Mike Ingham's Tarheel takes J/24 Midwinter Championship

by Julie and Christopher Howell on 13 Feb 2017 Just a few days after being named US Sailing’s 2016 National Coach of the Year, Mike Ingham earned his first J/24 Midwinter Championship, helming Tarheel. The Rochester, NY-based skipper posted a line of one, three, (sixteen), one, two, two, nine, five for 23 points over eight races at Eau Gallie Yacht Club in Indian Harbour Beach, FL in the 31-boat fleet.

Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger was initially tied on points with Ingham after Saturday’s races, but a scoring penalty was later posted, leaving Odenbach with 29 points and second place, which is where he ended up after no races were completed Sunday due to lack of breeze. Both John Mollicone’s Helly Hansen and Carter White’s Sea Bags Sailing Team also tallied 29 points, with Mollicone clearing the tie-breaker for third place. Will Welles’ Bogus captured the fifth position with 41 points. “It was really hard to be consistent,” shared Ingham. “It was too shifty. If you got out of phase, it was really hard to get back.”

Sailing with Tucker Gilliam (bow), Scott Smith (mast), Scott Griffin (tactics) and Paul Abdullah (trimmer), Ingham now proudly holds The Lambert Lai Trophy, named in honor of the previous USJCA President who passed away in 2014 and also raced in the Rochester, NY fleet. Team Tarheel was previously led by Peter Bream, who died last October.

Ingham has sailed the boat for the last two regattas. “The fun thing about this is it’s the Tarheel team, which was really Peter getting these guys sailing when they were younger,” explained Ingham. “I had this feeling that I needed to do him proud. And I don’t mean winning. I mean just being a sportsman because that’s the way he was.”