2015 Etchells Pre-Worlds Asia Pacific Championship – Final day

by RHKYC Media on 26 Oct 2015 The third and final day of the Etchells Asia Pacific Championships got off to an early start, with the first warning signal sounding at 1000hrs. With 15 to 17kts of consistent north easterly breeze and a one to 2m swell, Race Officer Kevin Wilson set a course of 1.7nm and sounded the warning signal on time. For the first time in the regatta, a general recall was required as a mass of Etchells decided to push the envelope and ended up over the line before the gun.

Cue the ‘U’ flag to bring the unruly boats back into line and race five finally got underway with a clean start, with 34 boats still in racing order.

At the first windward mark rounding, it was Marvin Beckmann on The Martian who led the fleet after a 20 minute beat up the left, albeit with the other title contenders hot on his transom. Beckmann managed to stay out in front all the way to the finish to record his first bullet for the regatta, ahead of Scimitar, Racer X 2 and Swedish Blue.

Wilson wasted no time in starting proceedings for the sixth and final race of the Asia Pacific Championships, with a super competitive fleet forcing another general recall and another display of the ‘U’ flag, which had the desired effect of calming things down.

Ante Razmilovic’s Swedish Blue led the fleet around the first windward mark, however it was to be Marvin Beckmann’s day as he took control on the downwind leg to claim a double for the day, with Racer X 2 following up in second and Swedish Blue in third.

The final downwind leg proved to be the clincher for the overall series winner. Heading towards the finish with only five minutes to go, Steve Benjamin on Scimitar seemingly had it in the bag. Even if Racer X 2 beat Benjamin by one place, Scimitar would still take the series.

Swedish Blue in hot pursuit of both was also able to get through Scimitar giving Mark Thornburrow’s Race X 2 the series in spite of not recording a win throughout the regatta proving that consistency pays, with Steve Benjamin’s Scimitar finishing second, also with no wins. Swedish Blue took third overall

Back at Kellett Island, Thornborrow said “We were really trying hard to get him (Benjamin) on that last leg, but we never thought we would put a boat between us”.

Swedish Blue pulled themselves up into third place, pushing Jake Gunther’s The Boat into fourth and The Martian into fifth, in spite of Beckmann having an extremely good last day at the office.

The crews now have a five-day break from the water, giving them a chance to ready their boats for the 2015 Etchells World Championships which gets underway with a practice race on Sunday 1 November and continues through to 7 November.

