Chester skippers finish first and second at 2018 IOD North American Invitational Championships
Sept 13, 2018
10 fiercely competitive skippers from Canada, USA and Bermuda to battle it out on Mahone Bay
CHESTER, Nova Scotia (August 28, 2018) – Local sailors Peter Wickwire and Evan Petley-Jones finished first and second atop a ten boat fleet of challengers from Bermuda, the USA and Canada, at the International One Design (IOD) North American Invitational Championships held in Chester over the Labour Day weekend.
“As a relatively young fleet, we’re psyched to be hosting the IOD North Americans again at the Chester Yacht Club and look forward to hosting the Worlds in 2020,” said Bermuda native, Chester-summer resident and IOD fleet captain Rick Thompson.
Petley-Jones and Wickwire both jumped ship from successful J/24 careers to helm IODs. Petley-Jones moved to IODs two years ago and won the IOD fleet championship at the 2018 Helly Hansen Chester Race Week, North America’s largest annual keel boat race week.
His club rival and friend Wickwire moved to the IOD in 2014 and has been a 4-time Bermuda Race Week and a Chester Race Week winner in the IOD class.
The IOD International class sloop was created by legendary American yachtsman, Cornelius Shields, as a 33-foot open-cockpit day sailer. Originally constructed in Norway in 1936, the IOD is a beautiful reminder of yachting’s golden age with the traditional metre-boat’s long overhangs, graceful sheer, deep, narrow hull and lofty rig.
Besides the hometown heroes, the 2018 IOD North American Championships saw several seasoned veterans competing in Chester:
• North East Harbour, Maine, USA: John Roberts – returning 3-time champion
• San Francisco, California, USA:
◦ Paul Zupan: Returning to the event having represented is home fleet at the 2014 IOD North Americans held in Chester
◦ Rich and Mark Peirce: They bring a lot of experience to the event having represented their home fleet at the IOD World Championships, Bermuda Race Week and previous
North Americans
• Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, USA: Chris Gould
◦ Chris has lots of international experience and is a contender for a top finish
• Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA: Ian Morrison
◦ Ian has competed in Bermuda Race Week and this will be his first IOD North Americans
• Long Island Sound, New York, USA: John Evans
◦ Evans is new to IODs and will be sailing in his first international event
• Manhattan Yacht Club, New York, USA: Elvind Karlson
◦ Like Evans, Karlson is also new to IOD racing. The Manhattan Yacht Club has recently embraced the IOD and grown its fleet to 6 boats, two of which are brand new fibreglass boats built at South Shore Marine just down the coast from Chester
• Bermuda: Patrick Cooper
◦ Bermuda’s reigning national champion, Patrick has raced Chester Race Week on a number of occasions and is familiar with the waters of Mahone Bay
The Chester fleet first hosted the IOD North Americans in 2014 when eight competitors – including Wickwire – challenged for the trophy. The first IOD appeared in Chester in 2005 and the fleet has grown to 12 with ten forming a one-design fleet for the 2018 Helly Hansen Chester Race Week.
Host fleet provides competitors’ boats
Unlike most regattas where competitors bring or ship their boats to the event, the IOD North Americans will see them chartering IODs from among the 12-boat Chester fleet.
While each IOD is built to specific class measurements, the age and construction materials used varies within the Chester fleet from Aileen, built of Oregon pine in 1936 to Bella, constructed in 2005 from fibreglass. These different materials should not affect each boat’s overall top speed.
To create a level playing field, participants will randomly draw the name of a boat from a predetermined spreadsheet each day prior to the day’s races, sailing a different boat each day.
Complete results at: http://lyc.ns.ca/racing/racing2018/IOD_NA_2018.htm
International One Design sailors from the USA, Bermuda and Canada compete for the 2014 IOD North American Championships off Chester, Nova Scotia. The North Americans return to Chester and Mahone Bay August 30 to September 2, 2018. Credit: Heather McGuire.
Photos Chester IOD Winners, IODs 1 & 2 Credit: Chester IOD
