Etchells Australasian Winter Champ - A game of chess for top players

by Etchells Australasian Winter Championship on 7 Jun 2014 A picturesque Mooloolaba turned on its charm again today to deliver perfect sailing conditions for the 34-boat fleet competing in the 18th Etchells Australasian Winter Championship.

Day 2 delivered two races, no false starts and stunning conditions, as the teams played chess with each other both at the top end and across the later part of the fleet.

The Brisbane Fleet team on Gen XY, led by skipper Matthew Chew, achieved another smart race day with a second and an eighth to lock in their first place overall for a second day. Sydney Fleet member Doug McGain quietly moved up the ladder to finish in second overall after fourth and a hard-fought first in today’s races, pushing Michael Coxon’s No Star out of the top three, for the moment.

Helping to keep the pressure on the top players were plenty of wind shifts as the pressure built and then eased throughout the day.

Race One:

While Magpie’s Graeme Taylor tested the current with their white powder potion the Race Committee set the course in about 14 knots at 160 degrees.

It was a very close call for Doug McGain’s Ciao team on the start line, but at the gun the whole fleet was cleared to race.

The race belonged to Tom King and his Iron Lotus team, but not before being challenged by Mark Johnson’s Roulette.

Approaching the top mark there was plenty of action as Gen XY was taken on by Grant Turner’s The Doctor. While they battled, others slipped through to take the lead. Graeme Taylor’s Magpie was behind Gen XY followed by Mark Johnson’s Roulette. They tacked and slipped through Iron Lotus.

King went left while the others went right. By the bottom mark Ciao was in the lead, but Gen XY, Iron Lotus and Roulette were close.

The breeze shifted left and Iron Lotus moved up the fleet to lead at the top mark for the second rounding. They took off heading straight up the course with a pack of four boats behind him.

As the top five boats approached the line, it was all about catching a wave and surfing ahead of the competition. Iron Lotus caught a wave, then Gen XY surfed a bit further on one, then Iron Lotus caught the winning wave right into the finish line.

Ciao finished in fourth. 'There was a bit of pressure. Everyone sort of had a turn. It went soft there for a while and the guys in on the right a bit further seemed to have a little bit more pressure at the time and just extended on us. It was close. There wasn’t much in it,' McGain said.

There was a quiet smile on Chew’s face after he claimed second place. Roulette finished third and Ciao finished fourth.

Race Two:

With the pressure backed off to 10 knots and still going left, the Race Committee shortened the legs for a Course one and warned the fleet there were light patches on the middle of the course.

The start was clear with Iron Lotus and Roulette on the pin end while Magpie, Gen XY and No Star were in the middle.

A big group headed out left, led by Iron Lotus. As the fleet converged on the top mark for the first time, Iron Lotus battled No Star while David Clarke’s Fifteen slipped ahead. But by then the race lead was in the hands of a new contender, Grant Turner’s The Doctor.

'We came off the pin at the start and we were pretty quick and we came out clean. By the time we got onto port we were quite a few boat lengths ahead,' Turner said.

They lost their lead to Ciao by the second bottom mark rounding. 'We then pretty much got back with him on a port and starboard. Then we started to protect from the guys coming third,' he added. They finished in second place after an ordinary day yesterday when they placed 21st and 15th. 'It’s our second Etchells regatta since we bought the boat so we are excited to be up there.'

Iron Lotus was unable to repeat their Race one performance, finishing in 12th. 'We were out on the left with Doug McGain and we needed to get back across in good shape, but we were just a little bit behind. Then we attempted to get around the top mark and failed. We gybed around and had another go. By the time we did that we were somewhere near the middle of the back. We were lucky to get back to where we finished,' King said.

Ciao was definitely the star of this race finishing in first place. 'It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t have a better first race.

'In the last race the breeze was shifting quite a bit. Getting through The Doctor we sort of protected more to the left and got a couple of little shifts and then slowly got back to him,' McGain said.

Only probably 500 metres from the finish Ciao pulled back The Doctor and Roulette and crossed in first place.