Full results

Rank	Yacht Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Country	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	Racer X 2	1406	Mark Thornburrow	HKG	4	5.0	7.0	2.0	(37.0 DNF)	3.0	2.0	56.0	19.0
2nd	SCIMITAR	1262	Steve Benjamin	USA	4	4.0	4.0	5.0	(21.0)	2.0	4.0	40.0	19.0
3rd	Swedish Blue	1410	Ante Razmilovic	GBR	3	(17.0)	11.0	6.0	1.0	4.0	3.0	42.0	25.0
4th	The Boat	991	Jake Gunther	AUS	3	3.0	6.0	1.0	(11.0)	7.0	11.0	39.0	28.0
5th	The Martian	1378	Marvin Beckmann	USA	4	(14.0)	10.0	12.0	8.0	1.0	1.0	46.0	32.0
6th	Aretas	1372	Jon McClean	USA	3	9.0	1.0	11.0	4.0	(19.0)	8.0	52.0	33.0
7th	No Dramas	1403	Seamus McHugh	SUI	3	8.0	5.0	(22.0)	3.0	5.0	13.0	56.0	34.0
8th	PHAN	1351	Jeremy Thorp	GBR	3	6.0	8.0	8.0	5.0	(17.0)	9.0	53.0	36.0
9th	African Queen	1400	Jan Muysken	UAE	3	2.0	(14.0)	4.0	14.0	12.0	6.0	52.0	38.0
10th	Jezebel	1333	Peter Backe	HKG	3	1.0	(17.0)	13.0	12.0	9.0	5.0	57.0	40.0
11th	Tango	1391	Chris Hampton	AUS	3	(16.0)	3.0	14.0	7.0	10.0	7.0	57.0	41.0
12th	Baby Doll	1226	Noel Drennan	AUS	3	24.0	20.0	9.0	2.0	6.0	(37.0 DNF)	98.0	61.0
13th	1364	1364	Frank van Kempen	HKG	4	10.0	(22.0)	10.0	19.0	11.0	14.0	86.0	64.0
14th	YANDOO XX	868	Jeanne-Claude Strong	AUS	4	(30.0)	13.0	25.0	10.0	8.0	12.0	98.0	68.0
15th	1375	1375	Argyle Campbell	USA	4	(21.0)	21.0	7.0	15.0	16.0	10.0	90.0	69.0
16th	Land Rat	1422	John Warlow	AUS	3	(31.0)	9.0	23.0	6.0	21.0	16.0	106.0	75.0
17th	Highlander	1356	Martin Webster	AUS	4	(29.0)	12.0	19.0	17.0	14.0	17.0	108.0	79.0
18th	Easy Tiger	884	Marty Kaye	HKG	3	12.0	15.0	21.0	(23.0)	18.0	18.0	107.0	84.0
19th	Matatu Dubh	1015	James Downer	IRL	3	23.0	(37.0 DNF)	15.0	9.0	15.0	24.0	123.0	86.0
20th	DreamOn	1269	Greg Farrell	HKG	4	25.0	16.0	16.0	16.0	20.0	(37.0 DSQ)	130.0	93.0
21st	Freelance	1339	Laurence Mead	HKG	4	7.0	19.0	18.0	13.0	(37.0 DNF)	37.0 DNC	131.0	94.0
22nd	Gunga Din	1243	Nick Burns	HKG	4	20.0	18.0	20.0	18.0	(23.0)	21.0	120.0	97.0
23rd	Magpie	947	Graeme Taylor	AUS	3	22.0	2.0	3.0	(37.0 DNF)	37.0 DNC	37.0 DNC	138.0	101.0
24th	The Battler	903	Michael Coates	HKG	3	11.0	23.0	26.0	22.0	(30.0)	25.0	137.0	107.0
25th	The Answer is...	938	Charlie Manzoni	HKG	4	(26.0)	24.0	17.0	26.0	24.0	22.0	139.0	113.0
26th	Free Advice	1335	Robert Hanna	AUS	3	19.0	27.0	23.0 RDG	24.0 RDG	(28.0)	20.0	141.0	113.0
27th	Reprobate	1235	Mark Parker	HKG	3	15.0	(28.0)	27.0	20.0	25.0	27.0	142.0	114.0
28th	Chelsea Lady	1150	Bill Steele	AUS	3	(33.0)	29.0	24.0	25.0	22.0	15.0	148.0	115.0
29th	Stampede	1329	Rob Goddard	GBR	3	18.0	25.0	(37.0 DNC)	37.0 DNC	26.0	19.0	162.0	125.0
30th	Wanchai Belle	1345	Jamie McWilliam	HKG	3	13.0	(37.0 DNC)	37.0 DNC	37.0 DNC	13.0	37.0 DNF	174.0	137.0
31st	Fuzzy Duck	1180	Michael Haehnel	HKG	3	28.0	(37.0 DNF)	28.0	27.0	29.0	26.0	175.0	138.0
32nd	China White	992	Nicholas Stagg	GBR	3	27.0	26.0	(37.0 DNF)	37.0 DNC	27.0	23.0	177.0	140.0
33rd	Are We There Yet	1358	Thomas Cheung	HKG	4	(34.0)	30.0	30.0	29.0	33.0	29.0	185.0	151.0
34th	HKG 696	1260	Greg Forgan-Smith	AUS	3	35.0	31.0	31.0	(37.0 DNC)	31.0	28.0	193.0	156.0
35th	Diva Deux	1193	Mark Yeadon	HKG	3	32.0	(37.0 OCS)	29.0	24.0	37.0 DNC	37.0 DNC	196.0	159.0
36th	Grand V	511	Stephen Ingate	AUS	3	(37.0 DNS)	37.0 DNS	32.0	28.0	32.0	30.0	196.0	159.0