J/22 Midwinter Champs - Mike Marshall’s bad news excels in big breeze

by Julie and Christopher Howell on 21 Mar 2016 2016 J/22 Midwinter Championship - When the winds piped up to 16-24 knots on Sunday at the J/22 Midwinter Championship, Mike Marshall’s Bad News rose to the top of the 26-boat fleet to capture the title. With crew Mike Nicoletti and Matt Schubert, the Newport, RI-based helmsman sealed the victory with a two, one, two in Sunday’s blustery three races to total 20 net points.

Three boats were within one point of first place heading into today—Marshall not one of them—but the team reveled in the conditions, despite being about 70 pounds under the Class crew weight limit. Terry Flynn’s Tejas earned second place with 22 points, and Jeff Todd’s Hot Toddy took third with 24. Fort Walton Yacht Club in Fort Walton Beach, FL hosted the three-day event.

Bad News ran into a little bad luck on the opening day when a big shift at the end of the only race left them with a 10th place. Saturday brought intermediate conditions where, Marshall said, “I think the lightness of our boat hurt us, and we had to fight for every point.”

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When several boats struggled in Sunday’s heavier air, Marshall said the team “took about half of the first upwind leg to figure that we needed to ease the jib a little more than we thought.” He also credited tactician Matt Schubert for making a few key calls on where to go. Recalling that most of Sunday’s starts saw them off the line in the top five boats, the team still had to battle to pick off boats and make up the four-point deficit they started the day with. “By being a little forward off the start, we could choose our own destiny. Boats we didn’t pass upwind, we were able to catch up with downwind. The last race we played a covering game,” summarized Marshall. While accepting his trophy, he said, “I love this Class!”

The top five: Mike Marshall Bad News (20 points), Terry Flynn Tejas (22), Jeff Todd Hot Toddy (24), Chris Doyle The Jug 4 1 (24), Chris Wientjes (32).

In addition to Bad News, Sunday’s other race winners were Flynn and Todd.