The final day of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta at Marblehead Race Week saw lighter winds and a strong cross-course current. The J/70 fleet saw a stacked leaderboard, with three past World Champions in contention on the final day. After three final races, Peter Duncan emerged victorious with his team on Relative Obscurity. “There were four or five boats that could have won this event,” said Duncan, “so we were really happy to come out on top.” After suffering a bad result early in the regatta, Duncan and team put together an outstanding scoresheet for the final two days of the event, never finishing out of the top three. “It’s awesome coming here to Marblehead,” Duncan says. “Having the NOOD as part of Marblehead Race Week is a great thing. The hospitality here is always superb, and the racing is top-notch, especially when there’s wind.” Duncan has been sailing with crew Willem Van Waay for the last couple seasons, but this year, he added heavy-hitters Will Felder and Bill Hardesty to the lineup. “This was a really important regatta for us leading to the Worlds in September,” said Duncan. “There isn’t much on the J/70 schedule in August, so our goal was to get out and compete against some stiff competition. With the talent in this fleet, we were obviously able to achieve that.”
J/70 Top Three (25 boats)
- Relative Obscurity, Peter Duncan: 3-14-1-1-3-2-2-2-2; 30
- Catapult, Joel Ronning: 1-4-5-3-1-4-13-1-6; 38
- Team Vineyard Vines, John & Molly Baxter: 2-11-3-4-5-1-1-14-1 ; 42
For complete results, visit https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=6038.