Etchells Worlds 2012 - Overall lead to Aussie Tom King

by Tracey Johnstone on 22 Feb 2012 The Etchells World Championship 2012, being held offshore of Sydney Heads, is on the third day of racing. Tom King stamped his name on Sydney back in September 2000 and it seems like he intends doing it again in 2012 as he steered his Iron Lotus team to overall lead today.

Australian skipper King and crew of Ivan Wheen, David Edwards and Owen McMahon have delivered consistent results in the first four races of the championship with a second, sixth, third and second. Many an expert sailor will argue that the pathway to success is just such a scorecard.

Into second place overall comes the Roulette team of USA skipper Jud Smith and Australian crew of Mark Johnson and Nik Burfoot. After a rollercoaster first race day, then no racing yesterday, Smith grabbed a confident first in race one of today and then a third in the shifty second race. His scorecard reads 3, 19, 1 and 3.

Into third overall is Australian Graeme Taylor with crew Steve Jarvin and Grant Simmer. Taylor seemed to have struggled with the heavier breeze today after finishing in 12th and then 10th place. This has given him total points of 27, just one behind Smith. With lighter breezes expected tomorrow, Taylor will be back on pace as long as he can handle the pressure on the start line.

The weather was far more kindly today for the 74-boat fleet contesting the Etchells World Championship 2012. The sea had calmed considerably and the wind was in the range that suited small boat, offshore racing.

The first race start was not without drama. With the top mark laid at 190 degrees for a 2.5 mile upwind leg, the race
committee were ready to send the fleet off on time. Just after the start gun the PRO, Ross Wilson, called a general recall due to problems on the start boat.

Ensuring the fleet got away on the second start, the Black Flag went up. Just thirty seconds before the start there was plenty of pushing on the line with most of the fleet choosing the right hand side of the mid-line signal boat.

Four boats were called over – 7PS (Ian Anderson), Anamchara (James McHugh), Dragon Lady (Bill Steele) and Racer X (Mark Thornburrow).

On the start line there was more drama for Marco Cimarosti with a port and starboard incident which resulted in damage to his boat and an end to his World Championship campaign.

Smith took control of the race from the start leading around each mark and finishing in commanding form.

The fleet enjoyed a steady 12 knots at 190, but found the swell made steering difficult downwind. The pressure held at the top mark, but softened towards the bottom.

By the second work the front markers were well spread out across the course with more pressure towards the top end.

King said his team sailed well downwind in this race. 'We made a few boats at the bottom of the first run, got around the bottom cleanly and then stayed where we were after that.'

Cameron Miles had a brilliant race, shining in the heavier sea conditions and riding the waves on the downwind legs. He finally finished second, but with plenty of day light between Smith and himself.

Thornburrow kept racing finishing across the line in third place. Unfortunately his Black Flag penalty took him out of the placings and gave third place to Iron Lotus (Tom King).

Smith said of the first race of the day, 'there wasn’t as much current today. The big thing was getting off the line and holding the lane for a while. When it got a bit light and we got a good setting, we got going. Up the top we tried a shift here and there and we happened to get the shift at the end.'

The race committee then set up the second race promptly after watching the breeze swing to 170 degrees before going further left to 165 at 15 to 17 knots. This was when the breeze reached its strongest for the day.

The first start was a general recall so the race committee went straight to a Black Flag start.

Triad (John Bertrand) looked to get the best start at the leeward pin. To windward was Smith.

There were three BFDs called – The Whole Way (Cameron Miles), Avalon (Michael Bellingham) and J for Jig (Philip O’Connor).

At the top mark with 17 knots, a long swell running and even with a slow kite hoist, Boat X (Noel Drennan) was in the lead with King about one boat length astern. The rounding was fast and the ride downhill exhilarating. At the bottom mark Smith had moved up to second place followed by The Croc (Michael Manford) and then King in fourth.

The crowd arrived after that with the waves catching them, surfing through the bottom gate and then into each other.

Back at the top mark for a second time, Drennan had his lead, four boat lengths ahead of Smith and King.

