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Team Helly Hansen survived light and shifty conditions on the final day to win the 2014 J/70 North American Championship hosted by the Rochester Yacht Club. Our 10th in the final race of the regatta was enough to earn us the victory. Every boat in the event would likely agree that the racing was very challenging because the talent level was so high and the conditions made the racing extra tough.
Staying out of trouble was one of our major goals before the event began. From the beginning we knew that keeping our tactical options open early in each race would be a key to success. Today, like every race during the event, we wanted to get a start that put us in a position to control our options as much as possible. To do this, we decided to start near the mid-line committee boat and after the start we were able to continue on starboard tack until we decided to tack. Much of the fleet decided to start on the right hand starting line, so our start and early starboard tack found us to the left side of the majority of the fleet. After about 3 minutes, we saw an increase in pressure developing to the right side of the course and we tacked away from our group on the left to get connected with the new pressure.

Sailing across the middle of the course was tough as we watched more than 20 boats sail across our bow in the new breeze from the right. Fortunately we abandoned our left side position in time to just get to the new wind and stay in touch with the front of the fleet. The regatta leader was with us on the left side before our tack toward the right, but they were not able to escape the left and get across the course before the wind dropped and filled from the the right side.
At the first mark, we rounded about 25th and the regatta leader was well back in the fleet. To add drama, the third place team, only trailing us by 16 points overall, rounded the first mark in 3rd. For the remaining 3 legs we were able to find good lanes and move up through the fleet to 10th place at the finish and the overall lead.
Our conservative approach on the starting line and applying tactics that gave us the most options, kept us near the front in every race. That strategy isn’t flashy, but in a large fleet with no drop races, it allowed us the opportunity to be near the front in every race. Consistency will win in the long term, even if it doesn’t seem exciting as winning individual races.
Day 2 Report: https://www.sail1design.com/2014-j70-north-american-championship-day-2-report/
Day 1 Report: https://www.sail1design.com/2014-j70-north-american-championship-day-1-report/
1 Tim Healy USA 58 43.00 3 3 6 9 12 10
2 Ian Atkins GBR 76 50.00 6 20 3 13 7 1
3 Brian Keane USA 36 57.00 5 6 2 4 5 35
4 Mauricio Santa Cruz BRA 66 67.00 4 16 1 29% 10 7
5 Allan Terhune USA 69 68.00 10 13 4 27 3 11
6 Martin Kullman USA 42 71.00 21 15 21 8 2 4
7 john brim USA 03 73.00 24 9 9 17 11 3
8 Kris Werner / F. Wehrheim USA 23 76.00 20 7 22 5 9 13
9 Joel ronning USA 52 77.00 29 2 8 28 1 9
10 Bennet Greenwald USA 54 100.00 16 22 5 1 13 43
11 Martin Johnsson USA 61 C 103.00 17 14 27 2 37 6
12 Kerry Klingler USA 30 106.00 11 4 23 22 22 24
13 Adam Burns USA 05 C 107.00 15 8 28 21 19 16
14 Brian Elliott USA 20 C 109.00 7 1 19 25 26 31
15 Jud Smith USA 48 109.00 8 18 16 3 8 56
16 Todd Hiller USA 49 C 111.00 41 28 10 6 24 2
17 Peter Vessella USA 07 128.00 19 19 13 26 29 22
18 Thomas Bowen USA 11 132.00 34 30 11 18 27 12
19 Marco Teixidor PUR 56 C 133.00 2 21 29% 11 23 47%
20 Will Welles USA 50 143.00 37 11 18 19 4 54
21 Gregg Mylett USA 55 C 148.00 18 45 33 20 17 15
22 Jenn Ray Wulff USA 22 C 152.00 1 23 29 12 25 62
23 James Barnash USA 82 166.00 12 12 32 14 52 44%
24 Henry Filter USA 26 C 167.00 23 37 12 7 31 57
25 Tim Finkle USA 02 C 169.00 51 29 17 10 39 23
26 Jim Cunningham USA 06 C 175.00 32 27 26 32 16 42
27 Mikael Lindqvist SWE 78 178.00 9 5 39 33 42 50%
28 Stanley Edwards USA 79 179.00 13 34 45 29 30 28
29 Mark Ploch USA 44 185.00 50 32 7 35 21 40%
30 David Koski USA 64 199.00 36 47 20 16 15 65
31 Jeff_John_Ed_Go Sullivan USA 75 201.00 46 10 40 46 6 53
32 Richard Nesbett USA 12 203.00 28 44 34 55 28 14
33 Ron Thompson USA 24 C 205.00 52 46 43 41 18 5
34 Neil Sullivan USA 73 215.00 31 41 37 24 38 44
35 Heather Gregg Earl USA 14 C 217.00 25 43 25 23 50% 51
36 Chuck Millican BER 33 C 220.00 33 31 14 47 48 47
37 Bruno Pasquinelli USA 21 223.00 38 25 72q 39 20 29
38 tyler doyle USA 31 225.00 27 56 30 31 14 67
39 Catharine Evans USA 15 230.00 14 38 47 36 32 63
40 Frank McNamara USA 41 C 234.00 47 50 36 34 33 34%
41 Dave Franzel USA 65 243.00 53 39 31 67% 34 19
42 John DiMatteo USA 18 C 255.00 39 54 55 44 55 8
43 Paul Cannon USA 04 C 256.00 30 49 49 72q 35 21
44 Stu McCrea CAN 29 C 267.00 22 17 52 72% 64 40
45 Scott Weakley CAN 37 C 268.00 68 26 41 51 57 25
46 Daan Goedkoop USA 09 C 273.00 40 35 24 30 72% 72c
47 Collin Kirby USA 74 C 280.00 43 24 50 58 43 62%
48 Killian Corbishley USA 46 C 283.00 54 55 51 38 47 38
49 Ian Mayers CAN 51 283.00 49 42 38 50 46 58
50 andrew fisher USA 77 285.00 44 48 66 59% 50 18
51 Jonathan Pollak USA 43 C 293.00 45 66 57 40 51 34
52 Kathy Parks USA 35 C 295.00 65 33 44 57 69 2753 Tim Gibbs USA 45 C 296.00 61 53 42 42 49 49
54 R. Latane Montague USA 83 C 301.00 58 63 48 37 58% 37
55 Brandon Flack USA 13 C 303.00 26 66% 46 69 41 55
56 Rich Bergmann USA 70 C 303.00 35 67 61 48 60 32
57 William Markel USA 39 306.00 63 36 35 59 63 50
58 peter Firey USA 16 C 306.00 42 64 56 43 62 39
59 Neil Ford USA 72 C 308.00 56 40 54 54 40 64
60 Anthony Byrne USA 28 C 330.00 48 57 58 52 54 61
61 Edward Backman CAN 60 C 332.00 55 61 62 60 53 41
62 Holly Graf 84 351.00 64 71 69 72q 58 17
63 Kenneth Smith USA 47 C 351.00 62 58 53 61 71 46
64 David Dombroski USA 27 C 351.00 60 62 64 49 56 60
65 Davis King USA 80 370.00 59 51 60 64 70 66
66 Kristen Robinson USA 19 C 379.00 70 68 67 63 66 45
67 Martin McKenna USA 01 C 384.00 71 59 65 72% 45 72%
68 J.B. Walsh USA 57 C 384.00 57 72% 59 56 68 72c
69 timothy Weibel USA 08 388.00 66 70 63 62 59 68
70 Mark Wagner USA 38 C 405.00 69 65 68 66 65 72c
71 Jim Hermetet USA 63 C 410.00 67 72% 70 68 67 66%