Odenbach Grabs J/24 NA Title

(Halifax, Nova Scotia)- As everyone hoped for, the weather cooperated to give this year's J/24 North American Championships some gorgeous sailing in a simply spectacular sailing venue.  The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron pulled out all the stops and ensured the forty-plus J/24 teams in attendance had an absolutely fabulous time both on and off the water.  With masterful race management by RNSYS's RC/ PRO teams, the races went off well, keeping the aggressive J/24 teams in check (most of the time!) and providing all the sailors a great regatta.

At the end of the day, the early race leaders had a tough time hanging on to their top spots.  Like the proverbial Phoenix arising from the ashes, sailing a strong second half of the series was Travis Odenbach, sailing his J/24 WATERLINE SYSTEMS to a total of 30 points, narrowly beating out current J/24 champion John Mollicone on 11TH HOUR RACING who finished with 31 points.  And, just behind them applying enormous amounts of pressure on the two leading crews was none other than current J/24 World Champion, Mauricio Santa Cruz sailing his famously named BRUSCHETTA to 36 points (who in turn beat Will Welles's CAROLINA GIRL team on tie-breaker)-- the outcome really did come down to the last race!

Here are the reports from the three days of racing.

Day One-  The first day of racing is over at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and I’ m proud to say that I can pick a winner when I see one. The only non-North American in the event, the Brazilian crew of Bruschetta has led the way with a perfect sheet of three wins in three races.

From my perspective, handling the string pulling responsibilities on Airborne, I have had glimpses of Bruschetta in every race. She is fast but, much more important, her crew know how to handle her. Airborne, which has been renamed Stix and Stones for the regatta and to protect her resale value, is in 19th and Bruschetta has crossed behind us a couple of times. It doesn’t last long though because the Brazilians know where to tack as well as how to. Each smooth turn launches them into clear air at top speed. A couple of those and they are soon out on their own with Tim Healy and a couple of others snapping at their heels.

Tim Healy is giving a healthy chase. He recorded a couple of seconds in the first two races and added a third in the last race of the day. Also in the running are Will Welles from South Carolina (I saw a palmetto on her stern and I happen to know the state tree of South Carolina) and Tony Parker from Annapolis both of whom had steady top five finishes. Ted Bartlewski of Toronto is the top Canadian in sixth.

Exposure to all these come from aways is revealing to the locals. We have several current and past Canadian Champions registered from Atlantic Canada but the competition is tough. The top local boat is Sticky Fingers helmed by current Canadian Champ, Johnny Whynacht of Lunenburg, who is holding down seventh place. Lisa Ross in Stewie Slamn’it in 29 Seconds or Slam for short rounded the windward mark with the lead in the second race and posted creditable finishes all three times out to put herself and regatta Chair Dale Robertson in ninth.

As we learned at the Canadians last year, one day of dominance is no guarantee but a three-way tie for first, like we had last year, is looking pretty remote. The Brazilians and their brand new boat looked awesome today and it will take quite an effort from Tim Healy or one of the other contenders to reel them in.

The weather today was excellent. The sun shone as predicted and the wind rose to a steady 15 kts from the southwest, also as forecast. Solid for fast sailing but a fair test for everyone involved. Predictions for tomorrow and Saturday are similar, promising good conditions for Bruschetta to continue to shine and others to make whatever challenge they can mount.

Day 2- The second day of the J24 North Americans on Halifax Harbour taught a couple of good lessons. One is that no one is invincible, another is that you can only be lucky for so long.

For many this morning dawned a bit too early. Plenty went to Durty Nelly’s last night and quite a few, whether they were in the pub or not, seemed to be surprised to find that the schedule called for racing to begin at 10:30 am as opposed to the 11:30 am start used on the first day. Having cruised downtown on Dale Robertson’s massive Isle of Cumbrae with the crews of Durty Nelly and Slam, I should have been among the worst but I was the first among the crew of Stix and Stones to come to the realization (my wife Lorna pointed it out).  Several phone calls and a bunch of hustling got us all together a bit after 9:30 and with several projects leftover from last night, we were the last to pull out from the dock right behind Durty Nelly herself.

