Bulka wins 2006 Audi Etchell Worlds warm-up

by Rob Kothe on 15 Oct 2006 Mark Bulka on Balanced-A-TAC wins 2006 Audi Etchell Worlds pre-warm-up series at Swan River Championship. With the Swan River fleet's Michael Manford’s The Croc and the 2004 Australian Champion, Mark Bulka on Balanced-A-TAC, tied going into the final race, the stage was set for a duel between the two boats to decide the 2006 Syd Corser Championship.

Glorious blue skies, with puffy whites clouds, prevailed over Fremantle and the Cockburn Sound course, the same area that will be used for the Audi World Championship.

Tight racing over the first five races, in the 2006 Audi Etchells Worlds Pre-Pre Regatta, the Swan River Championship event, the Syd Corser Regatta sailed over the last three days. Three points back, 2005 Australian Champion Rob Brown and 2003 Australian Etchells Champion and Australia II skipper John Bertrand, were set to battle for third place.

Mark Bulka won the start from the pin and sailed into a 10 degree left hand shift and sailed away from the fleet. Two thirds of the way up the first beat, Bulka had cleared out 20 lengths on Dirk van der Struyf's Liquidity, who was the top WA boat at the Mooloolaba mid-winters, in third place just to leeward, was Michael Manford.

As the fleet approached the top mark there was a 20 degree wind shift, and those boats over on the right of the course came back into contention.

Bulka rounded just 25 seconds ahead of van der Struyf, who was still just holding out Manford. In fourth place Grant Kitto’s The Rat, was ahead of Skip Lissiman who was definitely back on the Bandwagon. Next was Rob Brown’s Steampacket IV, with John Bertrand Triad buried mid-fleet. Brown looked set for third place overall.

Down the first run the breeze began to freshen, Bulka extended his lead slightly and Manford sailed through van der Struyf.

At the top mark for the second time, Bulka had increased his lead to 40 seconds. Manford was fifteen seconds ahead of van der Struyf and Skip Lissiman had sailed up close, Rob Brown was right with him. John Bertrand was another 40 seconds back in seventh place.

There was just not enough runway for Manford to snatch a win, the wind shift turning the run into a reach, and Bulka took the gun and the title.

38 year old Bulka, from Rosebud, sails in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula fleet. He has sailed two Olympic campaigns in the Finn Class and has won a slew of State and National titles and will certainly be amongst the favourites in the Australian titles and the Audi Etchells Worlds.

‘We started sailing Etchells in 2002, we spent some time hacking about mid-fleet trying to figure how to go fast. A new boat and new sails, and we won the Nationals in 2004, but I still don’t think we knew all that much.

‘But this year has been good. John Bertrand and ourselves both use Quantum Sails; the Melbourne loft has been very helpful, so we are on the same sail program making small changes each week. We have been making progress. We were third in the mid-winters.

‘Cockburn Sound is a fantastic place to sail. It’s incredibly shifty, the wind always seems to be moving one way or the other.

‘This was an interesting regatta. Manford’s new boat was going well. John Bertrand had the best pace, in the heavier conditions, but was not so strong in the light stuff, that suited us more. Michael Manford, Rob Bird and Skip Lissiman had the local knowledge.

‘We are looking forward to the Worlds. But we will have a little pain before then, we have to do some work on our weight. We had to run for an hour to meet the weight limit (for this regatta). So we will be training and having weekly weigh-ins for the next month.'

Michael Manford commented; 'Our new Pacesetter (1356) only went into the water at the beginning of the week. Our new North Sails were perfect and we were on the pace. We are looking forward to the Worlds. We hope it stays shifty so our local knowledge comes into play.'

Skip Lissiman the defending Syd Corser Regatta champion finished ninth overall, after a win this morning and fourth this afternoon.

'The first day of this regatta was Friday the 13th. That was definitely unlucky for us; we had a 25th and a 19th. If the regatta had started on Saturday we could have won,’ he smiled dockside this afternoon.

The Audi Etchells Worlds will be raced from November 17th to 26th. and its haping up as one of the best ever with 28 international crews shipping their boats to Perth. The ‘final preview event’ will be the Australian National titles from November 10th to 12th and the entire Australian and International fleet is expected to assemble for at this event, ahead of the Worlds.

All three events are being sailed in the same course area. The Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club (RFBYC) and the Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) are the host clubs for the 2006 Audi Etchells Worlds with the Fremantle Sailing Club providing the venue.

More information, including Notices of Race for all three events, is online now at www.etchellsworlds2006.org.

