The inaugural 2015/2016 J/24 Winter Series was kicked off at The Florida Yacht Club’s Kings Day Regatta, hosted by Fleet 55 of District 10. Nineteen teams from up and down the eastern US seaboard arrived in Jacksonville, Florida avoiding winter’s first pounce. Friday, November 20, a North Sails seminar hosted by USJCA President Will Welles and local sailing expert Paul Abdullah had a format of lots of practice starts and short windward leeward races, allowing for focused individual coaching. The coaches’ suggestions and tips were sure to benefit the eight participants in the ensuing regatta. Friday night, FYC held the Oyster Roast welcoming the teams with an abundance of southern cuisine and hospitality. Also available to all the sailors was a selection of brews from Bold City Brewery. Saturday, after an introduction from PRO Pat Lambert, the sailors were met on the St. Johns River with a variable Easterly, making for big swings and challenging conditions to get a start off. However challenging, the RC did a great job and used all of their assets throughout the day to assure good quality racing. The aggressive starts caused the “Z” flag to be hoisted often, and it later played a large part in the overall results. Daniel Borrer came in after four races with three bullets, putting Jesus Lizard squarely in the lead. That night, FYC did it again, offering the competitors and guests a supreme Italian dinner and many of the crew, if not all, carbed up preparing for the next day’s beat down. Sunday, the front made its presence. Though not too drastic with a drizzle and North wind, it did create an interesting chop with the varying current flows. Lessons learned from Friday’s North Sails seminar were certainly beneficial in the windy condition. All 19 teams were again aggressive at the starts, enabling the RC again to utilize the X flag, First Repeater, plus the I over Z. Jesus Lizard did allow some other boats to win individual races, but their consistency allowed them to drop the last race. Former World Champion Will Welles, subbing for Peter Bream on Team Tarheel, ended up second, while the third-place tie-break went to Christopher Stone on Velocidad, followed by Greg Griffin sailing MaJic, and Bash with Ron Medlin at the helm finished up the prize giving in fifth. Daniel Borrer thanked his Jesus Lizard crew of wife Kelly Holleran, Chip Till, Barbara Gold and Steve Lopez, and he also went on to praise the fine job The Florida Yacht Club did as well as North Sails and the Chris Morgan fairing job. The Kings Day Regatta is event number one of the J/24 Winter Series, to be followed by the Midwinter Championship at Davis Island Yacht Club and concluded with the 50th Annual Easter Regatta at the Columbia Sailing Center. Kings Day is also event number two of the Florida State J/24 Series of District 10. For complete results, visit http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/11216#_newsroom.