Laying an egg, as Randy Hecht referred to the 15th place his team scored on the first race of the first day of the recent 2023 J105 North American Championship regatta, may not bode well for the average competitor going into a significant championship event, but Hecht and his seasoned crew saw this hiccup score as an opportunity to make things right, sailing on to take their second consecutive North American championship win.
A 31-strong fleet of boats mainly from the East Coast competed across a myriad of conditions during the four-day regatta hosted by the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York. While there was ultimately a fifteen-point delta between Hecht’s boat Niuhi and second place boat Deja Voodoo, from Houston, TX, Hecht concurred that his team’s success wasn’t because Niuhi had a huge speed advantage over the competition but rather their ability to just do everything well.
“We had the same crew, and we were just better than last year,” Hecht said. “We have sailed with each other a lot and we trust each other. When things went wrong like in the first race, no panic. We put our heads together and evaluated where our strengths were and how to play those versus our weaknesses. Once we got across the starting line we could play the shifts better, we had really good boat speed, really good maneuvering around marks, so our attitude was, ‘come beat us!’”
The Niuhi crew includes Russ Silvestri (Stinson Beach) on tactics and main, Maggie Bacon on pit, Ethan Doyle (Tiburon) on jib and spinnaker trim, Spencer Cole on mast, Juliana Testa on bow, while Hecht (Tiburon) drives.
Hecht described that in the first race they played a tactic that was uncharacteristic for them, going for a relatively high risk start which didn’t work out. In the next race they took a first which helped settle them and on Day 2 they earned another first and a second, setting the stage for the remainder of the regatta although a race that was abandoned on Day 3 could have resulted in a different outcome.
“A crazy race on Saturday with gusts up to 40 miles an hour was eventually abandoned; we couldn’t find the weather mark and there were some breakdown issues,” Hecht recalled. “We got in from that race and realized we dodged a bullet, mostly because Patriot who was in third were in a position to win that race while us and Deja Voodoo were in the high top ten. By that race not counting, Patriot did not get the benefit of being in first place and we didn’t end up with a three-way tie.”
He added, “We had every type of situation this regatta, and with Russ as our quarterback and Ethan sitting next to Russ and helping him think through all the situations, we made very few mistakes so it was hard for other boats to find a place where they could capitalize on our mistakes.”
Being well-prepared for an event on the other side of the country was key. Niuhi was trailered across the country and on site ready for the crew to work on the boat on the Monday prior to racing. Silvestri noted that they developed some new sails oriented to the light air conditions they knew they would experience and which the crew got to practice with for two days before the start. Silvestri, who has been around international and national racing competitions his whole life emphasized the importance of the crew understanding their mission and purpose going into the regatta.
“Everyone knew their jobs and there was a playbook for each move so there was never any confusion,” he said. “When Deja Voodoo, for example, got into a tight situation on the last day, they reacted to the negatives which showed in their result; we didn’t react to the negatives but rather responded to the opportunities which made the difference especially on the last day when conditions were more like San Francisco with big shifts and velocity changes.”
Testa, 23, who grew up in Novato, was brought into the racing fold when she was in high school by Silvestri and has raced alongside him at many events since. She now resides in Boston and loves any opportunity to race with the Niuhi crew.
“There is a switch when we go into race mode that is so obvious – everybody who is on the boat wants to win and show that they are working their hardest and doing their best – it’s a really healthy desire to want to show off your best to everyone else on the boat,” Testa said, adding with a smile, “No one is afraid to give a little sass…or get a little sass back!”
Hecht has owned Niuhi for just two seasons now and is enjoying the notoriously competitive J105 fleet.
“It’s a fun boat to sail and that aspect is always important; it responds to changes to rig and sail trim in a way that you would expect it to, that part of it I really like,” Hecht commented. “I also love the fact that we get championships with 30+ boats which makes it way more interesting. The fleet itself is really friendly and has fully embraced us which doesn’t necessarily happen when someone new comes in and starts winning but we’ve been sharing our observations with the fleet as to what we think makes these boats go fast with the idea that everybody getting better is good for the fleet and that’s been well received.”
The 2024 J105 North American Championships will be held Sept. 26-29, at the Edgewater Yacht
Club, Cleveland, OH. Hecht plans to be there.
2023 J105 North American Championship results.
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