Hard day’s sailing at Etchells Worlds -Results after protests included

by Di Pearson on 6 Aug 2004 The weather Gods turned on another good show for the competitors at the ACE Etchells Worlds in Mooloolaba.

Following the weather pattern for the past few days, major wind shifts played havoc with the 85 strong fleet again producing another day of mixed results in Races 5 and 6 and both races had a general recall before the fleet got away cleanly.

Race 5 started in a 10-12 knot breeze which stayed fairly consistent, the left side of the windward/leeward course was favoured, those who went right and stayed there were punished.

Wednesday's Race 4 winner, West Australian, Michael Manford continued his winning streak to take Race 5 from America’s Cup star, Dennis Conner, producing his best result for the series to-date, with Brisbane’s Vaughan Prentice home third.

Manford, unfortunately, was an OCS in Race 6 and with his 57th placing from Race 2, he knows he will not make the winners podium, but said he and his crew would fight to stay in the top ten with only two races to go.

‘We got away to a good start in Race 5 at the leeward end – in fact we only just cleared the pin. We stayed left, that’s where the breeze was, and crossed the bulk of the fleet. The wind was oscillating 20 degrees – backwards and forwards throughout the race, so we just tried to stay in the groove.

We held them off downwind and by the second windward mark, we cleared out a bit and stayed in front, which is easy to do once you have clear air.

By Race 6, the breeze had increased to around 15 knots and built throughout the afternoon to reach 25 at times, but mostly stayed in the 20 knot range, the race committee forced to change the course and the wind swung.

A number of boats were recalled in that second race, both Pittwater’s Cameron Miles and Michael Manford scoring OCS’s. Miles was particularly dispirited as he sat in second place overall going into today’s races, only two points separating him and the race leader, Peter McNeill from Lake Macquarie, who continues to lead the series after ninth and fourth places.

He now has a 13 point lead over Miles, who has managed to maintain second place, with Mornington sailor and maxi boat racer, Grant Wharington, holding down third overall with 53 points.

Wharington was forced to withdraw his maxi yacht Skandia from the soft-breezed Ingles Sydney-Gold Coast race whilst leading it, when it became evident he and three of his crew would not make the Etchells Worlds startline in time.

McNeill commenting on his day said, ‘we got away to a lousy start but came out reasonably well in the end. It was a very shifty westerly today and very breezy but good racing.

However, it was Wharington’s Mornington rival, Glenn Collings, a former OK Dinghy World champion and his crew, Jake Gunther and Steve Young race all the way this afternoon. The trio round the first windward mark in first place and there they stayed for the entire race (as did second and third placegetters) which got gustier as it progressed.

Collings’ crew, Jake Gunter commented, ‘it was a good windy day, we sailed the centre of the course, which we have been doing throughout the regatta - most the others are banging the sides. Consistency is the name of the game here, it is very important. This is the best regatta – it’s big and so is the calibre of talent here, it’s fantastic.

Second place in Race 6 went to Cameron Appleton, the famous America’s Cup and match racing champion from New Zealand Gulf Harbour, who had this to say of his day, ‘We got a bad start in Race 5 – we got it wrong from the start and suffered the whole way around.

We needed to recover our dignity, so worked hard for a decent second race. We started towards the middle of the left end and sailed hard up the first beat, rounding the top mark in second place. After that we just tried hard to stay there. I did my best to catch Glenn Collings, but he sailed well and we couldn’t do anything about it.

Appleton, who will go to the USA for some maxi racing and then on to some match racing in Bermuda for the Gold Cup, said he also hoped to sail in the next America’s Cup.

There were eight protests, mostly resulting from Race 6 which did get tricky in the gusts in close mark roundings.

Of the protests, the Italian entry, a charter boat skippered by Marco Cimarosti, is protesting the David Roberts skippered entry from the Swan River, in an incident which culminated in the Italians withdrawing with hull damage and the remains of their kite flying from the top of the main like a huge protest flag. It is unlikely they will be able to continue in the Championship.

Three others, Cameron Miles, Michael Manford and Sydney’s Michael Coxon, are all protesting under Rule 62 – redress, which could affect the results, depending on their outcome. All protests were heard last night. Results shortly.

