Etchells Worlds

by Peter Isler on 1 Sep 2000 There’s No Place Like Home .

San Diego’s Etchells sailors showed why this town has produced (and attracted) some
of the top sailors in the world over the years by taking the top three spots and six out of
the top eight in the 2000 Etchells World Championships. In fine fashion, multi-class
world champion Vince Brun, who runs North Sails’ One Design in his real life, added
another class title to his resumé—easily "sealing the deal" with a race to spare by
finishing third in the regatta’s fifth race on Tuesday.

At the awards ceremony, Brun, who sat out the final race, reminded the crowd of the
importance of teamwork in the three- and sometimes four-person Etchells. He credited
his crew—bowman/tactician Rick Merriman and middleman Bill Bennett—as the reason
for their success.

A series score of 5,1,2,2,3 in a 74-boat fleet that included three past world champions
(Iain Murray, Dirk Kneulman, and Dennis Conner) and a host of other top teams was a
truly remarkable achievement and display of consistency. Brun also credited Conner
(with whom he crewed in his first Etchells’ Worlds in 1992) with supporting and
promoting the class especially in San Diego. He also said the last year of racing in San
Diego’s talented and competitive fleet contributed to his team’s success.

Meanwhile, world-renowned yacht designer, Bruce Nelson and his team of Mike Dorgan
and Jon Rogers kept up their string of mostly top 10 finishes with a fifth place in
Tuesday’s finale. In doing so, they secured second place, and fended off a too little too
late charge by my team (Artie Means on the bow and Steve Grillon calling the shots).

After placing 31st and 29th in the first two races, we settled into one of those incredible
"zones" that just kept going and going and going. We finished the series with only six
points in the final four races a string of three firsts and a third yesterday.

Leading the fleet around the course yesterday were the two sailmaker presidents.
Robbie Doyle of Marblehead scored an impressive wire-to-wire victory with San Diego’s
Gary Weisman (who had started the series so strong) in second.

The conditions for the one-race-a-day, six-race series were remarkably consistent and,
of course, much different "than it usually is around here at this time of year." A moist
northwesterly flow that even brought unseasonable rain for the fifth race kept the
sunscreen in the bilge and steadyish (oscillating, 6- to 9-knot breezes to the racecourse.
Unlike San Diego’s typical, bang-a-corner, and hedge-to-the-right-side style of racing,
many of the legs had winning tracks straight up the middle.

Hitting the shifts and the left side had way more than its fair share of payouts. But one of
San Diego’s hallmarks remained ­ the sea conditions a light chop and a medium swell
that required some of the teams accustomed to racing their 30-foot sloops in smoother
water to shift gears to a more eased trim to be competitive. Presumably, next year’s
Worlds’ venue, Lymington England, will provide this healthy and competitive class with
yet another different set of conditions.