J/24 Worlds leader Will Welles remains above the chaos

Newport, RI (September 24, 2014) – The third day of the 2014 J/24 World Championship completed two more races, and with six now completed, the 71-boat fleet can now discard their worst race. But given the bulk of penalties being distributed, one discard might not be enough.

The preliminary results show today’s first race with 24 scoring assessments (ZFP or DSQ), which continues a theme where an average of 12 assessments per race had occurred in the races 1-4. Remarkably, the second race today (race 6) had none, which may have been due to a tidal change and a mellowing crowd (click here to view penalties).

Teams battled in a two to four foot chop on the ocean course in wind speeds starting at 10 to 12 and building to 14 to 16 knots out of the east and southeast. Through all the chaos, day two leader Will Welles (USA) and his Cougar team remains in control, posting a 3-4 to hold a nine point lead over Brazilian Mauricio Santa Cruz. While neither Welles nor Santa Cruz have accrued any penalties, many who got tagged today are pursing protests tonight to rescue their regattas. The final day three results might not be determined until tomorrow.

Hosted by Sail Newport, 10 races are scheduled through Friday.

Preliminary Day Three Standings (Top 10 of 71; 6 races, 1 discard)
1. Cougar, Will Welles , USA – 1 -6 -[9] -1 -3 -4 ; 15
2. Bruschetta, Mauricio Santa Cruz , BRA – [12] -4 -10 -2 -1 -7 ; 24
3. Team Tarheel, Greg Griffin , USA – [23] -7 -4 -3 -11 -8 ; 33
4. Gringa DC, Vernon Robert , CHI – 3 -2 -16 -16 -[72] -10 ; 47
5. Luca vive, Alejo Rigoni Gonzalez , ARG – 10 -25 -[26] -4 -7 -2 ; 48
6. Extasis, Pedro Garra , URU – 14 -3 -13 -6 -[16] -13 ; 49
7. Pipe Dream, Mike Marshall , USA – 13 -13 -8 -10 -[72] -5 ; 49
8. Honey Badger, Travis Odenbach , USA – 23 -8 -[72] -16 -2 -1 ; 50
9. Nautalytics, Mike Ingham , USA – 27 -[29] -2 -8 -10 -3 ; 50
10. Helly Hansen, John Mollicone , USA – 2 -[24] -11 -13 -16 -9 ; 51
11. Clear Air, Rossi Milev , CAN – 8 -[34] -14 -7 -15 -14 ; 58

Event website – Complete results – Photos