Locals Dominate J/24 Texas States(Austin, TX- Mar 20) - Local Austin sailor Ryan Harden won the 2011 J/24 Texas State Championship with an impressive display of sailing, never crossing the finish line outside of the top two over the six race series. Harden topped a competitive fleet that included 3-time J/24 World Champion, Mauricio Santa Cruz, and perennial Southwest Circuit Champion (and Harden's 25-year older brother) Bob Harden.
Conditions were perfect, with temperatures in the mid 80s and winds ranging from 15 to 25 knots. Harden, sailing some 100 pounds light of the maximum allowed weight, chose to use the 100% jib in all the races, much to the dismay of some of the more hardcore teams. After seeing Harden's domination of the early racing, by the final race all but two boats had switched to the small jib looking for a similar speed advantage.
The Texas State Championship is the first regatta of the 2011 Texas Circuit, and with the U.S. Nationals slated to be held in Texas in May, racing was highly competitive as teams worked to tune up for the big event.
Although Harden held a comfortable lead, racing for the remaining top spots was extremely tight with three teams tied for second heading into the final race. In the end, second place overall went to Eric Faust, who posted two bullets on the final day to edge out Santa Cruz and Bob Harden in the standings. Final sailing results for J/24 Texas States courtesy of RegattTech.com can be found here.
