Long time North client Pete Schellie won the 45 boat J/105 class at the Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD Regatta held April 27-29 on the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, MD. Pete and his crew aboard his J/105 FREEDOM had consistent finishes of 7,7, 3 to take the regatta over the next J/105 by four points. The conditions were very trying as no racing took place on Friday due to the light and fickle wind. Saturday wasn't much better with the fleet sitting around for a good part of the day waiting for the breeze to decide a direction and build to a sailable strength. The Race Committee managed to get one race off in unstable conditions. Sunday brought more promise as the front that plagued the East Coast finally moved off shore setting up a nice westerly flow and some much more suitable racing conditions. The two final races were held on Sunday.

"We were really pleased to do so well against a lot of very good boats," said Schellie (left, with son David). "Our boat speed was really good, with a new North main and a North AP jib that we used last season. We also were helped by early season preparation, including getting Will Keyworth onboard and having Jeff Todd tweak things on the sails before we went out."

Pete used North's CM-06 mainsail, AP-05 jib and the VForce-05 spinnaker to show excellent point and speed in claiming the victory. The crew at North Sails Chesapeake ran their annual J/105 Speed Day the Saturday before the NOOD Regatta to help the crew dust off from a long winter and sharpen their boathandling and starting skills. Eastport Yacht Club, for the second year, used this Speed Day as practice for their Race Committee work and ran over 20 starts for the 15 boat field.

No doubt this paid its dividends as Pete and his crew used the speed day to work on their starting skills. "Getting off the line in a big boat fleets is the ticket to consistent top finishes. This combined with excellent boat speed were the key ingredients in Freedom's top place performance," mentioned one of the Freedom crewmembers.

Annapolis Yacht club will host the 2007 J/105 North American Championship November 1st through 4th and with over 60 boats expected you can bet things will really heat up with the J/105 class on the East Coast this year. (North Sails will be providing free daily weather forecasts for this event, to subscribe to this service, log on to North Sails' weather center.)

Congratulations to Pete Schellie and his crew of Freedom for a well earned 1st place in the 2007 Annapolis NOOD Regatta.