![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/180608_nautical_images_0051_todd.jpg\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t \r<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n \n David Hardy’s Turning Point<\/em> settles into the groove after tacking for clear air off the starting line at the 2018 Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta in Chicago.<\/span>\n Paul Todd\/Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\nPerhaps the cushiness can make it harder to shake the crew awake after long postponements on the water, but Hardy\u2019s team knows the drill. When it\u2019s time to race, everyone\u2019s on their game and the mechanics of getting the boat around the racecourse comes to them naturally. \u201cWe race with 10 or 11 people and, yes, the symmetric spinnaker is more complicated than an asymmetric,\u201d says Hardy, \u201cbut we\u2019ve been sailing together for a long time so we have the choreography down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The 40.7 is like any other \u201cregular\u201d sailboat, he adds, and while the symmetric spinnaker adds a small degree of complication at the front of the boat, things mostly get interesting when the wind gets beyond 20 knots. That\u2019s when the boat can become a bit of a handful and mistakes compound instantly. \u201cWith this fleet, if you screw up, you won\u2019t finish first very often,\u201d says Hardy, but, still, good teams remain generous with tips and advice to others in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
And what would be Hardy\u2019s top-shelf advice? \u201cThere is a sweet spot and it takes an art to find that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting the sails balanced. Even just a minute movement, 1 to 2 inches of the traveler, is enough to change the balance of the boat and get another two-tenths of a knot. That\u2019s usually the difference in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Turning Point \u2019s upwind targets hover right in around 7 knots and once he finds that sweet spot, he says, it\u2019s easy to keep the boat in the groove: \u201cIt\u2019s a relatively easy boat to sail given the complications of the sail plan, but it\u2019s a great boat, it truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Getting around the corners is where the biggest gains and losses happen, and Hardy\u2019s best advice for perfect sets is to establish a simple routine: round the mark, hoist the chute, drop the jib and be ready to jibe right away. \u201cWe\u2019re always ready to jibe,\u201d he says, \u201cand when that comes to be, we usually do sheet-to-sheet jibes by one person. As long as you keep the clews forward of the headstay you won\u2019t collapse it. It\u2019s a team effort between the pit, the trimmer and the driver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t![\"Beneteau](\"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/180608_nautical_images_0637_todd.jpg\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t \r<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n \n With the Beneteau First 40.7 boatspeed is key to a good start.<\/span>\n Paul Todd\/Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\nTurning Point has had its share of success, especially on Lake Michigan, but the boat doesn\u2019t leave town very often. \u201c We don\u2019t do a lot of traveling because we have one of the best fleets around right here in Chicago,\u201d says Hardy. \u201cIt\u2019s very competitive and we\u2019re usually within points of each other for regatta outcomes. Last year we had over nine boats on average so that\u2019s a good level of participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The team\u2019s schedule includes the local season-starting Colors Regatta where the fleet allows coaches onboard in order to get the teams up to speed after a long winter on the hard, the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta is the first major, followed by the Chicago to Mackinac Race and the Verve Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The NOOD Regatta, says Hardy, has delivered some of the best racing for Turning Point. \u201cThere was one regatta where 2 points separated the first three boats, and it often boils down to who beats whom in the last race. That\u2019s very exciting and to come out on top now and again against some of these competitors is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
As about as awesome as his own personal record behind the boat\u2019s big wheel: a pulse-spiking 16.8-knot surf. \u201cSurfing down a wave at 16 plus is a lot of fun,\u201d Hardy. \u201cThe boat can get on top of a wave. It just takes a bit, but it can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The turning point in David Hardy\u2019s Beneteau First 40.7 sailing career came when Turning Point \u2019s previous owner offered him a sweetheart deal. Hardy, the boat\u2019s one-time trimmer, crew boss and tactician, is now the guy writing the checks. He took ownership of the boat back in 2012, and since then, the white-hulled Turning Point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20180609","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"157","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"One of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta\u2019s most popular big-boat classes delivers tight racing and one-design lakefront property.