ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Rhodes 19s prepare to race on the first day of race week in Marblehead.
MARBLEHEAD — The 127th Marblehead Race Week launched Thursday morning as two of 10 classes competing in the Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta this weekend took to the water.
With nearly 190 boats registered as of Thursday afternoon, this is the largest Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD in years, according to Sailing Magazine, which is the founder of the event.
A fleet of 32 Rhodes 19 boats – hyper-local and hugely competitive – continued its tradition as a Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD staple. After three races on the first day of the regatta, team Dinner Out of Swampscott leads the way with two first-place and one ninth-place finishes.
Marblehead-based teams Bight Me and Rallie round out the top three.
In the International One Design (IOD) class, a classic group known as the “grand dames of Marblehead,” an intimate fleet of only seven boats made for three tight races. At the end of the day, team Javelin of Lexington earned the top spot with two first-place and one second-place finishes.
Six more classes join the competition on Friday, followed by the final two – Laser and Laser Radial – on Saturday to complete the impressive fleet competing in the Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD. This is the only of five national stops in this year’s series that includes dedicated races for Lasers, and this year the massive Laser fleet outnumbers the Rhodes 19s for the first time.
After the final races on Sunday, regatta organizers will determine an overall winner based on the strongest finish in the most competitive class. That team will be invited to compete in the 2016 Helly Hansen NOOD Championship Regatta on Oct. 23-28 in the British Virgin Islands.
Lead sponsor Helly Hansen is a world leader in technical sailing and adventure gear and continues to support the sport by sponsoring the Helly Hansen Junior Crew program.
For the first time at the Helly Hansen Marblehead NOOD, a select team of talented young local sailors will compete against the rest of the fleet in the Helly Hansen Junior Crew.