Etchells World Championship - Noel 'Nitro' Drennan second

by Etchells World Championship on 12 Jun 2011
San Diego has been anticipating this week’s Etchells World Championship with a year-long series of competitive sailing battles off the shores of Point Loma California.

On a day when the 2011 Championship had already been sealed and the skipper and crew from USA 979 respectfully declined to race and watched the action from a spectator boat, many other outcomes of the regatta were still up for grabs including a 3 point spread between Australia’s 1026 Noel Drennan and USA’s 1227 Vince Brun. Brun and crew started the regatta with four top 4 finishes, but their momentum slowed with finishes of 7, 14, and 9 leading up to the final race. Meanwhile, Drennan threw out a Day One finish of 21st place and finished in the top 9 in every race following.

Another close match was for sixth through 10th place. On Friday USA 946 Craig Healy won the race by over a minute to move up to sixth, leading AUS 1278 Michael John Hiatt by 4 points, USA 1060 Dennis Conner by 5, USA 1152 Keith Whittemore by 11, and USA 1375 Argyle Campbell by 13.

The final race day (Saturday) began with lighter winds from a 220 – 250 axis as the fleet arrived in the racing area. As the competitors sorted themselves out, the race committee patiently waited for the breeze to settle in to a relatively stable 10-12 knots at the 240 axis. The R/C set the final course (2.1 mile legs). The fleet was anxious, and anxious to get to the right as well, and piled onto the right segment of the line. Twice, General Recalls were signaled. The R/C dropped the right side of the line back to 255 and the Black Flag was raised for start attempt #3. Competitors focused and a clean start was off just before 1220.

The spectator fleet on the right side of the course grew on this fine Saturday from about a dozen at the start to more than 20 in the afternoon as the sun broke through the Marine layer.

The boats competing for top 5 finishes were not in the first group of boats around the weather mark, as USA 794 Steve Pacelli, USA 1060 Dennis Conner, BER 1392 Mark Watson, USA 935 Dave Ullman, and USA 1152 Keith Whittemore rounded first. USA 969 Chris Busch was 18th around the first mark, AUS 1026 Drennan was 24th and USA 1227 Vince Brun was 32nd.

1152 Keith Whittemore became the star of Race 9. Whittemore and crew took the lead on the second upwind leg, leading second place 1060 Conner by a few boat lengths. Conner touched the mark during the rounding, and did his penalty turn as a few boats passed him by. Meanwhile, Whittemore took off and added a full 1:13 lead over the pack at the next mark and cruised to the Race 9 victory with a 1:40 advantage over second place.

Back at the second windward mark, the overall race for second place in the regatta came to a head. 1227 Brun rounded just after 1026 Drennan and had a downwind/upwind sequence left to try to make up the 3 point deficit. After the downwind leg, Drennan had a three boat lead, rounded the left gate and continued left up the course. Hoping the right side would pay off, 1227 Brun rounded and headed up the right side of the course. As the fleet converged at the top of the course, 1026 Drennan finished eighth with 1227 Brun in 25th (their new throw out score). second Place in the regatta would belong to AUS 1026 Drennan (Drennan previously finished third in the 1997 Etchells Worlds in Hong Kong).

USA 904 Will Stout, who won Race 6 made consistent progress through the field and was able to finish second in the race, moving up to 12th overall in the regatta. USA 969 Chris Busch finished sixth in Race 9 and claimed fourth place in the Championship.

USA 666 Don Jesberg who finished the regatta with 18th place finishes on Friday and Saturday, was fifth place in the Championship as the top Corinthian (non-professional) team. Past champion and sailing icon Dennis Conner and crew were fifth on Saturday and sixth overall.

Thanks go out to the consistent work from San Diego Yacht Club’s Race Committee including PRO Bill Stump, the judges, and all of the member and guest volunteers for putting together an incredible week. SDYC will conclude the week’s events Saturday night with an Around-The-World Buffet dinner and awards ceremony where all the sailors will be recognized for their achievements.

The Etchells is a racing sailboat designed in 1966 by Skip Etchells. The boat weighs a minimum f 1508 kilos, and is crewed by a crew of three or four with a maximum combined crew weight of 285 kilos or 628.3 pounds. Known for its strong adherence to one design rules, the class has grown from approximately six boats in 1967 to almost 1400 boats worldwide.

