(Ridgeland, Mississippi)– Terry Flynn, with crew Mark Foster and Matt
Romberg, earned the J/22 Midwinter Championship at Jackson Yacht Club.
All nine races were completed, and the League City, Texas helmsman on
TEJAS scored 22 points. Flynn is no stranger to J/22 Championship
trophies, including the World Championship, North American Championship
and Midwinter Championship. Allan Terhune’s DAZZLER (another J/22 World
Champion) came in second with 36 points, and John Dyer’s AQUAVIT third
with 49 points.
The
Championship marked the first time for the J/22 Class to hold its
Midwinters at the Ridgeland, MS club. Flynn and his fellow competitors
praised the first-class treatment provided by Jackson Yacht Club. The
inland lake proved very tricky for the 37 teams, as Flynn confirmed,
“It’s very trying conditions because it’s so shifty. There are just not a
lot of patterns.” After the opening four races on Friday, TEJAS was in
third place overall but jumped to a 10-point advantage on Saturday.
“There was a little more breeze on the second day, which we were more
comfortable with,” Flynn explained. “It was a little easier to see the
puffs and holes, and we got off the line very well. Once we figured it
out, we stuck to the same game plan.”
On
the first day of the regatta, sunny skies, temperatures around 60 and
breeze between 6-8 knots greeted the 37 boats on Friday morning. Dyer’s
AQUAVIT took line honors in the opening bout, however an OCS gave the
top position to Faget, followed by Robert Muller’s CALL THE BALL.
Terhune won race two, as Mike Farrington of the Cayman Islands and Flynn
completed the top three. Familiar names dominated the third contest:
Faget, Flynn and Terhune. Following FATS closing the day with another
win were RJ Moon’s AXE WOUND and Keith Zars’ BABY LIPS. Winds had
increased by the end of race three to 12-14 knots. At the end of the
day, it was quite evident that Benz Faget took a strong step at
defending his J/22 Midwinter Championship scoring three victories in
four races, to start out with a seemingly unassailable lead. Terhune’s
DAZZLER and Flynn’s TEJAS stood 2nd and 3rd overall for the day.
For
the second day of racing on Saturday, the teams were postponed on the
water during the morning hours, waiting for the breeze to settle in.
When Saturday’s racing got underway in winds around 4 knots, Flynn took
the bullet, trailed by Sean Clare’s WHITE TRASH and Terhune. AQUAVIT
won the next duel as the breeze increased up to 12 knots. Macho Slavich
on BAD DOG placed second, and Flynn third. By the day’s final battle,
winds backed off to 7-9 knots. Dyer again snagged victory as Flynn and
Chris Wientjes rounded out the top three. With seven races now
completed, a new leader had emerged- Flynn’s TEJAS! Notching a 1,3,2 in
Saturday’s three contests, the Texan launched to a 10-point lead
heading into the final two races on Sunday. DAZZLER remained in the
silver position with 26 points, while Faget’s FATS dropped to third with
27 points. As the throw-out race came into effect, Flynn was able to
drop a 14 in the regatta’s opening race. Day 1 leader Faget wasn’t able
to match his prior dominance and lodged a 6,14,8 today (dropping the
14).On Sunday, Mike Farrington got started with a victory in 8-10 knots of breeze, followed by Moon’s AXE WOUND and Flynn. David Muller’s JTT Racing won the final race, with Steve Willits and Flynn closing out the top trio. As a result, the final tally was Flynn’s TEJAS win with 22 pts, followed in second by Terhune’s DAZZLER with 36 pts, third was Dyer’s AQUAVIT from Wayzata, MN with 49 pts, fourth was Faget’s FATS with 52 pts and fifth was Moon’s AXE WOUND from Rochester YC in New York with 53 pts.
Sailing Photos are available on the J/22 Class Facebook page. For more J/22 Midwinters sailing information
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