Beneteau First 36.7 - One Design Class

Place	Sail #	Boat Name	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	7031	Kea	Chick & Alexis Pyle	5	9	3	1	4	1	2	25
2	25524	GRIZZLY	Charles M. Bayer, Jr.	2	1	4	3	5	6	6	27
3	35367	Hammertime	Tom Lewin	9	2	5	6	1	2	7	32
4	51789	Top Gun	Gary Tisdale	3	5	11	4	2	7	1	33
5	7020	Sorcerer	Carl Richardson	1	8	2	10	3	9	3	36
6	90	Legend	Dan/David Shriner	8	3	1	2	11	8	4	37
7	56136	Bella Vita	Martin Burke	4	4	7	7	7	4	9	42
8	12	Tsunami	Donald Nicholson	6	7	6	5	6	5	10	45
9	56053	Aimant de Fille	Steven Ernest	7	10	8	9	8	3	8	53
10	56266	Vahalla	Andy and Camille Rasdal	10	6	9	8	9	10	5	57

A Pyle of Fun at San Diego NOOD
March 21, 2005
By Stuart Streuli of Sailing World

Chick and Alexis Pyle and their team on Kea (top, rounding a windward mark, bottom, in the tent) made an impressive comeback in the Beneteau 36.7 class, from eighth on the first day to first after the final race. They won the class's North American championship and were named the Overall Winner of the 2005 Lands' End San Diego NOOD.

SAN DIEGO�For local sailors in the Beneteau 36.7 class, the 2005 Lands' End San Diego NOOD Regatta started out just where last year's left off. And that wasn't a good thing. "Last year's NOOD was the first one-design regatta on the West Coast [for the 36.7 class]," said San Diego's Chick Pyle. "Two boats came in from Youngstown and Buffalo, N.Y.�Hammertime and Top Gun�and chartered boats. They took first and second and all the locals were deep. We were really embarrassed."

After the first day of racing this year there were four out-of-town boats crowding the top of the standings�this time the regatta also counted as the class's North American championship�and once again the locals found themselves on the bottom looking up. No one was more disappointed that Pyle, his wife Alexis, and their team on Kea. "On Friday night we had so much kelp I was going to put a For Sale sign on the boat," said Chick Pyle. "We had six teams that were sailing on charter boats and we were going to set the example on kelp avoidance. After the first day we were so deep, eighth out of 10, we were ready to check off the regatta and say, 'OK, when's our next regatta?'"

But instead the Pyles and their team redoubled their kelp avoidance efforts�keeping two sets of eyes on the sea at all times�and stared crawling back into the regatta. They had a solid day on Saturday with a third, a first, and a fourth and headed for the dock thinking they were in fifth place. By Sunday morning they were in second as poor races, an OCS, and a DSQ knocked down key competitors. Still they didn't think they had a chance at first as Charles Bayer Jr.'s team on Grizzly had a seven-point lead.

"With two races to go we said we were only going to cover the boats behind us to protect second place," said Pyle, "because we thought first was unattainable."

In absolutely spectacular conditions today, bright sun and 10 to 15 knots from the northwest, Pyle took command of the first race for a wire-to-wire win while the crew of Grizzly continued to struggle, placing sixth. The crew of Kea still needed to put one boat between them and Grizzly in the final race to win the regatta and they got three, finishing second to Grizzly's sixth.

For their efforts in a very tight class, Kea were chosen as the Overall Winner of the 2005 Lands' End San Diego NOOD Regatta and the Pyles received a invitation to attend next January's Caribbean NOOD Rendezvous at SunSail's Club Colonna in Antigua. They and some core crew members will be hosted by SunSail and compete against the overall winners from the other eight NOOD Regattas.