Portsmouth’s Welles wins J/24 Worlds

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 9/13/18

They won four years ago in Newport and now Portsmouth’s Will Welles and crew have captured the J/24 world championships once more, this time on a lake in Italy.

Competing in a fleet of 89 boats, …

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Portsmouth’s Welles wins J/24 Worlds

Posted

They won four years ago in Newport and now Portsmouth’s Will Welles and crew have captured the J/24 world championships once more, this time on a lake in Italy.

Competing in a fleet of 89 boats, Welles won in commanding fashion with a low total score of 72 points, 28 points better than second place finisher Imai Nobuyuki of Japan. The team’s consistent total included a first place and four seconds among the ten races sailed.

Sailing aboard Italian crewman Giuliano Cattarozzi’s J/24 Kaster, the team also included Nick Turney (Cleveland, Ohio), Rich Bowen (Charleston, SC), and Andrea Casale (Genoa, Italy).

Sailing conditions and surroundings on Lake Garda were different than those Welles encounters out on Narragansett Bay.

“It was a beautiful venue, a very large lake surrounded by huge mountains. The wind blows from the north in the morning and then from the south in the afternoon — typically good wind, 14 to 20 mph,” Welles said later.

He credited his two Italian teammates “who brought a proven boat and helped with all the logistics in Italy.  This gave us the foundation that we needed to take one race at a time — we were fortunate to put together some solid finishes early on in the series and keep that going throughout the event.”

Asked how it felt to win this time around, Welles replied, “For four of us on board it was our second J/24 world championship title, Rich, Nick and I in 2014 and Andrea in 2008.  So the emotions weren't as loose as the first time but nothing like winning a world championship!”

Welles lives in Portsmouth with his wife and daughter and works in town for North Sails One Design.

And he does most of his sailing within a few miles — At “Sail Newport of course! When home I do most of my sailing out of Newport. I race in the local J/24 fleet (Fleet 50) as well as the Shields fleet.”

Welles got an early start in the sport in Southwest Harbor, Maine.

“I started sailing with my family at a very young age, always messing around in boats. My mother might say it was hard to tear me away from them for dinner!”

Welles has sailed lots of boats but said he thinks racing in the highly competitive J/24 class (boats built for decades here in the East Bay) is something special.

“The J/24 class is an old class with a lot of history, I'd say the racing is probably closer than it has ever been with all of the sailors knowing the tricks to make a J/24 go fast,” Welles said. “ I always say sail in the fleets that are in your backyard and the J/24 has always been there for me.” 

When not racing, Welles said he “Loves tinkering with boats and being on boats enjoying the water. (I) also enjoy hiking, skiing, etc.. but above all spending

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