J/22 North American Championship at Houston Yacht Club - Day 1
by Christopher Howell 3 Oct 2015 08:10 BST
2-4 October 2015
J/22 North Americans at Houston day 1 © Christopher Howell
Terry Flynn's Tejas jumps to lead
The J/22 North American Championship, hosted by Houston Yacht Club in Texas, got underway Friday in gorgeous conditions, allowing four races to be completed. Local Terry Flynn on Tejas controlled the leaderboard with tallies of 1,1,3,1 for only 6 points. That's nine 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 The 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 and 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.
Racing continues through Sunday. Photos are available on the J/22 Class Facebook page, and complete results are available at www.j22na.com.