Will Welles three-peats as J/24 North American Champion

by Julie and Christopher Howell on 29 May 2017 For the third consecutive year, Will Welles holds the title of J/24 North American Champion. With crew Jeff Linton, Chris Morgan, Monica Morgan and Erik Rexford, team Bogus bested 28 other J/24s at the Championship hosted by Houston Yacht Club in Texas.

Mike Ingham’s Nautalytics entered Sunday with a shot at the victory, however they lodged a twelve, three on the day, compared to Welles’ seven, two, leaving Ingham and crew in the silver position with 31 points. Welles finished with 22 points. Despite a bullet in the tenth and final contest, Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger settled for third, just one point behind Ingham.

Over the three-day regatta, all races were completed on schedule each day in solid breeze. Welles relished the conditions, especially on Saturday when they had four firsts, saying,” We really had the boat dialed in to the conditions, getting off the line with good speed at the upper end of the genoa in short chop.” Welles summarized that going into Sunday with a three-point advantage on Ingham, he wanted Bogus to focus on its own destiny. “If an opportunity presented itself to win, we would go for it, but we just made sure to hang around the competition while we did our own thing.”

Sunday’s race winners were James Freedman’s Miss Conduct (in winds at 6-8 knots), and Odenbach (as the breeze increased to 10-14).

The top five:

1. Will Welles, Bogus, [30/OCS], 4, 2 , 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 7, 2 = 22
2. Mike Ingham, Nautalytics, [30/OCS], 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 12, 3 = 31
3. Travis Odenbach, Honeybadger, 4, 3, 3, 2, [11/20%], 3, 4, 3, 9, 1 = 32
4. Nobuyuki Imai, Siesta, 8, 1, 5, 4, [11], 6, 3, 2, 6, 4 = 39
5. Carter White, Sea Bags Sailing Team, 5/10%, 5, 9, 5, 6, 4, [10], 4, 10, 5 = 53

Results:

Position	Bow	Sail	Name	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10	Points
1	04	USA 5208	Welles, Will	[30/OCS]	4	2	3	1	1	1	1	7	2	22.0
2	07	USA 5443	Ingham, Mike	[30/OCS]	2	1	1	2	2	2	6	12	3	31.0
3	20	USA 5432	Odenbach, Travis	4	3	3	2	[11/20%]	3	4	3	9	1	32.0
4	16	JPN 5185	Imai, Nobuyuki	8	1	5	4	[11]	6	3	2	6	4	39.0
5	06	USA 2785	White, Carter	5/10%	5	9	5	6	4	[10]	4	10	5	53.0
6	17	USA 3223	Fedyszyn, Todd	[13]	6	6	6	3	5	7	11	4	10	58.0
7	12	USA 5257	Glackin, Aidan	3	8	8	10/10%	4	8	5	8	[17/20%]	6	60.0
8	01	USA 126	Harden, Natalie	7	9	7	8	8	[10]	6	10	5	7	67.0
9	02	USA 3734	Freedman, James	15	[30/OCS]	4	11	9	7	9	7	1	11	74.0
10	24	USA 2843	Sly, Patricio	1	7	13	[30/DSQ]	10	15/20%	12	5	8	14	85.0
11	18	USA 3004	Mcdonald, Crisp	11	14	12	[20/10%]	13	11	13	9	3	8	94.0
12	22	USA 3935	Howarth, Michael	17	12	10	16	[21]	16	8	12	2	9	102.0
13	46	USA 2961	Moon, Tonja Holmes	12	10	18	10	[20]	15	14/RDG	14/RDG	15	15	123.0
14	42	USA 4200	Rubin, Josh Bowens	5	15	15	13	7	17	[30/RET]	30/DNC	22/30%	12	136.0
15	21	USA 672	Mott, Kevin	6	11	27/10%	14	14	13	14	[30/DNF]	19	20	138.0
16	25	US 4808	Stauber, Ben	10	22	17	9	17	14	22	14	[25/30%]	17	142.0
17	69	USA 2702	Smith, Mark W	9	27/30%	14	18/10%	24	12	18	[30/OCS]	17	19	158.0
18	03	USA 267	Holmes, Christopher	18	13	[23]	21	15	20	16	20	18	18	159.0
19	23	USA 1155	Bailey, Barry	20	16	11	12	18	26	24	[30/DNC]	20	13	160.0
20	13	USA 2160	Martin-de-Nicolas, Jorge	21	23	20	22	23	[25]	11	17	14	16	167.0
21	08	USA 2822	Juengst, Stuart	16	24/10%	19	19	22	18	21	13	[30/40%]	25	177.0
22	09	USA 1565	Johnson, Tim	19	24	[27]	20	19	22/10%	25/20%	16	23	23	191.0
23	27	CAN 4165	Wells, Steve	14	[30/OCS]	21	18	25	30/30%	20	19	27	22	196.0
24	32	USA 2624	Rademaker, Cliff	25	20	25	25	[29]	24	15	15	25	24	198.0
25	19	USA 1903	Roesler, Gary	22	20/10%	16	[30/RET]	12	30/30%	20/10%	30/DNC	30/DNC	30/DNC	210.0
26	11	USA 3757	Marshall, Graham	27	27	26	26	16	28	[30/DNS]	18	21	28	217.0
27	29	USA 229	Theismann, Andrew	26	19	[29]	24	27	23	23	21	28	27	218.0
28	05	USA 2380	Broadway, David	23	26	22	23	[30/30%]	27	25	22	30/30%	21	219.0
29	10	USA 3894	Hammel, Chris	24	25	28	27	26	[30/10%]	30/30%	23	26	26	235.0