Michael Marshall triumphs at J/22 World Championship
by Christopher Howell on 25 Aug 2016
2016 J22 World Championship - Day 3 Christopher Howell
It took every leg of all 10 races to determine the winner of the J/22 World Championship at CORK/Sail Kingston in Ontario Canada. With a second place finish in Thursday’s only race, Mike Marshall, Todd Hiller and Luke Lawrence are the 2016 J/22 World Champions.
Heading into the 10th and final race, Marshall and Chris Doyle were tied on points at 30. As the 41 teams arrived at CORK in the morning, the after effects of an overnight storm left breeze in the mid-20s, so the Race Committee postponed on shore. But it didn’t take long for the winds to back off to the upper teens, so the flag came down allowing for the showdown between Marshall and Doyle. Brad Julian won the race, with Marshall finishing second to secure the Championship. Doyle placed sixth in the race but second overall with 36 net points. Jeff Todd took third with 43 points.
“We went into Thursday with the idea that it’s really three people (Todd was five points behind Marshall and Doyle), so it changes the whole dynamic. If it’s two people, you can do a little bit more match racing,” explained Marshall. “We just wanted to sail the best possible race we could, and we executed our plan exactly as we wanted to. We got the first cross, and from there we were able to control the race.”
Over the 10-race series, only two races were sailed under 15 knots, and nine knots was the lightest. “Kingston as a venue is just spectacular,” praised Marshall. “This week was totally different than what Kingston is normally, which is about going left. This week, it was all about going right.” Marshall thanked the Race Committee for their efficient execution, saying, “They changed marks when they needed to, dealt with two shoals on either side and set the right length courses. They were cranking out the races without much downtime.” The PRO was David Sprague.
The top five:
1) Michael Marshall 1, 5, 10, 2, 1, 3, 7, (16), 1, 2 = 32
2) Chris Doyle 4, 4, 2, 4, 4, (12), 4, 3, 5, 6 = 36
3) Jeffrey Todd (18), 2, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 7, 3, 8 = 43
4) Travis Odenbach (17), 7, 3, 1, 14, 8, 2, 5, 8, 5 = 53
5) Brad Julian 19, 1, 1, 7, 15, (42 DNC), 1, 1, 9, 1 = 55
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