Etchells Australian Championship at Metung Yacht Club - Day 1
by Jeanette Severs 3 Nov 18:53 NZDT
1-5 November 2024
Racer CC leading the fleet into the second leg of race two on day 1 of the Etchells Australian Championship © Jeanette Severs
Day one racing of the 2025 Australian championship was held in champagne conditions. The race officers, Ross and Kevin Wilson, intended to run three races and they achieved their aim. The course was set in Lake King on an axis of 090 over 1.3 nautical miles and it remained on that heading all day.
Wind in the first two races averaged 15 knots. The seas were choppy. In the last race, the wind shifted up to 22.5 knots, producing rolling waves.
The races were fast, with two lengths leeward to windward, and completed within less than the hour.
The Vakaros racing system is compulsory for this championship, giving competitors the opportunity to learn about and test it leading up to the 2025 World championship in January where it will be used.
Ian Kingsford-Smith is on board this regatta to teach everyone how to use the Vakaros racing system. But Kingsford-Smith is in doubt how many Etchells sailors globally, who will enter the World championship, are already using Vakaros.
What is obvious with the Vakaros system is how it changes the competitors approach to the start line.
In race one and three, all boats were held well back from the start line. In race two, there was more jostling on the start line typical of races of this size and endeavour.
Race one and two starts were clean. Two boats were over in race three, and returned to complete their individual restarts.
Race officer Ross Wilson said the practice starts using the technology on Lake King on the previous day - November 1 - paid off by bringing many of the crews to familiarity with using the system.
The sailors racing in this regatta represent a broad geographic experience of home, including Ireland, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
Their experience ranges from Olympic sailing, to ocean sailing including FastNet boats and Sydney to Hobart winners, alongside local club competitions.
The full fleet of 33 boats sailed from the rural town of Metung out to Lake King, on the Gippsland Lakes, to line up for the first race.
In race one, the leaders took 16 minutes to achieve the top mark, with current World and Australian champion Magpie AUS1486 first around the pin, narrowly in front of Hong Kong's Racer CC AUS1482, Flying High 2 AUS1435, Gen XY AUS1082 and Corinthian crew Lisa Rose AUS1484.
Magpie was also first around the bottom mark, when Graeme Taylor, James Mayo and Ben Lamb split away from Racer CC to turn their boat around the port pin.
Returning from the windward mark on the second leg, the leaders were coming in hot to the finish line.
Magpie finished narrowly in front of Mark Thornburrow's Racer CC. Jeanne-Claude Strong, with New Zealander Max Jameson, Sam Newton and Seve Jarvin on board Flying High 2, were a very close third.
Only a short break of water from the leading three boats saw another group sailing hot toward the finish line.
Gen XY AUS1082 was the leader of this bunch crossing the finish line, followed closely by Lisa Rose AUS1484, Matilda AUS1488 and Tamm Ha Tamm AUS865, in that order.
Eighth and ninth yachts over the line were from the Metung Etchells fleet. Elusive AUS1360, with Jeff Rose, Mark Henger and Rob Conn on board, led the youth crew on board Kelpie AUS882 home.
Kelpie is helmed by Europe-based and Metung-born sailor Richard Smith and crewed by her owner Toby Conn, alongside Jack Felsenthal and teenager Wayne Smith, who is in the middle of his VCE exams.
Two boats did not finish, with New Wave AUS1158 retiring for the remainder of the day.
In race two, 32 boats lined up and made a clean start.
Mark Thornburrow, Malcolm Page, Julian Plante and Mike Huang in Racer CC led the field around the top mark on the first leg, and retained a clear lead coming into the bottom mark.
There were already several boat lengths between Racer CC and second-placed Magpie as the fleet turned around the port or starboard pins for the second leg.
That lead was retained throughout the rest of the race, with Thornburrow and his crew bringing Racer CC home in first place, several boat lengths ahead.
Second and third place was a tussle between Magpie and Flying High 2, with Taylor, Mayo and Lamb succeeding.
Strong led the rest of the fleet home, with Flying High 2 finishing in third place again, ahead of Gen XY.
Brendan Jukes, Michael O'Brien, Nigel Jones and Owen McMahon brought The Jukes of Hazzard AUS1011 up from their middle of the fleet finish in race one to conclude race two in fifth place.
Great White Hunter AUS1483, Lisa Rose AUS1484 and Karabos AUS932 slotted into the following three places.
Jindivik AUS1487 was the first boat in the 13-strong Metung Etchells fleet to cross the finish line in race two, with Toby Richardson, Sam King and Michael Parks bringing her up from where she finished at the top of the middle of the fleet in race one. In race two, Jindivik crossed the finish line in ninth position.
The Don AUS1291 retired after race two, with Donald Wilson, Brian Hawthorne and Graeme Murray taking their yacht back to her berth.
Six yachts did not finish race two. Among those that went home for the rest of the day were Metung fleet boats Odyssey AUS1254, Apres La Mer AUS923, AUS1292, Second Chance AUS621 and Quandong AUS1245. Matilda AUS1488 also had to retire.
With the course axis remaining the same, the wind was gusting up to 22.5 knots for race three; there were 26 yachts at the start line.
Like race one, the fleet held back from the start line, but two yachts cleared the gate early and had to return for individual restarts.
Magpie led the fleet around the top mark, ahead of Racer CC. Again, the race was over within less than an hour.
Taylor helmed Magpie across the finish line, a clear winner, several boat lengths ahead of Racer CC. Racer CC was several boat lengths ahead of the remainder of the fleet.
McNeill, Sinclair and Smith sailed Gen XY into third place.
There were tight tussles for some of the other finishes in the top 15. Lisa Rose with Jack Abbott, Xavier Winston-Smith, Tom Trotman and James McLennan on board, battled it out for fourth place, finishing narrowly ahead of The Jukes of Hazzard.
Strong, Jameson, Newton and Jarvin brought Flying High 2 across the finish line into sixth place, narrowly ahead of Richard Smith, Conn, Felsenthal and Wayne Smith on board Metung fleet boat Kelpie.
The series standings after three races are Magpie, followed by Racer CC and Gen XY in third place.
Kane Sinclair on Gen XY said he hugged the pin for all three starts and it paid off, keeping him consistently among the lead bunch throughout the race. His standing in the series at the end of the three races is third overall.
Queenslander Sinclair has put together a mixed crew with Peter McNeill and ocean racer Andrew Smith. Sinclair has towed his hull from Queensland and McNeill, from Cronulla Sailing Club, has brought his sails, and the three have combined to, so far, be a formidable trio for this regatta.
"We wanted to enter as two crews and two boats, but then we realised we were battling to achieve that, so Peter and I decided to come to Metung as a team," Sinclair said.
"Andrew, with his ocean racing experience, has quickly showed he's worth our confidence."
Flying High 2 is in fourth place overall, followed by Lisa Rose, then The Jukes of Hazzard in six position on the series ladder.
Metung fleet boat Elusive is in seventh overall, followed by Tiger AUS1524 in eighth position. Tiger, a new boat recently purchased by Chris Manton, is on its first major outing. Manton is sailing with Nigel Abbott and Rodney Hagebols. Tiger finished just out of the top 10 on each of races one, two and three.
Kelpie is the second Metung fleet boat in the top 10 on the series board, hugging ninth position, ahead of Great White Hunter AUS1483, crewed by David Dunn, Peter Bellingham and Sandy Higgins, rounding out the 10th place.
Results for each race and the series are online here.