2006 Audi Etchells World Championship:

Major Sponsor: Audi Australia. Premium Sponsors: Maersk Line, Pro Choice Safety Products, Fontys Pool Wines and Events Corp. Support Sponsors: Superdata, Perth Integrated Health Clinic.

Syd Corser Championships Overall results :

1 AUS 1277 AUS 1277 Mark Bulka 18 13 4 [ 5] 2 3 3 1
2 AUS 1356 The Croc Michael Manford 42 14 3 2 [ 28](OCS) 2 5 2
3 AUS 1326 Steampacket VI Rob Brown 36 22 2 1 10 4 (14) 5
4 AUS 1321 Triad John Bertrand 30 23 5 6 5 1 (7) 6
5 AUS 1160 Liquidity Dirk van der Struyf 41 28 7( 7) 11( 11) 3( 3) [ 13]( 13) 4( 4) 3( 3)
6 AUS 781 Abracadabra Gordan Lucas 60 42 9 4 12 7 10 (18)
7 AUS 916 Daylight Robbery Alastair McMichael 56 43 13( 13) 8( 8) 4( 4) 10( 10) [ 13]( 13) 8( 8)
8 AUS 939 Power & The Passion Gordon Blaauw 65 44 11 3 (21) 6 15 9
9 AUS 891 Bandwagon Skip Lissiman 70 45 (25) 19 9 12 1 4
10 AUS 1131 Humpback David Clark 58 45 8 (13) 6 11 9 11
11 AUS 866 AUS 866 Murray Smith 68 53 10 (15) 13 9 8 13
12 AUS 1030 No Jacket Required Peter Ahern 84 56 19 10 7 5 [ 28](OCS) 15
13 AUS 1117 Seven P s Ian Anderson 81 57 6 7 14 8 22 [ 24]( 24)
14 AUS 963 The Rat Grantham Kitto 84 61 12 16 8 18 (23) 7
15 AUS 1244 Dr Evil Jake Gunther 82 63 1 9 18 19 (19) 16
16 AUS 1289 Two Palms & A Hammock Peter Chappell 84 63 16 (21) 1 15 12 19
17 AUS 1150 Dragon Lady Bill Steele 97 75 (22) 22 11 16 6 20
18 AUS 1320 Rhapsody in Blue Rob Bird 104 76 17 17 28 [ 28](RAF) 2 12
19 AUS 1056 Upbeat Peter Godley 101 79 14 12 16 17 20 (22)
20 AUS 617 Nopropellis Frank Van Ruth 110 85 15 (25) 17 20 16 17
21 AUS 1022 Screaming Plum Doug Kerr 113 88 21 14 15 21 17 (25)
22 AUS 1142 Tuscany Peter McLachlan 119 95 23 18 22 22 (24) 10
23 AUS 1258 Ruby Jason Ward 123 95 20( 20) 23( 23) 20( 20) [ 28](DNF) 18( 18) 14( 14)
24 AUS 883 Tusk Gary Smith 119 95 (24) 20 19 14 21 21
25 AUS 1188 Jaloralee Dave Roberts 122 98 18 (24) 23 23 11 23
26 AUS 594 Nereus Jonathon Joyce 163 135 27( 27) 28(DNF) 24( 24) 28(DNF) 28(DNC) [ 28](DNC)
27 AUS 622 Tamatea Warren Cossgrove 166 138 26( 26) 28(DNF) 28(DNS) 28(DNS) 28(DNC) [ 28](DNs)


Race Six Results Provisional & subject to protest

1 AUS 1277 AUS 1277 Mark Bulka/Stewart Nicholas/Steve Young
2 AUS 1356 The Croc Michael Manford/Dean McAullay/Richard Rowell
3 AUS 1160 Liquidity Dirk van der Struyf/Simon Sutherland/Doug Cooksey
4 AUS 891 Bandwagon Skip Lissiman/Kane Williamson/Mossimo Vallentini
5 AUS 1326 Steampacket VI Rob Brown/Bruce Wookey/Garry Guildmunson
6 AUS 1321 Triad John Bertrand/Ian Johnson/Tim Ede
7 AUS 963 The Rat Grantham Kitto/Brad Moore/Simon Shaw
8 AUS 916 Daylight Robbery Alastair McMichael/Richard Edinger/Andrew McAuley
9 AUS 939 Power & The Passion Gordon Blaauw/Andrew Short/Thor Schoenhoff
10 AUS 1142 Tuscany Peter McLachlan/Dave Mann/Matt Giudice
11 AUS 1131 Humpback David Clark/Stephen Barlow/Andrew Smith
12 AUS 1320 Rhapsody in Blue Rob Bird/Graeme Johnson/Nic