Etchells NSW State Championship at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club

by Lisa Ratcliff 28 Nov 2016 07:12 GMT 25-27 November 2016

Etchells NSW State Championship © Stephen Collopy / RPAYC

The Cure, 15 and Top 40 during the Etchells NSW State Championship © Stephen Collopy / RPAYC

In a phenomenally close finish, a single point and two countbacks determined the top four placegetters at the Etchells 2016/17 NSW State Championship conducted off Palm Beach Headland, Sydney, in an area known as the Palm Beach Circle.

Chris Hampton's effort in bringing his newish team of Sam Haines and Mark Andrews up from Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Victoria paid dividends when Tango took out the series by a boat length in the final race six.

'It takes two to tango' is the expression and Peter Conde's Encore team, runner-up by the narrowest margin, plus others, pushed the Victorians right up until the dying seconds.

"It was very close; we thought we'd blown it in the last race and we had to fight for every centimetre on the run to the finish," Hampton shared.

"I've had 15 years in the class but this team only came together for the Etchells Worlds in Cowes in September where we won race one and blew third spot overall with a UFD (disqualification) in the last race. After this series we know we have some things to work on, mainly our starts. We are only a young team and we feel we are far off achieving our full potential.

"The boat is a Pacesetter; we bought the hull and fitted it out ourselves. We are very happy with the speed, we found it much more lively and responsive compared to the older hull, which is still at Cowes. We enjoy sailing against the best boats and sailors in the world and we have a busy program ahead including the Australian title in January then the North American circuit and the San Francisco worlds."

Mark Andrews, Sam Haines & Chris Hampton win the Etchells NSW State Championship - photo © Stephen Collopy / RPAYC

Hampton's boat is shiny new and the state title was the latest Tango's debut regatta. Second placed Peter Conde's Etchells called Encore (Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron) is a 1990 hull and he was the boat's first owner. Last year he noticed it up for sale and bought it back. Campaigning with the same crew he had in the mid-1990s, Brian Hillier and Myles Baron-Hay, Conde pushed the 26-year old hull to its limit in the NSW championship to finish second overall on a countback and first Corinthian boat.

"It always was a good boat," agreed Conde at the trophy presentation on Sunday November 27, 2016 at host Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. "I just wanted to come back from sailing admin (performance director at Australian Sailing) and do my own sailing. The racing was incredibly tight in this series; I don't think the fleet was as close 20 years ago.

"My ultimate aim is to have fun on the boat with these guys [Brian and Myles]. The 2018 worlds are at our backdoor in Brisbane and if the timing works out we'll do it. We are a bunch of old guys so we don't have super competitive expectations."

Myles Baron-Hay, Brian Hiller, Peter Conde finish 2nd in the Etchells NSW State Championship - photo © Stephen Collopy / RPAYC

Prior to this season Conde, Hillier and Baron-Hay last sailed together at the 1996 world championship in Cowes, UK. Though the bodies are older, over the weekend the trio demonstrated less hair definitely doesn't equate to less flair.

Past national champion, Graeme Taylor's Magpie sailing for Mornington Yacht Club in Victoria, finished third on a countback from Ray Smith's The Cure, the winning Grand Master crew with a combined age of 150 plus years, all the way from Royal Perth Yacht Club.

The first NSW boat in the rankings was David Clark's Fifteen+ (CYCA) in fifth and sixth was Iain Murray's Northern Havoc (RSYS) in what is also Murray's comeback season.

Reflecting on the one design series, race officer Kevin Wilson said, "We had three days and three different sets of conditions; the first day light out of the SE then on day two we had N-NE up to 15 knots and Sunday it was back to the SE. We had some comfortable seas and some very rocky seas, and that's all part of ocean racing.

"It's been fantastic watching, they are all so close together and come around the marks four, five and six deep. It's been great to sail out of the Alfreds, the hospitality has been excellent."

