(Jacksonville, FL)- The Florida Yacht Club and J/24 Fleet 55 hosted the 2012 Merrill Lynch–Bank of America J/24 North Americans for the twenty-nine teams from across America.The event opened up in a swashbuckling fashion as John Mollicone’s 11th Hour Racing and Peter Bream’s Team Tarheel went neck-to-neck against each other over two races and finished the day with four points each to lead the rest of the pack heading into the second day of competition.
Mollicone drew first blood by winning the first race with Bream finishing in second and Robby Brown’s USA 799 taking the third spot. The second race saw Rossi Milev’s Clean Air finishing first with Bream winding up in second again and Mollicone nabbing a point after nabbing third place. Milev currently stands in third in the four-day race off the beautiful coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Conditions in Jacksonville were cool and overcast, with winds starting at 6-8 knots and a slight chop before dying out for a while in the afternoon. The breeze then filled in for race two at 5-7 knots.
For the second day of racing, Peter Bream on Team Tarheel claimed the lead. Bream held the advantage over second place John Mollicone on 11th Hour Racing (24 points) and Mike Ingham on 11th Hour Racing in third (36 points). The day began with Bream’s Team Tarheel notching two bullets in races 3 and 4. Travis Odenbach’s Honey Badger crossed the line behind Bream in Friday’s first race, however took an 8 due to a scoring penalty. Mollicone’s 11th Hour Racing was third. In the next contest, another 11th Hour Racing—this time Ingham—placed second, followed by Clark Dennison’s Kobayashi Maru. Then it was Mollicone who grabbed the top spot in Race 5, with Rossi Milev and Robby Brown rounding out the top three. Ingham ended the day with a victory in race 6, trailed by Odenbach and Ron Medlin, Jr.’s Bash. Conditions in Jacksonville were chilly and overcast with winds at 6-8 knots, building to 10-12 throughout the day.
After the third day of racing, John Mollicone’s 11th Hour Racing team emerged victorious. Comprised of Mollicone, Tim Healy, Collin Leon, Geoff Becker and Gordon Borges, the Newport team credited their consistency and team work during the nine races as the keys to their success. “We had good starts, and our boat speed was good,” summarized Mollicone. “It’s hard to be in the right place all the time tactically, but our boat speed helped us get out of some tough situations.”
Finishing with 30 points overall, 11th Hour Racing won the regatta’s first race and never finished out of the top 10. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t have any real deep races, especially early on,” shared Healy. “It ended up paying off late in the regatta. We could afford going into the last race knowing we couldn’t get worse than second, so that was a nice place to be.”
Canadian Rossi Milev sailed an impressive regatta on Clean Air, and placed in second overall with 34 points including three bullets. Travis Odenbach’s Honey Badger rounded out the top three. Conditions in Jacksonville on the last day of the event were the breeziest of the week at 16-18 knots with gusts in the 20s.
“This is a challenging place to sail because it’s not only shifty but there are a lot of holes and you have the current factor,” Mollicone said. “Tricky conditions, but the people at Florida Yacht Club are awesome and it was a great regatta.” On Saturday, Milev won race 7, with Greg Griffin’s Majic and Odenbach in the next two slots. David Van Cleef claimed the next victory, trailed by Mollicone and Odenbach. Milev returned to the top in the event’s final bout, and Van Cleef and Griffin followed.
The top ten overall were 1st John Mollicone- 30 pts, 2nd Rossi Milev- 34 pts, 3rd Travis Odenbach- 40 pts, 4th Peter Bream- 41 pts, 5th Mike Ingham- 43 pts, 6th Carter White- 44 pts, 7th David Van Cleef- 45 pts, 8th Greg Griffin- 63 pts, 9th Robby Brown- 65 pts and 10th John Denman- 74 pts. Thanks for the contribution from Chris Howell. For more J/24 North Americans sailing information
