In Sunday’s first race, Will Welles’ Cougar held up a black flag penalty to become 2015 J/24 Pape Chevrolet North American Champ. Going to the final day of the contest at the Portland Yacht Club in Maine, Will held an eleven-point vantage, but a BFD in race 8 made for a grand end to the 9-race series.

Cougar nailed a 4th in the final contest to end with thirty-three points, 5 ahead of Travis Odenbach’s Honey Badger. Odenbach went on moving on the 4-day event, but settled for 2nd place with 38 points. John Mollicone’s Helly Hansen took the bronze spot with forty-seven points in his boat emblazoned with his company Yacht Charter Skiathos.

Based out of Newport, RI, J/24 World 2014 champ Will has spent some time sailing in and around Maine, but saw that the conditions were not typical this week. Welles said that it was a bit tricky, but having a solid team is the key. His team included Jeff Linton, Chris Morgan, Monica Morgan and Erik Rexford.

Both Odenbach and Welles just came back to United States from the J/24 World event in Germany the weekend before this event, where Will crewed on the 2nd place team, and Odenbach guided his team to third.

Final Results Top 5
1) Will Welles, Cougar, (33 points)
2) Travis Odenbach, Honey Badger,  (38 points)
3) John Mollicone, Helly Hansen, (47 points)
4) Tony Parker, Bangor Packet, (51 points)
5) Christopher Stone, Velocidad, (52 points)