{"id":67101,"date":"2017-07-31T01:10:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T05:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=67101"},"modified":"2023-05-06T21:57:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T01:57:12","slug":"inside-the-classes-town-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/regatta-series\/inside-the-classes-town-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Classes: Town Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ask around Marblehead what the fastest growing one-design class is and you\u2019ll hear the same thing everywhere you go: It\u2019s the Town class. Yes, the pretty but pudgy 16-footer born, bred, and right at home in Marblehead Harbor. Designed and built by Marcus C. Lowell in 1932, class historians say it was a craft created for the townspeople: easy to sail and affordable. They flourished over the years, then almost disappeared. From a high of 60 to a low of five to nearly 30 boats now on the harbor, you could say the Towns are returning to former glory. And most of the new faces to the fleet are women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Local sailor Kelley Braun\u2019s was a gift from her husband, a sail designer with North Sails and a professional sailor known round the world. Today, she says, it\u2019s as much a gift for him as it is for her, because he takes great enjoyment in her enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Suerte Verde, translates to green luck, and fits her perfectly, and not just because of its green deck. \u201cI\u2019m a green sailor. I married a sailor and I was always frustrated that everyone thought I was a sailor because I was married to JB [Braun]. He gave me this boat so I could learn to sail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The Marblehead fleet has doubled in two or three years, she says, with 28 townies and more on the way. \u201cI think it\u2019s the perfect boat for someone like me,\u201d says Braun. \u201cI didn\u2019t grow up sailing, and I\u2019ve always said that to learn how to sail you have to be in a dinghy, where you change things and things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Bringing her up the learning curve for the past three years is Braun\u2019s crew Karen Lubek. Braun sought her out because \u201cit\u2019s not good to be coached by your husband.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of feel,\u201d says Braun. \u201cI like to sail with my eyes closed\u2026you know she\u2019s going well when the centerboard sings. When it hums you know things are tuned well. It\u2019s not a fast boat, but it\u2019s a classical boat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a predominance of old salts in the class today, but Braun says it\u2019s changing, with younger people and a lot more women. \u201cIt\u2019s a great boat that two women can sail,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun. It\u2019s more about being active and being competitive, but not being professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Tempted as he may be, her sail-designing husband has not touched Suerte\u2019s original sails. \u201cThere are some discussions on making changes to the sails,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the fun part is that it\u2019s old, classic and traditional and you have to keep it a level playing field for people like me to come in and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

For those looking, she says a good Town (preferably fiberglass) can be had for $2,000 to $5,000, some requiring more love than others. \u201cWe did a lot of work to this boat,\u201d she says. \u201cWe took out all the foam that was waterlogged, did the deck, and all the wood. It\u2019s fiberglass so it\u2019s in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"NOOD\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Kelley Braun’s Suerte Verde<\/em> shines at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta at Marblehead Race Week.<\/span>\n Paul Todd\/Outside Images<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Suerte\u2019s best finish was a winning The Campbell Trophy at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta at Marblehead Race week two years ago, and a \u201cfifth or sixth\u201d at the Town Class Nationals last year. For her, it\u2019s obvious results matter\u2026but are the end all. \u201cIt\u2019s about having fun,\u201d she says with a laugh, \u201cbut we are competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

As far as her hot-shot husband ever racing with her any time soon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy invitation only.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marblehead sailor Kelley Braun shares the story of her Town Class Suerte Verde, a new addition to the iconic local fleet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18885,"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":"20170731","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"157","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Marblehead sailor Kelley Braun shares the story of her Town Class Suerte Verde, a new addition to the iconic local fleet.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Inside the Classes: Town Class %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"Y7XXT74MBK55ZUTGVBYC524Q3I","arc_website_url":"inside-classes-town-class\/","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":[181,768],"class_list":["post-67101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regatta-series","tag-helly-hansen-sailing-world-regatta-series","tag-inside-the-class"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67101","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=67101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}