J.R. Maxwell and the crew of the Annapolis-based J/22 Scooby were happy with their results after the windy opening day of the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis—consistency being the key in the highly tightly competitive 15-boat fleet. And after winning Sunday’s first two races, they were well on their way to winning the regatta. Until the final race. With an over-early start, they were recalled to the line, restarted and looked up the course to see the work ahead. “We had to grind back from being second-to-last and finished fifth in that race,” Maxwell says. “Sunday was all about the puffy conditions so you had to stay in the puffs, and that wasn’t always intuitive of where that was going to happen. We figured that over time.” Like most sailors, Maxwell and his team have had limited time sailing over the duration of the pandemic, but were happy to back on the water and racing again together. “We’re super happy with the win this year,” Maxwell says. “We’ve been sailing this regatta for the better part of a decade, and we were ready to get this one this time. We had a regatta last weekend that we won so we were feeling good coming into this weekend.” With Maxwell on Scooby was crew Jim Schmicker and Matt Spencer (with Bryan Pryor sailing on Saturday only), and as winner of the J/22 fleet they were also selected as the overall winner, earning a berth to compete in the Helly Hansen Caribbean NOOD Championship in October. Following Scooby were Brad Julian’s Yard Sail and Jeff Todd’s Hot Toddy. Complete results may be found at https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=13226.