It took seven races to sort out the chutes and ladders at the J/24 US National Championship hosted by The Lake George Club in Diamond Point, New York. The final contest was a duel between Mike Marshall’s American Garage and Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger. Winds were quite varied in Sunday’ lone race, including a hefty shift that propelled Marshall to earn his third consecutive US National title. The Newport, Rhode Island-based skipper led his team of Geoff Becker, Kelly FitzGerald, Rich Bowen and Jeff Hayden with 16 net points. Odenbach settled for second place at 20, tied on points with Tony Parker’s Bangor Packet. Sunday’s race winner was Bill Fastiggi’s Fawn Liebowitz. More than half the fleet competed in the Corinthian Division, topped by Mike Stasko’s Redline, with Finn Hadlock’s Boreas and Denny Vaughan’s Easy Street rounding out the top three. Redline’s crew included Austin Zauner, Gavin Smith, Tom King and Aaron Holland. Marshall summarized, “It came down to teamwork, all working together and never giving up. All the way through the regatta, there we places where we could have done this, that and the third thing a little better. As we progressed, we did them a little bit better, so it just comes down to a full team effort.” FitzGerald credited fellow crew Becker for keeping focus, particularly in the last race following a tough first weather leg. “These guys really pulled a rabbit out of a hat.”
Top Five:
- American Garage, Mike Marshall, 1-4-3-2-[5]-4-2- ; 16
- Honeybadger, Travis Odenbach, 2-1-[13]-1-2-2-12- ; 20T
- Bangor Packet, Tony Parker, 3-6-1-5-4-1-[9]- ; 20T
- You Regatta, Carter & Molly White, 6-5-2-3-[21]-3-7- ; 26
- Redline, Mike Stasko, 4-2-9-10-[23]-5-3- ; 33 (Corinthian)
Forty-two teams competed from May 19-21. Complete results may be found at https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/19642#home, and photos are available on the USA J/24 Class Facebook page.