Winner on countback

Citibank J/24 Worlds go to the wire and beyond at Noroton YC

Jens Hookanson from Middletown, RI has won the 2004 Citibank J24 World Championships, beating Jeff Johnstone. Johnstone was in the lead going into day five, and lead after the first race, with a 10th place finish to Hookanson’s 11th. It came down to the last leg in the last race of the regatta to determine this year’s world champion.

When Hookanson came in second in the next race and Johnstone crossed the finish line tenth, we had a winner. Both teams were tied with 69 points each, but in a double tie breaker - both had won one race, but Hookanson’s second place today vs. Johnstones’s third place in race six, gave the title to Hookanson. Steve Lopez, won the first race today, placing him 14th overall, and Andy Horton won the second race and is 6th overall.

Hookanson shared some of his teams’ strategy that put them at the top of the leader board: “Our goal today was to sail the best we could, and not concentrate on anyone in particular. Jeff was quite a bit ahead of us today, and he beat us in the first race, so we’re happy the RC got off another race. It could easily have been Jeff winning today; we had the cards lay a little bit in our favor, and had things go for us the right way today. It was great sailing and it’s fun to win the Worlds.” Team members who share top honours with Hookanson: Tactician PJ Schaeffer, Ralph Kinder, Jock Hayes, and Larry Colantuano.

Johnstone, in accepting his second place trophy, had this to say, “ I’ve been sailing with my dad, Rod for nearly forty years; our first J/24 Worlds was in 1982 and we got 16th, the next time 8th, then 4th and now we’re second in the world. We are definitely going to do this next year! The Noroton YC did a fantastic job in very difficult conditions. Jens on Salsa sailed a brilliant regatta - we were nip and tuck the whole time, and it came down to the last race and the last leg. We caught up as much as we could, and ended up tied on points. I think we are the only two boats in the regatta that have bottom paint and wet sail the boats, which I think is great.” He added, “ Ragtime is just a year old. Salsa is 25 years old, been trailored 30,000 miles and just won the Worlds. That is just great!”

2004 Citibank J/24 Final Standings (9 races):

1. Jens Hookanson USA 69 pts
2. Jeffrey Johnstone USA 69 pts
3. Skelley/Crockett USA 80 pts
4. Alejo Rigoni ARGENTINA 90 pts
5. Satoshi Kume JAPAN 91 pts
6. Andy Horton USA 101 pts
7. Brad Read USA 107 pts
8. Zaleski/Zaleski USA 118 pts
9. Rossi Milev CAN 151 pts
10 Yutaka Yoshida JAPAN 153 pts

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