Perfect conditions

Appleton comes to the fore Etchells pre-worlds in Mooloolaba

Finally some reliable stability from a 14-16 knot sea breeze offered an insight into setting a form guide for the 2004 World Etchells championship over the Mooloolaba Yacht Club courses on the Coral Sea.

The real tactical jousting for the honour of winning the ACE championship series will not officially have a real meaning until the 85 yacht fleet representing England, Italy, Bermuda, China, America, New Zealand and Australia line up for the first heat of the prestigious championship on 2 August.

There is still a certain type of ‘mind games’ being played but now the foxing has finished the fleet pretenders will now have to prove if they have what it takes to become a title contender.

This weekends four race pre-world regatta three introduced another group of promising series winners with the talented Cameron Appleton and his Embers crew of Peter Merrington and Paul Gudmenson showing their consistency in a mixed range of winds to finish all four races in the top eight.

Appleton, formerly Team New Zealand’s deputy America's Cup helmsman and winner of the 2003 Australian Etchells winter championship on the same course finished a searching four tactical races with 1-3-4-8 score and three places clear of 2004 Australian champion Mark Bulkain's Balanced A-Tac on 4-4-6-5.

This place was filled by John Bertrand in Two Saints and A Magpie scoring a 1-2-3 after placing 27th in the light wind heat 1.

Bertrand has two very smart sailing technicians in Mark Richards and Richie Allanson playing a major role in the race strategy.

They were particularly sharp today starting in clear air and building their impressive results to selecting the right options upwind.

Bertrand yet to win an Etchells world title may very well win the 2004 series he has the speed over the complete wind range however he may find clear air hard to find when the 85 boat fleet including former champions Dennis Conner, John Savage and Cameron Miles line up for first heat in the six day series on Monday August 2.

Results ACE Pre-World regatta 3:

1 Embers (Cameron Appleton, NZL) 1-3-4-8 16pts
2 Balanced A-Tac (Mark Bulka, Vic) 4-4-6-5 19pts
3 Two Saints and A Magpie (John Bertrand, Vic) 27-1-3-2 33pts
4 Squid (Chris Pratt, SA) 2-23-5-3 33pts
5 Cobra lV (John Savage, Vic) 6-8-13-12 39pts
6 Just A Dash (Phil Dash) 15-6-7-13) 41pts
7 Racer X (Mark Bradford, Qld) 12-21-2-9 44pts
8 Whooshka (Lucas Down,Qld) 22-2-8-18 50pts