Thank you to Dave Noble for the following report: Winter has arrived, and what better place to be than in Jacksonville at The Florida Yacht Club’s J/24 Kings Day Regatta/ Southeast Regional Championship. The temperature was in the 70s, the winds were just touching 10 knots and the skies blue—what a beautiful day on the water for the start of the first event of the J/24 Peter Bream Winter Series Trophy. FYC’s Waterfront Director Jodi Weinbecker and J/24 Fleet 55 Captain John Hirsch welcomed 15 crews, introducing PRO Pat Lambert and his team. Four races were sailed on Saturday in conditions allowing for dry decks, full crew on the rail and short sleeve attire. Ideal is what the Chamber of Commerce would say, but there was current and a number of competitors learned a valuable lesson. Yes, if you hit the mark you need to take a penalty, when the Rule 44.3 is in effect throw your yellow flag and sail on, no need to do that penalty turn too, but be sure you sign the forms when you return to the club. Both amateur and seasoned sailors will remember next time. After day one, Travis Odenbach led Mike Ingham and John Faudree. Saturday night, FYC’s pasta dinner is always filling and delicious. Sunday morning, the crews woke to the passing cold front’s frosty morning. The early start of race five was in a brisk north breeze of 13-15 against an outflowing current. The RC was able to get race five done with no scoring penalties, and it was still early morning. Race six was going to be the biggest challenge for all the sailors as the brisk breeze was dying considerably. The outgoing current made the windward legs tolerable, but downwind was slow and low. With puffs being chased, the course legs shortened and some of the fleet was not finishing due to time limitation. Mike Ingham sailing with Team Tarheel won the regatta with five bullets out of six races. Travis Odenbach was in second, and the newest J/24 Class member John Faudree (local JU sailing coach) remained in third place. The Kings Day Regatta was four regattas in one—of course Kings Day, but also it was the Southeast Regional Championship of District 8 and 10, which awards one berth to the 2017 Worlds in Ontario. Congratulations John Faudree (Travis and Mike previously qualified). It is also the first regatta of the J/24 Winter Series, which has been renamed The Peter Bream Winter Series Trophy in memory of Dr. Peter Bream who did so much to promote the sport of J/24 sailing. This award is presented to the top amateur helm of the series including Kings Day, the Midwinter Championship and Easter Regatta. The winner of the first 2016/2017 event is Daniel Borrer, who just happens to be the previous winner of the series. Lastly, Kings Day is the second event of the Florida State Series which is being led by Patricio Sly of Fleet 10. Thank you to The Florida Yacht Club for a wonderful regatta, special thanks to the local Brewery Bold City for the delicious beer the entire weekend, and to North Sails for supplying various prizes. It was a great weekend…thanks to all who came and hope to see more next year! For complete event information, visit www.kingsdayj24regatta.com.