J/24 World Championship 2024 at the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle - Day 3
by Jay Leon 4 Oct 20:02 NZDT
1-5 October 2024
Travis Odenback's Honeybadger team from Rochester Yacht Club score back-to-back 1st place finishes on day 3 - J/24 World Championship in Seattle © Dennis Pearce
Sailboat racing is a game of skill, but also a game of luck. It takes skill to make a boat go fast for an entire race. It takes skill to pick the best side of the racecourse. But sometimes the "best side" fades away, or the boats ahead conspire to make sure no clear lane will ever be available.
Other times, the lucky times, a wind shift materializes at just the right moment. Or the other boats leave your lane wide open. The statistically minded will tell you that random luck is equally distributed - that everyone gets the same number of lucky breaks.
After Travis Odenbach (bow 28) won races 4 and 5 back-to-back today he was asked how it happened and he said: "We got really lucky". He further explained that they were deep at the starts of both races, got pushed to the side of the course they didn't want, and then got "lucky" breaks that jumped them back up to the lead.
The only way to explain back-to-back first place finishes that are supposed to be lucky is to accept that some people are able to make their own luck. Sure, luck was involved, but as Travis further said: "We have a great team - that never gives up." After six races, Travis and his Honeybadger luck making team from Rochester Yacht Club are in first place with 19 points.
Not far behind and also from Rochester, is Mike Ingham's team with 23 points (bow 43).
While the rivals from Rochester fight it out for first and second, there are four teams vying for third place. The two Japanese teams that were first and second after day 1, Siesta and Gekko Diana have 42 and 38 points respectively, and Mike Goldfarb's War Canoe team from CYC Seattle (bow 48) has 39 and Paul Abdullah's Team Tarheel have 43. These four teams are essentially tied in pursuit of one remaining podium spot - unless luck runs short in Rochester!
Everyone on these teams had better wear their lucky socks tomorrow. The weather is turning from sunny skies and gentle north winds to a rainy and gusty southerly with blasts into the 20s. We have had six spectacular races over the past three days and tomorrow big things are bound to happen in the big breeze.