Australian class president David Ritchard and RPAYC Commodore Ian Audsley were delighted with a 38-boat state title roll up and Ritchard thanked sponsors Harken, Gill and North Sails one design.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Crew	Crew	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	13	TANGO	Chris Hampton	Mark Andrews	Sam Haines		RBYC	4	1	1	[12]	6	6	18
2	5	ENCORE	Peter Conde	Brian Hillier	Myles Baron‑Hay		RQYS	2	[6]	4	6	4	2	18
3	10	MAGPIE	Graham Taylor	James Mayo	Steve Jarvin		MYC	[13]	3	12	1	2	1	19
4	21	THE CURE	Raymond Smith	Alan Smith	Mike Hughes		RPYC	1	9	3	[10]	3	3	19
5	15	FIFTEEN+	David Clark	Mark Langford	Sasha Ryan	Will Howard	CYCA	7	5	5	[9]	1	5	23
6	29	NORTHERN HAVOC	Iain Murray	Euan McNicol	Richard Allanson		RSYS	[9]	8	2	4	9	4	27
7	28	CIAO	Douglas Mc Gain	Michael OBrien	Stuart Clark		CYCA	[10]	2	8	7	8	7	32
8	25	IRIS III	Peter McNeill	David Gleadhill	Dean Blatchford		LMYC	[25]	4	7	5	5	13	34
9	40	TOP 40	Peter Merrington	Geoffrey Bonouvrie	Ian McKillop		RSYS/CYCA	8	7	6	3	[39U]	16	40
10	27	YANDOO XX	Jeanne‑Claude Strong	Caitlin Tames	Marcus Burke	Seve Jarvin	RSYS	11	12	14	2	7	[39U]	46
11	36	AVALON	Michael Bellingham	Harry Bethwaite	Will Canty		RSYS	5	10	10	[30]	14	14	53
12	26	SHINDIG	Robert Weir	Mike Tyquin	Paul Thackray		RSYS	3	[30]	17	14	10	15	59
13	19	TRINITY	Jan Scholten	Chris Dawson	Tom Grantham		RPAYC	6	17	13	19	11	[39U]	66
14	38	LISA	Martin Hill	David chapman	James Corrie	Milly Bennett	RSYS	[22]	20	11	.8V	12	9	66.8
15	17	TREKKA	Jason Antill	Andrew Withers	Dave Taylor		RPAYC	[28]	11	15	15	18	8	67
16	18	TRIAD	William Voerman	Bush Jono	Clynton Wade‑Lehman		RQYS	16	15	[27]	8	23	18	80
17	6	FUMANCHU	Mark Roberts	Matthew Johnston	Michael Coxon		ASC	20	19	9	[23]	13	19	80
18	31	ADOLESCENCE	Steve Billingham	Jarvis Tilly	William Lewis		RSYS	[38]	21	19	13	17	11	81
19	20	WOBBEGONG2	Doug Flynn	Henry Kernot	James Downer		RSYS	[26]	18	18	21	16	10	83
20	33	CARABELLA IV	Matthew McCann	Campbell Davidson	Dara Johnston	Scott Cotton	RSYS	14	13	24	11	[39U]	22	84
21	11	ODYSSEY	Jill Connell	Ben Morrison‑Jack	Wade Morgan		RPAYC/CYCA	12	14	21	20	21	[24]	88
22	37	ITCHY	Will Northam	Alice Tarnawski	Joshua Chant	Liam Bennett	CYCA	17	[31]	23	16	20	17	93
23	24	AUS1292	Matthew Ramaley	Adam Turks	Ben Psaltis		CYCA	27	16	[32]	22	19	12	96
24	12	TOUCH PAUSE ENGAGE	Michael Stovin‑Bradf	Andrew Gordon	Andrew Kennedy		RSYS	[32]	24	29	17	15	27	112
25	30	WHISPER	Bruce Ferguson	James Meggison	Terry Wetton		RPAYC	19	[33]	26	26	22	25	118
26	34	DOT	David Seaton	Deborrah Seaton	Kevin Leedlow	Warwick Jacobson	RSYS	31	22	22	24	24	[39C]	123
27	23	BLACK KNIGHT	Bruce Dey	Andrew Hamil	Tom Crow		RPAYC	15	[35]	16	34	29	30	124
28	3	ATHENA	Alistair Cowen	Brad Warneke	Michael Allen		RQYS	[37]	23	36	18	27	23	127
29	9	IVY	John Denton	Graeme Sheldon	Roy Leslie		GSC	23	26	30	[32]	30	21	130
30	22	SEAWINGS	Hendrik Visser	Mark Hurley	Paul Chadwick		RPAYC	18	27	34	[36]	25	28	132
31	2	ACHILLES	Russell Ford	Camerone MacDonald	Cecilia Janson		RSYS	29	25	20	27	32	[33]	133
32	32	SURPRISE	Matthew Fisk	Brett Sims	Ryan Fisk		RSYS	33	[39U]	31	25	31	20	140
33	7	GRAND V	Robert Porter	Andrian Dunphy	Stephen Ingate		RSYS	21	[37]	25	35	28	31	140
34	14	KALIKA 3	Ian Audsley	Gordon Otten	Peter Kelly		RPAYC	34	28	28	29	[35]	26	145
35	4	CURVED AIR	George Johnstone	Justin Gurdol	Mark Thomson		GSC	36	29	[37]	33	26	29	153
36	16	THE DON	Don Wilson	Brian Zemanek	Michael Law	Peter McIntosh	GSC	30	[34]	33	28	34	32	157
37	42	ROUE	Michael Morris	David Lyons	Geoff Masters		RSYS	24	36	38	31	33	[39C]	162
38	8	MACII	Darren Williams	David Tomlinson	Gary Mawson		RPAYC	35	32	35	[39R]	39C	39C	180