Marinepool Etchells Australasian Championship at Mooloolaba

Marinepool Etchells Australasian Championship at Mooloolaba - Overall

by Tracey Johnstone 7 Jun 2015 10:10 BST 4-7 June 2014

Cameron Miles fought gallantly in the heavy conditions at the Marinepool Etchells Australasian Championship © Teri Dodds

Hong Kong's Mark Thornburrow rides to victory in the last race of the regatta at the Marinepool Etchells Australasian Championship © Teri Dodds

Strong comes of age taking first major title

Jeanne-Claude Strong and her team of Neville Wittey, Marcus Burke and Tiana Wittey have been crowned winners of the Marinepool 19th Etchells Australasian Championship being conducted by Mooloolaba Yacht Club.

This is the first time a woman has won a major Etchells class title in Australia. And it is the first time Strong has won a major event. This is an excellent result for a class that has been in recent years pro-active in encouraging women to join the class in helming or crewing positions.

"I still find it hard to believe," Strong said after returning to the dock and hearing the news of the overall results.

"I made the decision last year when we started to improve our results that we would make the most of it. How many years have I got left in good quality racing ? We have done more physical, gym training and a lot of on-water training with everyone else. We have put a lot of hours in on the water," the 61-year-old Strong added. Her team has been together for about five years and they have also competed in a lot of Etchells events both in Australia and overseas.

Strong finished race one today in second place after working their way through the big ocean swell and gusty wind, at times up to 26 knots. But in the second race things seemed to not go their way as they finished in a nail-biting 19th place. "We just didn't pick the shifts. Our start wasn't too bad and we had clear air. We went right and had a good lift towards the flatter water which we did on race one and it seemed to work. But it didn't work the second time," Strong added.

At the start of the day Cameron Miles and his crew, James Mayo and Grant Cowle, were in first place with a two-point lead on Strong. But by the end of the day, the reverse had happened. While Miles went into today confident the stronger conditions were where he raced best, a handful of poor tactical decisions bought him down just when it counted the most.

"We got a bad start in the first race and that let us down. We couldn't tack so we got buried and had to fight back," Miles said. They finished 15th in that race.

"In the second race we sailed quite well until the last run really. We were in third spot and we hoped we could hold that spot and get Clarkey (David Clarke), but dropped a couple right down the bottom. We let Land Rat and Chewy through. It was just bad sailing.

"All credit to Nev (Wittey) and Jeanne-Claude. They sailed very, very well. I was surprised to see them up there when it got windy, but certainly wasn't surprised to see them up there in general.

"I think we could have done better in that breeze. I expected us to do better, but it didn't work out that way," a bitterly disappointed Miles added after finishing the second race in fifth place.

Hong Kong's Mark Thornburrow must have been saying at the end of Race 7, 'if only'. Thornburrow and his team of tactician and gold medallist Olympian Malcolm Page, Simon Cooke and Michael Huang, delivered a second day of perfect racing with a sixth and then a first. They went the right way and they went fast.

"It was really picking the shifts and good boat speed. Malcolm was fantastic on the tactics and boat handling," Thornburrow said. But, they had to count their poor first day results after breaking their jib halyard.

He was very, very surprised to have moved into third overall, just one point ahead of Brisbane Fleet's John Warlow. "Bloody hell," was his candid reply on being told the result. He assumed that since they were so far back on the results there was no chance they could make it up onto the podium. Cooke had the last word on the team's results since he was the one to climb the mast to repair the halyard. "To get to third, I think that was a good effort from us."

With the swell and pressure up today, some of the top boats after Day 2 just couldn't hold onto the top pack - Warlow's results were a 17th and a third, Michael Coxon's were first and a 17th and Peter McNeill's were third and 23rd.

Defending Australasian champion, Matthew Chew, came out fighting for a second day delivering an eighth and then a fourth.

In seventh overall was David Clarke with team of young sailors from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. They had been doing a great job of working their way up the results throughout the three-day regatta to finally nail a second in the last race.

