Etchells World Championship day three - Clarity at the top + Video

by Etchells Worlds on 9 Jun 2011

Etchells Worlds fleet on day 1 Tim Wilkes http://www.TimWilkes.com

The Etchells World Championship is being sailed in San Diego. Racing continues until June 11th.

The conditions again on Wednesday for Race Day #3 were excellent for Championship level sailing, with wind along the 245 axis all day and never faltering from the 10 knot average.

Six races make a regatta in this case, so the event is now official and the single throw out score now in effect which draws more clarity when looking for the eventual World Champion.

USA 1152 skippered by Keith Whittemore led the way for a majority of the first race (Race 5) which begun with no boats OCS. USA 979 Hardesty and AUS 1278 Hiatt stayed close by around the course.

At the sole leeward rounding of the race (a W-L-W-F course, two miles long), Whittemore and Hiatt took the right gate while Hardesty went around the left. Despite the left gate, Hardesty turned back to the right and navigated through the oncoming fleet to head up the right side. These three boats rounded the last weather mark in a pack which was 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. It looked like Whittemore hit the mark and did a penalty turn, letting the race slip away (he would still finish second).

On the final downwind leg Hardesty pulled away for the convincing victory, his third bullet of the series which would put him in great position to retake first place from USA 1227 Vince Brun. Brun managed another solid race with a seventh place finish by making up three spots on the second upwind leg of the race. Amazingly the seven for Brun was his worst finish at the time.

With conditions holding up well and the gray skies clearing, PRO Bill Stump and the R/C team quickly put together a second race of the day, Race 6 of the series and away we went on a 245 heading at 1.8 miles (Course 1, W-L-W-L-F).

In Race 6, a few boats were OCS but in general a clean start was had. Each mark rounding had a different set of leaders between the group of 1026 Drennan, 966 Laport, 986 Nelson, 904 Stout and 1281 Laffitte. At the final weather mark, USA 904 Will Stout had taken the lead which he would not give up, getting his first race win of the series. Match that with the fifth place finish for Stout in Race 5 and it was the best day by any team in the fleet on Wednesday. And after two finishes on Day 1 in the 30s, Stout and crew will be happy to find themselves in the top 10 today.

Regatta leaders Hardesty and Brun settled into the 10th / 11th positions around the first mark and played catch up all race. Hardesty made his way through the fleet to finish sixth, while Brun held position for the most part and finished 14th (current throwout score).

On a day similar to a golf tournament's 'moving day', the throwout allowed teams to scrap a bad race and make use of consistent success to solidify their placement amongst the regatta leaders.

AUS 1026 Noel Drennan and crew continued their very solid regatta with an 8 / 3 on the third day of racing to maintain a solid handle on third place overall by ditching their (21) in the first race on Monday, leaving them with no finish higher than nine to date. Fellow Aussie 1278 Michael Hiatt dropped his (36) from Tuesday and compiled a 6 / 8 on Wednesday to settle into fourth place.

In the biggest jump of the series, USA 666 Don Jesberg was able to scrap his (51) from Race 2 and finished in fourth place in both races on Wednesday to jump a dozen positions or so into fifth.

Others with good days on Day 3 were USA 969 Chris Bush with a 3 / 12 (currently sixth overall) and USA 1152 Keith Whittemore with a 2 / 16 (currently seventh overall).

On Thursday the Race Committee will look to get Race 7 complete on what will likely be a single race day as nine races is the maximum allowed for the series.

