Audi Etchells Australian Championships - Overall

by Suellen Hurling 18 Jan 2008 10:50 GMT 11-18 January 2008

Local Brisbane sailors win Etchells Australian Championships

Brisbane Fleet sailors Jason Muir, Matt Chew, Paul Wyatt and Darren Jones sailing Racer XY are the 2008 Audi Etchells Australian Champions after a count back defeating New Zealand sailor Alistair Gair with David Ridley, Carl Peters and Derek Scott.

The four up crew who have been training on the championship course since early November and are naturally extremely happy with their result.

The win comes after a count back with both Muir and Gair finishing on 18 points. Muir had to finish 4 places or more in Race 7 to secure the win. Muir finished 3rd, with Gair placing 7th.

“What a week! Today was intense. In Race 7 we had the tiller delaminate and both pumps exploded down the first run. We had to do a manual bail the entire race! It looked like everything was against us. We even had an infringement with our mate Mark Bradford. Total miscommunication between the crew, but we fought back.

We had no idea we won. At the finish we counted numbers. I can’t believe we won on a count back. We just waited for them (Gair) to cross the line trying to keep calm. Talk about INTENSE!

My crew are fantastic, we are a great team. Thanks to Matt and Paul for their constant commitment. I have to thank Adrian Finglas as well for this assistance with the whole set up. Darren Jones came in late but we knew from a tactical point of view he was our man to get us over the line.

We are all going to take a bit of a break now but will be back for the Winter Nationals and then the Worlds in 2009.”

Muir and Gair were the only two crews to finish the regatta with two first places keeping them 12 points ahead of the fleet.

Another Brisbane Fleet sailor Mark Bradford, sailing with Ben Durham and Wade Morgan finish in 3rd position after a challenging week of sailing.

Veteran sailor Rob Brown with Bruce Wookey and Gary Gudmunson took home the Masters crown ahead of fellow veteran Skip Lissiman.

“You know you’ve had a great regatta when you finish in from of Skip and John Bertrand!” laughed Brown. “I have to say congratulations to these outstanding sailors because it’s been a pleasure to sail with and against them for many years,” continued Brown.

The Grand Masters prize went to Sydney sailors Jan Muysken, Ian Audsley and Mark Doyle sailing Etch.

“It’s been a fantastic regatta and we have enjoyed the racing,” said Muysken on accepting the trophy.

The top ranked fleet of the regatta went to Brisbane who with Muir and Bradford had another top 10 placing with Funky Cold Medina sailed by Vaughan Prentice, Darren Hutchison, Will Thompson and Chris Anderson who placed 7th overall. A fantastic achievement to win after competing in the regatta on their home waters.

The regatta saw mixed conditions with today’s races giving the crews the most consistent angles and pressure. The lead changed after every race with the championship coming down to the final race.

Talk amongst the crews now is the Midwinter Championships in Mooloolaba, the Adelaide Australian Championship and the Worlds.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1	AUS874	Racer XY	Jason Muir	18	2	8	1	3	1	3	18
2	NZL950	Velsheda	Alistair Gair	26	4	1	2	1	3	7	18
3	AUS1317	Una Mas	Mark Bradford	4	3	3	8	17	6	6	30
4	AUS945	Blacksnake	Cameron Miles	8	8	2	46	4	9	11	42
5	AUS1326	Steampacket VII (M)	Rob Brown	19	7	9	14	8	4	1	43
6	AUS915	Koolong X	Peter McNeill	1	5	5	21	15	7	22	54
7	AUS1347	Funky Cold Medina	Vaughan Prentice	10	14	13	12	20	2	5	56
8	AUS947	Magpie	Graeme Taylor	9	6	23	23	7	12	2	59
9	AUS876	Fifteen	David Clark	6	10	27	20	2	16	8	62
10	AUS891	Bandwagon (M)	Skipp Lissiman	14	30	22	9	6	5	9	65
11	AUS875	Men At Work	Bucky Smith	3	1	4	46	14	20	26	68
12	AUS1338	Critical Balance	Mark Bulka	25	12	11	7	19	19	4	72
13	AUS1254	Odyssey	Julian Plante	13	11	17	15	5	11	46	72
14	AUS1318	Bananas in Pyjamas	Ian Johnson	28	13	19	4	13	10	17	76
15	AUS1164	B Squared	Gary Boyd	37	21	10	3	9	27	16	86
16	AUS1134	Dot	Matt Whitnall	15	19	6	16	18	14	21	88
17	AUS923	Racer X	Mick O'Brien	20	15	16	6	16	29	18	91
18	AUS924	Barry	Damien King	33	9	15	17	12	28	10	91
19	AUS1362	Fair Bump Play On	David Rose	2	28	21	10	27	13	19	92
20	AUS1274	The Nurse	Noel Drennan	29	24	12	13	11	24	13	97
21	AUS415	Waterloo Bay (M)	Noel Paterson	22	22	36	5	26	15	14	104
22	AUS1244	Dr Evil	Jake Gunther	16	20	18	25	15	19.8	19.8	108.6
23	AUS1250	Bushfire	Jervis Tilley	32	17	14	30	10	17	24	112
24	AUS1321	Triad (M)	John Bertrand	11	16	7	26	46	8	46	114
25	AUS1160	Liquidity	Dirk Van Der Struyf	17	26	26	18	23	25	12	121
26	AUS1359	The Front Row	Ben Lehmann	41	33	20	19	21	23	15	131
27	AUS1192	Echo Beach	Tom Woods	7	23	24	46	24	32	30	140
28	AUS1144	Rapscallion (M)	David Healey	5	25	32	24	46	36	23	145
29	AUS1360	Etch (G)	Jan Muysken	23	18	25	35	32	30	32	160
30	AUS994	Crews Control (G)	Paul Minter	36	29	28	28	22	37	20	163
31	AUS1049	Vertigo	Doug Williams	24	31	29	22	36	21	46	163
32	AUS1270	La Vie Dansante	David Royle	21	27	33	31	30	26	46	168
33	AUS852	Three Ring Circus	Trevor Martin	12	42	37	27	29	41	33	179
34	AUS1213	Dutch Moth	Anthony Patterson	42	40	30	11	35	34	34	184
35	AUS963	The Rat	Grantham Kitto	30	32	34	29	34	31	28	184
36	AUS849	Yep (M)	Russell McCart	35	36	35	32	31	18	46	187
37	AUS1337	No Excuse	Rupert Henry	38	34	31	33	28	35	27	188
38	AUS418	Hocus Pocus (M)	Peter Willey	34	41	38	34	25	38	25	194
39	AUS883	Tusk	Gary Smith	44	35	40	36	33	33	29	206
40	AUS1158	New Wave	Peter La Fontaine	39	38	42	40	46	22	31	212
41	AUS1316	TheGoodTheBad&TheUgly (G)	Jonathan Harris	27	39	43	37	41	40	35	219
42	AUS826	Hustler	Craig Mathie	31	44	39	38	38	46	46	236
43	AUS941	J for Jig (M)	Lex O'Conner	43	46	41	41	37	39	46	247
44	AUS913	Never Enough	Andrew Telford	45	37	44	39	39	46	46	250
45	AUS750	Iris II (M)	David Gleadhill	40	43	45	42	40	46	46	256