ETCHELLS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - COWES SEPT 23-26th
After two days and four races, the UK Etchells fleet were half way through their 2010 National Championships organised by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club. Eamonn O’Nolan’s Holly Scott led David Bedford’s Bedrock by just two points, followed by Julia Bailey’s Stampede. Julia is one of Britain’s top women sailors, finishing eighth in the Etchells World Championships in Dublin. That regatta was won by John Bertrand, who famously wrested the America’s Cup from America for Australia. Holly Scott finished fourth in the Worlds, a fantastic result for this first season Etchells team.
Thursday’s first two races were in slightly shifty 10-15 knots of breeze from SW, with the wind increasing on Friday to 25 knots from the North with wind against tide conditions. Andrew Millband, CCYC’s Race Officer, got Friday’s races away first time with no OCS, despite a pin-favoured line and tide under the fleet. The tide was a major factor with the deep channel to the left favoured upwind, and to be avoided down. Stampede, with Julia’s crew of Pedro Andrade, Dave Ross and Gemma Hobbins, led Holly Scott up the first beat of the first race. On the run, however, it was Bedrock who had the better of the fleet by keeping well out of the tide to finish first ahead of Holly Scott. Two of the top 3 were top 10 at the Dublin Worlds so the Uk fleet remains highly competiitive!
In the second race, Rob Goddard on Ragtime almost lost his mainsheet trimmer overboard seconds before the start when the kicker broke, but they recovered well to finish fifth. The story was the same as in the first race: gybe early to keep out of the tide downwind, but don’t gybe back too late or you will end up overstanding the mark. Stampede finished second sandwiched between Holly Scott who won, and Bedrock.
Friday’s third race saw the first OCS with Bedrock called over by just two feet or so, but she quickly restarted and played the upwind shifts well to finish third. For those in the fleet who think you must always be on the weight limit to do well, they may be surprised to learn that Bedrock’s crew, was some 25 kilos under weight. The local Downer family, who have been successfully campaigning Moonlight this year, with local boatbuilder Mark steering and his even taller sons Ollie and George (with wife Jo on board on Thursday) had their best result crossing the line second. David Franks’s Elvis suffered considerable damage in the strong winds when the spinnaker found its way under the boat at the final leeward mark,but despite a shredded jib, a lost halyard, and a broken boom, recovered well to lose only one boat on the short beat to the finish. His crew includes Graham Sunderland of Winning Tides fame, and the UK’s leading sailing coach, David Howlett.
In the fourth race, Steve Tucker on Take 2 started several minutes after the gun, being late because of sorting out some damage from the earlier race, but his crew of Phil Stubb and Simon Knight did well to fight back and finish seventh. The race was won by Bedrock, and helmsman Dave Bedford, former J24 European Champion, was effusive about his crew of Sam Richmond and George Cooper: “ the guys were sensational downwind in the strong airs; we could gybe whenever we wanted and it made all the difference” .
This was echoed by Race Officer Millband “The Etchells fleet are such a tight competitive fleet with only a few boat lengths separating them. It was evident from the Committee Boat that you could gain several boat lengths by gybing smoothly and keeping the boat speed going”,
The fleet sailed clean races with no protests nor general recalls, and competitors doing their penalty turns when required. Coming off the boat after four races, Bedford said “I love the Etchells. They are proper one design yachts. Lovely to sail upwind. Lovely to sail downwind. And you can sail them world wide”. John Gimson, currently campaigning a Star for the Olympics and Iain Percy’s tuning partner, said “The Etchells racing is probably as competitive as you’d get outside of Olympic sailing”. As a former 420 National Champion, he should know.
Day 3 (of 4) dawned and the shifty winds were described by Moonlight’s Mark Downer as “ Go Left-Go Right-Go Left-Go Right…just like dancing really” and by the end of the third day Holly Scott had danced away with the championship; they dominated with 2-1-1 results on the day and not surprisingly owner Eamon O’Nolan permitted his crew to have a long lie-in on Sunday’s final day, knowing that the trophy was theirs.
Sunday’s final race had three boats in contention for second place: Bedrock, Moonlight and Stampede. Dave Bedford on Bedrock decided to cover Moonlight on the very port biased line, but Downer managed to tack away on port at the pin end of the line, take some sterns, and escape. With gusts of 15-20 knots and wind shifts of some 30 degrees, Downer’s dancing wasn’t as nimble as either Bedrock or Julia Bailey’s Stampede; the latter beat him into third place. But Julia’s total Regatta points equalled Downer’s, and on count-back Julia repeated her Irish National’s experience in August where she tied for first place but lost out on the count-back. So the final result for the tight four days’ racing among these top boats was Holly Scott first, Bedrock second, Moonlight third, and Stampede fourth.
The UK Nationals highlighted some matters which the fleet has discussed for many years.
First, are the boats too much for women sailors? On the winning boat Holly Scott is the eponymous 5 foot ½ inch crew member Holly Scott who manages the bow. Julia Bailey, the most successful woman Etchells sailor ever, sails regularly with Rachel Visick . They sometimes leave the men on the dock and sail all-women, as did a successful all-female Irish crew in the Etchells Worlds in Chicago in 2008.
Secondly, how old do you have to be before you can no longer sail these wet, demanding yachts? John Bertrand at 63 years old won this year’s Etchells Worlds in Ireland, and there were many veterans sailing very competitively in the fleet. As the famous coach David ("Sid") Howlett age 58, put it: “The older Etchells sailors are kept young, vibrant and alert by continuing to be active in the fleet. They are clearly much fitter and healthier than their age group generally”. There are many successful veterans in the Etchells fleet world wide, including of course in Cowes.
Thirdly, how do owners of Big Boats get on with this 30-foot yacht? Eamonn O’Nolan, having won these Nationals and placed fourth in the 2010 Worlds said “I’m learning much more than on my Farr 45 and doing much more on the boat than I ever did before. I’m really looking forward to next year’s campaign and racing in the Solent , in Miami in January/February against forty other Etchells, and of course even more yachts at the Worlds in California in June”. David Franks on Elvis reinforced this view “I’m much more engaged on the Etchells than on the Farr 45 or my J125”.