John Mollicone fortified his lead at the J/24 Midwinter Championship on Tuesday’s three races. Team Helly Hansen has now tallied just 12 total points in the eight races thus far, dropping an 8 in race one, leaving scores of 3,1,1,2,2,1,2. Will Welles moved into the second overall spot with a solid day and 18 total points. Mike Ingham stands in third with 26 points. The annual event began Monday at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, FL. The 20 teams were postponed in the morning due to lack of wind, but the seabreeze was worth the wait when it kicked in at 14-16 knots with puffs around 18. Welles raced Cougar to first in Tuesday’s initial race, followed by Mollicone and Peter Bream’s Team Tarheel. With Tim Healy, Geoff Becker, Dan Rabin and Gordon Borges, Mollicone snared the top spot in the next race, dropping Welles to second, and Travis Odenbach’s Honey Badger came in third. Bream continued a great day by winning the final contest, with the familiar Mollicone and Welles behind him. Racing concludes on Wednesday. Photos are available on the J/24 Class Facebook page, and complete results/regatta information are available at www.diyc.org.