Etchells Victorian State Championship at Royal Geelong Yacht Club - Day 1
by Nic Douglass 13 Mar 2022 13:41 NZDT
11-13 March 2022
The Etchells Victorian State Championship supported by Rex Gorell Ford kicked off yesterday, Friday 12 March from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club.
Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395 skippered by Robin Deussen, with David Snoad and Jesse Mitton lead after the two races on day one over the current National Champions, AUS1466 Tango with one change of crew. Chris Hampton and Sam Haines are sailing with their coach, Barney Walker for this event.
"It's great to be back at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club" said Barney Walker. "This year was the first Festival of Sails I have missed in a long time."
"Unfortunately Cam couldn't get down this weekend" he continued about the change of crew. "I've spent eight years sailing and coaching with Chris Hampton so I am back on board for this event. It was quite challenging [yesterday], very light airs. We don't think we were going as fast as we should have been, but we have a plan to fix that today we think!"
After a short postponement waiting for wind, Race 1 got away in eight knots of breeze with an axis of 60 degrees, a 1.1 nautical mile beat, and Course 2 displayed, which is two laps finishing downwind.
Brendon Jukes' Jukes of Hazzard AUS882 with Michael O'Brien and Nigel Jones revealed themselves to have had the best start, triggering at just the right time to pop out from to leeward, and leebow Hampton, Haines and Walker on Tango AUS1466.
Around the top mark the same two boats were in first and second, third was Nick Gunner, Anthony McRae and Simon Gunner on Smoking Gun AUS1389, followed by Stella AUS1011, Panther AUS1488 and Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395.
At the gate there was a change of course to shorten the beat as the breeze strength had eased, and move the marks to starboard.
Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395 moved into first place and took the right hand turn to head out on starboard, then it was Jukes of Hazzard AUS882 and Tango AUS1466 both opting for a left hand turn to head out to the right hand side on port.
At the top the positions had changed once again, Jukes of Hazzard AUS882 made the most of the outgoing current on the right hand side to take control of the race. Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395 rounded in second, followed by Tango AUS1466.
Into the finish, Jukes of Hazzard AUS882 just managed to hold on to their win over Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395, with a small gap back to Tango AUS1466 to round out the podium.
There was another short delay as the twelve teams and organisers waited for the sea breeze to fill in. The course was re-jigged to suit the building south-easterly with a 155 course axis, at 1.1 nautical miles, with an upwind finish after the initial two laps.
Off the start line, Hampton's Tango AUS1466 got the best of the pin end bias, Deussen's Shoulda Gone Left AUS1395 were on their hip and couldn't breathe so were the first to get away on port.
Coming into the top mark, Tango and Shoulda Gone Left battled on a long starboard tack back from the left hand side short of the lay line. Shoulda Gone Left tacked on Tango heading in to the top on port to lead around the top mark, and ultimately take the win by some margin over the current National Champions.
Third was The Moe AUS 1131 skippered by Tony McKenzie with Matt Kirby and Tim Clark, fourth Peter Stubbings' Mens Shirts Short Skirts AUS1141 with Ann Stubbings and Ross Melville, and in fifth Stella AUS1101 skippered by Ian Crisp.
Racing will continue today on Corio Bay from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club. Two races are scheduled both today and for the final day tomorrow.
Full results available here.