a huge park-up at the southern end of the course,” says Luke Wolbrink, who’s C&C35-3 Zella topped its fleet of seven. “We were stuck there for about 30 minutes trying to make any headway—1 knot at times,” Wolbrink says. “We were fortunate enough to get just enough separation from our fleet and get our kite up first.”

As the slowest boat in its fleet, a heavy-displacement classic of the 1980s, Zella not only won its fleet but won boat-for-boat, which Wolbrink says, is “miraculous.” “Our boat is terrible in those conditions, but we sail in this area lot and we knew what the wind would likely do.”

The two PHRF Distance Race classes were not so fortunate: none of the PHRF 1 or 2 entrants finished in time, but the smallest boats of PHRF 3 did all managed to finish behind Bill Bartz’s Hunter 355 Ranger. For these unfortunate teams, redemption should come on Sunday for the final day of the regatta where the wind forecast is promising fresher breezes and a much rougher sea state from the north.

While the Distance Racers were battling farther out on the lake, the regatta’s one-design classes were enjoying shifty, but moderate conditions closer to shore once the sea breeze established itself later in the afternoon, allowing race committees on those circles to complete three more races to bring the series for most fleets to six races to date. Here, Gary Powell and Scott and Yvonne Rhulander’s Mojo continue to shine in the Beneteau First 40 fleet with a second and a pair of firsts to pad their lead to an impressive 8 points. Jeffrey Davis’ J/111 Shamrock went on a winning streak as well and now sits 5 points atop its three-boat fleet.

In the J/109 division, Team Northstar won two of three races to move into the overall lead by a single point over George Miz’s Smee Again.

Shawn O’Neill’s Eagle, with a four-legged crew onboard to sniff out the windshifts, padded its lead in the ORC division to 3 points with a run of seconds in the three races and in the PHRF 1 fleet, Tod Patten’s J/112e ran the table with three wins to put them solidly at the standings with one more race day to go.

Richard Witzel’s Rowdy, with tactician Carlos Robles calling the shots, remains the top J/70 with top-5 consistency in what is a fleet stacked with pro talent. Rowdy goes into the final day of racing with a 14-point lead over Fernando Perez Ontiveros’s Black Mamba, from Mexico. Bob Willis’ Rip Rullah is the top Corinthian, currently sitting seventh overall in the 24-boat fleet. William Howard and his junior sailing teammates on the Grom Squad are the top junior team, in 14th overall after six races.

The standings tightened in the 18-boat Tartan 10 fleet with Timothy Rathbun’s team on Winnebago winning back-to-back races after posting a sixth in the morning’s first race.

Brian Kaczor’s Erica is sitting on 3-point overall lead after putting up a pair of top-five finishes, setting up what will surely be a final-day battle for T10 bragging rights.

The Battle for the Beneteau 36.7 title a now a 4-point affair between helmsman Jim Clouser and his team on Joie de Vie, yesterday’s leader and Jarrett Altmin’s Soulshine, the defending champion. Clouser did himself no favors with a terrible start in the day’s first race in which he was “absolutely buried,” but they came back from the depths of the 12-boat fleet to salvage a sixth. After another bad start in the next race, they once again clawed back to finish third. At that point, frustrated with his performance, Clouser committed to winning the final race of the day. “I said we were going to win it, and I know I’m not supposed to because we’d jinx ourselves,” Clouser said. “But we able to get off the start, get right and a get a jump and do all we could to stay in front of Soulshine. They’re the team to beat and that’s not easy.”

With Sunday’s wind forecast to be a strong northerly with high seas and heavy rain, there’s a strong probability today’s results might stand, which would be fine for Clouser and Roman Plutanko who’s running away the regatta in the ILCA fleet. But for the top two teams in the J/88 and J/105s fleets, tied respectively, there’s hope for at least one race to shake out the standings without having to resort to a tie-break finale.

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