As good race committees do, Jay Hooper’s crew were out past McNab’s Island well ahead and did not waste any time getting down to things. The wind was lightish from the southwest and the five-minute sequence started within minutes of 10:30 leaving us a solid minute away when the start gun went. Only the even more unfortunate Spar Wars was behind us. With clarity of purpose that inevitably comes when most of your options are eliminated, we set out to the righthand side of the course and banged the corner for all we were worth. For once, a good decision, as we were soon crossing boats and then reaching the windward mark within sight — for heavens sakes – of Bruschetta, who had gone left and, for once, were not in first. Our skipper, Erik Koppernaes, who is a sailing contrarian if ever there was one, then came up with the brilliant stroke of eschewing the gybe sets  taken by the top end of the fleet and continuing to the left from the offset  mark. Several sharp sailors behind us in the jumbled fleet such as Tony Parker in Bangor Packet and Craig Noakes in Ian Dawson’s Lightning McQueen followed so I figured it must make some sense and lo and behold it did. When we gybed we were up with the leaders in what appeared to be significantly better pressure. For a while I thought we might actually get through the leeward gate in first but I was happy enough when we rounded in sixth, ahead of Bruschetta.

We dropped as low as twelfth from there but pulled off another downwind coup to finish up seventh, while Bruschetta fell to eleventh. I took a couple of pictures of her finishing behind us for posterity. Our next two races were more in character, a 20th, which is our average finish, and a 25th brought on by a broken genoa tack shackle, that amply reflects the state of readiness that you can get a J24 into if you start preparations during lunch hour the day before the regatta and the point at which our luck ran out.

Enough, in any case, about my experiences, which don’t figure significantly in the actual story of the regatta. What our day on Stix and Stones does illustrate, however, is that today was a day for nearly every dog. It was light and shifty in the first race, light to medium and persistently backing in the second race, and all over the damn place in a rising breeze for the third and final race.

Just like last year’s Canadians here in Halifax, the first day leaders in Bruschetta came to earth, with three finishes that would leave us delirious on Stix and Stones, but were not enough to keep them in the lead. The new front runner is the World Champion I forgot, Tim Healy of Newport, Rhode Island. Tim’s 11th Hour Racing recorded two threes followed by a bullet to move four points up on the Brazilians with one drop race. Also having a good day was Travis Odenbach in Waterline Systems, who won the first race of the day and then knocked down a five and a six.

On the whole, the fleet bunched up considerably. Like Stix and Stones many local boats punched into the top ten for a race or two. The outstanding performer of the day was the Squadron’s own Ted Murphy, who is weighed down by several aging friends of mine including his Uncle Mat, who is the club’s Commodore. Ted racked up a 10, 2, 10 record and moved into tenth overall. Another notable performance was by Thomas Barbeau in Navtech.ca, who was the first to the huge port tack lift the settled the day’s second race halfway up the first leg. Thomas and crew horizoned the fleet, recording the first and only victory by a Canadian in the regatta so far. The top Canadian overall though is still Lunenburg’s Johnny Whynacht, who nabbed a third in the last race to move up to sixth from seventh, one place ahead of Navtech.ca.

With boats yoyoing up and down the standings all day and even top boats recording finishes in the teens and twenties, an exciting final day is shaping up. The forecast indicates the weather will continue to be warm and predominantly sunny, although there is a 30 per cent chance of rain and the potential for thunder storms late in the afternoon. Wind is supposed to be strong but dying in the afternoon according to the ever reliable Environment Canada Marine forecast. Seems like a lot of possibilities.

Day 3- The final day of the North American Championship again brought shifty light winds that tested the ability of all sailors to be consistent. It was probably even tougher than Friday, as a matter of fact. Once again new boats made appearances at the head of the fleet and the sailors who dominated previously struggled to figure out what was going on.

The strongest performer of the day was Travis Odenbach in Waterline Systems, who won the first race playing what appeared to me from my position on the sideline as one of two boats that didn’t make the first race start to be a strong lefthand shift as the wind moved from the west to the south. He was followed by Chris Jankowski in Street Legal and Will Welles in Carolina Girl.

