J/24 World Championship Preview

Thirty-six teams representing ten nations will seek to win the 2023 J/24 World Championship on September 12-16 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Ten races are scheduled over five consecutive days.

The line-up has Argentina- 2, Australia- 6, Germany- 4, Greece- 11, Hungary- 2, Ireland- 1, Italy- 3, Japan- 1, United Kingdom- 2, and USA- 3.

Fighting for the title from the USA are the formidable Travis Odenbach’s Honeybadger, Keith Whittemore’s Furio, and Tony Parker’s Bangor Packet. There are more J/24 Championship trophies amongst that trio than ALL other J/24 teams combined sailing at this year’s worlds.

Ironically, the American’s toughest competition will come from competitors halfway around the world as the Australian contingent is formidable, led by various Australian champions like Sean Kirkjian’s Sailpac, Steve Wright and Karyn Grover’s Tinto, Dave West & Andrew Lim’s Ace, and Hugo Ottoway’s Bruschetta VI.

The Germans have two strong teams in the form of Manfred Konig’s Vitesse and Stefan Karsunke’s Schwere JUNGS. As hosts, the Greeks hope one of their top teams like Alex Tagaropoulos’s Hellenic Police can withstand the foreign onslaught.

As a recent J/24 Europeans winner, the Irish Headcase team led by Cillian Dickson can withstand the withering heat applied by the top Americans. The same holds true for the classically top Italian team of La Superba, headed up by multiple Italian J/24 Champion Ignazio Bonanno.

Event information – Race details – Results – Facebook

Source: J/News