2022 J/70 Midwinter Championship

Tampa, FL (February 6, 2022) – Fernando Perez Ontiveros’ Black Mamba (above) topped 62 other boats to claim the title of 2022 J/70 Midwinter Champion. The team from Mexico, including Gonçalo Almeida, Bernardo Freitas, and River Paquin, won without needing today’s lone race. They finished with 38 net points, four better than Brian Keane’s Savasana. Richard Witzel’s Rowdy placed third with 46 net points.

“We had really good starts, going off the line very fast, setting up for that first beat trying to get to the top mark in first,” explained Paquin. “We put in a lot of practice and sailed in all sorts of conditions before this event. We knew how to change gears quickly. Downwinds, we felt a little sticky, but we kept our position.”

In the Corinthian Division, Francisco Van Avermaete’s Juicy (with Geronimo Galvan, Francisco Bellochio, and Trinidad Silva) from Argentina topped the 28-boat group, ahead of American Bob Willis’ Rip Rullah and Swedish Filip Engelbert’s Charter. USA1516, with Dave Kerr, Lee Sackett, Geoff Becker, and Tom Sessions, bested the seven-boat One-Pro group. Rounding out that top three were Mark Gorman’s Pazzi and Peter Barrett’s Reset.

Juicy’s Francisco Bellochio spoke about the conditions, stating they were “kind of tricky, shifty, right, left…pretty fun! On Saturday, we did top 10 in the first race. Second one, we got stuck at the starting line with a few boats, but in the third one, we pulled another top 10.”

Racing was held February 4-6.

Series information – Race details – Results

Final Results (Top 10 of 63; 8 races, 1 discard)
1. Fernando Perez Ontiveros/ Gonçalo Almeida/ Bernardo Freitas/ River Paquin, MEX-3 -2 -12 -7 -1 -4 -9 -[64/DNF]; 38
2. Brian Keane/ Ron Weed/ Conner Harding/ Thomas Barrows, USA-10 -4 -[11] -10 -3 -6 -3 -6; 42
3. Richard Witzel/ Carlos Robles/ Tomus Dietrich/ Jud Smith, USA-[23] -3 -14 -1 -10 -11 -5 -2; 46
4. David Jannetti/ Travis Odenbach/ Kris Werner/ Terry Hutchinson, USA-4 -7 -1 -3 -4 -12 -21 -[33]; 52
5. Bruno Pasquinelli/ Morgan Reeser/ Matt Woodworth/ Max Skelley, USA-5 -1 -8 -13 -14 -[16] -10 -4; 55
6. Simon Patterson/ Luke Cross/ Nic Asher/ Stevie Morrison, GBR-2 -10 -17 -[64/UFD] -2 -3 -12 -15; 61
7. Dave Kerr/ Lee Sackett/ Geoff Becker/ Tom Sessions, USA-11 -13 -13 -[21] -6 -1 -16 -9; 69
8. Robert Hughes/ Willem van Waay/ Manu Weiller/ Rod Favela, USA-6 -12 -7 -2 -[64/UFD] -13 -28 -8; 76
9. John Brigden/ Nevin Snow/ Ian McDill Barrows/ Ed Lebens, USA-[21] -5 -16 -11 -21 -7 -11 -5; 76
10. John & Molly Baxter/ John Baxter/ Molly Baxter/ Ben Lamb/ Allan Terhune, USA-1 -[64/UFD] -3 -5 -11 -38 -1 -23; 82

The winner of the Davis Island Winter Series was Brian Keane’s Savasana. – Results

2021-22 J/70 Winter Series
Event #1: Dec 3-5, 2021 (2021 J/70 Midwinters) – https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=14755
Event #2: Jan 8-9, 2022 – https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=14756
Event #3: Feb 4-6, 2022 (2022 J/70 Midwinters) – https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=14757

Source: J/70 Class