Rossi Milev put several Midwinters with second and third place finishes behind him after now earning his first J/24 Midwinter Championship, held February 19-21. Hosted by the Davis Island Yacht Club, 25 teams from across the United States, Canada and even Japan completed seven races.

“I’m very happy to have finally won it, but it really wasn’t me, it was my crew,” credited Milev of Mark Liebel as tactician, Jim Traun on mast, Ron Hyat on bow and Arthur Blodgett as trimmer. The team came on strong on day two with a pair of bullets to come into Sunday with a three-point advantage, which held up when a lack of breeze kept teams ashore all day.

Milev will take home The Lambert Lai Trophy, named in honor of the previous USJCA President who passed away on December 30, 2014. John Mollicone with Tim Healy on Blind Squirrel collected second place with 19 points, and Carter White’s Sea Bags Sailing Team third with 21.

Milev noted that the Tampa Bay venue is “very challenging, and we ended up being lucky a bunch of times.” The event attracted a who’s who of J/24 sailors, making the competition very tough. “At least five other boats could have won it,” conceded Milev. “The top boats were here…maybe five out of the top 10 in the world!”

It’s a solid start to a year which sees his home club of Port Credit Yacht Club in Mississauga, Ontario Canada host the 2016 J/24 North American Championship from September 8-11.

Final Results (Top 5 of 25; 7 races, 1 discard)
1) Rossi Milev, Angel of Harlem [7], 3,1,7,3,1,1 = 16
2) John Mollicone/Tim Healy, Blind Squirrel 1,[14],8,4,1,2,3 = 19
3) Carter White, Sea Bags Sailing Team 3,2,2,3,2,[13],9 = 21
4) Mike Ingham 4,5,[14],1,12,5,2 = 29
5) Jim Lampman, Hot Chocolate 9,1,3,2,[15],4,11 = 30