Whittemore prevails at J/24 Worlds

Miami, FL (October 26, 2019) – Keith Whittemore’s Furio entered the final two races of the 41st J/24 World Championship with a nine-point advantage, and quickly slammed the door on the competition by dominating race nine of 10. With crew Shelby Milne, Willem Van Waay, Mark Rodgerd and Brian Thomas, the Seattle-based team has been crowned 2019 J/24 World Champions, topping 78 other eager competitors.

Following their bullet to start Saturday, long-time J/24 sailor Whittemore placed eighth in the final contest, five notches better than his closest challenger Rossi Milev’s Clear Air. Although 2017 J/24 World Champion Milev placed second behind Whittemore in Saturday’s first match, Furio was able to cover in race 10 to officially clinch victory with 41 points to Milev’s 57. Chris Stone’s Velocidad assembled an impressive Championship for third place (66 points).

Whittemore’s highest finish in prior World Championships was third, and he has been a bridesmaid at more than one major Championship. Five J/24 World Champion helmsmen were among this fleet, and Whittemore smiled, saying, “Being able to beat those guys feels really, really, really good!”

He added, “Today was scary. When we drove down, we said we really need to win the first race, so the second race isn’t a complete mess.” The plan worked perfectly when Furio started at the pin, and got a header. “We could cross everybody. We were frankly gone at that point and extended our lead. We’d struggled up every first beat of every race. That was the first time where something happened, and we said this is going to be really good!”

The IJCA also awarded its perpetual trophies:
• Jaeger Women’s Trophy to Erica Spencer, Sea Bags Women’s Sailing Team, USA
• Under-25 Turner Trophy to Matthew Miranda, Team Outrageous on the Kelly Holmes-Moon Grant Boat, USA

Seventy-nine teams from 19 countries competed from October 22 to 26, with ten races scheduled for the five days of racing. For a complete list of all J/24 World Champions, click here.

Event details – Results – Facebook – Photos

Final Results (Top 10 of 79; 10 races, 1 discard)
1. Furio, USA5325, Keith Whittemore / Shelby Milne / Willem Van Waay / Mark Rodgerd / Brian Thomas – 4 -3 -7 -3 -[33] -2 -1 -12 -1 -8 ; 41
2. Clear Air, CAN5362, Rossi Milev / Mark Goodyear / Victor Diaz de Leon / Vince Somoza / Jeremy Edwards – 1 -6 -14 -1 -3 -[16] -11 -6 -2 -13 ; 57
3. Velocidad, USA5476, Christopher Stone / Mike Marshall / Pat O’Connor / Billy Perkins / Brian Kamilar – 5 -2 -4 -14 -4 -7 -[26] -5 -8 -17 ; 66
4. Nautalytics, USA5443, Mike Ingham / Quin Schwenker / Justin Coplan / Max Holzer / Marianna Schoke – 2 -14 -[39] -7 -8 -5 -14 -4 -9 -5 ; 68
5. Honeybadger, USA5237, Travis Odenbach / Patrick Wilson / Scott Nixon / Collin Kurby / Chad Atkins – [22] -19 -19 -5 -9 -1 -8 -11 -5 -1 ; 78
6. Lifted, CAN4025, Evan Petley-Jones / Peter Soosalu / Matt Soosalu / Ben Maloney / Shawn Kaiser – 12 -16 -29 -6 -5 -[35] -4 -9 -3 -9 ; 93
7. Bruschetta, BRA37, Mauricio Santa Cruz / Daniel Santiago / Fernando Tovar Gioia / Alex Saldanha / Fernando Costa De Souza – 27 -[80] -11 -20 -10 -8 -9 -1 -6 -3 ; 95
8. Angel of Harlem, USA799, Robby Brown / Mark Liebel / Martin Koleman / Steve Liebel / Ron Hyatt – 7 -12 -3 -29 -[80] -23 -6 -8 -7 -2 ; 97
9. Buckaroo, USA5235, Will Welles / Jeff Linton / Erik Rexsford / Chris Morgan / Monica Morgan – 13 -[24] -13 -21 -6 -14 -13 -2 -19 -4 ; 105
10. bangor packet, USA58, Tony Parker / William Bomar / James Niblock / Zeke Horowitz / Ross Dierdorff – 15 -1 -6 -2 -2 -[27] -17 -24 -25 -25 ; 117

Source: J/24 Class