Etchells Worlds - Kiwis within striking distance

by Fiona Brown on 29 Jun 2007 2007 Etchells Worlds in Cowes. Race 3 and a Z flag. Auckland based Jon Andrews, sailing NZL1058 with Anatole Masfen and Andrew Wills, was one of the worst affected and despite a 7th in the second race his 22 point OCS score dragged him down from 5th to 8th overall.

Today's third day of racing at the 2007 Etchells World Championship was as dramatic and closely fought as you could hope for. With six races now sailed there have been five different race winners and there are just nine points separating the top four places. The forecast was for lighter winds in the mid teens but yet again the forecast was wrong. Initially the south westerly wind was around 14-17 knots but it rapidly built to 22 and continued to increase through the day averaging around 24 knots for the second race and spiking up to 27 on the final two legs.

In the overall standings the discard has now come into play and Andy Beadsworth, sailing GBR1361 with Oscar Strugstad and Simon Fry, counts 15 points to hold their lead by just three points. This team continue to show incredible consistency and are now the only crew with an all single digit scoreline - their discard is a seventh.

Ante Razmilovic, sailing GBR1333 with Jez Fanstone and Stuart Flinn, has moved into second having scored six and three and counts 18 points overall. Despite an 18th in the second race, their worst score of the series, a second place this morning, enabled James Howells, sailing GBR1332 with David Bedford and Oscar Mead, to hold onto third overall with 23 points.

Defending World Champion Jud Smith, sailing USA1351 with David McClintock and Steve Girling, sailed a very consistent day to score 8 and 6. He drops one place overall but remains in contention just one point behind Howells.

The relatively light airs this morning seemed to make the fleet even more skittish than usual and it took four attempts to get the race underway. For the third attempt PRO Tony Lovell brought the Z Flag into play and although the fourth start under black flag got away cleanly thirteen boats had already incurred a 20% penalty which was carried forward to their final score.

Auckland based Jon Andrews, sailing NZL1058 with Anatole Masfen and Andrew Wills, was one of the worst affected and despite a 7th in the second race his 22 point score dragged him down from 5th to 8th overall.

'We thought we had a good day until we got ashore and we found out we were OCS and Z flagged. After thinking we had six results we could hang onto we’ve now only got five and have to discard the 22nd. We’re lying eighth and going into tomorrow our aim is to finish fifth overall, but we’ll have to see what the conditions are like. Although I think the predictions have been wrong every day so far.

'Certainly yesterday was a bit of a shock after we heard the maximum would be about 22 knots and we probably got about 32-35 knots. And the same for this afternoon, I think before we went out people were talking about 15 knots and then I think ten minutes before we left the dock people were talking about 25 knots so things tend to change every minute.

'For us it’s quite intriguing because we’ve done a lot of training back home [Auckland] and we talked about the conditions we were sailing in during the [New Zealand] Nationals and the Auckland Championship that we did and I said that they were unrealistic to compare to the Solent but in fact I think they were bang on. We had 25-30 knots, about 14o C freezing cold conditions and if only we’d known it at the time we had exactly the same conditions as here so I think we’ve had quite a good preparation.

'I’m actually from the UK and emigrated to New Zealand about 15-16 years ago. I went to university in Portsmouth and did all the student team racing in Portsmouth and I actually know the Solent quite well. So it’s actually really good to come back and reminisce about how things were 20 years or so ago. Not much really changes, the tides still strong, the wind’s still horrific and the forecast is still as wrong as ever.

'[On the competition at this worlds] We’ll the last worlds that we did was in Auckland where we had I think nearly 90 boats and its completely different sailing in a 90 boat fleet to a 47 boat fleet. I think the nationals have been a great preparation for us sailing in a 35 fleet regatta and getting used to the Solent. So I think the smaller fleet is a little bit more forgiving if your start isn’t as good as it can be. '

Once the fifth race was finally underway David Burrows, sailing IRL1015 with his father Richard and bowman Peter Coad, put in a bravura performance to win by a comfortable margin. Behind him the places were changing all the time with Howells eventually taking second from Tom Hughes, sailing USA1306 with Ron Rosenberg and Steve Hayles. Beadsworth slotted into fourth and Laurence Mead, sailing GBR1339 with Phil Lawrence and Matt Adams took fifth.

The sixth race was the closest of the series so far and spectators were on the edge of their seats as the boats approached the finish line. Beadsworth led round the final leeward mark but, following his error yesterday in crossing the wrong side of the line and allowing Beadsworth to beat him, Peter Duncan, sailing USA1327 with Tom Blackwell and Bill Barton, was determined to get revenge.

The two went at it hammer and tongs up the long final beat and it was only on the final tack into the line that we knew Beadsworth had kept Duncan at bay.

Ante Razmilovic took third just ahead of Noel Drennan, sailing AUS1215 with Mal Parker and Wade Morgan, and Nils Razmilovic, sailing GBR1340 with Brian Hammersley and Charlie Cumbley, was fifth.