This leaves Gen XY on 13 points, Ciao on 16, Roulette on 23 and Magpie on 26 points, before a drop. With two races scheduled for tomorrow, the door is still open for the top places.

Tonight could be a quiet one for several of the crews looking to make the final race day a moving day. But firstly, they will all get to enjoy Iain Murray’s presentation on the 35th America’s Cup and then cheer on the Australian Rugby Union side as they play France.

Racing is scheduled to start at 10am tomorrow. The forecast is for fresher conditions.

Complete Results:

Etchells Division

Place	Bow	SailNo	Boat Name	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	06	AUS 864	Gen XY	Matthew Chew	Ashley Deeks, Brian Donovan, Paul Wyatt	1.0	2.0	2.0	8.0	13.0	13.0
2nd	20	AUS 1244	Ciao	Douglas McGain	Micheal O'Brian, Gary Adshead	6.0	5.0	4.0	1.0	16.0	16.0
3rd	33	AUS 1377	Roulette	Mark Johnson	Nik Burfoot, Andrew Smith	3.0	14.0	3.0	3.0	23.0	23.0
4th	25	AUS 947	Magpie	Graeme Taylor	Steve Jarvin, James, Mayo	2.0	10.0	9.0	5.0	26.0	26.0
5th	01	AUS 940	No Star	Michael Coxon	Richard Allanson, Iain Murray	5.0	1.0	14.0	7.0	27.0	27.0
6th	27	AUS 1380	Fifteen+	David Clark	Sean O'Rourke, Mark Langford, Murray Jones	7.0	4.0	5.0	11.0	27.0	27.0
7th	08	AUS 925	Iron Lotus	Tom King	David Edwards, Ivan Wheen, Owen McMahon	4.0	11.0	1.0	12.0	28.0	28.0
8th	14	AUS 1392	Bootross	Mark Bradford	Simon Gorman, Will McCarthy	11.0	7.0	12.0	4.0	34.0	34.0
9th	24	AUS 1226	Baby Doll	Noel Drennan	Glenn Ferguson, John Shallvey	17.0	3.0	10.0	10.0	40.0	40.0
10th	12	AUS 415	Waterloo Bay	Noel Paterson	Gary Van Lunteren, Scott Miller	18.0	6.0	11.0	6.0	41.0	41.0
11th	13	AUS 1362	The Doctor	Grant Allen	Matthew Turner, James Marshall	21.0	15.0	6.0	2.0	44.0	44.0
12th	07	AUS 832	Animal House	Dirk Van Der Struyf	Richard Rowell, Thor Schoenhoff	9.0	18.0	8.0	18.0	53.0	53.0
13th	10	AUS 1338	Critical Balance	Paul Garaty	Dean Blatchford, Gary Boyd	16.0	16.0	7.0	15.0	54.0	54.0
14th	21	AUS 1192	Echo Beach	Tom Woods	Keith Jensen, Kane Sinclair	20.0	8.0	25.0	9.0	62.0	62.0
