(Valle de Bravo, Mexico)- The 2019 J/24 North American Championship is being hosted by Club Nautico Valle de Bravo on their gorgeous lake in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The twenty-seven boat fleet consists of USA, French and Mexican teams from across the top fleets in the respective countries.
Day One- Flawless Weather
The sailors reveled in flawless conditions in the first day of racing. Winds started at 10-12 knots and increased to 12-16, with occasional higher gusts.
Under cloudless skies on the picturesque lake in the mountains of Mexico, current J/24 World Champion Will Welles skippered BRUSCHETTA won the first race. Trailing him in race one was American Mark Laura on BABA LOUIE and Mexican Kenneth Porter’s “S”. Welles again won the next race, followed by Mexican Javier Velasquez on TRINQUETE with Laura’s BABA LOUIE in third. Velasquez earned the final victory of the day, as American Tony Parker on BANGOR PACKET and Welles comprised the top three.
At the conclusion of the day’s racing, at the top of the leaderboard sat Welles’ BRUSCHETTA with scores of 1-1-3 for 5 pts. The balance of the podium was locked in a tie at 10 points: Velasquez’s TRINQUETE had a 7-2-1 while Laura’s BABA LOUIE posted a 2-3-5.
Day Two- More Gorgeous Sailing
It was yet another gorgeous day in Valle de Bravo! And, it was yet another day atop the leaderboard for Welles’
BRUSCHETTA. With boat owner Aroldo de Rienzo aboard as well as Rich Bowen, John McCabe and PJ Schaffer, Bruschetta lodged scores of 1-5-1 on Wednesday. Now able to discard the fifth in race five, Welles has a net score of 7 points in six races (winning four of them to date) of the planned 10-race series.
Parker’s BANGOR PACKET benefited from a solid day to jump into second place overall, after recording a 3-1-3 for 14 net points. Porter’s “S” moved into third place with 19 points.
Following a brief postponement while the breeze came in, racing got underway in winds of 8-10 knots, which increased to 10-14 kts with puffs in the high teens. Welles earned his third bullet of the Championship in Wednesday’s initial contest, trailed by Porter and Parker. Then it was Parker’s turn for line honors, his best finish of the series, while Laura and Ramon Benitez’s DE COLORES followed. Leading the fleet back to the docks after the third race of the day were Welles, Porter and Parker. For more J/24 North American Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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