26Aug, 2016
Mike Marshall wins J/22 World Championship

Mike Marshall wins J/22 World Championship

Published on August 25th, 2016 
Kingston, Ontario (August 25, 2016) – It took every leg of all 10 races to determine the winner of the J/22 World Championship, but With a second place finish in today’s only race, Mike Marshall, Todd Hiller, and Luke Lawrence (USA) 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 this 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 today with the idea that it’s really three people (Todd was 5 points behind Marshall and Doyle), so it changes the whole dynamic,” explained Marshall. “If it’s two people, you can do a little bit more match racing. But with three boats, 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 9 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. “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.
Forty-one teams competed August 22-25.
Report by J/22 Class Association