15th	19	AUS 921	Harold	Greg Torpy	Grant Warrington, Paul Morrish	13.0	21.0	17.0	14.0	65.0	65.0
16th	31	AUS 849	Yep	David Rose	Taylor-Jane Rose, Matthew Fiddler	22.0	9.0	13.0	24.0	68.0	68.0
17th	04	AUS 1088	Sun Tzu	Roger Hickman	Daniel Morrow, Daniel Williams, Kim Ketelbey	19.0	20.0	16.0	13.0	68.0	68.0
18th	32	AUS 883	Tusk	Brad Sheridan	Gary Smith, Brett Shoebridge	10.0	12.0	26.0	21.0	69.0	69.0
19th	05	AUS 1186	Touch Pause Engage	Michael Stovin-Bradford	Andrew Gordon, Steve Langton	12.0	19.0	24.0	19.0	74.0	74.0
20th	30	AUS 1215	Boat X	Rob Davis	Roger Blasse, Ben Solly	8.0	30.0	15.0	26.0	79.0	79.0
21st	26	AUS 1121	Bananas in Pyjamas	Darren Mahoney	Tony McRae, Thomas Kelly, Darcy Baranowsk?	25.0	13.0	20.0	23.0	81.0	81.0
22nd	18	AUS 1332	Top 40	Peter Merrington	Geoffrey Bonouvrie, Ian McKillop	14.0	17.0	34.0 DNC	16.0	81.0	81.0
23rd	16	AUS 1288	Mojo	Robert Holm	Simon Ellis, Rob Davis	15.0	24.0	27.0	20.0	86.0	86.0
24th	28	AUS 1219	Carabella IV	Matthew McCann	Andrew Parker, Campbell Davidson, Cameron Percival	28.0	22.0	22.0	17.0	89.0	89.0
25th	11	AUS 1318	Adolescence	Steve Billingham	William Lewis, Adrian Dolin	26.0	26.0	19.0	22.0	93.0	93.0
26th	34	AUS 892	Happy Hooker	Trevor Martin	Josh Torpy, Paul Braithwaite	27.0	25.0	18.0	27.0	97.0	97.0
27th	03	AUS 1144	Rapscallion	David Healey	James Hallam, Kevin Molen, Mitchell Miller	24.0	28.0	23.0	25.0	100.0	100.0
28th	17	AUS 1319	Volante V	David Baldwin	Myles Baldwin, Jay Carniel	23.0	27.0	28.0	30.0	108.0	108.0
29th	22	AUS 1254	Odyssey	Jill Connell	David Richard, Wade Morgan	29.0	29.0	21.0	33.0	112.0	112.0
30th	09	AUS 1275	Trekka	Mike Thackray	Steven Tracey, Tony Ellis	30.0	23.0	31.0	32.0	116.0	116.0
31st	23	AUS 1389	Smoking Gun	Nick Gunner	Sam Gunner, Simon Gunner	32.0	31.0	29.0	29.0	121.0	121.0
32nd	29	AUS 856	Tuco	Alistair Cowen	Danny Syret, Michael Allen	33.0	33.0	30.0	28.0	124.0	124.0
33rd	02	AUS1365	Jungle Drum	Stephen Toms	Patrick Largier, Carel Pretorius	34.0	32.0	33.0	31.0	130.0	130.0
34th	15	AUS 731	Betelgeuse	Gregory Forgan-Smith	Ian Weldon, Michael Austen,	31.0	34.0	32.0	34.0	131.0	131.0

