The Nepean Sailing Club hosted an exciting and competitive Nepean One Design regatta from June 21 to 23. With the support of the local sailing community and premier sponsors Boyden and Mount Gay Rum, the 2024 Regatta is one to remember. Since its inception in 1992, NOD continues to make waves and grow. With 85 boats this year, we beat our average attendance by an entire fleet And we can confirm that the sailing club can in fact, accommodate 250 people.
The Nepean One Design regatta has a long history of being well-run, thanks to a dedicated team of over 30 volunteers and race officials who return year after year. Led by PRO Bill Visser, with Course Race Officers Lisa Shishis, Tom Shenstone and Devon Bartley, the experienced Race Committee team managed 85 boats racing in ten one-design fleets over three days on multiple simultaneous racecourses.
The 2024 NOD hosted four championships over the course of the weekend. These included the J/80 East Coast Championships, the Fireball Canadian Championship, the J/22 Ontario Championship, and the C&C27 Ontario Championships. The return of fleets that have not participated in recent years inspired a plan to make 2024 a display of hospitality. The goal was to bring together the sailing community for fantastic racing and camaraderie catering to both seasoned sailors and making room for the next generation, for whom this may have been their first regatta.
Closing in on registration deadlines, ten fleets were registered with many travelling to the region coming as far as Hampton, Virginia. The largest fleets were the J/80’s with 11 boats, the 505’s with 16 (including 5 under-25 youth teams) and the return of the C&C27 fleet with an impressive 11 boats. Thank you to all the fleet reps for getting the word out and encouraging your fleets to register. With the amazing support of former NOD co-chair Scott Murphy and NSC Marine and Property Manager James Pole and the team of NSC, visiting boats were welcomed with assistance with launch/haul-out, storage, camping, and harbour mooring.
Fantastic events rely on great sponsorship and NOD 2024 was supported by returning sponsors the Chandlery, Advantage Boating, Perkins Restaurant, the Mobile Mechanic (Peter Huscz) and Mainbrace Studios. New in 2024, we welcomed Mount Gay Rum, Boyden, Dominion City Brewery, Myers Automotive Group, C&C Archives, 1000 Islands Brewery, Elemental Imagery. In addition, a number of individuals stepped up to sponsor individual fleets.
Leading up to the event, competitors were welcomed by Canada SailGP member Billy Gooderham who took the time while racing in New York to send a prerecorded message wishing all competitors good luck. For those boats travelling from away, a practice race was held alongside Ottawa’s Thursday Night Racing (the product of three separate yacht clubs), which highlighted just how vibrant the sailing community in Ottawa is.
Kicking off the racing on Friday, the Fireball’s and the J/80’s each had five races in light to medium breeze ranging from 4 to 8 knots. The competitive spirit was high and our protest committee led by Chief Judge Greg Dargavel worked quickly to ensure that everyone played by the rules, resolving protests and queries promptly.
Following Friday’s races, all participants were invited to the welcome reception sponsored by Dominion City Brewery and Myers Automotive. Sailors were greeted with a custom NOD bar menu and opening remarks from Nepean Sailing Club Commodore, Corey Glynn and racing and event photos were on display thanks to Elemental Imagery and photographer Callum Ramsay. Visit www.elementalimagery.ca and view the collection there – apparently over 2000 photos were taken so there are lots to choose from. Images are available to purchase.
Saturday began with a lot of enthusiasm and energy that was fueled by a complimentary breakfast for all competitors on Saturday and Sunday thanks to Perkins Restaurants and Mainbrace Studios/Sail and Canvas. Hopes that the forecast would be wrong on Saturday were dashed however as consistent rain and light wind washed over most of Ontario. The Race Committee eventually hoisted AP over A, allowing competitors to do a bit of exploring before getting back to the club for the regatta party that evening.
The regatta party kicked off with a Mount Gay Rum taste sampling and gently transitioned to a fantastic meal hosted by the Club. With no racing taking place on the Saturday, competitors, both new and old, were engaged in a highly competitive boat building competition that was judged by our very own Fleet Captain, Dominic Goodwill, Head Race Bosun John Gardner and Marg Hurley a 505 racer. With the 250+ participants effectively riled up and ready for fun, live music was provided by the Dead Pennies, who played many classic favorites tirelessly and kept the dance floor packed. The evening was highlighted with something you don’t see at every regatta—an epic fireworks display right off the dock made possible by Capital Pyrotechnics and then the singing began!
After the fun-filled evening, the Race Committee and competitors were ready to jam on Sunday as the rain blew over and a strong southeasterly breeze filled in. After a brief postponement onshore, 80+ boats hit the water and raced on three courses turning the Ottawa River into a mecca for one design sailboat racing! All fleets were treated to 3-4 races. The J/80s, 505’s, Vipers and Fireball’s saw planing conditions and exciting reaches with speeds in the teens on flat water as gusts in the 20’s swept across the racetrack. The 505’s and Fireball’s saw a number of teams go swimming in the larger gusts. The C&C27’s, Tanzers and Sharks crews had to demonstrate strong teamwork to maneuver in the difficult conditions, skippers hoped their crews had eaten extra muffins during the morning’s breakfast
The awards ceremony provided the coveted flame-red Mount Gay hats to our winners. Thank you, Matt Davidge, who stepped in to host the awards and the fantastic scoring team of Peter Norwood and Jennifer Haliday in turning out results quickly. Congratulations to all the NOD Fleet winners including USA 1153 More Gostosa for winning the J/80 East Coast Championship, 14911 Technical Difficulties for winning the Fireball Canadian Championship, 64 Crazy Comet for winning the J/22 Ontario Championship and 894 Blue Zulu for winning the C&C 27 Ontario Championship. All NOD 2024 results can be found on-line at nod.nsc.ca/results .
The Nepean One Design 2024 marked significant progress in bringing back so many One Design fleets and once again establishing itself as a premier regatta event with wide accessibility thanks to the continued commitment of both our sponsors and a team of talented volunteers. With 85 boats in 10 fleets, we substantially beat our 10-year average of 75 boats.
Hold the dates for June 21-22, 2025! We look forward to seeing you at NOD!
Your NOD 2024 Planning Committee
- Paul Place (Chair)
- Renée Young
- Scott Murphy
- Kim Cunningham
Full credit to the NOD organizing team on-land and on-water, and the wonderful NSC staff. This was the best-organized and most entertaining NOD in a long while. – Dominic Goodwill, NSC Fleet Captain
This fantastic event was the product of a lot of camaraderie by the Ottawa Sailing Community. The Nepean Sailing Club supplied not only top-notch facilities but also wonderful hospitality. Truly good times and great racing were seen by all. – Martin Rutter, J/80 “Free Radical”
Going from where we started to achieve a 3rd place podium finish is a huge success. Deuce Coupe could not have done it without the wonderful support and encouragement from the Nepean Sailing Club Tanzer 22 community and the expert guidance, not only from my crew, but also from the other crews and skippers in the Nepean Sailing Club. I feel very honoured to be part of such a wonderfully supportive and friendly community. – Peter MacDowall, Tanzer 22 “Deuce Coupe”, first-time competitor at NOD.