A day full of surprises at Evans Long 20th Etchells Championship

by Tracey Johnstone on 10 Jun 2016 What should have been a fairly easy day of racing off Mooloolaba today for the 39-boat fleet racing in the Evans Long 20th Etchells Championship, turned into a day full of surprises.

The wind, swell and hot sunshine played a part in luring the eager skippers into a sense of ease for the 11am start in stunning conditions. That’s where the ease ended.

While two-time championship winning team, Matt Chew’s Gen XY, went quietly about their business to achieve a comfortable lead overall, there was plenty of damaging action all around them.

“We stayed completely out of trouble all day,” Chew said.

“Actually, that’s not totally true. We did force a couple of boats to do turns today, but we were in the right most of the time.

“Whenever we were in trouble we hung tough and came back into the fleet.

“The wind was very unstable. It was favoured differently every beat.

“We had three good keepers today so we are pretty stoked,” Chew added.

Defending champion, Jeanne-Claude Strong and her Yandoo XX team, resplendent in their yellow shirts, led the fleet off the race one start. Only problem was they were OCS. Accompanying them was another top performer, class national champion David Clark’s Fifteen.

The fleet soon settled into a steady south, south-wester after the first mark. Up went the spinnakers as Strong fought her way back into the race.

Then disaster struck as Yandoo XX apparently went into a luffing duel with Jill Connell’s Odyssey which then bore away to duck stern of Yandoo XX, but missed, holing Yandoo’s aft quarter forcing Strong to retire from further racing.

Yandoo XX returned to shore where local boat builder Craig Saint was on hand to repair the damage. Tactician Nev Wittey said the Yandoo XX team were “exceedingly disappointed” by the incident.

“We are really hoping to be back on water for tomorrow’s races.” Wittey said.

Up front Peter Conde’s Encore team did a tidy job of leading the fleet around the course and across the line for the first win of the series. Chew finished in fifth.

In the second race, former championship winner Cameron Miles, racing with Bruce Ferguson, had their own port and starboard incident at the bottom mark forcing them to retire from the race so they could effect fast repairs and be back in action by the third race.

Tom King’s Alchemist team slipped around the course, opening up his lead on Chew and Bill Cuneo’s Emotional Rescue, to secure first place.

“We got lucky in the middle race and crossed the fleet on port and won the race,” King said.

“It was very tricky, very shifty sailing out there.”

In second place was Chew with Grant Crowle’s The Hole Way finishing in third.

In the final race of the day and with the breeze staying relatively steady, another incident, observed by the on water jury, ensure the protest room is busy tonight.

Etchells 2004 World Champion Peter McNeill finally enjoyed a clean race to finish in first place. “We just picked the right shifts up the first beat.

“We thought our boat speed was good all day,” McNeill said while he continued to nurse a very sore wisdom tooth.

There are seven races scheduled in the series and one discard allowed after four races are completed.

In the overall results, after three races, the lead is held by Chew on 11 points. Doug McGain’s Ciao, after achieving a fourth, seventh and eighth, is in second place on 19 points. In third overall is King on 22 points.

King reflected on the day saying; “We had our chances to have a first and two fifths, but we have ended up with a whole lot more points than that. Looking at the results, I think everyone found it very tricky out there.

“The spoils go to the people who do more sailing and practice,” King said.

Racing continues tomorrow with the three races scheduled starting from 11am. The forecast is for soft south to southeaster of about six knots and more brilliant sunshine.