Mooloolaba Yacht Club will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Etchells Australasian Championship in 2016. The dates of the regatta will be June 9th to 12th.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1	868	YANDOO XX	Jeanne‑Claude Strong	RSYS	1	1	7	5	14	2	[19]	30
2	1306	THE HOLE WAY	Cameron Miles	RSYS/RPA	3	4	3	[18]	2	15	5	32
3	923	RACER X	Mark Thornburrow	RHKYC	17	[18]	8	4	1	6	1	37
4	1422	LAND RAT	John Warlow	RQYS	4	3	[29]	2	9	17	3	38
5	1119	NORTHERN HAVOC	Michael Coxon	RSYS	2	15	[17]	3	5	1	17	43
6	864	GEN XY	Matthew Chew	RQYS	21	8	[44U]	1	3	8	4	45
7	1380	FIFTEEN+	David Clark	CYCA	[35]	12	4	6	15	9	2	48
8	1325	IRIS III	Peter Mc Neill	LMYC	7	5	1	20	13	3	[23]	49
9	1332	TOP 40	Peter Merrington	RSYS	[19]	16	14	8	4	4	6	52
10	1391	TANGO	Chris Hampton	RBYC	15	2	12	[25]	17	5	9	60
11	932	KARABOS	Paul Garaty	LMYC	14	[29]	2	22	8	11	8	65
12	1244	CIAO	Douglas McGain	CYCA	8	9	[28]	9	16	23	13	78
13	832	ANIMAL HOUSE	Dirk Van Der Struyf	RFBYC	13	10	18	13	10	[19]	16	80
14	1384	PANTHER	Stephen O'Rourke	CSC	5	[28]	6	23	20	18	11	83
15	756	ETCHELLENCE	Grant Hudson	RQYS	23	[36]	10	12	23	10	7	85
16	1165	WOBBEGONG	Douglas Flynn	RSYS	25	7	11	17	6	[26]	24	90
17	1392	BOOTROSS	Mark Bradford	RQYS	24	[31]	27	7	7	14	12	91
18	1362	THE DOCTOR	Grant Allen	SYC	[28]	24	5	10	18	20	15	92
19	1254	ODYSSEY	Jill Connell	RPAYC/CYCA	10	11	19	16	[30]	25	14	95
20	1318	ADOLESCENCE	Steve Billingham	RSYS	16	14	22	15	11	[24]	20	98
21	1144	JUST 2 FUNNY	Trevor Martin	MYC	12	17	16	[37]	22	16	22	105
22	1088	SUN TZU	Roger Hickman	RSYS	[38]	26	26	31	12	7	10	112
23	1269	DREAM ON	Greg Farrell	RHKYC	11	[22]	21	21	21	21	18	113
24	950	VELSHEDA	Greg Humphries	GSC	29	35	15	11	36	13	[44C]	139
25	994	CREWS CONTROL	Karen Dews	CSC	20	20	23	24	25	[28]	27	139
26	415	WATERLOO BAY	Noel Paterson	RQYS	22	19	32	19	[44F]	27	21	140
27	1270	LA VIE DANSANTE	Adrian Nash	RSYS	18	13	[31]	30	31	31	25	148
28	1291	THE DON	Don Wilson	GSC	30	6	9	38	38	[40]	30	151
29	723	FORCEFUL	James Walker	RQYS	9	25	13	26	[44F]	34	44C	151
30	1258	ATHENA	Mark Roberts	RSAYS	33	21	[44U]	14	27	22	44F	161
31	1215	BAIT AND SWITCH	Barry Cuneo	RQYS	36	23	25	34	19	29	[44C]	166
32	1292	AUS1292	Matthew Ramaley	CYCA	32	32	24	[33]	28	32	26	174
33	1389	SMOKING GUN	Nick Gunner	RGYC	26	30	35	[40]	32	33	28	184
34	1386	JAZASA	John Abikhair	RGYC	34	33	30	28	26	36	[44F]	187
35	1146	MOJO	Paul Barnes	WSYC	[40]	37	20	35	34	35	31	192
36	418	YEP	Alistair Cowen	RQYS	39	[40]	36	32	24	37	29	197
37	1365	RAPSCALLION	David Healey	RQYS	6	27	34	[44F]	44S	44F	44S	199
38	1314	KALIKA 3	Ian Audsley	RPAYC	27	39	39	27	29	38	[44F]	199
39	885	ROLLS ROCKS	Rod Caldwell	RQYS	42	38	37	29	[44F]	12	44F	202
40	1275	TREKKA	Mike Thackray	CYCA	37	42	40	[44F]	37	30	32	218
41	826	JOE	Josh Willis	RQYS	31	41	33	36	33	[44F]	44S	218
42	731	BETELGEUSE	Greg Forgan‑Smith	SYC	41	34	38	39	35	39	[44S]	226
43	856	BUTTERFLY EFFECT	Geoff Dews	MYC	[44C	44C	44C	44S	44S	44F	44S	264