Triple Olympian jumps Etchells hurdles

by Rob Kothe on 25 Nov 2006 Geelong's Mary Hanna, is a triple Olympian. This highly competitive Australian has represented her country in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens in the Equestrian Dressage.

A little over a year ago, her husband Rob Hanna bought a 46 footer DK46 IRC cruiser/racer, Shogun, which last week won the Lipton Regatta in Melbourne. He is currently Victoria’s top handicap chance for this year’s Rolex Sydney-Hobart.

So the part time cruising sailor decided she'd like to try some competitive sailing with her own boat and campaign. Where to start? How about the toughest place first - the Etchells One Design class, the fleet of choice for many America’s Cup sailors, past and present, of Olympians and World, National champions.

This week at the 2006 Audi Etchells Worlds off Fremantle, Hanna has been lining up against the best. It is tough racing, but twice the willowy blonde has rounded the windward mark in the top ten.

‘Well we’ve been sailing on and off for a few years, just cruising. Then my husband Rob bought a racing boat and decided to start racing. Both of us are pretty competitive people, but there didn’t seem to be space for me on his boat.

‘So I decided to buy my own boat and I was chatting to John Savage, (the 1979 Etchells World Champion) and he suggested an Etchells for a competitive girl like me. The Etchells fleet in Geelong really only started last year, now there are ten boats.

‘I will be aiming for Beijing; I’ve done the last three Olympics in the dressage team. I did Atlanta, Sydney and the Athens Olympics. I spend pretty much all day every day with horses; I do a lot of coaching so I ride my own horses all morning, then I coach a bit in the afternoon and then I try and get away for the sailing.

‘Etchells sailing is a really good change. Dressage is one of those complex sports where you have judges. I guess at the end of the day what I absolutely adore about Etchells is that it is a level playing field and a very fair sport being a one class boat and the first across the line is the winner.

‘What or rather who, has made the jump into the Etchells class possible is my crew Ben O’Brien and Brendan Garner are from Fireballs; they have been national champions seven times. To sail four up we need another lightweight, as well as me, so we have Jock Sinclair, who was second at the last Cadet Nationals.

‘I am not finding the Etchells too physically demanding. I am pretty fit, at Olympic level you have to be. With horse riding every day I have stayed pretty fit and I’m at the gym at least four times a week. You need to keep that core strength to be able to ride well, and it is the same with sailing.'

‘This has been a fantastic experience. I am sure I am the most inexperienced skipper here, but it’s been a thrill to compete in such a high quality field and getting to the top mark with the leaders twice has been a great thrill.

‘When I started internationally in equestrian events, I started at the bottom working my way up; it does not make you want to give up, it just makes you want to try harder. Now its the same with the Etchells.’