Corinthian Division

Place	Bow	SailNo	Boat Name	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	27	AUS 1380	Fifteen+	David Clark	Sean O'Rourke, Mark Langford, Murray Jones	3.0	1.0	3.0	5.0	12.0	12.0
2nd	33	AUS 1377	Roulette	Mark Johnson	Nik Burfoot, Andrew Smith	1.0	8.0	2.0	2.0	13.0	13.0
3rd	08	AUS 925	Iron Lotus	Tom King	David Edwards, Ivan Wheen, Owen McMahon	2.0	5.0	1.0	6.0	14.0	14.0
4th	12	AUS 415	Waterloo Bay	Noel Paterson	Gary Van Lunteren, Scott Miller	11.0	2.0	7.0	3.0	23.0	23.0
5th	13	AUS 1362	The Doctor	Grant Allen	Matthew Turner, James Marshall	14.0	9.0	4.0	1.0	28.0	28.0
6th	07	AUS 832	Animal House	Dirk Van Der Struyf	Richard Rowell, Thor Schoenhoff	5.0	11.0	6.0	10.0	32.0	32.0
7th	10	AUS 1338	Critical Balance	Paul Garaty	Dean Blatchford, Gary Boyd	10.0	10.0	5.0	9.0	34.0	34.0
8th	21	AUS 1192	Echo Beach	Tom Woods	Keith Jensen, Kane Sinclair	13.0	3.0	16.0	4.0	36.0	36.0
9th	19	AUS 921	Harold	Greg Torpy	Grant Warrington, Paul Morrish	8.0	14.0	11.0	8.0	41.0	41.0
10th	32	AUS 883	Tusk	Brad Sheridan	Gary Smith, Brett Shoebridge	6.0	6.0	17.0	13.0	42.0	42.0
11th	04	AUS 1088	Sun Tzu	Roger Hickman	Daniel Morrow, Daniel Williams, Kim Ketelbey	12.0	13.0	10.0	7.0	42.0	42.0
12th	31	AUS 849	Yep	David Rose	Taylor-Jane Rose, Matthew Fiddler	15.0	4.0	8.0	16.0	43.0	43.0
13th	05	AUS 1186	Touch Pause Engage	Michael Stovin-Bradford	Andrew Gordon, Steve Langton	7.0	12.0	15.0	11.0	45.0	45.0
14th	30	AUS 1215	Boat X	Rob Davis	Roger Blasse, Ben Solly	4.0	20.0	9.0	18.0	51.0	51.0
15th	26	AUS 1121	Bananas in Pyjamas	Darren Mahoney	Tony McRae, Thomas Kelly, Darcy Baranowsk?	18.0	7.0	13.0	15.0	53.0	53.0
16th	16	AUS 1288	Mojo	Robert Holm	Simon Ellis, Rob Davis	9.0	16.0	18.0	12.0	55.0	55.0
17th	11	AUS 1318	Adolescence	Steve Billingham	William Lewis, Adrian Dolin	19.0	17.0	12.0	14.0	62.0	62.0
18th	03	AUS 1144	Rapscallion	David Healey	James Hallam, Kevin Molen, Mitchell Miller	17.0	19.0	14.0	17.0	67.0	67.0
19th	17	AUS 1319	Volante V	David Baldwin	Myles Baldwin, Jay Carniel	16.0	18.0	19.0	21.0	74.0	74.0
20th	09	AUS 1275	Trekka	Mike Thackray	Steven Tracey, Tony Ellis	20.0	15.0	22.0	23.0	80.0	80.0
21st	23	AUS 1389	Smoking Gun	Nick Gunner	Sam Gunner, Simon Gunner	22.0	21.0	20.0	20.0	83.0	83.0
22nd	29	AUS 856	Tuco	Alistair Cowen	Danny Syret, Michael Allen	23.0	23.0	21.0	19.0	86.0	86.0
23rd	15	AUS 731	Betelgeuse	Gregory Forgan-Smith	Ian Weldon, Michael Austen,	21.0	24.0	23.0	24.0	92.0	92.0
24th	02	AUS1365	Jungle Drum	Stephen Toms	Patrick Largier, Carel Pretorius	24.0	22.0	24.0	22.0	92.0	92.0

