(Houston, TX)- The Houston YC played host for the J/22 North American
Championship, held from September 30th to October 4th on Galveston Bay.
While it was never a forgone conclusion a former World Champion in the
J/22 class would win, no one was surprised to see Terry Flynn’s TEJAS
crew take the top prize.The sailing got underway Friday in gorgeous conditions, allowing four races to be completed. Local hotshot Terry Flynn immediately took control of the leaderboard with tallies of 1-1-3-1 for only 6 points. That was nine point in front of Travis Odenbach’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM and 12 ahead of Brad Julian’s TEAM THREEDORIES.COM. Flynn’s crew, which consists of Mark Foster and Matt Romberg, won the J/22 Midwinter Championship earlier this year.
Thirty-nine
teams from across the United States took to the waters off Shoreacres,
Texas in breeze of 8-10 knots under clear blue skies, as Flynn notched
his first of three bullets. Odenbach and Marek Valasek’s EL OCHO
followed in race one, and Marvin Beckmann’s THE MARTIAN and Odenbach in
race two, as winds increased to around 14 knots. A couple of Annapolis,
Maryland teams dominated the next battle with Chris Junge’s CORNER OF
SANITY & MADNESS winning, and Julian in second. Flynn rounded out
the top three, while winds backed off slightly to 10-12. Flynn returned
to the top spot in the final contest as the breeze also returned (to 16
knots). Beckmann and Julian trailed in the next two positions.As the regatta unfolded, Flynn’s crew on TEJAS continued to dominate. Only one race was sailed on Saturday in a light air affair. Then, a fourth in Sunday’s only race secured victory for the TEJAS team, who tallied just 10 net points in the six races. Prior J/22 World Champion Flynn thanked his crew of Mark Foster and Matt Romberg, who “did all the hard work this regatta.”
With a third in Sunday’s light air match-up, Brad Julian’s TEAM THREEDORIES.COM from Annapolis, MD secured the silver position with 16 points. Texan Marvin Beckmann’s THE MARTIAN edged out Travis Odenbach’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM of Rochester, NY for the bronze (22 points to 23). Newport-based Michael Marshall’s BAD NEWS won Sunday’s contest to claim the fifth spot overall with 29 points.
At the awards ceremony at Houston YC on Sunday afternoon, Flynn commented, “It was a great event, and while the weather didn’t completely cooperate, the Race Committee did great as well as all the volunteers at Houston YC.” For more J/22 North Americans sailing information
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