Unlucky 13

First bite taken out of Beadsworth as practice race completed at Audi Etchells Worlds

The first major line up at the Audi Etchells Worlds took place today in Cockburn Sound off the western Australia coast at Freemantle as the fleet competed in their practice race.

Wind was from around 220 degrees and was a healthy 12-16 knots. A long course was set - with three laps of a 3nm windward leeward.

Two of the seventy boats were called over with the early advantage going to those coming cleanly off the middle of the line. It was a promising start for many of the Brits with skippers Ante Razmilovic, Andy Beadsworth, David Bedford, Martin Payne and Stuart Childerly showing well.

At the top mark there was an advantage to those coming in from the left, with a few of the local sailors nosing ahead.

This being the practice race many of the teams bailed for an early lunch at the second leeward mark with Australian Mark Bulka, from the Melbourne fleet, going on to win the race

It was however, unluck bow number 13 for Andy Beadsworth, who was involved in a collision with another boat and is now out of the water repairing damage to the bow.

Racing proper gets underway tomorrow with racing scheduled through to next Saturday.