C&C 115 North American Champions Face Formidable Challenges. Even Before the Start

Months and months ago, Geoff Atkins got his crew together, rented a house in Annapolis, MD, and  booked the flights from Toronto.  Tartan C&C promised to deliver a brand new C&C 115 for him to use in the regatta in lieu of his own 115, Act II. The boat was due to arrive by truck in plenty of time to step the rig and launch the boat for a few trial runs before the official start of racing at the 2009 Annapolis NOOD Regatta on Friday April 24. 

On Wednesday, April 22nd, the boat arrived. She was a day late to the commissioning yard. Not bad. Not bad until the truck driver who had safely brought the boat from San Diego to the opposite coast took one wrong turn in the final 100 feet of a 3,000 mile journey crushing the C&C's carbon fiber mast as a horrified crew of Canadian sailors looked on. The early defeat appeared irreversible. 

As Atkins and crew literally prepared to pack their bags local Tartan C&C broker and class organizer Scott Dodge worked the phones.  By Thursday he had convinced local owners Andy and Linda Frix to allow Act II to borrow their 115's rig. The kindness of , well, not exactly strangers, meant that Atkins and his crew were not only not going home early, but, as fate would have it, they would be going home three days later as the C&C115 North American Champions fending off nine other challengers. 

The NOOD fleet of 267 boats raced four races Friday, three Saturday and one on Sunday. All three days' races were in light air. 

The class participants were Geoff Atkins, Act II (first); Ole Haaland, Infringer (second); Primal Scream, Steven Stollman (third); Bob Wilson, Team ABYC; Dan Gourash, Blue Dog;  Howard Levinoff, Steelin' Away; Craig Meyerson, Souvenir; Philip Horbert, Yankee Clipper; Ken Wright, Two Potato; Alan Borst, Spirit of '76.

Congratulations to all the participants and special thanks to the Frix for their heroic intervention; Scott Dodge for organizing a spectacular showing, and Rob Windsor of Tartan C&C Long Island.