The 2011 Etchells World Championship has been hosted by SDYC from June 6-11.

2011 Etchells World Championship
June 5-11, 2011
Boat Information Race
Place Bow Country Sail Skipper 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total

1 79 USA 979 Bill Hardesty 1 1 19 7 1 6 1 2 - 84 dnc 38
2 26 AUS 1026 Noel Drennan - 21 9 8 2 8 3 5 3 8 46
3 27 USA 1227 Vincent Brun 3 4 2 4 7 14 9 12 - 25 55
4 23 USA 969 Chris Busch 4 18 5 - 38 3 12 7 4 6 59
5 66 USA 666 Don Jesberg* 25 - 51 3 5 4 4 2 18 18 79
6 60 USA 1060 Dennis Conner 15 5 30 1 - 36 9 6 16 5 87
7 80 AUS 1278 Michael John Hiatt 20 2 1 36 6 8 - 48 8 7 88
8 52 USA 1152 Keith Whittemore* 23 14 4 12 2 16 17 - 53 1 89
9 85 USA 1285 Bruce Golison - 37 8 16 8 15 10 10 28 11 106
10 46 USA 946 Craig Healy* 10 3 32 3 17 17 26 1 - 50 109
11 75 USA 1375 Argyle Campbell* 19 11 - 45 11 12 25 3 9 20 110
12 04 USA 904 Will Stout 36 32 11 9 5 1 - 57 17 2 113
13 48 NZL 1348 Andrew Wills 2 33 25 6 9 19 - 41 31 12 137
14 08 USA 1308 Senet Bischoff* 8 21 13 27 - 50 24 25 10 14 142
15 16 USA 1216 Brian Camet 9 23 21 19 13 18 - 33 7 33 143
16 68 USA 1168 Peter Vessella* 5 7 23 14 26 34 - 63 14 22 145
17 35 USA 935 David Ullman 24 19 14 17 27 15 20 - 49 15 151
18 30 USA 1350 Bruce Burton - 63 22 7 20 23 26 16 22 19 155
19 86 USA 986 Bruce Nelson 32 - 43 15 21 20 2 18 35 23 166
20 81 FRA 1281 Frederic Laffitte* 16 28 24 28 39 5 4 29 - 67 173
21 33 AUS 1337 Rupert Henry 26 - 40 10 22 19 36 11 38 17 179
22 98 USA 985 Andy La Dow* 27 36 36 10 30 7 - 58 27 21 194
23 78 USA 1378 Marvin Beckmann 7 30 37 - 44 28 31 12 23 29 197
24 69 USA 1018 Chris Snow 22 10 28 23 40 11 30 - 60 37 201
25 06 USA 706 JJ Fetter 47 17 - 68 35 25 32 13 43 4 216
26 10 USA 1066 Jon Rogers 6 55 - 56 34 14 27 34 19 32 221
27 28 USA 1283 Andrew Whittome* 30 34 18 13 60 23 - 84 bfd 33 10 221
28 21 USA 1221 Wade Edwards 12 - 65 9 24 51 40 22 32 47 237
29 18 AUS 1223 Chris Hampton 43 37 17 33 22 39 8 39 - 48 238
30 31 GRE 1368 George Andreadis 33 24 49 30 43 - 59 31 5 28 243
31 37 USA 1137 Shannon Bush 35 12 35 42 31 54 23 - 55 16 248
32 99 USA 669 Ted Hardenbergh* 38 52 6 58 - 61 20 54 13 9 250
33 94 USA 794 Steve Pacelli 11 - 59 42 46 59 30 56 11 3 258
34 07 USA 552 Tom Malone 48 29 47 - 50 16 21 21 36 43 261
35 89 AUS 1389 Robert Hanna 52 20 22 52 29 58 - 84 dns 6 27 266
36 84 USA 984 Steve Wright* 41 25 44 48 24 47 14 25 - 56 268
37 93 AUS 1293 Ian Crisp 55 31 29 15 38 35 19 - 62 58 280
38 20 BER 1394 Mark Watson 58 27 43 18 10 61 38 26 - 84 dnf 281
39 56 USA 1234 David Levy 31 16 53 - 55 42 50 24 24 49 289
40 96 GBR 962 Rob Goddard 14 45 33 31 46 51 27 44 - 64 291
41 51 USA 926 Nico Landauer 59 44 20 16 21 22 - 75 75 44 301
42 40 AUS 1384 Stephen Orourke* 65 13 26 54 - 76 37 37 48 36 316
