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     1999 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP AT CHICAGO NOOD Rating: N/A |
1999 NORTH AMERICAN ONE DESIGN CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE CHICAGO NOOD The 1999 North American One Design Championship found a few veterans absent and some new faces on the awards platform. Gary Hendrickson of Racine WI was present as the new owner of the former Uff Da (which nearly won this event in 1998). Conversely, several seasoned veterans were NOT present this year due to a variety of scheduling or family conflicts. Perennial season front-runner Don Rychlinski and the crew of Kato announced their plans to be absent early on. Perhaps even more significant was the absence of three time NOOD winner, three time Great Lakes Champion and two-time defending NA Champion Chris Sundberg and his crew aboard Stimulator. Also absent was Scooter, a former Series contender and the runner up in Chicago in 1996. Skipper Scott Corder and his wife had a very good excuse as they welcomed the birth of TWINS the day before racing began! Also missing at the line was South haven sailor Lewis Buell and Odyssey. The boats to watch this year included two-time Great Lakes Champion Greg Young aboard Spectra. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride in Chicago, they had never won the NOOD, yet never placed less than third in five years attending this event.. Eric Oesterle’s Slingshot and George Darrell’s Paradox are both veteran One Design competitors and local Chicago sailors. Eric and his crew showed considerable improvement last year while George has placed well in previous NOODs and won this event in 1995. Dick Daniels and Entropy were also in the "hunt", having prevented Scooter from three-peating a Seasonal fourth in 1998. Dick showed tremendous light air speed in 1998. The "boats to watch" proved to be the leaders as Spectra, Slingshot and Entropy all posted victories. Paradox and Dick English’s Tenacity also posted top three finishes. At the end of the regatta, Spectra continued its domination from the week before. Slingshot was safely behind in second. Entropy, in spite of inconsistent finishes, managed to edge Paradox’’s somewhat more consistent scores for third overall. Tenacity was only one point back in fifth. Gary Hendrickson’s Nomad showed well in his first Class regatta, placing sixth overall. Due to light breezes, only four races were completed, instead of the usual five. As in past years, Class Association trophies were awarded at this event. The top four overall finishers received beautiful glass trophies. It should be noted that we have been assured by several of the "absentees" that this year’s slight drop in attendance is only a temporary condition. 2000 should be fun! RESULTS 1. Spectra -1 -2 -2 -1 =4 2. Slingshot -3 -3 -1 -3 =10 3. Entropy -7 -1 -3 -4 =15 4. Paradox -4 -5 -6 -2 =17 5. Tenacity -2 -6 -4 -6 =18 6. Nomad -6 -4 -5 -5 =20 7. Optimist -5 -7 -8 -8 =28 8. Kahuna -8 -8 -7 -7 =30 2000 CHICAGO NOOD DATES: June 16-18, 2000 |
