Rossi Milev’s Clear Air Captures J/24 Midwinter Championship

Mar 14, 2019
Clean Air at the 2017 Worlds in Toronto

2017 J/24 World Champion Rossi Milev of PCYC, Toronto, on Clear Air, hoisted another Class perpetual trophy Sunday, taking the 2019 J/24 Midwinter Championship at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, FL. With crew Dan Borrer, Gayle Gray, Vince Somoza (boat owner) and Mark Goodyear, the Ontario Canada-based helmsman led the team to net scores of 2,1,3,7,5,1,4 for 23 points. Carter White’s YouRegatta paced solid scores all weekend, earning him the silver position with 26 points. John Mollicone’s Helly Hansen came on strong in the latter races to clinch the bronze spot with 28 points.

Twenty-nine teams completed eight races from March 1-3. This event was Milev’s first since winning the 2017 Worlds. “It felt great to be back,” said Milev. “We didn’t have the gears since we haven’t sailed for a while, but every day, we got a little better.” Although Gray and Goodyear were part of the World Championship crew, Borrer and Somoza were newcomers to Clear Air, yet “clicked from the get-go.”

The blue skies, solid seabreeze and temperatures hovering around 80 degrees were a welcome relief to the sub-zero conditions in Canada. About Davis Island, Milev summarized, “The breeze this weekend was unbelievable. I’ve sailed here a lot of times, and this is the steadiest I’ve ever seen it. On Saturday, we had 15 minutes on one tack, and we never got a shift.”

Top five:

1. Clear Air, Rossi Milev, CAN 2 -1 -[14] -3 -7 -5 -1 -4 ; 23

2. YouRegatta, Carter White, USA 1 -[12] -6 -4 -3 -6 -3 -3 ; 26

3. Helly Hansen, John Mollicone, USA [24] -8 -4 -6 -2 -2 -5 -1 ; 28

4. Bangor Packet, Tony Parker, USA 11 -11 -1 -[12] -5 -1 -4 -6 ; 39

5. Angel of Harlem, Robby Brown, USA 7 -2 -3 -2 -11 -7 -8 -[30] ; 40