The Etchells World Championship continues today from the host club, Mooloolaba Yacht Club, with only two races remaining in the eight race series. Yesterday's Race 6 brought into play the series’ only race drop.

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International Etchells World Championship 2004

28th July 2004 to 8th August 2004.

Final results after protest

SERIES SUMMARY All Boats Pl B# Sail # Skipper Subg. Boat Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tot

1 62 AUS915 Peter McNeill Tom Pepper XVII 2 8 11 (13) 8 5 34

2 35 AUS509 Cameron Miles Pacesetter 11 (12) 8 5 10 3 37

3 83 AUS1237 Grant Wharington Satu ll (49) 19 17 4 9 4 53

4 4 AUS1143 Chris Pratt Squid 9 (40) 6 25 11 7 58

5 82 AUS1289 Andrew Hunn Zulu 7 7 19 14 (50) 13 60

6 34 USA1060 Dennis Conner Seniors Menace 23 11 (44) 8 2 19 63

7 59 AUS1117 Glenn Collings Satu 14 23 16 12 (28) 1 66

8 58 AUS874 Jason Muir Racer XY 6 (61) 7 6 6 43 68

9 33 AUS1254 Julian Plante Odyssey 13 1 29 18 (42) 8 69

10 24 AUS865 Bruce McBriar Masters Fast Forward 12 10 9 9 (43) 35 75

11 14 AUS1244 John Bertrand Masters Two Saints &a Magpie (37) 4 13 20 25 14 76

12 23 AUS1160 Rob Bird Masters Moody Blues 48 2 (51) 11 12 9 82

13 74 AUS1213 Lucas Down Whooshka 29 (47) 1 31 5 23 89

14 69 AUS923 Mark Bradford Racer X 28 5 14 39 (46) 10 96

15 17 AUS751 Steve Gunther Legless 35 14 15 27 (74) 6 97

16 44 AUS1131 David Clark Little G 24 21 22 10 (73) 20 97

17 27 AUS1219 David Turton AUS1219 10 (49) 5 35 19 31 100

18 31 AUS1121 Ian Johnson Bananas In Pyjamas 17 3 23 (40) 30 28 101

19 65 AUS867 David Rose The War of the Roses 25 20 2 38 21 (44) 106

20 36 AUS945 Michael Manford The Croc 19 57 33 1 1 (86\OCS) 111

21 41 AUS1277 Mark Bulka Balanced A-Tac 20 13 4 59 16 (86\DNF) 112

22 40 NZL892 Grant Turnbull The Old Hag (54) 26 18 37 20 12 113

23 85 AUS1030 Noel Drennan A Cat and Two Saints 38 34 (40) 7 4 34 117

24 45 AUS1273 Michael Coxon North Sydney 1 28 42 24 27 (86\OCS) 122

25 68 AUS864 Vaughan Prentice Little Bit Funky 31 52 27 (55) 3 11 124

26 39 AUS1088 Rob Brown SteamPacket V 39 6 24 (61) 40 16 125

27 47 AUS1186 Peter Gardner Masters Humpback (50) 46 3 17 17 49 132

28 42 AUS832 Damien King Barry White 16 18 26 51 (86\DSQ) 25 136

29 11 HKG1269 Mark Thornburrow HK1269 47 27 10 (62) 18 36 138

30 61 NZL1184 Cameron Appleton Embers 41 (59) 35 3 59 2 140

31 28 AUS1274 Rod Jones Ethel 26 25 20 (65) 7 65 143

32 71 NZL1240 John D. St. Clair Brown Masters Waiwera Infinity 36 36 43 (63) 22 15 152

33 54 NZL814 Lindsay Kennedy Masters Upfront 18 24 (86\DSQ) 16 56 40 154

34 32 AUS1275 Rob Antill Masters Trekker 4 30 12 52 (82) 57 155

35 67 AUS869 John Warlow Blinky 3 Eyed Fish 21 (64) 60 2 15 58 156

36 12 AUS1287 John Savage Masters Cobra IV 3 15 41 42 (60) 60 161

37 63 AUS850 Andrew Drummond Run Like You Stole S 43 38 25 (66) 36 21 163

38 5 AUS951 Mark Soulsby Fish Factory (58) 22 21 44 35 42 164

39 56 AUS1144 David Bull Masters Bullet 27 42 69 22 13 (86\DNF) 173