USA favorites for 2008 Etchells Worlds

by Rob Kothe on 22 Jun 2008 Crews from 33 different Etchells fleets across seven countries will face the starter on Monday off Chicago Yacht Club’s Belmont Station, in the 2008 Etchells World Championship.

There will be 84 boats on the starting line, the fourth largest fleet in the 34 year history of this fiercely competitive one design class.

The only larger fleets have been at Marblehead MA USA in 1998, (100) Gulf Harbour Auckland New Zealand 2002, (98) and Greenwich CT in 2003 (93) and Mooloolaba Australia 2004 (85).

The 2007 Etchells World Champion, Britain’s Andy Beadsworth is back to defend his title, sailing with Dave Dwyer and long time crew Simon Fry.

Beadsworth says ‘It’s going to be tricky, the forecasts say everything from four to twenty knots. We will not give up the title without a good fight! But really it’s an open book. Anyone of 20 boats could win.’

Beadsworth is right. This is, as always, a classy field but there are standout players on current form, and the USA looks like it has the talent to take the 2008 crown.

Bill Hardesty in USA 979 won the 2008 US Mid-Winters East, ahead of 2006 Etchells World Champion Jud Smith and Andy Beadsworth, and then the Mid-Winters West, ahead of Tom Hughes and Chris Busch.

In last weekend's lead up regatta, the Chicago NOOD, Hank Lammens won the first race of the NOOD regatta, ahead of Smith and Beadsworth. In the second race he finished in second place, and was third in the third race.

Jud Smith has to be a podium bet. After his 2006 win in Fremantle, Australia, he won the 2007 North Americans ahead of Hank Lammens and Chris Busch and was second behind Beadsworth in the 2007 Cowes Worlds.

With five seconds and a title win, Smith has been amongst the silverware more often as a skipper than anyone except the legendary Dave Curtis.

The fleet has assembled from around the world, and as always there are plenty of previous World champions competing.

Amongst the nine Australian entries is Peter McNeil, the 2004 winner. Tim Paton is representing Bermuda, there are six Canadians crews, with current World Champion Andy Beadsworth on one of the six Irish boats. Marco Cimarosti from Italy is also competing, along with three New Zealand entries. Andrew Wilson who sailed with Jud Smith in 2006 is teaming up again with the giant Anatole Masfen and with Fremantle second placed skipper Alastair Gair on bow, this makes them a highly competitive crew.

The 51 USA entries includes three previous winners; Smith, 1986 and 1987 winner Dave Burton, who will be a definite threat in light conditions and Vince Brun, who won the title in San Diego in 2000. All in all there is a host of US talent that could easily sweep the podium.

The six race championship series starts Monday, 23rd June and runs to Saturday June 28th 2008.

Country Code	Sail #	Skipper	Fleet Location
USA	21	Doug Scheibner	Detroit
USA	102	Judson Smith	Oriental
CAN	398	Andrew Macrae	Toronto
USA	583	Kers Clausen	San Francisco
USA	668	Richard Sidell	Chicago
USA	701	Aaron Housten	Chicago
USA	706	artie means	San Diego
NZL	716	Simon C Minoprio	Aukland
USA	822	Fred Joosten	Chicago
CAN	898	Jerry Wendt	Toronto
AUS	915	Peter McNeill	Lake Macquarie
AUS	917	STEPHEN INGATE	Sydney
USA	928	Bill Mauk	Annapolis
ITA	942	Marco Cimarosti	Italy
GBR	962	Rob Goddard	Cowes
USA	969	Chris Busch	San Diego
USA	978	Rick Kaiser	Chicago
USA	979	Bill Hardesty	San Diego
USA	980	Jack Bernhardt	Chicago
GBR	987	Robert Elliott	Cowes
USA	1008	Michael Goldfarb	Seattle
USA	1012	Charles Baker	Greenwich
IRL	1015	David Burrows	Dublin
USA	1044	David Whelan	Galveston
CAN	1053	Allan Gray	Montreal
NZL	1058	Andrew Wills	Aukland
USA	1069	Elizabeth Altman	Oriental
USA	1076	Ray Harrington	Lake Champlain
USA	1085	Ethan Doyle	San Francisco
USA	1097	Jose Fuentes	Annapolis
AUS	1102	steve o'rourke	Botany Bay
NZL	1127	Gavin Gerrard	Aukland
AUS	1134	Matty Whitnall	Sydney
USA	1137	Shannon Bush	Galveston
USA	1149	John Pedlow	Bellingham
AUS	1150	terence (bill) steele	Swan River
CAN	1154	Glenn McKay	Toronto
USA	1166	Gretchen Sullivan	Casco Bay
USA	1168	Peter Vessella	Biscayne Bay
IRL	1187	James-Seamus Mc-Hugh	Cowes
USA	1199	William Mills IV	Shelter Island
USA	1207	Jeff Padnos	Macatawa Bay
USA	1211	Kevin Boyle	Chicago
USA	1224	Kurt Winkelmann	Seattle
USA	1227	Vincent Brun	San Diego
USA	1228	Brian Camet	Macatawa Bay
USA	1229	Argyle Campbell	Alamitos
USA	1232	Marvin Beckmann	Galveston
USA	1238	Gary Gilbert	Buzzard's Bay
USA	1239	Stephen Horwitz, MD	Biscayne Bay
USA	1241	Ken Womack	Galveston
AUS	1244	Jake Gunther	Melbourne
CAN	1247	Allan Leibel	Toronto
BER	1249	Tim Patton	Bermuda
IRL	1252	Alexander Lacy	Dublin
IRL	1271	Mary O' Loughlin	Dublin
USA	1281	Frederic Laffitte	Seattle
USA	1283	Andrew Whittome	San Diego
USA	1285	Bruce Golison	Alamitos
USA	1296	jeffrey siegal	Milford
USA	1299	Jerry Fulp	Oriental
USA	1301	Peter Shumaker	Detroit
USA	1306	Thomas Hughes	Seattle
USA	1307	Jeffrey Nehms	Biscayne Bay
USA	1308	Senet Bischoff	Newport
USA	1310	Robert Wray	Annapolis
USA	1313	Patricia Stadel	San Diego
USA	1315	John V Gilmour III	San Francisco
AUS	1320	Rob Bird	Swan River
IRL	1323	Stephen Quinn	Dublin
USA	1327	Peter Duncan	Biscayne Bay
GBR	1329	Julia Bailey	Cowes
GBR	1333	Ante Razmilovic	Cowes
USA	1342	Thomas Dawson	Detroit
CAN	1349	Hank Lammens	Eastern LIS
USA	1350	Bruce Burton	Detroit
GBR	1352	Graham Bailey	Cowes
GBR	1354	David Franks	Cowes
AUS	1355	Bryon Ehrhart	Geelong
AUS	1356	Michael Manford	Swan River
AUS	1360	Jan Muysken	Sydney
USA	1363	Justin Palm	Chicago
USA	1373	BUDDY CRIBB	Biscayne Bay
IRL	1375	Dave Dwyer	Cork