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Etchells Nationals- Stiff competition on the final day

by Tracey Johnstone on 16 Nov 2013
Etchells National Championshi 2013. On the podium in second place, The Hole Way team of Cameron Miles, David Sampson and Grant Crowle Bronwen Ince
The final day of racing in the Etchells Australian Championship being held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, was all about which previous Etchells World Champion was going to secure second overall and who would have to settle for third place. The protagonists were 2004 World Champion Peter McNeil and 1999 World Champion Cameron Miles.

The final race of the eight-race series was highly competitive with the finish times close and Cameron Miles’s The Hole Way team taking line honours. This result did not affect the position of overall winner with John Bertrand’s Triad team taking out this honour, with a race to spare, at the completion of yesterday’s racing. However, the final two podium places had to be decided in the Protest Room.

The result of the protest moved Miles up into second overall with 21 points and moved McNeill down into third overall with 24 points.

After a delayed start as the wind swung from 140 to 060 degrees, the breeze finally settled into a steady 11 to 12 knots and the fleet were away cleanly.

The PRO, Kevin Wilson, reported that there was only one race for the whole eight races that was not a Blue Peter. 'They behaved themselves extremely well,' Wilson said.

Cameron Miles and his The Hole Way team of David Sampson and Grant Crowle took command of the race early and led the fleet to the finish line. Behind him there was a tight, aggressive group. At the head of this pack was Mark Bradford’s Bootross who had been slowly working his way up the pointscore over the last seven races. He crossed the finish line 32 seconds after Miles.

Next came Noel Drennan’s Boat X, Matthew Chew’s Gen XY, Peter McNeill’s Iris III and John Warlow’s XXXX XXXXXXX. At the top mark for the last rounding that was the line-up and lots of close calls.

By the time that group were heading to the finish line the noise had increased considerably with yelling and screaming of ‘protest !’ from within the leading group. Miles was across first, Bradford was second, McNeill had moved up to third on the back of a wave and Chew was recorded in fourth over the line.



Miles explained his team had a great day sailing, leading the fleet start to finish. 'Several times throughout the race we thought Peter (McNeill) has got himself back in a position where we could move up to second place overall, but I think Matt Chew and Nitro (Noel Drennan) were hammering each other a bit up the last beat and that sort of allowed Peter to slip through a little bit.

'Then he had an infringement with John Warlow and John did some turns which allowed Peter to get through into third. Then I think there were a couple of incidents down the run with Matt Chew and Polly (Peter McNeill),' Miles said.

Back on shore it was straight to the Protest Room. Chew claimed a breach of Rule 11, with McNeill while surfing downwind to the finish, overtaking Chew and making contact between Gen XY’s spinnaker pole and Iris III’s boom. Chew claimed they had luffing rights, but didn’t alter course. Meanwhile McNeill’s protest claimed a breach of rules 18.2 and 18.4, and that at the three-boat length point Iris III, Gen XY and Boat X were abreast of each other on starboard gybe. McNeill claimed Iris III called for room and sailed their course, but Gen XY didn’t attempt get out of the way of Iris III including when Iris III gybed at the mark.

The outcome of the protest was decided in favour of Chew with the facts found that McNeill was windward boat and failed to keep clear under rules 11 and 14. McNeill was disqualified from Race eight and this result became his drop.

With Bertrand the winner, Miles confirmed in second and McNeill in third, it was a count back for fourth place. Matthew Chew’s Gen XY came out ahead of Noel Drennan’s Boat X.

The national president, Jake Gunther, had the last word to say as he sung the praises of Southport Yacht Club, the event organisers and of the venue. 'It’s a sensational race track. I must admit that we had some concerns about the weather and consequently put the event on at this time of year rather than in the traditional January. It’s proved to be a real winner. We got consistent sea breezes coming in virtually every day.

'We had great racing every day. The facilities are just sensational and the Gold Coast is a very impressive place to run events from. I am hoping we can get the fleet back here at some stage in the near future and make a bit of an event of it because it’s certainly a nice spot to be. The on water management was superb and we thankful to the sponsors and everybody else involved. My suggestion of course is that they should be putting in a World’s bit.