43 22 USA 1224 Peter Sulick 29 - 53 38 29 48 52 47 42 31 316
44 14 USA 1149 John Pedlow 50 63 39 - 76 32 45 40 21 39 329
45 58 NZL 1058 John Melville 39 58 50 47 34 - 75 15 51 45 339
46 47 SUI 1187 Seamus McHugh 49 - 84 dnc 59 39 47 46 35 15 51 341
47 54 USA 556 David Steffan 44 6 57 49 44 43 59 - 61 41 343
48 12 USA 1126 Rick Kaiser 62 46 64 37 56 28 - 67 41 13 347
49 50 AUS 1150 Bill Steele* 53 41 27 26 57 48 - 64 64 46 362
50 57 AUS 1237 John Savage 45 48 62 56 45 - 64 55 20 38 369
51 87 GBR 987 Robert Elliott 34 50 60 40 66 29 28 - 73 62 369
52 83 USA 983 Kevin Hoyt* 42 39 - 67 66 58 53 42 45 26 371
53 62 USA 1262 Philippe Kahn 18 38 46 53 69 56 39 - 71 55 374
54 19 USA 966 Michael Laport* - 84 dsq 26 69 71 11 13 84 bfd 37 71 382
55 74 USA 977 Tom Oller* - 73 71 31 61 49 33 50 47 40 382
56 39 USA 1220 Mark Teborek - 64 56 52 25 35 55 62 40 59 384
57 03 NZL 1379 Gavin Gerrard 28 49 61 51 41 44 60 - 65 53 387
58 73 CAN 973 Kirk Palmer* 17 62 55 - 74 52 38 51 69 57 401
59 44 USA 1044 John Downing 61 42 41 69 - 71 62 43 30 54 402
60 17 AUS 1117 Ian Anderson* 69 60 48 32 33 69 29 - 77 68 408
61 09 USA 909 Marshall Harrington* 51 57 - 71 60 37 41 61 56 52 415
62 15 USA 1315 John Gilmour 56 67 66 - 73 18 42 52 70 65 436
63 05 USA 1305 Michael Gavin 13 15 40 41 - 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 445
64 01 USA 1301 Peter Shumaker 66 69 34 57 67 63 - 70 57 35 448
65 43 AUS 1343 Nick Kingsmill 67 - 84 ocs 51 70 55 60 71 52 24 450
66 41 USA 1241 Ken Womack* 57 61 63 45 65 - 76 49 76 34 450
67 77 AUS 1277 Peter Coleman* 46 66 - 79 68 53 78 44 34 73 462
68 29 USA 294 Larry Schmitz 40 64 65 - 79 63 65 68 68 30 463
69 32 USA 1069 Elizabeth Altman - 79 74 12 78 73 49 69 63 60 478
70 11 USA 1111 Patricia Stadel* 76 70 58 65 - 79 57 45 54 70 495
71 53 USA 583 Kjeld Hestehave 75 75 70 62 72 68 32 50 - 76 504
72 38 USA 385 Gary Baker* 74 - 77 54 43 75 66 72 59 61 504
73 88 USA 889 Thomas Corkett 71 68 77 59 62 67 36 72 - 84 dnc 512
74 49 BER 1249 Tim Patton 60 54 76 - 77 74 74 53 67 72 530
75 55 USA 674 Tom Stanford 72 - 76 73 63 70 72 73 66 42 531
76 24 AUS 1124 Michael Morris* 77 73 - 81 72 54 70 65 58 63 532
77 45 UAE 1386 Jan Muysken* 68 35 - 78 64 77 73 66 78 74 535
78 02 USA 1002 John Chapman* 78 78 80 - 81 80 71 46 46 66 545
79 36 ITA 836 Marco Cimarosti 70 47 72 67 68 80 - 84 bfd 80 69 553
80 97 USA 897 Bill Melbostad* 54 72 74 80 64 79 - 84 dns 74 84 dnc 581
81 25 AUS 1025 Glenn Norton* 76 rdg 76 rdg 75 75 78 77 74 - 79 75 606
82 34 GBR 1354 David Franks - 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 672
83 42 AUS 1385 Jason Ward - 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 84 dnc 672

Etchells World Championship www.etchellsworlds2011.com!event!