2021 NSW Etchells State Championship at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club

by IECAA 22 Feb 2021 09:59 GMT 19-21 February 2021

The 2021 NSW Etchells State Championship was held from 19-21 February out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.

In testing conditions that saw the race management team having to shift from the traditional course in open waters off Barrenjoey Head to within the estuary between Middle and West Head on two of the three race days, a closely fought contest played out between Martin Hill's Lisa Rose, Colin Beashel in Havoc, local Billy Merrington in First Tracks and Etchells Class President, Mark Roberts in Fumanchu2. To say that the racing was close is somewhat of an understatement. It could not have been closer with the only seconds separating the finishers in all of the races.

On the last day only few points separated the leaders and by the final race any of the top four had the chance to win the championship. Ultimately it was the consistency of the Fumanchu2 that paid dividends with a fourth in the final race being enough to win by two points over Havoc and Lisa Rose who were tied for second and Fast Tracks only a further point behind. Acknowledging the efforts of the race management team during the presentations, Roberts also spoke of the tremendous energy within the NSW fleet and the quality of the racing that has led to both him and John Bertrand AO now keeping their boats at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and regularly travelling from Adelaide and Melbourne respectively to participate in this country's most competitive one deign class.

While front man in the Fumanchu2 team, Ben Lamb, was by the time of the presentations already on a flight to Adelaide to participate in the Pt Lincoln Race Week regatta on Ichi Ban, Roberts praised Ben and fellow crew member Will Ryan whose outstanding contribution was instrumental to the regatta win. "These two guys are simply fantastic at what they do and bring every time we come together. This was our first full regatta together having only sailed as a team a few times since October. It is pretty cool how they worked together to get the most out of the boat and from me. I think we have a pretty good road map moving forward and look forward to continuing to build on what we have done this week. I think there is plenty of good things on the horizon for the Fumanchu2 team and I look forward to our next event together."

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	AUS1473	FUMANCHU2	Mark Roberts	MRC	3	2	[12]	3	4	4	16
2	AUS1487	HAVOC	Colin Beashel	RSYS	[9]	1	1	8	2	6	18
3	1484	LISAROSE	Martin Hill	RSYS	1	4	8	[10]	3	2	18
4	AUS1485	FIRST TRACKS	Peter Merrington	CYCA	4	7	2	1	[8]	5	19
5	AUS1026	FLIRTATION	Matt Crawford	RPAYC	2	[10]	5	7	6	8	28
6	AUS1483	GREAT WHITE HUNTER	David Dunn	RSYS	[14]	6	9	2	9	3	29
7	AUS1478	TRIAD2020	John Bertrand	RBYC	12	5	14	[15]	1	1	33
8	AUS1219	CARABELLA	Matthew McCann	RSYS	7	[20]	4	6	5	12	34
9	AUS1392	THELASTONE	Steve Billingham	RSYS	[15]	3	3	9	11	9	35
10	AUS1213	2107 RACING	David Taylor	RPAYC	5	8	6	13	[20]	14	46
11	AUS947	PIE	Mark Bradford	RSYS	11	12	7	5	[16]	16	51
12	831	VIKEN	Mark Tolhurst	RSYS	13	[16]	10	11	10	11	55
13	AUS1463	AUS1463	Matthew Ramaley	RSYS	10	[14]	13	12	14	10	59
14	AUS1134	DOT	Jamie Macphail	GSC	[19]	9	15	4	18	19	65
15	AUS853	IRIS III	Peter McNeill	LMYC	16	11	16	16	7	[18]	66
16	AUS1187	ADAM MAGPIE	Emma Harrison	CYCA	6	19	11	18	[21]	17	71
17	AUS1447	AVALON	Michael Bellingham	RSYS	[23]	15	21	20	13	7	76
18	1325	FINESSE	Andrew Kearnan	CYCA	17	17	[19]	17	15	13	79
19	AUS1314	KALIKA 3	Alistair Read	RPAYC	8	18	18	19	17	[21]	80
20	NGR1450	AFRICAN QUEEN	Jan Muysken	LYC	21	13	[23]	14	22	15	85
21	AUS1088	SUN TZU	George Johnstone	GSC	20	[21]	20	21	12	20	93
22	AUS1291	THE DON	Donald Wilson	GSC	18	[22]	17	22	19	22	98
23	AUS1286	FROTH	Geoff Dilworth	GSC	22	23	22	24	[25F]	23	114
24	AUS511	GRAND V	DArcy Kemp	RPAYC	[24]	24	24	23	23	24	118