Series Results [OD] up to Race 8 (Drops = 1)
Place Ties Sail No Boat Name Skipper From Bow No Sers Score Section Race 8 Race 7 Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1   1383 TRIAD John Bertrand RBYC 27 14.0   [31.0C] 1.0 4.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0
2   1306 THE HOLE WAY Cameron Miles RPAYC 24 21.0   1.0 2.0 1.0 4.0 6.0 [16.0] 2.0 5.0
3   1325 IRIS III Peter McNeill LMYC 12 24.0   [31.0Q] 7.0 2.0 2.0 5.0 1.0 1.0 6.0
4 2.0S 864 GEN XY Matthew Chew RQYS 10 30.0 Ashley Deeks 3.0 5.0 [11.0] 3.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 8.0
5   1215 BOAT X Noel Drennan RBYC 4 30.0   4.0 4.0 3.0 [16.0] 4.0 5.0 6.0 4.0
6   1380 FIFTEEN+ David Clark CYCA 8 32.0   6.0 10.0 [12.0] 5.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 1.0
7   1392 BOOTROSS Mark Bradford RQYS 5 43.0   2.0 3.0 7.0 [18.0] 8.0 6.0 8.0 9.0
8   991 THE BOAT Jake Gunther RBYC 22 51.0   7.0 9.0 5.0 6.0 [21.0] 8.0 9.0 7.0
9   1377 ROULETTE Mark Johnson RSYS 17 54.0   [13.0] 6.0 8.0 7.0 11.0 7.0 12.0 3.0
10   1338 CRITICAL BALANCE Paul Garaty LMYC 7 71.0   14.0 8.0 9.0 [19.0] 7.0 9.0 7.0 17.0
11   874 TANGO Chris Hampton RBYC 21 80.0   [15.0] 11.0 6.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 11.0 13.0
12   892 XXXX XXXXXXX John Warlow RQYS 31 81.0   5.0 17.0 10.0 8.0 15.0 [17.0] 14.0 12.0
13   1088 SUN TZU Roger Hickman RSYS 20 84.0 Kim Ketelbey 12.0 14.0 13.0 9.0 9.0 12.0 [17.0] 15.0
14   885 THE BOAT THAT ROCKED James Chilman RQYS 23 96.0 Sarah Board 9.0 15.0 17.0 17.0 10.0 15.0 13.0 [19.0]
15   868 YANDOO XX Jeanne-Claude Strong RSYS 32 103.0 Tiana Wittey 17.0 12.0 21.0 12.0 [24.0] 11.0 20.0 10.0
16   1278 1278 HEAVEN CAN WAIT Peter Hollis RQYS 2 108.0 Mstr [31.0F] 13.0 15.0 21.0 14.0 24.0 10.0 11.0
17   1144 RAPSCALLION David Healey RQYS 15 110.0 Mitchell Miller 11.0 19.0 19.0 11.0 12.0 20.0 18.0 [24.0]
18   1318 ADOLESCENCE Steve Billingham RSYS 1 119.0   8.0 [23.0] 14.0 22.0 18.0 21.0 16.0 20.0
19   1276 REBOUND Scott McInally SYC 16 121.0   16.0 16.0 16.0 25.0 16.0 18.0 [26.0] 14.0
20   1395 SHOULD'A GONE LEFT Peter Coleman RBYC 18 122.0   10.0 22.0 18.0 10.0 22.0 19.0 [24.0] 21.0
21   1186 TOUCH PAUSE ENGAGE Michael Stovin-Bradf RSYS 25 125.0   22.0 21.0 22.0 [23.0] 19.0 10.0 15.0 16.0
22   994 CREWS CONTROL Paul Minter CSC 6 130.0 Mstr / GndMstr 19.0 18.0 20.0 20.0 17.0 14.0 22.0 [23.0]
23   1288 GOOD VIBES Robert Holm WSC 11 148.0   23.0 20.0 23.0 15.0 23.0 23.0 21.0 [26.0]
24   1347 FUNKY COLD MEDINA Kelvin Holdt SYC 9 151.0   24.0 24.0 24.0 14.0 20.0 26.0 19.0 [27.0]
25   731 WHERES WALLY Greg Forgan-Smith SYC 3 174.0   25.0 27.0 26.0 24.0 25.0 [27.0] 25.0 22.0
26   418 TUCO Alistair Cowen RQYS 28 175.0   21.0 [29.0] 25.0 27.0 26.0 28.0 23.0 25.0
27   1365 JUNGLE DRUM Stephen Toms RQYS 19 179.0   20.0 28.0 27.0 29.0 27.0 30.0 [31.0F] 18.0
28   1275 TREKKA Mike Thackray CYCA 26 181.0   18.0 26.0 28.0 28.0 28.0 25.0 28.0 [28.0]
29   1025 WALK ON WATER Glenn Norton RBYC 30 193.0   26.0 25.0 29.0 26.0 31.0C 29.0 27.0 [31.0O]
30   883 TUSK Gary Smith RPYC 29 208.0   31.0C 31.0C 31.0C 31.0C 31.0C 22.0 31.0C [31.0C]
Sea Sure 2025X-Yachts X4.0Rolly Tasker Sails 2023 FOOTER

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