Ronning, Fisher top J/70 Winter Series #2

Published on January 6th, 2019

Fifty-three J/70 teams competed in the second stage of the 3-event 2018-2019 J/70 Winter Series, held January 5-6 in Tampa, FL. Joel Ronning’s Catapult with Victor Diaz de Leon, Chris Stocke, and Patrick Wilson took the victory with 24 points in five races.

Ronning fell ill on Saturday morning, so Wendy Reuss stepped in to helm the team to scores of 5,2,3,1 in gorgeous conditions (winds around 15 knots with higher gusts, under a cloudless sky). Catapult was two notches behind Travis Odenbach’s B Squared after day one.

Light winds around 6 knots allowed only one race on Sunday, with Ronning feeling better and returning as Catapult skipper. They finished 13th, but Odenbach landed 20th, giving the Catapult team the weekend victory (Odenbach totaled 29 overall points). Brian Keane’s Savasana placed third with 33 points.

The 18-boat Corinthian division was topped by Andrew Fischer’s Button Fly (above).

Final Results (Top 10 of 53; 5 races)
1. Catapult, Joel Ronning , USA – 5 -2 -3 -1 -13 ; 24
2. B Squared, Travis Odenbach , USA – 1 -3 -1 -4 -20 ; 29
3. Savasana, Brian Keane , USA – 3 -1 -5 -2 -22 ; 33
4. Mr. Pitiful, Kevin Downey , USA – 7 -4 -23 -3 -2 ; 39
5. Dark Horse, Greiner Hobbs , USA – 6 -15 -9 -6 -5 ; 41
6. New Wave, Will Welles , USA – 2 -11 -4 -7 -21 ; 45
7. Polar, Doug Clark , USA – 4 -5 -11 -24 -9 ; 53
8. Black River Racing, Douglas Strebel , USA – 21 -8 -28 -5 -1 ; 63
9. USA 167, James Prendergast , USA – 22 -7 -2 -13 -19 ; 63
10. Button Fly, Andrew Fisher , USA – 10 -12 -16 -15 -12 ; 65

Event details – Results – Facebook

2018-19 J/70 Winter Series
Dec 8-9: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=5916
Jan 5-6: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=5917
Feb 9-10: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=5918