By Airwaves writer Geoff Becker
Team Helly Hansen, Skipper: Tim Healy, Tactician/Trimmer: Geoff Becker, Tactician/Trimmer: John Mollicone, Bow: Gordon Borges
Day 1
3 races (all course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish), Wind 8-14 knots from the Northwest, with a fairly steady direction.
Day one of the 2014 J/70 North American Championship saw 71 boats make it to the starting line for three races in winds much better than forecast. With the large fleet and long starting line our plan was to stay safe and leave ourselves options in the first part of each race. We were fortunate to get three good starts and finish the day with a 3-3-6, earning Team Helly Hansen the early lead after Day 1. (Scroll down for full results)
The course today saw a fairly steady wind direction as far as the headings were concerned, but it was clear that the boats getting more to the left side upwind were coming out better on almost every beat. After the first race and into the second race it became increasingly difficult to get to the left side since more and more boats were trying hard to get that way. In the third race, our start was not as strong as the other two and we had to tack toward the middle before getting all the way to the left, which gave boats to our left more of the course advantage.
Being a little behind early in the final race made us look for other ways to gain upwind, since we couldn’t always get as much left as we would have liked. We noticed that many of the other boats wanted the left side so badly, they were basically sailing outside the course to get there and overstanding the layline in the process. This gave us the opportunity to tack short of the boats on the left side and lead them back to the windward mark as they sailed extra distance. So, even if one side is favored, it is a good idea to pay attention and save distance when you can’t get to the favored side.
Our takeaways from Day 1 are…
1. Try to stay safe on big starting lines.
2. Know which side is favored, but also know where you are on the course.
3. Saving distance can make gains against boats on the favored side.
Results after Day 1
Overall Group 1
1 Tim Healy USA 58 12.00 3 3 6
2 Brian Keane USA 36 13.00 5 6 2
3 Mauricio Santa Cruz BR 66 21.00 4 16 1
4 Brian Elliott USA 20 27.00 7 1 19
5 Allan Terhune USA 69 27.00 10 13 4
6 Ian Atkins GB 76 29.00 6 20 3
7 Kerry Klingler USA 30 38.00 11 4 23
8 Joel ronning USA 52 39.00 29 2 8
9 Jud Smith USA 48 42.00 8 18 16
10 john brim USA 03 42.00 24 9 9
11 Bennet Greenwald USA 54 43.00 16 22 5
12 Kris Werner USA 23 49.00 20 7 22
13 Adam Burns USA 05 51.00 15 8 28
14 Peter Vessella USA 07 51.00 19 19 13
15 Marco Teixidor PUR 56 52.00 2 21 29%
16 Jenn Ray Wulff USA 22 53.00 1 23 29
17 Mikael Lindqvist SW 78 53.00 9 5 39
18 James Barnash USA 82 56.00 12 12 32
19 Martin Kullman USA 42 57.00 21 15 21
20 Martin Johnsson USA 61 58.00 17 14 27
21 Will Welles USA 50 66.00 37 11 18
22 Henry Filter USA 26 72.00 23 37 12
23 Thomas Bowen USA 11 75.00 34 30 11
24 Chuck Millican BER 33 78.00 33 31 14
25 Todd Hiller USA 49 79.00 41 28 10
26 Jim Cunningham USA 06 85.00 32 27 26
27 Mark Ploch USA 44 89.00 50 32 7
28 Stu McCrea CA 29 91.00 22 17 52
29 Stanley Edwards USA 79 92.00 13 34 45
30 Heather Gregg Earl USA 14 93.00 25 43 25
31 Jeff_John_Ed_Go Sulliv USA 75 96.00 46 10 40
32 Donald Finkle USA 02 97.00 51 29 17
33 Gregg Mylett USA 55 97.00 18 46 33
34 Catharine Evans USA 15 99.00 14 38 47
35 Daan Goedkoop USA 09 99.00 40 35 24
36 David Koski USA 64 100.00 36 44 20
37 Richard Nesbett USA 12 107.00 28 45 34
38 Neil Sullivan USA 73 109.00 31 41 37
39 tyler doyle USA 31 113.00 27 56 30
40 Maxwell Plarr USA 74 117.00 43 24 50
41 Dave Franzel USA 65 123.00 53 39 31
42 Paul Cannon USA 04 128.00 30 49 49
43 Ian Mayers CA 51 129.00 49 42 38
44 Frank McNamara USA 41 133.00 47 50 36
45 William Markel USA 39 134.00 63 36 35
46 Bruno Pasquinelli USA 21 135.00 38 25 72q
47 Scott Weakley CA 37 135.00 68 26 41
48 Brandon Flack USA 13 138.00 26 66% 46
49 Kathy Parks USA 35 142.00 65 33 44
50 Ron Thompson USA 24 142.00 52 47 43
51 John DiMatteo USA 18 148.00 39 54 55
52 Neil Ford USA 72 150.00 56 40 54
53 Tim Gibbs USA 45 156.00 61 53 42
54 andrew fisher USA 77 158.00 44 48 66
55 Corbo Corbishley USA 46 160.00 54 55 51
56 peter Firey USA 16 162.00 42 64 56
57 Rich Bergmann USA 70 163.00 35 67 61
58 Anthony Byrne USA 28 163.00 48 57 58
59 Jonathan Pollak USA 43 168.00 45 66 57
60 R. Latane Montague USA 83 169.00 58 63 48
61 Davis King USA 80 170.00 59 51 60
62 Kenneth Smith USA 47 173.00 62 58 53
63 Edward Backman CA 60 178.00 55 61 62
64 David Dombroski USA 27 186.00 60 62 64
65 J.B. Walsh USA 57 188.00 57 72% 59
66 Martin McKenna USA 01 195.00 71 59 65
67 timothy Weibel USA 08 199.00 66 70 63
68 Mark Wagner USA 38 202.00 69 65 68
69 Holly Graf 84 204.00 64 71 69
70 Kristen Robinson USA 19 205.00 70 68 6771 Jim Hermetet USA 63 209.00 67 72% 70
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