Murray takes the first gun at the Etchells World Championship
by Nic Douglass 23 Oct 2018 17:28 AEDT
18-27 October 2018
Day one of the Etchells World Championship in Brisbane got off to a slow start while competitors waited for the breeze to fill from the south-east.
Race one got underway just before 1500 hours local time (GMT +10) in building pressure at 120 degrees.
With a slight favour on the starboard end of the 1.2 nautical mile line, it was the boats who got away cleanly on the right-hand side who led into the top mark with Martin Hill, Mat Belcher, Julian Plante and Sean O'Rourke on 1449 leading the way from "Big Fella" Iain Murray, Richie Allanson and Grant Simmer on 1461 and Grant Crowle's 1306 hot on their heels.
Most of the front runners opted to round the gate to port and head back out to the right-hand side of the course and it was definitely a sight to see at the bottom of the race track as 94 boats had to fold back into the fleet. Hill's 1449 extended their lead over 1461 and 1306 on the downwind leg and the podium remained in that order. Bruce Ferguson, David "Towers" Sampson and Cameron Miles on 1330 made the most gains on the run to move up into the leading pack.
Martin Hill and his team on Lisa Rose led around the final mark of the course, but the Big Fella and his team sailed a brilliant second work to close the gap and round just one boat length behind. Ferguson on 1330 also continued to make gains on the second work and moved up into third position at the top mark.
Murray, Allanson and Simmer made their move on the final run into the finish to take the first gun of the championship from Hill, Belcher, Plante and O'Rourke, and Ferguson, Sampson and Miles. This is how the overall results stand moving into day two given that it was too late in the day to get in a second race.
We were live from the drone for all major sections of the course (start, mark roundings, and finish) which we will repeat today thanks to Hill PDA direct from The Seabin Project rib.
Be sure to join the live drone action for day two today with Adventures of a Sailor Girl, or head to the event website or social channels for more coverage and live social updates.
Full results available here.