Masters Division

Place	Bow	SailNo	Boat Name	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	33	AUS 1377	Roulette	Mark Johnson	Nik Burfoot, Andrew Smith	1.0	5.0	1.0	1.0	8.0	8.0
2nd	01	AUS 940	No Star	Michael Coxon	Richard Allanson, Iain Murray	2.0	1.0	5.0	3.0	11.0	11.0
3rd	12	AUS 415	Waterloo Bay	Noel Paterson	Gary Van Lunteren, Scott Miller	8.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	17.0	17.0
4th	24	AUS 1226	Baby Doll	Noel Drennan	Glenn Ferguson, John Shallvey	7.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	17.0	17.0
5th	10	AUS 1338	Critical Balance	Paul Garaty	Dean Blatchford, Gary Boyd	6.0	6.0	2.0	8.0	22.0	22.0
6th	19	AUS 921	Harold	Greg Torpy	Grant Warrington, Paul Morrish	4.0	9.0	7.0	7.0	27.0	27.0
7th	04	AUS 1088	Sun Tzu	Roger Hickman	Daniel Morrow, Daniel Williams, Kim Ketelbey	9.0	8.0	6.0	6.0	29.0	29.0
8th	21	AUS 1192	Echo Beach	Tom Woods	Keith Jensen, Kane Sinclair	10.0	4.0	12.0	4.0	30.0	30.0
9th	05	AUS 1186	Touch Pause Engage	Michael Stovin-Bradford	Andrew Gordon, Steve Langton	3.0	7.0	11.0	10.0	31.0	31.0
10th	16	AUS 1288	Mojo	Robert Holm	Simon Ellis, Rob Davis	5.0	12.0	13.0	11.0	41.0	41.0
11th	28	AUS 1219	Carabella IV	Matthew McCann	Andrew Parker, Campbell Davidson, Cameron Percival	14.0	10.0	9.0	9.0	42.0	42.0
12th	34	AUS 892	Happy Hooker	Trevor Martin	Josh Torpy, Paul Braithwaite	13.0	13.0	8.0	13.0	47.0	47.0
13th	03	AUS 1144	Rapscallion	David Healey	James Hallam, Kevin Molen, Mitchell Miller	12.0	15.0	10.0	12.0	49.0	49.0
14th	17	AUS 1319	Volante V	David Baldwin	Myles Baldwin, Jay Carniel	11.0	14.0	14.0	15.0	54.0	54.0
15th	09	AUS 1275	Trekka	Mike Thackray	Steven Tracey, Tony Ellis	15.0	11.0	16.0	17.0	59.0	59.0
16th	23	AUS 1389	Smoking Gun	Nick Gunner	Sam Gunner, Simon Gunner	17.0	16.0	15.0	14.0	62.0	62.0
17th	02	AUS1365	Jungle Drum	Stephen Toms	Patrick Largier, Carel Pretorius	18.0	17.0	18.0	16.0	69.0	69.0
18th	15	AUS 731	Betelgeuse	Gregory Forgan-Smith	Ian Weldon, Michael Austen,	16.0	18.0	17.0	18.0	69.0	69.0

Grandmasters Division

Place	Bow	SailNo	Boat Name	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	20	AUS 1244	Ciao	Douglas McGain	Micheal O'Brian, Gary Adshead	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	4.0	4.0
2nd	21	AUS 1192	Echo Beach	Tom Woods	Keith Jensen, Kane Sinclair	3.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	10.0	10.0
3rd	16	AUS 1288	Mojo	Robert Holm	Simon Ellis, Rob Davis	2.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	13.0	13.0
4th	22	AUS 1254	Odyssey	Jill Connell	David Richard, Wade Morgan	4.0	5.0	2.0	6.0	17.0	17.0
5th	09	AUS 1275	Trekka	Mike Thackray	Steven Tracey, Tony Ellis	5.0	3.0	5.0	5.0	18.0	18.0
6th	02	AUS1365	Jungle Drum	Stephen Toms	Patrick Largier, Carel Pretorius	7.0	6.0	7.0	4.0	24.0	24.0
7th	15	AUS 731	Betelgeuse	Gregory Forgan-Smith	Ian Weldon, Michael Austen,	6.0	7.0	6.0	7.0	26.0	26.0

1st Skipper Division

Place	Bow	SailNo	Boat Name	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	13	AUS 1362	The Doctor	Grant Allen	Matthew Turner, James Marshall	2.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	6.0	6.0
2nd	19	AUS 921	Harold	Greg Torpy	Grant Warrington, Paul Morrish	1.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	8.0	8.0
3rd	26	AUS 1121	Bananas in Pyjamas	Darren Mahoney	Tony McRae, Thomas Kelly, Darcy Baranowsk?	4.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	11.0	11.0
4th	17	AUS 1319	Volante V	David Baldwin	Myles Baldwin, Jay Carniel	3.0	5.0	5.0	6.0	19.0	19.0
5th	22	AUS 1254	Odyssey	Jill Connell	David Richard, Wade Morgan	5.0	6.0	4.0	8.0	23.0	23.0
6th	09	AUS 1275	Trekka	Mike Thackray	Steven Tracey, Tony Ellis	6.0	4.0	8.0	7.0	25.0	25.0
7th	23	AUS 1389	Smoking Gun	Nick Gunner	Sam Gunner, Simon Gunner	7.0	7.0	6.0	5.0	25.0	25.0
8th	29	AUS 856	Tuco	Alistair Cowen	Danny Syret, Michael Allen	8.0	8.0	7.0	4.0	27.0	27.0