(Houston, TX)- The 2018 edition of the J/22 Midwinters is being sailed
from March 16th to 18th and is being hosted by the Houston Yacht Club in
Houston, TX; a club famous for rolling out the red carpet for J/Crews
in their regattas! That being said, it is amazing to see how positively
the J/22 class has responded, with forty-four teams from across America
and Canada escaping the clutches of winter to enjoy some fun, casual,
but closely-fought, racing on the muddy, choppy waters of Galveston Bay.
What is refreshing to see is the many new faces in the crowd that have picked up good used J/22s, “dolled” them up, and are looking forward to honest-to-goodness fun one-design racing in the “little-est” J in the family.
Featured amongst the veterans are some past Midwinter, North American, and World Champions; such as Mark Foster’s PRESSURE DROP from Corpus Christi YC, Kevin Doyle’s MO’MONEY from Youngstown YC, Terry Flynn’s TEJAS from Fort Worth Boat Club, Chris Doyle’s THE JUG 4 1 from Youngstown YC, Mike Marshall’s BAD NEWS from New York YC (Jamestown, RI), and Travis Odenbach’s infamous HONEYBADGER from Rochester YC New York.
Perhaps the most exciting development is the number of J/22s owned and skippered by women. This year there are five boats (11% of the fleet!), including Anne Lee’s HELMS A LEE from the host Houston YC, Nataleigh Perez’s FORGET ME NOT from Fort Worth BC, Andrea Zalte’s WOO HOO from Houston YC, Lynn Simpson’s BLING from New Braunfels, TX, and Jessica Lombard’s FOLKA from Hudson YC in Quebec, Canada. For more J/22 Midwinter Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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