J/24 World Championship 2024 at the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle - Day 1
by Jay Leon 2 Oct 21:13 NZDT
1-5 October 2024
'Siesta ' - J/24 World Championship in Seattle - race 1 © Dennis Pearce
On day 1 of the Seattle 2024 J24 World Championship presented by Beecher's Handmade Cheese, the much anticipated rivalry from Rochester took a back seat to another rivalry from a more distant land. In the first race of ten scheduled in the regatta, Nobuyuki Imai and his team on Siesta from Osaka, Japan prevailed over his countryman Kohei Ichikawa on Gekko Diana from Tokyo.
"Good crew work and good boat speed were the keys to our winning performance." said Nobuyuki Imai while also saying that the 12-15 knot breeze was a favorite condition for them. "We were glad the race committee waited for the wind to fill in. The conditions were great for us."
Not far behind, Kohei Ichikawa said: "We followed Jonathan McKee's advice. Got a good start, sailed to the left for 5 minutes, and tacked." Clearly, they were also fast in the breezy and lumpy conditions.
These two teams from Japan are often pushing each other to be faster and faster. They finished first and second in the last Japan National Championship, but with the places reversed and Gekko Diana on top and Siesta in second. We expect to see more from these teams as the regatta unfolds this week.
Getting a two thousand pound boat from Japan to Seattle is no small project. It turns out that these teams each keep boats in North America so they can more easily attend events on this continent - and show the Americans what fast is all about.
Not to be left out of the story, the rivals from Rochester placed third and fourth, with Mike Ingham leading Travis Odenbach. Mike Goldfarb and his War Canoe team placed fifth.
It was a day when principal race officer patience paid off with the wind starting as a light southerly and then fading to nothing before filling back in from the north at 10 knots and up. Racing got under way just after 2PM local time.
A handful of spectator boats also waited patiently for the wind to arrive and were rewarded with a great race to watch. Racing resumes tomorrow at 11 AM PDT.