On the run King over-took Smith and then closed the distance on Drennan, but Drennan held on for the last gasp effort of riding the swell across the line to finish first.

'There were some quite big shifts from side to side in the second race. We basically went up the middle of the course and so we were able to use a little bit of each shift. The first beat was long and felt quite lonely in one respect as there were only a few boats in the middle.

'With only a few boats around us we could tack when we wanted to. The second beat was pretty similar. There was three or four of us and then a gap to the rest of the fleet so we were able to somewhat control where we were. We extended a bit on this leg. Both runs we lost a little bit.

'On the last run boats had pressure on either side of us so we had to make a commitment to cover one. Fortunately we chose Tom and we ended up quite close.' Drennan said.

There was more pressure on the left hand side of the course which helped King to finally get through Smith. 'We started sailing a bit lower than Jud right from the top mark and we slowly separated. Down towards the finish we had a little more pressure than he did and we just slipped around in front of him,' King said.

Smith was complimentary of King and his team’s skills on the race course today. 'On the two races they (Iron Lotus) passed us on the run. They are sailing a really consistent regatta. They are doing a little bit better technique, something that we need to improve on. They did a better job of surfing

'It was lumpy upwind and downwind. It seemed like the second race was worse, but that might have been because I was getting tired,' Smith said.

Smith and King are cautious about tomorrow’s forecasted light easterly. Smith thinks this will be the hardest day for this team with easterlies tending to be unpredictable while King is waiting for his luck to turn. 'We are very conscious about getting off the line cleanly out there today and so we were pretty conservative about where.'

There are seven protests being heard tonight. None should affect the top 10 placings.

Top six places in today’s race and top six overall after a total of four races:
Race 3. Roulette (J Smith, AUS) 1, The Hole Way (C Miles, AUS) 2, Iron Lotus (T King, AUS) 3, Triad (J Bertrand, AUS) 4, Velsheda (A Gair, NZL) 5, Menace (V Brun, USA) 6.
Race 4: Boat X (N Drennan, AUS) 1, Iron Lotus (T King, AUS) 2, Roulette (J Smith, AUS) 3, Gen XY (M Chew, AUS) 4, Critical Balance (M Langford, AUS) 5, Triad (J Bertrand, AUS) 6.
Prog pts: Iron Lotus 13 Roulette 26 Magpie 27 Triad 36 Hydrotherapy 45 Boat X 50.

Full Results:

Place	Bow	Country	Sail	Skipper		1		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
1	25	AUS	925	* Tom King		2		6	3	2						13
2	66	AUS	1377	Jud Smith		3		19	1	3						26
3	47	AUS	947	Graeme Taylor		4		1	12	10						27
4	03	AUS	1383	John Bertrand		5		21	4	6						36
5	70	AUS	875	* Murray Gordon		1		15	13	16						45
6	15	AUS	1215	Noel Drennan		30		10	9	1						50
7	10	NZL	950	Alastair Gair		6		30	5	12						53
8	64	AUS	864	Matthew Chew		21		11	19	4						55
9	56	AUS	1356	Michael Manford		15		4	30	7						56
10	38	AUS	1338	* Mark Langford		22		13	16	5						56
11	27	USA	1227	Vincent Brun		7		2	6	47						62
12	61	AUS	1361	Mark Tonner-Joyce		29		5	20	15						69
13	31	AUS	831	Brett Ellis		20		12	14	23						69
14	08	AUS	876	David Clark		27		20	15	8						70
15	37	AUS	1337	* Rupert Henry		36		18	7	33						94
16	26	AUS	1226	John Savage		44		33	8	9						94
17	44	AUS	1244	Douglas McGain		8		22	11	55						96
18	06	AUS	1306	Cameron Miles		12		8	2	75 rdg						97
19	32	AUS	1325	Peter McNeill		75 dnf		9	10	14						108
20	20	AUS	1320	* Dirk Van Der Struyf		47		27	23	13						110
21	40	AUS	1254	Peter Merrington		34		3	25	52						114
22	57	AUS	1387	* Mark Bulka		31		43	18	24						116
23	67	AUS	867	Tom Braidwood		19		28	60	11						118
24	62	AUS	1362	* Ross Lloyd		38		25	28	27						118
25	35	AUS	1358	Mark Richards		23		7	38	51						119
26	22	AUS	1192	* Jamie Woods		61		24	17	19						121
27	74	AUS	874	Chris Hampton		11		58	32	22						123
28	30	AUS	1347	Vaughan Prentice		10		34	52	31						127
29	24	AUS	924	* Damien King		42		31	29	25						127
30	69	HKG	1269	Mark Thornburrow		13		23	75 bfd	17						128
31	72	AUS	882	Brendon Jukes		52		17	34	29						132
32	23	AUS	1392	David Rose		39		26	50	21						136
33	33	HKG	1333	Ante Razmilovic		16		29	40	54						139
34	04	AUS	1384	Steve OÕRourke		56		37	31	20						144
35	63	AUS	963	Grantham Kitto		18		75 dnf	24	32						149
36	52	AUS	1052	Chris Rabbidge		26		35	39	53						153
37	55	GBR	987	Robert Elliott		25		61	26	42						154
38	14	AUS	1144	* David Healey		68		38	21	28						155
39	02	AUS	1268	Robert Weir		51		42	33	30						156
40	49	BER	1249	Tim Patton		41		44	36	35						156
41	21	SIN	1021	* Jervis Tilly		32		16	64	45						157
42	12	AUS	1250	* Matt Whitnall		46		45	22	49						162
43	54	GBR	1354	David Franks		50		36	35	41						162
44	05	AUS	511	* Gordon Hinds		45		41	45	36						167
45	07	SUI	1187	James McHugh		62		14	75 bfd	18						169
46	36	AUS	936	Shane Deussen		17		52	66	34						169
47	01	AUS	1401	* Richard Hammond		14		60	63	39						176
48	18	USA	1198	* Scott Kaufman		58		32	43	44						177
49	75	GBR	1331	James Howells		9		75 ocs	54	40						178
50	65	AUS	1024	* Guyon Wilson		54		39	27	61						181
51	73	AUS	1273	Ed McCarthy		60		57	37	38						192
52	34	AUS	1134	* David Seaton		43		47	68	37						195
53	16	AUS	1163	Mark Anderson		59		40	48	48						195
54	39	BER	898	Mark Watson		24		66	41	65						196
55	11	AUS	1311	* Paul Henshall		35		62	42	58						197
56	53	AUS	1253	* Mark Doyle		33		63	58	50						204
57	09	AUS	1399	Ian Crisp		55		48	55	46						204
58	58	NZL	1058	John Melville		53		46	51	67						217
59	29	AUS	892	* Craig Coulsen		49		64	47	57						217
60	45	AUS	1385	* Jason Ward		65		49	62	43						219
61	46	AUS	1346	* Michael Bellingham		40		56	49	75 bfd						220
62	68	AUS	868	Jeanne-Claude Strong		48		75 dsq	44	63						230
63	19	AUS	991	* Jake Gunther		28		75 ocs	53	75 dnc						231
64	43	AUS	1343	Peter Gardner		75 dnf		75 ocs	56	26						232
65	41	AUS	941	* Phillip Coombs		37		75 ocs	46	75 bfd						233
66	60	UAE	1386	* Jan Muysken		57		54	61	62						234
67	28	AUS	1288	* Robert Holm		64		55	57	60						236
68	59	AUS	869	* John Paul		63		51	65	66						245
69	42	AUS	943	* Burke Melia		75 dsq		53	67	56						251
70	71	AUS	1291	Don Wilson		69		65	59	64						257
71	17	AUS	1117	* Ian Anderson		67		59	75 bfd	59						260
72	51	ITA	1351	Marco Cimarosti		66		50	75 dnf	75 dnc						266
73	50	AUS	1150	* Bill Steele		75 dnc		75 dnc	75 bfd	68						293
74	48	USA	1248	Leon Christianakis		75 dnc		75 dnc	75 dnc	75 dnc						300
* denotes Corinthian status

Etchells World Championship website