(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- The second edition of the J/24 Copa Mexico
Olympic Edition was yet another resounding success. With fifty J/24s
competing from over a dozen countries, the sailing was both competitive
and a lot of fun for all those participating. In fact, with the support
of Mexico's Presidente Felipe Calderon helping to award special
trophies and roll-out the "red carpet", the province of Riviera Nayarit,
NEXTEL, DELL, MICROSOFT and others, it would be hard not to have fun in
this extravaganza sailed on Bahia de Banderas on Mexico's "Riviera". 
To
say competition was strong would be an understatement. With three
multiple J/24 World Champions and North American Champions present, the
top three boats would surely be no "push-overs" in the realm of
international one-design competition. As anticipated, the top five was
made up of World Champions, NA Champions and Mexican Champions-- ouch,
that racing must've been hot, hot, hot! Winning his second Copa Mexico
in a row was none other than 2010 J/24 World Champion Mauricio Santa
Cruz from Brazil on his famous NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA. Second was the
previous year's 2009 J/24 World Champion Tim Healey from Newport, Rhode
Island on 11TH HOUR RACING/ SAILORS FOR THE SEA. Third was a J/24 North
American and National Champion, Chris Snow from San Diego, California
on his familiar blue boat BOGUS. Fourth was past J/24 World Champion
Mike Ingham from Rochester, New York on BLUE DEMON. And, fifth was
Mexican Champion Ken Porter on COMEX. Incredibly, everyone in the top
five won at least one race out of the total of ten races, including
Robert Vernon on JOYITA from Chile.
The
opening day of racing began to establish a pecking order very quickly
for the top of the podium. After just two races, Mauricio's NEXTEL
BRUSCHETTA had two 1sts and Tim Healey's 11TH HOUR RACING/ SAILORS FOR
THE SEA had two 2nds! It was a decent day of sailing marked by several
large shifts, one even forcing an abandonment and restart of the second
race of the day.The next day saw very little wind between 6 and 8 knots, causing both courses to be shortened, with Tim Healey winning the first race and Robert Vernon from Chile winning the other-- proof the South American teams are getting stronger every year!
The third day of racing started with 8 knots of breeze, it went up to 12 and in the second race it went back down to 4 knots, so the course had to be shortened again. Some boats did not finish due to the wind conditions. This time, there were two new race winners- Kenneth Porter (MEX) on board COMEX and Mike Ingham (USA) on board BLUE DEMON.
On
the fourth day, the fleet was blessed with fabulous, picture-perfect
sailing conditions. The fleet started late due to wind changes, but
ended up winds of 16 knots with gusts of 18 and 20 kts. Winners on this
day were Mauricio's NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA and Tim Healey's 11TH HOUR
RACING, losing the first to an SCP (scoring penalty).In the end, Mauricio's crew did not have to sail the last race on the fifth and final day, enabling Chris Snow and team on BOGUS to grab their first race win of the regatta. Congratulations to Mauricio's NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA team on a job well done, same to Tim Healy, Chris Snow, Mike Ingham and Ken Porter to round out the top five, respectively. Sailing photo credits- Jen Edney For more J/24 Copa Mexico Regatta sailing information
