Aussie domination

While Dennis Conner shows good sportsmanship at the ACE Etchells World Championship

Lake Macquarie sailmaker Peter McNeill holds a narrow overall points lead after today’s fourth race of the ACE Etchells World Championship, being sailed off Moolooolaba on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.

Steering Tom Pepper XVIII, McNeill is two points clear of former World Champion Cameron Miles, sailing Pacesetter from the Pittwater fleet, while third overall is the Masters sailor from Melbourne, Bruce McBriar, skippering Fast Forward.

In a series of fluctuating fortunes in the changeable winds and sea conditions on this large bay of the Pacific Ocean, these three and Tasmanian Andrew Hunn, sailing Zulu, are the only skippers in the 85 boat fleet who have managed a top 15 place in each race.

McNeill finished 13th in provisional results for race 4, while Miles narrowed the points lead with a fifth place. McBriar placed ninth while Hunn was 14th.

Today’s race, sailed in a southwesterly breeze that varied from 5 knots at the weather mark close inshore to 15 knots at the leeward mark, 2.5 miles further to seaward, saw a fine win by Michael Manford from Perth, sailing Crocodile, from Brisbane skipper John Warlow, skippering Blinky 3 Eyed Fish and New Zealander Cameron Appleton at the helm of Embers.

Michael Manford is a son of another prominent Perth Etchells sailor, Tony Manford, and is a past Australian Champion. He placed 5th in the 2003 Etchells World Champion in Auckland.

However, none of these top three placegetters in race 4 figure high on the points score as in previous races they have finished well back in the fleet. Manford’s win has lifted him from 35th to 23rd in standings, Warlow is 35th and Appleton is 31st.

Four more races remain to be sailed over the next three days to decide the 2004 Champion in this prestigious one-design keelboat class which has attracted some of the finest sailors in the world including America’s Cup legends, Olympians and past Etchells World Champions.

In what seems certain to be a high-scoring regatta, consistency will almost certainly determine the 2004 Champion. So far there have been four different winners of the four heats.

In the race Manford led from start to finish, getting a good start on the leeward side of the mid-line starters boat and playing the windshifts well to round just ahead of Miles with a well-timed roll tack right on the weather mark.

He opened up his lead on the spinnaker run, electing to go right on the second beat to windward, a decision that saw him sail into better wind pressure. Although strongly challenged near the weather mark, he held his lead on the second spinnaker run to maintain a handy break on the final windward leg of the 12 mile course to finish with a winning margin of about one minute.

Dennis Conner, skippering Menace, sailed a good race today, placing 8th which has lifted him to 14th overall while his former America’s Cup rival John Bertrand in Two Saints and a Magpie finished 20th to hold 7th place overall.

Conner today showed his good sportsmanship when he loaned his spare mast to Italian yachtsman Marco Cimarosti to enable him to continue to sail in this regatta.

Cimarosti snapped the mast of his Etchells, Hobe Ek Bahar , when the rigging caught on a channel marker sailing up the Mooloolah River after yesterday’s second day of racing in the World Championship.

When Conner heard of the mishap he immediately offered his spare mast to the Italian with the reported comment, “don’t tell the press; it will spoil my image.”

While there have been many incidents in the close racing with this huge fleet, only one has reached a protest hearing before the International Jury. The New Zealand boat Upfront (Lindsay Kennedy) was disqualified for failing to give the US boat Carina (Jonathon Nye) sufficient room to round a mark and also obstructing the Australian boat La Vie Dansante (Simon Estella).

International Jury chairman Ronnie McCracken said most yachts involved in rules infringements had taken 720 degree turn penalties to exonerate themselves adding “but we did blow the whistle at a number to let them know they had been sighted in an apparent rule breach.”

