International Etchells World Championship qualifying series overall

by Peter Campbell on 5 Dec 2011 International Etchells World Championship is being conducted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in February 2012.

A fleet of 30 boats, including six from other fleets, on Saturday tested the waters of the Macquarie Circle south of Sydney Heads, one of the offshore courses where the championship will take place.

Among the visiting skippers were three former Australian World Champions, John Bertrand, sailing Triad from the Melbourne fleet, Cameron Miles, sailing The Holy Way from the Pittwater fleet, and Peter McNeill, from the Lake Macquarie fleet, helming a borrowed Sydney boat with his own sails.

The regatta was vital for Sydney fleet boats as it was the final three of 14 race Worlds qualifying series.

Eleven Sydney fleet skippers and their crews will be eligible for the Worlds and those who have qualified are, in order: Fifteen (David Clark and Andrew Smith), Iron Lotus (David Edwards, Ivan Wheen and Tom King), Umami (Matt Whitnall and Ant Elliott), Vivienne (Rupert Henry, Tim Molchanoff and David Albert), Vincero (Nick Kingsmill and Peter Gardner), Ciao (Doug McGain), Shindig (David Sturrock, Mike Tyquin and Robert Weir), Alchemist (Richard Hammond and Roger Gain), North Sydney Station (Ed and Will McCarthy), Yandoo XX (Neville Wittey) and dot (David Seaton).

Saturday’s three race regatta began in a light easterly after a 40 minute delay, with the breeze backing during the afternoon and freshening from the north-east to 12-14 knots, giving ideal offshore sailing conditions.

Competition was remarkably close in the first two races, just 27 seconds between the first four boats in race one and 55 seconds separating the first nine boats in race two.

Top honours on the day went to the Mornington fleet boat Magpie, skippered by Melbourne fleet’s Graeme Taylor with former world champion crew Steve Jarvin on mainsheet/tactician. Taylor followed up his recent overall victory in the New South Wales State championship on Pittwater with a 3-4-1 score on the offshore course.

Second best results came from Old Gold, helmed by Julian Plante from the Pittwater fleet, with a 1-2-11 score. Old Gold won the opening race by 15 seconds from The Holy Way (Cameron Miles and Grant Cowie), also from Pittwater, with just one second to Magpie in third place.

The fleet was toey at the start of race two, with race officials hoisting the black flag. The results saw two boats called BFD – Fifteen (David Clark and Andrew Smith) and Roue (Michael Morris and Malcom Shaw).

Anamchara, skippered by James McHugh, eventually won a close second heat by eight seconds from Old Gold, with just four second to third placegetter Umami (Matt Whitnall and Ant Elliott) with Magpie close fourth, followed by John Bertrand at the helm of Triad.

Anamchara is a Swiss-owned Etchells which former British World champion Andie Beardsworth is expected to helm in the World championship.

Magpie notched up a comfortable 33 second in the third heat of the day, winning from Peter McNeill, from Lake Macquarie, sailing a borrowed boat but with his own sails. Close astern came Iron Lotus (David Edwards/Ivan Wheen/Tom King) and Fifteen, recovering from its race two BFD.

Race officials showed that they are taking offshore sailing safety rules very seriously by carrying out spot checks on the two boats that had been black-flagged at the start of race two: Fifteen and Roue.

Fifteen was found to fully comply with safety regulations, but race officials reported that Roue did not have a V distress sheet on board. They then issued an on-the-spot disqualification of Roue from competing in the final race in addition to the BFD from race two.

The race officials then suggested that, in view of the safety breach, the boat withdraw from race one, which Roue did, being listed as RAF.

The Squadron will conduct the International Etchells World Championship from 20-25 February 2012, using the Manly and Macquarie Circles off Sydney International Etchells Class Association website