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Sail-World.com : Top Guns in Geelong for Etchells Pre-Nationals
Top Guns in Geelong for Etchells Pre-Nationals
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A fleet of around sixty five one design Etchells are expected to contest the Rex Gorell Prestige Etchells Australian Championship, to be sailed from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Victoria from January 9th to 15th 2011.
This weekend December 18-19th, around a third of that fleet will be racing in a Pre-Nationals event.
Principal Race officer Greg Sinclair will be aiming to run three short course windward-leeward races each day on Corio Bay and with a front going through today (Friday) and another due on Sunday, racing is sure to be very exciting.
The six race series should be a strong form guide to the Nationals and as Geelong Etchells fleet captain Tim Clark says ‘It will be interesting to see whether this weekend will give an advantage for the main event. Corio Bay has some subtleties to it that can catch some out.
‘The short course format will keep heart rates up and provide valuable training time.
‘In the training spirit in which the event started competitors will be free to use whatever and as many sails they like, to find a set-up that suits the Geelong conditions. I'm personally very excited about matching up with the fleet and ensuring we're on pace before the Nationals.’
The talent pool amongst the Etchells fleets has been traditionally extremely high and the quality of the sailors is particularly high in Australia, considered by many to be the top Etchells sailing nation world wide.
2010 Etchells World Champion John Bertrand will be introducing a member from his America’s Cup 1983 team to his Triad Dream Team this weekend.
ISAF sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby, a member of Bertrand’s 2010 winning Worlds crew, will be absent as he is contesting the Moth Worlds on Lake Macquarie NSW in January. In his place will be Australia II Navigator, Alinghi Team Managing Director and Team Origin CEO Grant Simmer, who will contest the Pre-Regatta on Triad.
A third member of Bertrand’s Dream Team will also be absent this weekend. Andrew ‘Dog’ Palfrey (the bow) will however be flying in for the Australian titles in January. Doggie sailed with Cameron Miles to win the 1999 Worlds and followed his 2010 Etchells Worlds win with another world championship just one week later, the 2010 505 Worlds title.
Yesterday John Bertrand commented ‘Etchells sailing has become particularly enjoyable over the last few seasons. This really started before the Worlds in Melbourne when I decided to give it a good whack with a top line crew and that was with Ben (Ainslie) and Doggie and I have really loved, not so much the results which have been terrific, but the journey with these guys because sailing with them and Tom as well, was a real joy for me.
‘Sailing with guys like Ben, Tom, Andrew and Grant in a such tight team can be very complete, in its own total universe where so little needs to be said to get things done.
‘Before my recent Etchells campaigns, the last time I had that feeling was actually with Australia II when we really hit our peak. The amount of noise almost evaporated to zero even when the pressure was extreme - that is just an incredible environment to be racing in.’
Triad will be up against some stiff competition, which will include Damien King and Simon Cunnington’s Barry, third at the 2010 Worlds, Jake Gunter (The Boat) fifth at the Worlds in Ireland, Ian Johnson (Bananas in Pyjamas) and Chris Hampton (Tango).
Local Geelong skipper Brendan Garner (The Moe Syslak Experience) and his crew has been together for three years and have won the Royal Club Yacht Club championship for the past two years; they will be leading a strong six boat Geelong fleet this weekend.
For more information go to http://www.rgyc.com.au/etchells-australian-championships
by 2011 Etchells Nationals Media
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2:37 AM Fri 17 Dec 2010 GMT
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