J/24 World Championship Preview

First sailed in in 1979 (Newport, RI), the J/24 World Championship has since taken place on four continents and over two dozen countries around the world. For the 43rd edition, 38 teams from ten countries will vie for the 2022 title on July 18-22 in Corpus Christi, TX. The event features awards for the top Open teams, as well as Women’s and Youth teams.

The class continues to provide amazing sailing competition for a cross-section of sailors, from beginners to multiple World Champions and Olympic Medalists, and the summer conditions should serve up 15 to 25 knot winds from the southeast along with temperatures hovering in the low 90s (and humid).

The foreign contingent of teams are all excellent examples of the quality of their respective fleets. Those teams include:

• From Argentina is recent National Champion Nicolas Cubria sailing with team of Mario Cubria, Hernan Cubria, Marcos Aurelio Casciola, and Gonzalo Frejenal.
• From Chile is Jorge Valdez sailing with a crew of Benjamin Gershman, Miguel Salinas Guerra, Carlos Alberto Solar-Perez, and Pedro Andres Vera Carrera.
• Sailing from Great Britain is David Cooper’s team of Ian Parkinson, Jeff Coulter, Marcus Rogers, and Ellie Harding.
• Back again from Japan is their top team in the form of Nobuyuki Imai sailing with a crew of Daichi Wada, Taiga Nakagawa, and Kousuke Demichi.
• From Mexico is Enrique Perez Cirera’s team consisting of Walter Porter Sordo, Antonieta Zimmerman, Eduardo Ragasol Zimmerman, Erik Becker Meyer, and Mercedes Ragasol Zimmerman.
• The top Swedish team that has competed in dozens of J/24 Worlds is Per-Hakan Persson’s team of Monica Persson, Andreas Eld Emilsson, Hans Thulin, and Per Andersson.

The USA teams are stacked with talent, featuring several World, North American, and National Champions amongst them. These are the teams to watch out for over the course of five days of sailing in the highest levels of competition:

• From Newport is Mike Marshall’s team of Dave Hughes, Allan Terhune, Jeff Hayden, and Rod Favela. Mike is a J/24 World/North American Champion, and Terhune is a J/22 World/ North American Champion.
• From Vermont is Will Fastiggi with a crew of Bill Hardesty, Suzy Coburn, Matt Bologna, and Heather Ambrose. Hardesty is a multiple J/70 and Etchells World Champion, amongst others too numerous to mention.
• From Rockwall, TX is Paul Foerster’s a team of Rob Johnston, John Skiles, Stephen Andre, and Mike Brown. Foerster is a J/24 National and Midwinter Champion.
• From Newport is John Mollicone’s crew of Paul Abdullah, Will Welles, Matt Coughlin, and Nick Turney. Both Mollicone and Welles are J/24 World and Midwinter Champions.
• From Huntington, NY is Aidan Glackin’s team of Chris Fischer, Kris Werner, Geoff Becker, and Scott Apmann. Becker is J/24 World Champion and Lightning World Champion.
• From Seattle, WA is Keith Whittemore’s team of Mark Rodgers, Brian Thomas, Shelby Milne, and Willem van Waay. Whittemore and Thomas are J/24 North American, Pacific, Italian, and European Champions, while van Waay is a J/70 World Champion.
• From Pittsford, NY is Travis Odenbach’s crew of Chris Morgan, George Braddon, Chris Stocke, and Monica Morgan. Odenbach is a J/24 and Melges 24 North American Champion and J/24 Midwinter Champion.
• From Seattle, WA is Scott Milne’s team of Tom Niccoli, Jim Barrett, Rob Green, and Chris Walker. Milne is J/24 National and West Coast Champion.
• From Locust Valley, NY is the Constants family team of Alfred, Dave, Mike, and Steve Constants with their token friend of Dave Hammond. The Constants brothers are J/24 Midwinter, East Coast, and Long Island Sound Champions.

The J/24 class has been an early pioneer in supporting and rewarding Women’s sailing teams. In fact, the J/24 class held the first Women’s World Keelboat Championship in 1985 (Newport, RI)…a long, long time before other international one-design classes embraced similar initiatives to be inclusive of Women’s sailors. Here are the teams competing for both Open and Women’s World Championship honors:

• From the famous lake high in the Andes Mountains – Villa Carlos Paz – is Beatriz Agusti from Argentina with her crew of Rocio Agusti, Lucrecia Arrambide, Maria Candelaria Berberian, Mariana Felix de Lara Soares, and Barbara Gold
• From Webster, NY is Lee Ann Zaretsky sailing with a team of Shelly Strachan, Lois Breen, Leah Bourne, Linda Bowen, and Stephanie Crittenden.
• From Seabrook, TX is Elisabeth Hudson with a team of Julia Wayland, Stephanie Lightfoot, Florence Rodriguez, and Brittany Ford.

Event details: https://ccyc.com/web/pages/j24-worlds-2022

Source: J/News