Theoretically there are three more races to sail but because of the terrible forecast, particularly for Saturday, the Race Committee tonight announced that provided at least one race is completed tomorrow there will be no racing on Saturday, the scheduled reserve day.

There's a gale forecast for tonight and more extreme weather due on Saturday so we just have to hope that tomorrow's moderate weather window is large enough to get in two more races.

International Etchells Class: 'World Championship 2007'

1 GBR 1361 20 Dawn Raid Andy Beadsworth 1 6 (7) 3 4 1 22 15

2 GBR 1333 49 Swedish Blue Ante Razmilovic 5 (15) 3 1 6 3 33 18

3 GBR 1332 27 Gelert James Howells 3 5 9 4 2 (18) 41 23

4 USA 1351 55 Daddy's Girl Jud Smith (10) 2 2 6 8 6 34 24

5 AUS 1215 39 Palaver Noel Drennan (26) 1 10 7 11 4 59 33

6 IRL 1015 37 Matatu Dubh David Burrows 11 9 12 2 1 (31) 66 35

7 USA 1306 53 Wiki Wiki 3 Tom Hughes 6 (28) 6 12 3 9 64 36

8 NZL 1058 25 Feng Shui Jon Andrews 4 8 11 8 (22) 7 60 38

9 GBR 1340 36 Matatu Nils Razmilovic 2 34 1 (46) 7 5 95 49

10 USA 1327 43 Raging Rooster Peter Duncan (33) 23 4 5 16 2 83 50

11 GBR 1339 26 Freelance Laurence Mead (21) 10 14 16 5 8 74 53

12 AUS 1250 16 Bushfire Jervis Tilly (16) 13 8 9 12 12 70 54

13 AUS 1244 21 Dr. Evil Jake Gunther 23 (26) 5 13 9 10 86 60

14 HKG 1051 41 Quest Mark Thornburrow 12 12 (21) 11 19 13 88 67

15 GBR 1352 12 Arbitrator Graham Bailey (31) 3 16 14 20 17 101 70

16 GBR 1297 11 9 Mike Sparks (41) 4 29 10 14 14 112 71

17 GBR 1165 54 Wobbegong Doug Flynn (46) 11 24 17 22 11 131 85

18 NZL 1127 28 Golli Gosh Gavin Gerrard 15 16 15 20 (41) 26 133 92

19 IRL 954 17 Conjurer Alex Lacy 27 14 13 18* 30 (46) 148 102

20 GBR 1193 46 Snatch Andrew Oddie (39) 17 18 21 18 28 141 102

21 IRL 1194 35 Mano Tom Fitzpatrick 7 (46) 17 15 19 46 150 104

22 GBR 1331 29 Hex James Hudleston 9 (40) 20 18 37 20 144 104

23 AUS 1150 22 Dragon Lady Bill Steele 19 7 27 (46) 36 25 160 114

24 IRL 1330 47 Snow Patrol Dan O'Grady 8 36 19 (47) 34 21 165 118

25 GBR 1067 45 Slieve Elva Sam North 14 25 26 (46) 30 27 168 122

26 GBR 1039 15 Blue Genes Ben Cooper 30 24 22 22 24 (46) 168 122

27 Count Boris' Secret Rendezvous AUS 872 18 Nick Knezic 18 39 (46) 24 29 22 178 132

28 GBR 927 44 Shamal Tim Herbert-Smith (46) 20 30 21* 41 32 190 144

29 IRL 1271 31 Ladies Who Launch Mary O'Loughlin (40) 30 35 23 33 24 185 145

30 GBR 1354 23 Elvis David Franks 22 19 34 (46) 26 46 193 147

31 GBR 1329 48 Stampede Julia Bailey 32 22 32 (46) 42 19 193 147

32 SWE 997 51 Warlord Lars Engelbert 20 21 28 (46) 45 33 193 147

33 IRL 1251 52 White Pointer Richard Grey 25 33 (46) 25 28 37 194 148

34 GBR 987 57 Bedrock Robert Elliott 24 41 23 (46) 46 15 195 149

35 GBR 1267 50 Take 2 Richard Merriweather 13 18 (46) 46 32 46 201 155

36 ITA 836 30 Hobe El Bahar Marco Cimarosti 17 29 37 (46) 46 39 214 168

37 GBR 957 34 Loup Garou IX Jamie Clark 37 32 38 (46) 46 16 215 169

38 GBR 962 42 Ragtime Rob Goddard 28 27 (46) 46 35 34 216 170

39 IRL 1148 56 Lambay Rules Stephen Quinn 35 44 (46) 46 26 23 220 174

40 USA 1177 33 Life is Good Tom Dawson 38 42 40 (46) 24 30 220 174

41 GBR 1009 38 Mayhem Tim Daughton 34 35 39 (46) 38 29 221 175

42 GBR 937 24 Evelina Geoff Skinner 29 45 36 (46) 31 36 223 177

43 GBR 1196 14 Best Mate Chris Torrens 36 31 31 (46) 46 35 225 179

44 AUS 917 40 Quay Largo Tony Kongats 42 43 33 19 43 (46) 226 180