2011 Etchells World Championship

Place	Bow	Sail	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	79	USA	979	Bill Hardesty	1	1	- 19	7	1	6	16
2	27	USA	1227	Vincent Brun	3	4	2	4	7	- 14	20
3	26	AUS	1026	Noel Drennan	- 21	9	8	2	8	3	30
4	80	AUS	1278	Michael John Hiatt	20	2	1	- 36	6	8	37
5	66	USA	666	Don Jesberg*	25	- 51	3	5	4	4	41
6	23	USA	969	Chris Busch	4	18	5	- 38	3	12	42
7	52	USA	1152	Keith Whittemore	- 23	14	4	12	2	16	48
8	46	USA	946	Craig Healy*	10	3	- 32	3	17	17	50
9	85	USA	1285	Bruce Golison	- 37	8	16	8	15	10	57
10	04	USA	904	Will Stout	- 36	32	11	9	5	1	58
11	60	USA	1060	Dennis Conner	15	5	30	1	- 36	9	60
12	48	NZL	1348	Andrew Wills	2	- 33	25	6	9	19	61
13	68	USA	1168	Peter Vessella*	5	7	23	14	26	- 34	75
14	75	USA	1375	Argyle Campbell*	19	11	- 45	11	12	25	78
15	16	USA	1216	Brian Camet	9	- 23	21	19	13	18	80
16	35	USA	935	David Ullman	24	19	14	17	- 27	15	89
17	86	USA	986	Bruce Nelson	32	- 43	15	21	20	2	90
18	08	USA	1308	Senet Bischoff	8	21	13	27	- 50	24	93
19	69	USA	1018	Chris Snow	22	10	28	23	- 40	11	94
20	30	USA	1350	Bruce Burton	- 63	22	7	20	23	26	98
21	81	FRA	1281	Frederic Laffitte*	16	28	24	28	- 39	5	101
22	98	USA	985	Andy La Dow*	27	- 36	36	10	30	7	110
23	33	AUS	1337	Rupert Henry	26	- 40	10	22	19	36	113
24	28	USA	1283	Andrew Whittome*	30	34	18	13	- 60	23	118
25	51	USA	926	Nico Landauer	- 59	44	20	16	21	22	123
26	78	USA	1378	Marvin Beckmann	7	30	37	- 44	28	31	133
27	10	USA	1066	Jon Rogers	6	55	- 56	34	14	27	136
28	21	USA	1221	Wade Edwards	12	- 65	9	24	51	40	136
29	93	AUS	1293	Ian Crisp	- 55	31	29	15	38	35	148
30	18	AUS	1223	Chris Hampton	- 43	37	17	33	22	39	148
31	37	USA	1137	Shannon Bush	35	12	35	42	31	- 54	155
32	20	BER	1394	Mark Watson	58	27	43	18	10	- 61	156
33	06	USA	706	JJ Fetter	47	17	- 68	35	25	32	156
34	07	USA	552	Tom Malone	48	29	47	- 50	16	21	161
35	96	GBR	962	Rob Goddard	14	45	33	31	46	- 51	169
36	99	USA	669	Ted Hardenbergh	38	52	6	58	- 61	20	174
37	89	AUS	1389	Robert Hanna	52	20	22	52	29	- 58	175
38	31	GRE	1368	George Andreadis	33	24	49	30	43	- 59	179
39	84	USA	984	Steve Wright*	41	25	44	- 48	24	47	181
40	54	USA	556	David Steffan	44	6	- 57	49	44	43	186
41	94	USA	794	Steve Pacelli	11	- 59	42	46	59	30	188
42	19	USA	966	Michael Laport	- 84 dsq	26	69	71	11	13	190
43	56	USA	1234	David Levy	31	16	53	- 55	42	50	192
44	05	USA	1305	Michael Gavin	13	15	40	41	- 84 dnc	84 dnc	193
45	40	AUS	1384	Stephen Orourke	65	13	26	54	- 76	37	195
46	50	AUS	1150	Bill Steele*	53	41	27	26	- 57	48	195
47	22	USA	1224	Peter Sulick	29	- 53	38	29	48	52	196
48	62	USA	1262	Philippe Kahn	18	38	46	53	- 69	56	211
49	03	NZL	1379	Gavin Gerrard	28	49	- 61	51	41	44	213
50	87	GBR	987	Robert Elliott	34	50	60	40	- 66	29	213
51	39	USA	1220	Mark Teborek	- 64	56	52	25	35	55	223
52	73	CAN	973	Kirk Palmer*	17	62	55	- 74	52	38	224
53	58	NZL	1058	John Melville	39	58	50	47	34	- 75	228
54	12	USA	1126	Rick Kaiser	62	46	- 64	37	56	28	229
55	14	USA	1149	John Pedlow	50	63	39	- 76	32	45	229
56	47	SUI	1187	Seamus McHugh	49	- 84 dnc	59	39	47	46	240
57	17	AUS	1117	Ian Anderson	- 69	60	48	32	33	69	242
58	74	USA	977	Tom Oller*	- 73	71	31	61	49	33	245
59	09	USA	909	Marshall Harrington*	51	57	- 71	60	37	41	246
60	15	USA	1315	John Gilmour	56	67	66	- 73	18	42	249
61	57	AUS	1237	John Savage	45	48	62	56	45	- 64	256
62	83	USA	983	Kevin Hoyt*	42	39	- 67	66	58	53	258
63	44	USA	1044	John Downing	61	42	41	69	- 71	62	275
64	32	USA	1069	Elizabeth Altman	- 79	74	12	78	73	49	286
65	01	USA	1301	Peter Shumaker	66	- 69	34	57	67	63	287
66	41	USA	1241	Ken Womack*	57	61	63	45	65	- 76	291
67	29	USA	294	Larry Schmitz	40	64	65	- 79	63	65	297
68	43	AUS	1343	Nick Kingsmill	67	- 84 ocs	51	70	55	60	303
69	77	AUS	1277	Peter Coleman	46	66	- 79	68	53	78	311
70	38	USA	385	Gary Baker*	74	- 77	54	43	75	66	312
71	45	UAE	1386	Jan Muysken*	68	35	- 78	64	77	73	317
72	36	ITA	836	Marco Cimarosti	70	47	72	67	68	- 80	324
73	11	USA	1111	Patricia Stadel*	76	70	58	65	- 79	57	326
74	88	USA	889	Thomas Corkett	71	68	- 77	59	62	67	327
75	49	BER	1249	Tim Patton	60	54	76	- 77	74	74	338
76	97	USA	897	Bill Melbostad*	54	72	74	- 80	64	79	343
77	24	AUS	1124	Michael Morris*	77	73	- 81	72	54	70	346
78	53	USA	583	Kjeld Hestehave	- 75	75	70	62	72	68	347
79	55	USA	674	Tom Stanford	72	- 76	73	63	70	72	350
80	25	AUS	1025	Glenn Norton*	76 rdg	76 rdg	75	75	- 78	77	379
81	02	USA	1002	John Chapman*	78	78	80	- 81	80	71	387
82	34	GBR	1354	David Franks	- 84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	420
83	42	AUS	1385	Jason Ward	- 84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	84 dnc	420