Results

Pos	Sail #	Crew	Boat Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	AUS915	P. McNeill, P. Turner & G. Torpy	Tom Pepper XVII	2	8	11	13	34
2	AUS509	C. Miles, C. Links & D. Sampson	Pacesetter	11	12	8	5	36
3	AUS865	B. McBriar, T. Bond & J. Casley	Fast Forward	12	10	9	9	40
4	AUS1289	A. Hunn, S. McCallum & D. Connor	Zulu	7	7	19	14	47
5	AUS1254	J. Plante, N. Garland, G. Bonouvrie & M. Day	Odyssey	13	1	29	18	61
6	AUS1117	G. Collings, S. Young & J. Gunther	Satu	14	23	16	12	65
7	AUS1244	J. Bertrand, R. Allanson & M. Richards	Two Saints &a Magpie	37	4	13	20	74
8	AUS1131	D. Clark, J. Whittaker & A. Smith	Little G	24	21	22	10	77
9	AUS874	J. Muir, L. Prescott & S. Lambourne	Racer XY	6	61	7	6	80
10	AUS1143	C. Pratt, G. Evans & N. Paterson	Squid	9	40	6	25	80
11	AUS1121	I. Johnson, G. Smith & T. Ede	Bananas In Pyjamas	17	3	23	40	83
12	AUS867	D. Rose, S. Cavanaugh & S. Casey	The War of the Roses	25	20	2	38	85
13	AUS923	M. Bradford, M. O'Brien & G. Adshead	Racer X	28	5	14	39	86
14	USA1060	D. Conner, P. Burton & D. Kneulman	Menace	23	11	44	8	86
15	AUS1237	G. Wharington, G. Taylor & I. Walker	Satu ll	49	19	17	4	89
16	AUS751	S. Gunther, J. Collingwood & R. Hutton	Legless	35	14	15	27	91
17	AUS1273	M. Coxon, W. McCarthy & S. Jarvin	North Sydney	1	28	42	24	95
18	AUS1277	M. Bulka, G. Ashby & S. Nichols	Balanced A-Tac	20	13	4	59	96
19	AUS1275	R. Antill, J. Antill & J. Antill	Trekker	4	30	12	52	98
20	AUS1219	D. Turton, A. Turton & D. Spicer	AUS1219	10	49	5	35	99
21	AUS1287	J. Savage, P. Gillon & A. Plympton	Cobra IV	3	15	41	42	101
22	AUS1213	L. Down, S. Gaddes, A. Roberts-Thomson & S. O'Rourke	Whooshka	29	47	1	31	108
23	AUS945	M. Manford, R. Rowell & D. McAullay	The Croc	19	57	33	1	110
24	AUS832	D. King, S. Cunnington, A. Butler & J. Ware	Barry White	16	18	26	51	111
25	AUS1160	R. Bird, G. Johnson & N. Gray	Moody Blues	48	2	51	11	112
26	AUS1186	P. Gardner, S. Barlow & G. McKellar	Humpback	50	46	3	17	116
27	AUS1030	N. Drennan, B. Browne & E. Lawrence	A Cat and Two Saints	38	34	40	7	119
28	AUS1088	R. Brown, B. Wookey & G. Gudmunson	SteamPacket V	39	6	24	61	130
29	NZL892	G. Turnbull, K. Hogan & A. Willis	The Old Hag	54	26	18	37	135
30	AUS1274	R. Jones, J. Walker & P. Meehan	Ethel	26	25	20	65	136
31	NZL1184	C. Appleton, P. Gudmunson & P. Merrington	Embers	41	59	35	3	138
32	NZL814	L. Kennedy, T. Swinburne & G. Catley	Upfront	18	24	86\DSQ	16	144
33	AUS951	M. Soulsby, M. Fisher & D. Lane	Fish Factory	58	22	21	44	145
34	HKG1269	M. Thornburrow, T. Parsons & A. Webster	HK1269	47	27	10	62	146
35	AUS869	J. Warlow, R. Byerly & T. Jordan	Blinky 3 Eyed Fish	21	64	60	2	147
36	AUS1084	R. Coxon, D. Ritchard & T. Watkin	The Bottle	5	60	38	48	151
37	AUS1102	S. O'Rourke, J. Minter & B. Swane	Panther	34	16	62	41	153
38	AUS1257	D. Lawrance, B. Hawkes & J. Newman	Temptress	44	17	30	69	160
39	AUS1144	D. Bull, S. Miller & A. Wilkund	Bullet	27	42	69	22	160
40	AUS1136	D. Royle, P. Royle & J. Ward	Bohica!	42	29	48	45	164
41	AUS864	V. Prentice, C. Anderson, A. Deeks & D. Hutchinson	Little Bit Funky	31	52	27	55	165
42	AUS1025	G. Mellody, P. Rattray & G. Norton	Walk on Water	51	39	59	21	170
43	AUS850	A. Drummond, R. Alston, I. Drummond & A. Drummond	Run Like You Stole S	43	38	25	66	172
44	AUS893	M. Bellingham, A. Owen & J. Hastie	Queen Annes Revenge	64	51	28	29	172
45	NZL1240	J. St. Clair Brown, D. Kendall & D. Barnes	Waiwera Infinity	36	36	43	63	178
46	AUS943	B. Melia, M. Garbler & S. Backhouse	No Mercy	52	44	50	33	179
47	USA1212	J. Nye, J. Muysken & D. Baker	Carina	30	33	66	56	185
48	AUS1253	M. Doyle, P. Martyn-Jones & T. Tubman	Miramar	8	63	57	60	188
49	GBR1110	M. Till, H. Sellars & A. Luffman	Licorice Allsorts 3	56	65	37	30	188
50	NZL809	B. Jones, R. Bassett & A. Gwyer	Irish Crystal	65	45	47	34	191