Zeke Horowitz Wins J/22 Worlds

Annapolis, MD (September 13, 2018) – Zeke Horowitz’s Uncle Fluffy accomplished what none of the other 63 teams at the 2018 J/22 World Championship could—avoiding a high-number finish in the nine-race series hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club.

Now Zeke and crew Jackson Benvenutti, Jo Ann Fisher and Emmy Stuart are J/22 World Champions. Horowitz came into the final day of racing a nine-point underdog to Allan Terhune’s Thunder Chicken, however, Terhune faced a U-flag penalty in the day’s first race, paving the way for someone to make a move.

Uncle Fluffy did just that, nailing a 2,3,3 on the day, which, added to his previous scores of 6,1,6,(11),5,6, gave the Annapolis-based helmsman the title with 32 net points. Terhune never gave up, getting bullets in races eight and nine, but couldn’t catch the Horowitz team. Thunder Chicken ended with 35 points for the silver position.

Coming in third, and making it an all-Annapolis top three, was Jeffrey Todd’s Hot Toddy. They finished strong with a pair of fours to edge out Michael Marshall’s Bad News on a tie-breaker at 80 points.

While the forecast for Hurricane Florence suggested the storm would stay south of the race area and have minimal impact, the event organizers believed it to be prudent and finish the regatta a day early. The schedule was changed to 10 races total, finishing on Thursday, September 13.

Sixty-four teams represented Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa and the USA.

Final Results (Top 10 of 64; 9 races, 1 discard)
1. Uncle Fluffy, Zeke Horowitz , USA – 6 -1 -6 -[11] -5 -6 -2 -3 -3 ; 32
2. Thunder Chicken, Allan Terhune , USA – 4 -6 -1 -2 -18 -2 -[65] -1 -1 ; 35
3. Hot Toddy, Jeffrey Todd , USA – 1 -26 -8 -22 -[40] -7 -8 -4 -4 ; 80
4. Bad News, Mike Marshall , USA – 13 -3 -4 -3 -[35] -12 -4 -34 -7 ; 80
5. US, Chris Wientjes , USA – 23 -30 -9 -6 -1 -8 -1 -8 -[39] ; 86
6. Scooby, J.R. Maxwell , USA – 18 -5 -2 -[31] -15 -9 -7 -14 -20 ; 90
7. Gray Duck, Matthew Thompson , USA – 25 -7 -24 -13 -4 -13 -[40] -12 -2 ; 100
8. YEM, Travis Odenbach , USA – 2 -8 -3 -29 -41 -[53] -5 -11 -18 ; 117
9. USA 677, Brad Julian , USA – 10 -19 -10 -1 -29 -[35] -32 -21 -10 ; 132
10. Dusty, Pete Levesque , USA – 30 -13 -18 -16 -17 -28 -[34] -6 -5 ; 133

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: J/22 Class