Brisbane Etchells Fleet Championship at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron

Brisbane Etchells Fleet Championship © Mike Middleton Spikey Mikey

This weekend we held our annual season fleet champs. Joining the 7 local boats were Jake Gundry in Happy Hour - racing the boat for the first time after buying it 2 years ago! Up from the Gold Coast were Wayne Kirby in Emotional Rescue and Tomoko Nakanishi (with a local RQ crew) in Sneaky Ninja giving us 10 starters.

Day one started in a 10-12 kt Sou-easter. First to the top mark in race one was Happy Hour - not bad for their first outing but it wasn't to last. It was a day of numerous lead and position changes and Dave Smith on The Saint took out the first race of the series with Rapscallion getting up into 2nd and NGHAM (Mama Says: "Nothing Good Happens After Midnight") 3rd. In a reflection of how close the racing was all weekend, just 37 seconds separated the first 7 boats with 4th - 7th separated by less than 4 seconds.

In race 2 the competition was just as close. At the top mark first time up, Sneaky Ninja coming in on port misjudged their duck of The Saint who has just tacked onto starboard and unfortunately T-boned them right at the chain plates, bringing down The Saint's rig. This saw The Saint out for the rest of the weekend and Sneaky Ninja out for the remainder of the day. Waterloo Too went on to win ahead of NGHAM and Rapscallion.

Race 3 was less dramatic than the previous one though the racing was just a close - especially at the mark rounding's. NGHAM went on to take the gun ahead of Rapscallion with Emotional Rescue getting their first podium of the weekend.

Brisbane Etchells Fleet Championships - photo © Bradley Ginnivan

The day finished up with the traditional fleet BBQ and Chris's famous mushroom sauce.

An early morning storm on Sunday upset the weather pattern and after some deliberation with the RO, we decided to start on time. As the storm breeze subsided, we left the dock in a light westerly but by the time most of us got out to the start boat near Green Is it had dropped out completely. The Project only got halfway there and had to call up for a tow! We floated around in westerly, southerly, easterly and everything in between zephyr for 90 minutes or so before the forecast northerly finally broke through.

Race 4 started in a light 6-8 kts. Tomoko was back out giving us 9 staters. In the light airs, it was just a matter of finding a clear lane and the pressure. NGHAM continued their winning ways taking the first bullet of the day. Emotional Rescue rounding the top in 3rd snuck past Rapscallion for their second consecutive podium.

The breeze had settled down for race 5 to a pleasant 10-12kts from the north. With the left-hand corner favoured, Patto and the boys got to the corner first and then proceeded to lead around the top. Brad on NGHAM seeing the Rappers as his immediate threat to the title managed to camp on them all around the track allowing W2 to get away and comfortably record their second bullet of the series. NGHAM successfully held off Rapscallion for 2nd.

With just one race to go and with a drop-in play, NGHAM had an insurmountable lead with Waterloo Too and Rapscallion tied for 2nd. It was going to be another epic Patto/Heals battle for the minor podium positions.

Race 6 started with a general recall as half the fleet were over in their excitement to get the final race away. At this point the breeze was up to 12-15 kts and slowly building. Take two and soon the fleet was spread across the course with the left-hand corner the place to go. Emotional Rescue scored this top spot and lead around followed closely by Rapscallion, W2, NGHAM and Happy Hour.

Brisbane Etchells Fleet Championship - photo © Mike Middleton Spikey Mikey

At the bottom with Wayne controlling the preferred RH gate mark Rapscallion went for the LH one with W2 right on their transom where both proceed to the right-hand side of the course. Emotional Rescue comfortable in their decision making hit the left-hand corner.

Towards the right-hand corner Rapscallion tacked for the top crossing W2 by half a boat length. At the top Emotional Rescue lead around by 2 lengths. The Rappers tacked onto the lay-line 3 lengths ahead of W2 who rounded in third just ahead of NGHAM. It was still all on.

On the run an early gybe on Rapscallion managed to get them some clear air before the rest of the fleet all gybed onto port. At this point, Brad sat all over W2 forcing them to make a clearing gybe off to the right which proved to be a disaster for W2 - I heard Patto wasn't happy! The closing part of the run saw Rapscallion draw alongside Emotional Rescue but the final gybe into the finish gave EM the advantage and they took their first win and the final bullet of the regatta. NGHAM got through Patto to claim 3rd while Happy Hour also got through W2 pushing them back to 5th and ceding 2nd overall to their arch nemesis. Overall W2 and Happy Hour were tied on points for 3rd with W2 prevailing on count back.

Congratulations to Bradley, Scottie and Jake on Mama Says: "Nothing Good Happens After Midnight" who finished on 9 points. Rapscallion (Dave, Ian and Kevin) finished on 12 points to take second with Waterloo Too (Noel, Andrew and Will) third on 15 points.

A big thank you to the club, RC and volunteers for putting on a great regatta.

Overall Results: