New east coast Etchells for Western Australia sailor leading into NSW state title
by Lisa Ratcliff 31 Oct 2016 06:35 GMT
25-27 November 2016
Etchells racing on Sydney Harbour © David Ritchard
Event: International Etchells 2016/17 NSW State Championship conducted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club on Pittwater, 25-27 November, 2016M
New South Wales is the new target for the Etchells fleet as the location for the next state and Australian championship, and rather than yet another drive across the Nullarbor dragging his Etchells from Perth, West Australian sailor Ray Smith is joining the two-boat program.
The brand new Etchells he ordered two years ago is about to leave Pacesetter's Nowra factory for rigging in time for the NSW States on November 25-27 and then the Australian Championship on January 12-15, 2017 with both events hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club at Newport.
Enter the NSW Championship here
Smith will contest the Etchells states and nationals in January then move his brand new boat up to Brisbane to prepare for the 2018 world championship out of Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. His last memory of sailing on Pittwater dates back to 1994 when he was coaching school teams racing and his school lost to the Sydney team, captained by James Spithill who went onto America's Cup fame.
For Smith the class' appeal is its indiscriminate nature and value for money. "Etchells are non-discriminatory and offer an opportunity for a wide range of people, male and female. Then you've got JB [John Bertrand] who's almost 70 and has just won the worlds. There's still hope for me being in my 40s!"
Perth's Swan River Etchells fleet is 25 strong and active, and there's been an influx of crews in the 18-30 age bracket. "The boat's appealing to the younger guys because it's competitive one design racing. They aren't the sexiest but having a relatively equal fleet makes it appealing for all ages. It's really a timeless class," Smith adds.
Melbourne, Mooloolaba, Brisbane and Sydney also house good size fleets. For a class that began in Australian in the mid-70s there's a heritage appealing to owners and hot shot pro sailors in their 20s and 30s who link up with seasoned owner/skippers, the most well-known being 69 year-old Bertrand who took out the Etchells World Championship in September with Paul Blowers and Ben Lamb.
From his Bermuda base as a SoftBank Team Japan's America's Cup team member, 33 year-old Aussie Ben Lamb is happy to speak on his love of the Etchells class, named after the American designer Skip Etchells. "I started sailing Etchells at 14 and they are still my favourite class to sail in the world, and I sail an AC45 Turbo every day for work. I still think they are completely relevant due to the sheer competitiveness of the fleet. I was very lucky Dean Barker let me take time off work to sail with JB at the worlds. He knew it would be good for me to learn from John, and to sail in a pressure cooker environment," Lamb added.
The ship Bertrand's Etchells is on won't arrive in time to contest the RPAYC's states but he plans to front the Australian Championship in January.
After a decade-long break past Australian Etchells champion Jan Scholten is making a comeback to what he says is THE keelboat class in Australia, and the hardest to win. "With Etchells it's all or nothing, and when you do it all, like we did, you need a break financially and time-wise for kids and work. We plan to sail twice a week leading into the states; that won't be enough to get in the top three... we'll just do the best we can and see where we land."
Entries for the NSW states close on Friday November 18 at 5pm. Racing will take place in the Palm Beach circle zone to the east of Palm Beach headland and trophies will be awarded to the top three finishers, the winning fleet and the winning Master skipper and Grand Masters crew.
RPAYC Commodore Ian Audsley, performance director at Australian Sailing Peter Conde and Jean Claude Strong, winner of last year's Mid-Winter Australasian Championship with her Yandoo XX crew and the first female to win a major Etchells championship, are among entries so far.