Following two days ashore due to light air, Mother Nature reversed fortunes for the J/70 Midwinter Championship in Tampa, FL on Sunday. With a storm passing through Tampa Bay leaving winds starting at 20 knots and slightly decreasing through three races, winners were determined for the Midwinters and the three-event series:
Midwinter Championship:
1. Catapult, Joel Ronning / Victor diaz de Leon / Patrick Wilson / Morgan Trubovich – 2 -1 -3 ; 6
2. Hedgehog Alec Cutler / Charles Pucciariello / Brad Rodi / Ryan Cox – 2.5 -4 -1 ; 7.5
3. Savasana, Brian Keane / Thomas Barrows / Ron Weed / Conner Harding – 3 -5 -10 ; 18
4. Stampede, Bruno Pasquinelli / Brian Porter / Greiner Hobbs / Matt Woodworth – 6 -7 -5 ; 18
5. Casting Couch, Cate Muller-Terhune / Jackson Benvenutti / Jeff Hayden / Allan Terhune – 4 -14 -2 ; 20
Topping the all-amateur division was Alec Cutler’s Hedgehog with Charles Pucciariello, Brad Rodi and Ryan Cox. Following were Lee Sackett and David Kerr on USA1516 with Mike Booker and Tod Sackett. Aaron Drury’s Trial placed third with Ian Hunter, Brian Johansen and Telmo Basterra.
In the One-Pro Division: Team Eker with Nevra Eker, Yasar Doga Aribas, Cem Gozen and Can Kocak.
In the Mixed+ Division: Jean Marc Papin with Anne Dangy, Thomas Davy and Thibault Dufour.
The event concluded the three-event series as follows:
Division | Position | Boat | Skipper |
Open | 1 | Catapult | Joel Ronning |
2 | Savasana | Brian Keane | |
3 | Empeiria | John Heaton | |
Corinthian | 1 | USA 1516 | David Kerr |
2 | Hedgehog | Alec Cutler | |
3 | Hot Ticket | Mike Kirkman | |
One Pro | 1 | Sail 22 | Ed Furry |
Mixed + | 1 | Casting Couch | Cate Muller-Terhune |
For the Midwinter Championship, 56 teams competed, including 24 Corinthians from the United States, plus Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Sweden and Turkey from February 2-4. Photos and video are available on the USA J/70 Class Facebook page, and complete results for the weekend may be found at https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=16123.