Twenty-nine J/24s took to the waters of Galveston Bay on Friday, where 12-18 knots of breeze allowed four races at the J/24 North American Championship at Houston Yacht Club. Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger has collected the early advantage with scores of 4,3,3,2 for 12 points. The Japanese team Siesta, led by Nobuyuki Imai, holds second place with 18 points. The opening contest had Patricio Sly’s Muy Muy in the top spot. Imai’s Siesta took line honors in race two, ahead of Mike Ingham’s Nautalytics and Odenbach’s Honeybadger. It was the same winning trio in the third and fourth battles: Ingham, Will Welles’ Bogus and Odenbach in race three, and then Ingham, Odenbach and Welles in race four. Brendan Feeney, the first recipient of the Kelly Holmes-Moon J/24 Scholarship Boat, is crewing on Aidan Glackin’s Mental Floss before he takes on his own program this summer. Racing continues through Sunday. Complete results may be found at https://www.regattatech.com/websites/action/showEventHome?clubCode=HoustonYC&eventCode=J24NA17, and photos are available on the J/24 Class Facebook page.