Andrew Wills takes win in Etchells Nationals ahead of world champion

by Richard Gladwell on 12 Apr 2010 Former World Etchells Champion, Andrew Wills crewed by Anatole Masfen and Matt Kelway, retained their overnight points lead to win the combined Etchells New Zealand and Auckland Championships at the weekend.

'The class enjoyed some of the closest racing we have had for years at this year’s 2010 Nationals,' Wills told Sail-World. 'It is a testament to the resurgence the class has recently experienced as a result of moving the fleet into town and being able to conduct mid week racing during the summer. The fleet intends to continue its strong growth with a few mid winter regatta’s before launching into next seasons Tuesday summer series again. There is strong interest from a few more potential owners and there are a lot of good second hand boats available.'

The Nationals involved predominantly light sailing conditions, especially Saturday. After a four year winning streak another former World Champion, Alistair Gair, was finally beaten by his good friend Andrew Wills and crew.

Last year Alastair and Andrew sailed together as one of Alastair’s regular crew had family commitments.

Gair, along with crew Dave Ridley, Derek Scott and Anna de Fluiter finished second, with Lindsay Kennedy, Trevor Swinburne and Chris Urry taking third place. Both crews improved significantly on their first day's efforts, as the easterly breeze freshened, allowing the internationally experienced crews to come into their own.

Special mention goes to new comer Phil Pryde, and legend of the Javelin class, who continued to sail well in only his second nationals in the class.

On Sunday the left hand side of the course seemed to be favored and Lindsay managed to pull off some pretty good starts that let him work the favored left hand side of the course. Shifting him up the leader board to third overall and first master.

For Wills it was double-happy as he won the Brisbane Etchells Championship a fortnight ago sailing North Sails ' Brisbane agent Mark Bradford.

While this year's Etchells Nationals were combined with the Auckland championships, next year it is intended to run these as separate regattas as the fleet continues to expand.