Etchells World Championship - Lammens leads, Gilbert wins the day

by Steve Girling on 27 Jun 2014 Race three of the Etchells World Championship started shortly after noon yesterday with a nice breeze that oscillated between 220 and 235. A beautiful start line greeted competitors, and the 95-boat fleet used every inch of it to get away at the second attempt under a black flag for the four leg 1.75 mile course.

Early leaders were Gary Gilbert, Mark Mendelblatt and Luke Lawrence from just above the mid line boat, with Hank Lammens, Jens Bojsen Moller and Steve Girling, 10 lengths to weather and Peter Duncan, Jud Smith and Tom Blackwell strong from further up the line.

Off the line, the breeze flicked up and back ten degrees. Lammens was going fast and able to extend ahead of Duncan and Gilbert but now John Bertrand, Andrew Palfrey and Grant Simmer were also in the mix. At the windward mark it was Lammens, Gilbert Bertrand and Duncan.

Pressure on starboard gybe on the run gave the leaders a tricky call as to when to gybe for the leeward gate and in fact, leaving the gybe late, the lead pack came in hot with a difficult decision on which mark to go for given the large distribution of the fleet still sailing downwind.

Although the left gate looked up, the hot approach angle made the right gate much closer and Lammens lead around this mark with Bertrand, who had rolled Gilbert, choosing to split to the left.

Up the second beat, Duncan gained by getting to the left and closed to within two lengths of Lammens and ahead of Bertrand and Gilbert. However, Lammens stayed in pressure and was patient in waiting for his shift, eventually rounding three lengths ahead at the last windward mark.

Down the run Lammens extended, Gilbert chose an inside line and passed Duncan for second, and Bertrand crossed fourth.

Race 2 saw a slight decrease in pressure (now in the 9-12 knot range). The fleet seemed to want the left, although it was very congested both off the line and up the left side. Hardesty did the best job coming in from the middle left while Jesberg worked the right.

As it turned out, Jesberg led Hardesty around the weather mark and was able to extend on the run. Hardesty was soon down inside Jesberg and was our new leader at the leeward gate with Gilbert coming on strong.

Up the second beat and down the run, a similar pattern evolved and Gilbert managed to squeeze another second to complete a magical day. Jesberg held into third behind Hardesty.

With Hardesty rolling a 20 in race one and Lammens in 12 in race two, Lammens leads Hardesty by three points, with Beckman another two back in third.

Top 10 Results - Day 2, Cumulative

Sail Number / Boat Name / Skipper / Hometown / Race 1-2-3-4, Total

1. CAN 1396, Hank Lammens, Norwalk, Conn., 1-8-1-12 22.0
2. USA 979, Line Honors, Bill Hardesty, San Diego, 2-2-20-1 25.0
3. USA 1378, The Martian, Marvin Beckmann, Houston, 8-3-11-5 27.0
4. AUS 1383, Triad, John Bertrand, South Yarra, Australia, 4-10-5-28 47.0
5. USA 1388, Annie, Gary Gilbert, Oakton, Va., 45-5-2-2, 54.0
6. HKG 1333, Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic, London, U.K., 3-6-8-44 61.0
7. USA 1296, Appreciation, Jeffrey Siegal, Portsmouth, R.I., 17-17-16-17 67.0
8. USA 1372, Aretas, Skip Dieball, Beaver Dam, Wis., 38-13-4-19 74.0
9. USA 1228, Terrapin, Stephen Benjamin, Norwalk, Conn., 16-22-17-25 80.0
10. USA 1394, American Baby, George Francisco, Houston, 18-24-23-23 88.0