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Inside the Classes: Beneteau 40.7 %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"O5PPFEIVT5SCNH4NW6CUIAHIUQ","arc_website_url":"inside-classes-beneteau-407\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[181,202,768],"class_list":["post-66340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regatta-series","tag-helly-hansen-sailing-world-regatta-series","tag-helly-hansen-sailing-world-regatta-series-chicago","tag-inside-the-class"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Perhaps the cushiness can make it harder to shake the crew awake after long postponements on the water, but Hardy\u2019s team knows the drill. When it\u2019s time to race, everyone\u2019s on their game and the mechanics of getting the boat around the racecourse comes to them naturally. \u201cWe race with 10 or 11 people and, yes, the symmetric spinnaker is more complicated than an asymmetric,\u201d says Hardy, \u201cbut we\u2019ve been sailing together for a long time so we have the choreography down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The 40.7 is like any other \u201cregular\u201d sailboat, he adds, and while the symmetric spinnaker adds a small degree of complication at the front of the boat, things mostly get interesting when the wind gets beyond 20 knots. That\u2019s when the boat can become a bit of a handful and mistakes compound instantly. \u201cWith this fleet, if you screw up, you won\u2019t finish first very often,\u201d says Hardy, but, still, good teams remain generous with tips and advice to others in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
And what would be Hardy\u2019s top-shelf advice? \u201cThere is a sweet spot and it takes an art to find that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting the sails balanced. Even just a minute movement, 1 to 2 inches of the traveler, is enough to change the balance of the boat and get another two-tenths of a knot. That\u2019s usually the difference in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Turning Point \u2019s upwind targets hover right in around 7 knots and once he finds that sweet spot, he says, it\u2019s easy to keep the boat in the groove: \u201cIt\u2019s a relatively easy boat to sail given the complications of the sail plan, but it\u2019s a great boat, it truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Getting around the corners is where the biggest gains and losses happen, and Hardy\u2019s best advice for perfect sets is to establish a simple routine: round the mark, hoist the chute, drop the jib and be ready to jibe right away. \u201cWe\u2019re always ready to jibe,\u201d he says, \u201cand when that comes to be, we usually do sheet-to-sheet jibes by one person. As long as you keep the clews forward of the headstay you won\u2019t collapse it. It\u2019s a team effort between the pit, the trimmer and the driver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n Turning Point has had its share of success, especially on Lake Michigan, but the boat doesn\u2019t leave town very often. \u201c We don\u2019t do a lot of traveling because we have one of the best fleets around right here in Chicago,\u201d says Hardy. \u201cIt\u2019s very competitive and we\u2019re usually within points of each other for regatta outcomes. Last year we had over nine boats on average so that\u2019s a good level of participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n The team\u2019s schedule includes the local season-starting Colors Regatta where the fleet allows coaches onboard in order to get the teams up to speed after a long winter on the hard, the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta is the first major, followed by the Chicago to Mackinac Race and the Verve Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n The NOOD Regatta, says Hardy, has delivered some of the best racing for Turning Point. \u201cThere was one regatta where 2 points separated the first three boats, and it often boils down to who beats whom in the last race. That\u2019s very exciting and to come out on top now and again against some of these competitors is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n As about as awesome as his own personal record behind the boat\u2019s big wheel: a pulse-spiking 16.8-knot surf. \u201cSurfing down a wave at 16 plus is a lot of fun,\u201d Hardy. \u201cThe boat can get on top of a wave. It just takes a bit, but it can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The turning point in David Hardy\u2019s Beneteau First 40.7 sailing career came when Turning Point \u2019s previous owner offered him a sweetheart deal. Hardy, the boat\u2019s one-time trimmer, crew boss and tactician, is now the guy writing the checks. He took ownership of the boat back in 2012, and since then, the white-hulled Turning Point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20180609","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"157","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"One of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta\u2019s most popular big-boat classes delivers tight racing and one-design lakefront property.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Inside the Classes: Beneteau 40.7 %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"O5PPFEIVT5SCNH4NW6CUIAHIUQ","arc_website_url":"inside-classes-beneteau-407\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[181,202,768],"class_list":["post-66340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regatta-series","tag-helly-hansen-sailing-world-regatta-series","tag-helly-hansen-sailing-world-regatta-series-chicago","tag-inside-the-class"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t \r<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n