[Hat tip: Matt Goyer]
 

For more on Turnquist and Gjerde see the Story of J/24 Fleet #1.

You can follow along with Pete Sauer here. Results here.

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Lake Minnetonka, MN (September 12, 2008) Tim Healy had won the J/24 North Americans before, and was poised to do it again. All that stood in between him and the prize was the one race - the final race - scheduled for Friday. He was guaranteed second, and only a bullet by John Mollicone’s team could change his happy ending. There had been good breeze all regatta, not quite windy enough for jib conditions, but plenty of upper genoa range. The event venue, Lake Minnetonka, had been playing fair too, with both sides of the course working, and lots of shifts for the astute tactician to work his or her way to the front of the fleet. For just one race on Friday, he liked his team’s chances.

The only problem was that for the final day of the event, the wind was zero with puffs to 6 knots. Not exactly the kind of conditions where it was easy to control the only boat you had to beat. Healy’s team could have focused only on Mollicone, match raced him at the start, and forced him into one of the numerous bays along the 140 miles of lake shoreline. However, that’s not his style, and instead allowed Mollicone to start near the pin while Healy would set up more toward the center of the line and protect the favored right side. Of course, when the wind glassed off around Healy, all bets were off and the scramble began.

As had occurred all regatta, both teams found themselves in the top ten at the first windward mark, but when Bob Harden’s team on Mr. Happy worked out into a distant lead over both of them, ultimately winning with a leg lead, Healy knew that the threat was over, and went on to enjoy the most pleasant 18th place finish he ever recorded during his ten year career in the class. — Results: http://www.j24northamericans.com/pages/J24Results.html

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Incumbent and current All-Ireland Sailing Champion Stefan Hyde was deposed as J24 national champion over the weekend, when the Carrickfergus crew of Taz took the J24 National Championship title at Carlingford Lough.

Carlingford Sailing Club played host to boats from seven different clubs competed in the highly competitive Loughs Agency-sponsored J24 Class National Championship, with the overall title going to Michael Ennis and the crew of ‘TAZ’ from Carrickfergus Sailing Club.

Seven races were sailed over the two days of the event and the Carrick crew won the last two races impressively to beat former champion Mickey McAldin of Lough Erne YC in ‘Murder Picture’ by three points overall. Another three points behind in third place was the defending champion Stefan Hyde of the Royal St.George YC in Dun Laoghaire (who is also the current All-Ireland Sailing Champion).

The leading local Carlingford entry was James Byrne in ‘Gossip’ in fourth place, after consistently finishing in the top six in every race. Competitors travelled from as far afield as Dun Laoghaire, Malahide, Lough Neagh and Lough Erne to race in the event. The J24 is one of the biggest international classes of small keelboat racing boats and the Irish Class Association is looking to bring the European and World Championships to Ireland in the next five years.

Results

1st TAZ Michael Ennis Carrickfergus Sailing Club
2nd Murder Picture Mickey McCalden Lough Erne Yacht Club
3rd Carrabeg Stefan Hyde Royal St George Yacht Club
4th Gossip James Byrne Carlingford Sailing Club
5th Jay Kay Tim Sheard Lough Neigh Sailing Club

The U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship (USMSC) for US SAILING’s Clifford D. Mallory Trophy, sponsored by Rolex Watch, U.S.A. and Dry Creek Vineyard, will be held from September 16-20 at San Francisco Yacht Club (Belvedere, Calif.). Eleven teams, skippered by some of the country’s top male sailors, will race J/24s on windy San Francisco Bay.

In line with the long tradition of the event - founded in 1952 with past winners including sailing legends such as Buddy Melges, Jr., Cornelius Shields, John Kolius and Dave Ullman - this year’s fleet is stacked with talented sailors and champions.

Among the veteran competitors in the 2008 USMSC are Scott Young (Austin, Texas) who has won the title five times, twice as crew and three times as skipper, and placed third in 2007; Paul Wilson (New York, N.Y.) who finished fourth at both the 2006 and 2007 events; and Peter Sauer (Kalispell, Mont.) who placed third in 2002.

Past and present J/24 class champions will be well-represented by David Klatt (Oxnard, Calif.), who placed second at the 2007 J/24 North Americans and first at the 2004 U.S. J/24 Championship; Ian Trotter (Chula Vista, Calif.) who took first place at the Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta in the J/24 class earlier this year; and Michael Whitfield (Orinda, Calif.) who finished tenth at the 2007 J/24 North American Championship.

Rounding out the fleet will be teams skippered by Ken Kleinschrodt (Mobile, Ala.), Gregg Delany (Greenwich, Conn.), Alan Bock (Helena, Mont.), Pat Toole (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Les Beckwith (Wolfeboro, N.H.).

Complete results, daily reports, and photos from the event will be posted on the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/usmsc. The U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship for the Clifford D. Mallory Cup is part of US SAILING’s National Championships series. For more information about these events, visit www.ussailing.org/championships.

Photo by Dallas Johnson

The J24 North Americans at the Wayzata Yacht Club on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota saw one race in on the forth day, sailed in extremely light wind. Bob Harden and the crew of Mr. Happy took the bullet but it was Tim Healy who hung on to win the regatta and the North American J24 championship. Healy finished 18th in the 8th and final race of the series but with 8 races in was able to discard the result for a net of 22 points (40 total). John Mollicone was second overall and Chad Olness moved up 2 places on the day to round out the top three. Full reults here.

Day 3 of the 2008 North Americans saw two races in light winds, the first won by Tim Healy and the second by John Mollicone. Healy maintained his overall lead, with Mollicone moving up two places to 2nd overall, scoring a 2nd in the first race to go along with the bullet in race two. Bill Fastiggi slipped a place to 3rd overall. Full results here.

After a second day of racing with 3 more races completed, it’s Tim Healy moving up five places to first, replacing Will Welles (Paraloc), now in third place. Bill Fastiggi (Beauty) moved up one place to 2nd overall. For complete reaults go here. For more go to SailKarma.