Talented Australians win Etchells World Championship

by Ian Grant on 18 Mar 2009 Bucky Smith proved his skill in one-design racing when he combined with Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron's Jason Muir, Matthew Chew and Paul Wyatt to win the Audi Etchells World championship in Melbourne last Friday.

Normally Bucky Smith is waist deep creating fast sail shapes at the family owned Ullman Sails Loft in Kawana but he took time off from a busy work schedule to sail with his mates.

He has enormous respect for the skill of Jason Muir after racing against him in the 2007 Australian championship on Moreton Bay and the Musto Etchells winter Nationals off Mooloolaba and had no hesitation in accepting Muir’s invitation to join the Racer XY crew.

They completed an extensive training program on Brisbane’s Waterloo Bay before heading to Melbourne’s Royal Brighton Yacht Club and the challenge of testing their talent and tactical strategy against the best in the World including Olympic Gold Medallists, America's Cup winners and former World champions.

Naturally all attention focused on John Bertrand after the Olympic Finn class medallist and America's Cup winning skipper combined with Olympic sailors Andrew Palfrey and Ben Ainslie to score an impressive win in the Audi Australian championship series.

However the Racer XY crew remained quietly confident, they were happy with their boat speed but so too were all of their major rivals including former World champions Jud Smith (United States) and Stuart Childerley (England).
There were no favours on offer when the 85 crews duelled for a share of clear wind and sea space as they lined up for the first heat of the nine race series.
The strict nature of the Etchells class rules provides every crew with an even chance providing they have the aggression skill and strategy to start off the front line then produce a required mistake free combination of crew technique and tactics to consistently finish in the top 10.

As expected John Bertrand and his highly skilled crew mates Andrew Palfrey and Ben Ainslie carried their Australian championship winning form into the Audi World championship arena and firmed their ranking when they were relatively unmatched scoring a 3-11-1 to lead the Queensland crew in Racer XY 10-5-5 by five points with six races remaining.

But their challenge was placed in damage control when John Bertrand and crew opened the door for their rivals with a Black Flag disqualification in race four while Racer XY continued with her consistent results to become the new outright leader with 27 penalty points lost.

With five races to go the Queensland crew were in the box seat to become the state’s first Etchells World champions however they had to protect their sailing space and remain consistent.

Naturally they became a tactical target however they matured as the pressure increased and matched all challenges with a 5-4-9-8 score to win the prestigious Audi World title trophy by a commanding 20 points a result which clearly demonstrated the champion crew of Jason Muir, Matthew Chew, Paul Wyatt and Bucky Smith had the combined skill to sail safe and smart under pressure to beat the best in the World.