Etchells Australian Winter's - not sheepstations

by Event media/Sail-World on 12 Jun 2005 With one race left in the series, Iain Murray, with crew Michael Coxon and Andrew Palfrey retains the overall lead at the Etchells Winter Championship of Mooloolaba.

A premature start in race five of the regatta earlier today ensured that Murray earned maximum regatta points putting pressure on he and his crew for the final races.

Murray led the fleet of 44 boats around the four leg race to finish in first place. He did not get the gun however.

‘It was very obvious at the end of the race when there was no gun.

‘We went into the second race of the day less aggressive on the start line, choosing to sail more conservatively. This gave us a sixth place at the end of the day.’ Murray said.

Murray is still placed first on the pointscore with 19 points - five points ahead of Sydney Olympian Neville Wittey.

Wittey commented,‘our results today are not as bad as we felt while we were racing. We seemed to have managed to slide up the ladder each leg. It was very difficult sailing out there today.

'This is my first time sailing in Mooloolaba, so I did not really know what to expect. My crew of Steve Barlow and Steve Backhouse have raced here before though and know to look outside the boat in these winter breezes off Mooloolaba.’

Hot on the heels of Murray and Wittey is another Sydney sailor, Rob Brown. Brown attributes their excellent results to his crew; Bruce Wookey and Garry Gudmunson.

‘We have been together for two years. This Mooloolaba regatta we are using as training for the Etchells Worlds which will be held in San Francisco this year.

'Our focus has been on starts and technique. Working with Coach Gary Geitz and training partner Iain Murray has really helped to put us in a great position for the Winters.’ Brown commented at the end of racing today.

Brown’s Steam Packet V team are in equal third place with Melbourne sailor Mark Bulka.

There is little difference in the overall pointscore between the leaders. ‘It is only a boat race. There are no sheep stations on the result,’ Murray quipped this afternoon.

However, there is no doubt that come the gun at 11.00am tomorrow, Murray and the other top crews will attack the last race just as though there was a sheep station on the result.

Will Nev Wittey turn out to be the gun shearer or will he come up without his moustache?

10th - 13th June 2005

Series Summary, Preliminary

1 Iain Murray, M Coxon & Andrew Palfrey Tango 2 1 9 1 (OCS) 6 19

2 Neville Wittey, Steve Barlow & Steve Backhouse Yandoo XX (31) 3 1 2 14 4 24

3 Mark Bulka, Stewart Nichols & Tony Nash Balanced a Tac (14) 2 4 5 5 12 28

4 Rob Brown, Bruce Wookey & Garry Gudmunson Steam Packet V 4 (12) 5 8 3 8 28

5 Julian Plante, Nick Garland & Sarah RobertsThompson Odyssey 3 4 2 (OCS) 11 10 30

6 Michael O'Brien, Brian Hillier & Scott Miller Racer X 8 10 (11) 3 1 11 33

7 Steve Gunther, John Collingwood & Russ Hutton Magic Buzz 11 5 3 (21) 12 5 36

8 John Warlow, Laura Warlow & Brad Gannivan Blinky 3 Eyed Fish 1 8 10 10 9 (23) 38

9 Rob Bird, Graeme Johnson & Nic Gray Moody Blues 7 11 (30) 4 17 3 42

10 Cameron Miles, Dave Samson & Phil Smidmore Onya 19 13 (27) 16 4 1 53

11 Ken Down, Rob Antill & Paul Braithwaite Whooshka 13 9 14 11 10 (21) 57

12 Andrew Hunn, Peter Conde & Don Buckley Zulu 10 14 8 12 (20) 15 59

13 Peter Mc'Neill, Richard West & Warwick Bagnall Tom Pepper XVlll 6 (16) 15 13 15
13 62

14 Barry Thom, Grant Lynch & Richard Wells Unlimited Potential (29) 19 12 7 7 17 62

15 Vaughan Prentice, Darren Hutchinson & Ashley Deeks Room of Mirrors 20 6
16 (OCS) 6 16 64

16 Lindsay Kennedy, James Arnold & Trevor Swinbourne (24) 20 7 22 2 19 70

17 Adrian` Nash, Simon Estella & Mike Luxton La Vie Dansante (23) 22 18 18 16 7 81

18 John Bertrand, Jake Gunter & Tim Ede Two Saints &a Magpie 25 7 (28) 26 22 2 82

19 Rod Jones, Pat Meehan & Jim Walker Ethel 5 28 21 (OCS) 8 20 82

20 David Rose, Scott Backhouse & Scotty Webster War of the Roses (40) 17 20 6 25 14 82

21 Gavin Gerrard, Ross Bannon & Andy Pilcher Three Dogs 16 25 13 9 (28) 22 85

22 Rick Maxwell & Brad Moore Fury 12 (32) 6 25 31 24 98

23 Greg Farrell, Daniel Belcher, Sarah Board & Matthew Chew Echo Beach 15 (27) 24
14 26 27 106

24 Jason Antill, Michael O'Donnell & Joel Antill Trekka 41 29 (DNF) 19 18 9 116

25 Trevor Martin, Glen Thomson & David Jones Three Ring Circus 22 26 23 33 13 (37) 117

26 Dirk Van Der Struyf, Brad Sheridan & Eric Van Leeuwin Etchellemce (38) 15 29 29 21 25 119

27 Nick Knezic, Rod McIntosh & John Coates Count Boris Secret 21 (33) 17 17 32 33 120

28 John Smallwood, Brian Strathmore & D Morgan Second Wind 17 30 19 28 (33) 32 126

29 Bucky Smith, Isaac Noble & Geoffrey Smith Easy Tiger 9 36 (DNF) OCS 19 18 127

30 David Healey, Ben Coxon & Russell
Johns Hustler (37) 21 25 27 23 31 127

31 Robert Griffits, Peter Miller & Jeremy Oliver New Wave 18 35 (DNF) 20 27 36 136

32 Donald Wilson, Rod Moore & Greg Humphries The Don (42) 31 22 15 39 30 137

33 Mark Sanders, Gunther Lamprecht & John Willey Phantom 30 34 (DNF) 23 24 39 150

34 Tony Hirst, Dara Herlihy & Bradley Owen Silky 32 23 (DNF) OCS 29 26 155

35 Jan Muysven, Paul Grundy & Gary Dinnie Etch 33 37 (DNF) 32 30 29 161

36 Rob Davis, Dougal Watt & David Clancy Forceful 43 24 (DNS) 30 37 28 162

37 Greg Kildey, Anja Thomsen & Carl Schultz Electra 26 (43) 26 35 35 41 163

38 Brian Tyquin, Brad Palmer & George Rose Licorice Allsorts 3 35 18 (DNF) OCS 34 34 166

39 Ian Audsley, Peter Martyn-Jones & Ted Anderson Kalika 39 39 (DNF) 24 36 35 173

40 Greg Forgan Smith, Gary Wakefield & Scott McInawy Grape Juice 36 38 (DNF) 31 38 40 183

41 Geoff Dews, Karen Dews & Peter Brooke Butterfly Effect 28 42 (DNF) 37 40 38 185

42 Greg Finck, Paul Ryan & John Cathcart Windfall 27 41 (DNF) 34 42 43 187

43 Jeff Robinson, Bruce Pitt & Geoff Gallagher Pretty Woman 34 40 (DNF) DNS 41 42 202

44 Michael Bennett, Alex Bennett & Victor Cameron Young Viking 44 44 (DNS) 36 43 44 211