The second race was a bit more complex as good shifts were identifiable to both the left and the right. I can`t provide too many details on this one because the Stix and Stones crew actually sailed and after rounding the windward mark roughly mid-fleet managed to pull up our spinnaker on the inside of our genoa, which gave us a very good look at the bottom end of the fleet a very distant view of the front. I did, however, see the Craig Noakes & Ian Dawson partnership in Lightning McQueen round the windward mark in first after, I believe, working the right. I also know Ted Bartlewski and crew in Drivers Wanted followed at that point in one of the first mark roundings at which two Canadian boats held the top two spots. They apparently held on through the balance of the race followed by Will Welles, who nabbed his second third of the day.

I can give a lot more detail on the final race of the day and the regatta. As I’ve mentioned, my skipper, Erik Koppernaes is a dyed in the wool contrarian. For the third race the bulk of the fleet (i.e., about 25 of 30) lit out for the left side no doubt considering the forecast that the wind would back. We, on the other hand, started by the Committee boat and quickly tacked with a small apology onto our friend Greg Blunden with whom we set out to the west with a couple of other stragglers. As it turned out, Erik was onto something as we watched the boats to the east fade and stall, as we picked up with Greg tucked below us. After Greg tacked to starboard, we waited a bit and tacked ourselves, skipping along just below the starboard tack layline with the entire fleet framed in our genoa window.

We rounded the windward mark in first with Greg on our tail and a good lead over the rest of the fleet. Our boat however is slow. Its a cottage boat that should be sold to a good family on Grand Lake so they can race it against the Tanzer 22s up there  (it is minimum weight and it has good sails but the bottom needs serious work to avoid being put out to pasture - Ed.). Our crew work also isn`t that smooth. It didn`t take Greg long to catch us after he executed a good gybe set at the offset. We were happy enough to settle for second through the gate in any case. In character, we went left after heading upwind while Greg again went right. We needed to clear our air but Erik also thought it was swinging east and his calculation didn`t appear to be wrong. There was good wind all the way, although Greg`s boat, Adrenaline Rush, did pull away on the right. As I mentioned, our boat is slow and we didn`t consider it to be any shame to lose one place upwind to Travis Odenbach.

The three of us held on downwind but wouldn`t you know the last race each day has five legs. The boat in fourth place as we headed upwind to the right was Will Welles who already had two threes on the day and appeared to have a strong interest in getting another. He worked us up the righthand side of the last windward leg as Adrenaline Rush sailed conservatively and very well to stay between Waterline Systems and the finish line. Greg ultimately finished with a comfortable lead over Travis Odenbach but Will Wells was more than we could handle, beating us with a lovely roll tack to the finish for his third consecutive third on the third day.

From the bigger and admittedly more relevant perspective of the overall regatta results, Odenbach’s pass on us to get into second was critical. The leader going into the last race was John Mollicone, who I have been identifying for two days as Tim Healy for the simple reason that Mr. Healy was the name on the registration form. Whether Mr. Mollicone or Mr. Healy is the current World Champion, I’m not clear, but their boat 11th Hour Racing is damned fast and they held a good lead going into the last day thanks to consistent sailing over the first two days as they managed to be in the top three in all six races.

Day three was, however, a bit rougher as they led off with a twelfth. A sixth in the final race, however, appeared to put them in the driver’s seat as they went into the last race needing only a ninth to retain the lead over Odenbach, who was the only boat within range of them. Unfortunately, as so often seems to happen, what had to happen was exactly what transpired. The 11th Hour team finished in eleventh with Carter While in AL and Chris Jankowski in Street Legal respectively occupying the ninth and tenth places that Mollicone needed to overtake Odenbach. I have no idea how close they all were but Ì’m guessing there wasn’t a lot of distance between them.

The results were that first day leaders Mauricio Santa Cruz in Bruschetta held on for third through a tie breaker over Will Welles. The top Canadian was Ted Bartlewski in Drivers Wanted, who took fifth. Top Atlantic Canadian was Johnny Whynacht, who brought the crew of Sticky Fingers home in seventh.
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