Etchells Pre-World Championship at Royal Brighton Yacht Club - Overall
by Nic Douglass 5 Jan 23:07 NZDT
3-5 January 2025
Reigning Etchells World Champions, Graeme "GT" Taylor and James Mayo, with the return of former crew Ben Lamb on Magpie AUS1486 sailed an incredibly consistent final day in variable conditions to take the pre-Worlds regatta win.
In what ended up being a no-drop series, even after an 8 in the first race, the team sailed to the top of the leaderboard with their pair of second places and a win in the final race.
"It was a tricky old day, but Melbourne can do that in a northerly, it's very hard. But we just had two very nice first legs, two good starts, two nice first legs, which put us in a good position, and from there it's relatively easy", said Taylor.
"But anything can happen. We saw right at the end, I think Peter Robson was leading easily, and we were willing him on to win, and then all of a sudden, a couple of tacks, and he was fourth or fifth I think".
He also commented on the use of Race Sense, a new race management technology. The regatta needed four races to make a series, and it came down to the wire with the starting signal at 1500 hours, on the cut off for the last possible race. With 16 boats recorded as OCS, this would traditionally have been a General Recall, which would have resulted in a need for a restart, and the series would not have been completed.
"Isn't it fantastic, the Vakaros Race Sense. We actually wouldn't have got that regatta in without it because it would have been a general recall, because of all those boats over by the pin. We were like one metre back. I think it's all really positive".
On winning the pre-worlds and the eyes being on their team for a back-to-back World Championship win Graeme Taylor played it down but said they wouldn't go down without a fight.
"We'll be giving it [the World Championship] our best shot, and we won't go down, we'll go down kicking and screaming, but still, these regattas are hard to win. Proven that with all the seconds and thirds we've had, but we'll be giving it our best shot, and you know, hopefully we get a little bit of luck", he finished.
Austin Sperry's USA team USA1514 with John Kostecki and Noel Drennan finished in second overall. While they finished outside the top three in each race, their scorecard showed the value of consistency; finishing inside the top 10 in every race to secure their runner-up position.
Just one point behind, was fellow USA team Rogue USA1519, skippered by Scott Kaufman with Gonzalo Ribeiro, Hugo Rocha and Carlos Robles. Rogue USA1519 also finished as first senior (helm over 60 years).
Fourth overall was AMac USA1494 skippered by Andy Beadsworth with Brian Ledbetter and Will Ryan. AMac also took home the Masters (helm over 50 years of age) and Grandmasters (combined age exceeding 150 years of age) after finishing day one in first position.
The highest placing boat with a female helm was Flying Higher AUS1518 skippered by Jeanne-Claude Strong with Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, and Max Jameson. The team came seventh overall.
The winner of the Youth and Corinthian prizes was Lisa Rose AUS1484, skippered by Jack Abbott with Xavier Winston Smith, James McLennan and Tom Trotman, who came ninth overall.
"Martin Hill and Hill PDA are supporting our campaign this year, which we're very excited about and we've done all the Etchells events over the whole season. We've learned a lot coming to Brighton and we're very much looking forward to the Etchells Worlds," said Abbott.
"I'd say we've been properly sailing Etchells for six months, that was where we kind of all knuckled down and had a look at what we were doing before. Whilst we were having a great time, we wanted to progress and that all tied in quite nicely with Martin's involvement with our campaign. It's really enjoyable, especially in the Etchells class".
The World Championship will commence from the same venue on 10 January, running through to 14 January with nine scheduled races.
Day 3 video wrap
These regattas would not be possible without the incredible support of HillPDA and Vakaros, North Sails, Musto, the Victorian Government, the organising committee and the Royal Brighton Yacht Club and their team of volunteers.
Follow live at the Etchells Australia and the International Etchells Class Association Facebook pages or the International Etchells Class Association YouTube will have highlight packages.
Race 1 Live
Race 2 Live
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