Etchells Australian Championship - Perfect weather on day 2
by Tracey Johnstone on 13 Nov 2013
Etchells National Championship 2013, day two and Matthew Chew’s Gen XY team, with better starts, are heading towards the top of the three. Michael Jennings
In the Etchells Australian Championship, being hosted by Southport Yacht Club on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the second day of racing saw the top two teams trade places overall in another day of perfect Etchells weather.
Going into the start of the day John Bertrand’s Triad was on equal first with David Clark’s Fifteen. Peter McNeill’s Iris III and Cameron Miles’s The Hole Way were in equal points, fighting for third.
A day of relatively steady breezes, good tactical calls and a poor start by Miles, shook the top three branches of the pointscore tree with Miles falling down and Matthew Chew’s GenXY climbing up.
Race one of the day was set up in 10 to 12 knots with the top mark at 030 degrees. PRO Kevin Wilson reported that at the start, like yesterday’s first race, he had only two boats over. 'Miles was one and the other was Peter Hollis’s Heaven Can Wait. They both came back and then had to fight their way through the traffic. Cameron got some way into the fleet, but was still a fair way back and wasn’t a happy boy when he went through the finish line,' Wilson said. Miles finished that race in a costly 16th place.
A jovial Bertrand handed this afternoon’s race commentary over to his middle-man, Grant Simmer. 'It was a good day. In Race one we had a good race with Polly O’Neill. We led most of the race, then he just got inside of us at the last time at the top mark. We were having a bit of a battle with Noel Drennan and so he (McNeill) pipped us at the top mark and led to the finish.'
With the finish being downhill, Simmer said everyone was using the ocean swell, working the waves as best they could, in some cases picking up three or four places on their rivals.
The honours in Race one went to McNeill, with Bertrand in second, Clark quietly holding his own to slip into third and Chew in fourth, all within 23 seconds of each other.
Race two was away in more pressure, gusting to 16 knots with the swell and white caps challenging the 30-boat fleet. This time Bertrand wasn’t going to let anyone in on his lane as he led the fleet around the track to finish some 25 seconds ahead of young Chew with Clark again holding onto a third place.
'We just got ahead of Matthew Chew on the first beat and we were able to extend quietly as the race went on. Tactically it was a bit of an easier race for us. David Clark was also going well in both races.
'It’s good racing. There is a group of about eight or 10 boats that could easily win any of the races so is really close racing,' Simmer said.
Chew finished the day with second and a fourth moving him up to equal fourth with Noel Drennan. 'We had a great day, playing the game with the top boats. It was very close racing on a short course.
'We have got better every race so far. We have had better starts. The first race we were over and the second race we had a bad start and then we had two good starts today. Our boat speed has been good in all races, but it is really our starting that has improved the most.
'Tomorrow, if we keep our current trend, hopefully we will win a race,' Chew said.
Simmer expects the conditions tomorrow to be a bit lighter than today. 'Today was just perfect sailing, between 14 and 18 knots. There was only small wind shifts. Tomorrow we expect it to be between eight and 12 knots.'
OD results Start : 11:05
Place |
Sail No |
Boat Name |
From |
Elapsd |
Skipper |
Fin Tim |
Score |
1 |
1325 |
IRIS III |
LMYC |
01:08:00 |
Peter Mc Neill |
12:13:00 |
1.0 |
2 |
1383 |
TRIAD |
RBYC |
01:08:11 |
John Bertrand |
12:13:11 |
2.0 |
3 |
1380 |
FIFTEEN+ |
CYCA |
01:08:16 |
David Clark |
12:13:16 |
3.0 |
4 |
864 |
GEN XY |
RQYS |
01:08:23 |
Matthew Chew |
12:13:23 |
4.0 |
5 |
1215 |
BOAT X |
RBYC |
01:08:32 |
Noel Drennan |
12:13:32 |
5.0 |
6 |
1392 |
BOOTROSS |
RQYS |
01:08:39 |
Mark Bradford |
12:13:39 |
6.0 |
7 |
1377 |
ROULETTE |
RSYS |
01:08:44 |
Mark Johnson |
12:13:44 |
7.0 |
8 |
991 |
THE BOAT |
RBYC |
01:08:53 |
Jake Gunther |
12:13:53 |
8.0 |
9 |
1338 |
CRITICAL BALANCE |
LMYC |
01:09:00 |
Paul Garaty |
12:14:00 |
9.0 |
10 |
1186 |
TOUCH PAUSE ENGAGE |
RSYS |
01:09:06 |
Michael Stovin-Bradf |
12:14:06 |
10.0 |
11 |
868 |
YANDOO XX |
RSYS |
01:09:34 |
Jeanne-Claude Strong |
12:14:34 |
11.0 |
12 |
1088 |
SUN TZU |
RSYS |
01:09:41 |
Roger Hickman |
12:14:41 |
12.0 |
13 |
874 |
TANGO |
RBYC |
01:09:59 |
Chris Hampton |
12:14:59 |
13.0 |
14 |
994 |
CREWS CONTROL |
CSC |
01:10:08 |
Howard Blowes |
12:15:08 |
14.0 |
15 |
885 |
THE BOAT THAT ROCKED |
RQYS |
01:10:17 |
James Chilman |
12:15:17 |
15.0 |
16 |
1306 |
THE HOLE WAY |
RPAYC |
01:10:18 |
Cameron Miles |
12:15:18 |
16.0 |
17 |
892 |
XXXX XXXXXXX |
RQYS |
01:10:30 |
John Warlow |
12:15:30 |
17.0 |
18 |
1276 |
REBOUND |
SYC |
01:10:37 |
Scott McInally |
12:15:37 |
18.0 |
19 |
1395 |
SHOULD'A GONE LEFT |
RBYC |
01:10:42 |
Peter Coleman |
12:15:42 |
19.0 |
20 |
1144 |
RAPSCALLION |
RQYS |
01:10:50 |
David Healey |
12:15:50 |
20.0 |
21 |
1318 |
ADOLESCENCE |
RSYS |
01:10:57 |
Steve Billingham |
12:15:57 |
21.0 |
22 |
883 |
TUSK |
RPYC |
01:11:05 |
Cary Smith |
12:16:05 |
22.0 |
23 |
1288 |
GOOD VIBES |
WSC |
01:11:22 |
Robert Holm |
12:16:22 |
23.0 |
24 |
1278 |
1278 HEAVEN CAN WAIT |
RQYS |
01:11:29 |
Peter Hollis |
12:16:29 |
24.0 |
25 |
1275 |
TREKKA |
CYCA |
01:11:31 |
Mike Thackray |
12:16:31 |
25.0 |
26 |
1347 |
FUNKY COLD MEDINA |
SYC |
01:11:32 |
Kelvin Holdt |
12:16:32 |
26.0 |
27 |
731 |
WHERES WALLY |
SYC |
01:11:45 |
Greg Forgan-Smith |
12:16:45 |
27.0 |
28 |
418 |
TUCO |
RQYS |
01:12:01 |
Alistair Cowen |
12:17:01 |
28.0 |
29 |
1025 |
WALK ON WATER |
RBYC |
01:12:35 |
Glenn Norton |
12:17:35 |
29.0 |
30 |
1365 |
JUNGLE DRUM |
RQYS |
01:13:04 |
Stephen Toms |
12:18:04 |
30.0 |
OD results Start : 12:59
Place |
Sail No |
Boat Name |
From |
Elapsd |
Skipper |
