Doyle wins J/22 Midwinter Championship

Published on March 26th, 2017

Kevin Doyle, Vic Snyder and Aaron Snyder’s Mo’ Money won the storm plagued J/22 Midwinter Championship, held March 24-26 in New Orleans, LA. After high winds kept the 31-boat fleet off the water for the first two days, the Youngstown, New York-based team tallied a 4,3,1 for 8 points to take the title. Travis Odenbach’s Sea Bags Sailing Team secured second place with 16 points, and Matt Thompson’s Underdog took third with 17 points.

Going into the final race, the Doyle/Snyder team held a one-point advantage over Kevin’s brother Chris Doyle on The Jug 4 1. “We had a great start in the middle of the line with no one around us, and we launched,” explained Kevin Doyle. “We kept touch with Chris, but mostly we just sailed ultra conservative. The winds were fluky in direction and velocity all day.”

Doyle and Snyder have been racing Mo’ Money for more than 20 years, previously with Kevin’s son Jake and now with Vic’s son Aaron. When asked what has kept him in the Class for so many years, Doyle replied, “Number one, the J/22 is a great boat, and number two is the people. Actually, those two are interchangeable. Good boats attract good people. And number three, we race in cool and folksy places.”

Final Results (Top 5 of 31; 3 races)
1. 489, Mo’ Money, Kevin Doyle, Youngstown Yacht Club, 4-3-1- ; 8
2. 1542, Sea Bags Sailing Team, Travis Odenbach, Rochester Yacht Club, 5-8-3- ; 16
3. 1311, Underdog, Matt Thompson, Wayzata Yacht Club, 12-1-4- ; 17
4. 486, En Fuego, Michael Schmid, Wayzata Yacht Club, 9-6-6- ; 21
5. 707, Tejas, Terry Flynn, GBCA/FWBC, 2-15-7- ; 24