Zeke Horowitz’s Uncle Fluffy accomplished what none of the other 63 teams at the J/22 World Championship could—avoiding a high-number finish in the nine-race series hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club in Maryland. Now he and crew Jackson Benvenutti, Jo Ann Fisher and Emmy Stuart are J/22 World Champions. Horowitz came into Thursday 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.
Top five:
- Uncle Fluffy, Zeke Horowitz, USA – 6 -1 -6 -[11] -5 -6 -2 -3 -3 ; 32
- Thunder Chicken, Allan Terhune, USA – 4 -6 -1 -2 -18 -2 -[65] -1 -1 ; 35
- Hot Toddy, Jeffrey Todd, USA – 1 -26 -8 -22 -[40] -7 -8 -4 -4 ; 80
- Bad News, Mike Marshall, USA – 13 -3 -4 -3 -[35] -12 -4 -34 -7 ; 80
- US, Chris Wientjes, USA – 23 -30 -9 -6 -1 -8 -1 -8 -[39] ; 86
Sixty-four teams represented Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa and the USA. Photos are available on the J/22 Class Facebook page, and complete event details may be found at https://www.annapolisyc.com/racing/2018j22worlds.