J/24 World Championship 2024 at the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle

J/24 World Championship 2024 at the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle – Day 2

by Jay Leon 3 Oct 00:21 PDT
1-5 October 2024

In Caddyshack, Judge Smails asks Ty Webb, Chevy Chase’s golf pro character with a zen vibe, “What did you shoot today?”, and Ty answers: “Oh Judge, I don’t keep score”, and the Judge asks: “Well, how do you measure yourself with other golfers?”, and Ty said: “By height.”

After the way the fleet got jumbled up during the first race today, there were some J/24 sailors wishing for another way of measuring. Yesterday, the pecking order was established, and it fell neatly in line with most expectations. The super polished and experienced teams were all in a row on top.

Then came the first race today in a slowly filling northerly of 3 to 7 knots. It was a difficult test for sure, but the first weather mark rounding was a goat rodeo of epic proportions that created a few winners and a bunch of big losers.

When the scores were logged, several of the top teams would have loved a new measuring system and height would be preferred over finishing places. The first place finisher from race 1 put up an 11th. Second place from race 1 came in with a 28th, and fifth place filled in their scorecard with a 27th. Mike Ingham came away the cleanest and now leads the regatta after three races with a third, ninth, and second. And Nobuyuki Imai is in second place with a first, eleventh, and seventh.

Sailboat racing is a cerebral sport and getting behind your expectations for your own performance can be debilitating. Everyone knows what it feels like to have a bad race, and such a situation can lead to unfortunate decisions. Who doesn’t have that one boat in their mind that they just cannot imagine losing to? And when that boat crosses ahead, clear thinking can simply go out the window.

Scott, Shelby, and Ryan Milne have more opportunities to experience these emotions because they are all sailing in this event—on different boats! Scott is on Tremendous Slouch (71), Shelby on Hair of the Dog (54), and Ryan on Jester (70). In Milne folklore we understand there is a reverse contest called the “Last Place Milne”. Imagine the household drudgery assigned to the award recipient!

After day two of this regatta, Shelby Milne is currently the First Place Milne. She sails with Jakob Lichtenberg’s Hair of the Dog team, and they are currently standing in sixth place. When asked about the dynamics, Shelby, who was the recipient of the Seattle Yacht Club sailor of the year award in 2020, said: “This sailing on different boats has made the banter around the house very lively!”

Scott Milne and his Tremendous Slouch team are only 11 points behind in ninth place after winning the second race today. When asked what he felt about winning the race, Scott said without hesitation: “We finally beat Ryan!”

Ryan Milne and his Under 25 team had a top ten finish in the first race today – finishing seventh in the race everyone else suffered through. Unfortunately, a 49th in the second race today weighs heavily on his total.

When asked how they thought son Ryan was doing, parents Shelby and Scott said: “Working with Ryan to get his J24 Worlds program up and running has been one of the most fun sailing experiences we have ever had.” After a great comment like that, it is hard to know which Milne to root for!

Fortunately, this regatta allows competitors to drop their worst finish once five races have been sailed. This creates an inverse scoring dynamic on the results page because it benefits those with the worst scores. In the Milne family contest, Shelby’s worse score is a 19th, Scott’s is a 33rd, and Ryan’s is a 49th. Once these are thrown out, Scott jumps ahead counting 15 points, Shelby is in second with 18 points, and Ryan is in third with 29 points.

These scores are quite close considering the regatta is just getting started and seven more races will be sailed before the last day on Saturday. We will be watching the Milne family rivalry closely as the rest of the races go onto the scorecard.

Racing resumes tomorrow at 11 AM PDT, and the wind is forecast to be blowing all day.