Fin Tim |
Score |
1 |
1383 |
TRIAD |
RBYC |
01:02:24 |
John Bertrand |
14:01:24 |
1.0 |
2 |
864 |
GEN XY |
RQYS |
01:02:52 |
Matthew Chew |
14:01:52 |
2.0 |
3 |
1380 |
FIFTEEN+ |
CYCA |
01:03:01 |
David Clark |
14:02:01 |
3.0 |
4 |
1215 |
BOAT X |
RBYC |
01:03:03 |
Noel Drennan |
14:02:03 |
4.0 |
5 |
1325 |
IRIS III |
LMYC |
01:03:23 |
Peter Mc Neill |
14:02:23 |
5.0 |
6 |
1306 |
THE HOLE WAY |
RPAYC |
01:03:26 |
Cameron Miles |
14:02:26 |
6.0 |
7 |
1338 |
CRITICAL BALANCE |
LMYC |
01:04:11 |
Paul Garaty |
14:03:11 |
7.0 |
8 |
1392 |
BOOTROSS |
RQYS |
01:04:16 |
Mark Bradford |
14:03:16 |
8.0 |
9 |
1088 |
SUN TZU |
RSYS |
01:04:22 |
Roger Hickman |
14:03:22 |
9.0 |
10 |
885 |
THE BOAT THAT ROCKED |
RQYS |
01:04:47 |
James Chilman |
14:03:47 |
10.0 |
11 |
1377 |
ROULETTE |
RSYS |
01:04:52 |
Mark Johnson |
14:03:52 |
11.0 |
12 |
1144 |
RAPSCALLION |
RQYS |
01:05:01 |
David Healey |
14:04:01 |
12.0 |
13 |
874 |
TANGO |
RBYC |
01:05:17 |
Chris Hampton |
14:04:17 |
13.0 |
14 |
1278 |
1278 HEAVEN CAN WAIT |
RQYS |
01:05:24 |
Peter Hollis |
14:04:24 |
14.0 |
15 |
892 |
XXXX XXXXXXX |
RQYS |
01:05:39 |
John Warlow |
14:04:39 |
15.0 |
16 |
1276 |
REBOUND |
SYC |
01:05:40 |
Scott McInally |
14:04:40 |
16.0 |
17 |
994 |
CREWS CONTROL |
CSC |
01:05:53 |
Howard Blowes |
14:04:53 |
17.0 |
18 |
1318 |
ADOLESCENCE |
RSYS |
01:06:05 |
Steve Billingham |
14:05:05 |
18.0 |
19 |
1186 |
TOUCH PAUSE ENGAGE |
RSYS |
01:06:14 |
Michael Stovin-Bradf |
14:05:14 |
19.0 |
20 |
1347 |
FUNKY COLD MEDINA |
SYC |
01:06:19 |
Kelvin Holdt |
14:05:19 |
20.0 |
21 |
991 |
THE BOAT |
RBYC |
01:06:22 |
Jake Gunther |
14:05:22 |
21.0 |
22 |
1395 |
SHOULD'A GONE LEFT |
RBYC |
01:06:30 |
Peter Coleman |
14:05:30 |
22.0 |
23 |
1288 |
GOOD VIBES |
WSC |
01:06:31 |
Robert Holm |
14:05:31 |
23.0 |
24 |
868 |
YANDOO XX |
RSYS |
01:06:39 |
Jeanne-Claude Strong |
14:05:39 |
24.0 |
25 |
731 |
WHERES WALLY |
SYC |
01:06:57 |
Greg Forgan-Smith |
14:05:57 |
25.0 |
26 |
418 |
TUCO |
RQYS |
01:07:17 |
Alistair Cowen |
14:06:17 |
26.0 |
27 |
1365 |
JUNGLE DRUM |
RQYS |
01:07:43 |
Stephen Toms |
14:06:43 |
27.0 |
28 |
1275 |
TREKKA |
CYCA |
01:08:32 |
Mike Thackray |
14:07:32 |
28.0 |
DNC |
883 |
TUSK |
RPYC |
|
Cary Smith |
|
31.0 |
DNC |
1025 |
WALK ON WATER |
RBYC |
|
Glenn Norton |
|
31.0 |
Day three of the National Championship starts tomorrow at about 1100 hours.
For more event information
South Port Yacht Club Website
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/116641