Cameron Appleton pulls up

Anne Hinton gets reactions from the stars racing in the ANZDL New Zealand Etchells National Championships

SSWerly winds of 15 to just over 20 knots again greeted competitors on the third day of the ANZDL New Zealand Etchells National Championships, run out of Gulf Harbour Yacht Club, on the HaurakiGulf. Two races were held, the race committee deeming it prudent to send competitors ashore and hold two races on the last day of the event, as winds were tending to rise above the 20 knot speed limit set in the sailing instructions, rather than starting a third race as scheduled.

With second and first placings it was well and truly Cameron Appleton’s day. John Bertrand won the first race to make it three in a row, but then had, by his standards, a lowly fifth place in the second race of the day. “Couldn’t be happier with our performance so far”, he said. Some very, very good operators here, of course. It’s a small fleet, but it’s very high quality. It’s a great opportunity to check in and fine tune your techniques and get into the whole racing scene.”

Bertrand has, however, had more high quality racing practice in Etchells this year than any of the New Zealand fleet. He finished third in the Australian Nationals off Adelaide in January, won the New South Wales state championships and came second in the Victoria state championships this year. Like several of the New Zealand fleet, he is planning to do at least one pre-Worlds event in Mooloolaba.

Cameron Appleton reported on a ‘getting better’ day: “We didn’t start the first race so well. We went around the top mark somewhere bigger than tenth and managed to have a really good first run and second beat and just kept working on the mistakes we made from the first beat.

“In the second race we had a bit of a plan and worked ourselves towards the right when we could and it just came golden for us. From there we just managed to stay in control - just at times - but had a pretty tough battle with Noel Drennan and Grant Turnbull towards the end.”

Grant Turnbull was concerned about the conditions: “It’s pretty blustery out there. A lot of broken gear, but we’re getting through the races and that’s the main thing. We broke a couple of battens in the main and a fitting on the boom, but we’re one of the leading boats.”

Dennis Conner, who is going to the World Championships in Mooloolaba, and had a better day today, finishing third in the first of the day’s races, commented: “I love Auckland and the people are so nice and friendly. It’s a great place to sail. It’s been a little windy - a bit shifty for my liking - but I’m still enjoying the regatta. I’ve been doing this event for the last five years. I have a boat [an Etchells] in San Diego and I sail that and just come once a year [to Auckland] for the Nationals.”

There are two 19 year old women sailing in the fleet, both recent graduates of the keelboat youth training programmes in New Zealand. Anna de Fluiter explained: “I do mast [for Cameron Thorpe]. I found it quite hard jumping into a crew that’s already established [Anna was brought in partly for her low weight to bring the crew’s all-up weight to near the 285kg limit], but it’s good being part of a crew that’s doing really well [currently fourth overall].” Anna’s future plans include crewing in womens teams on the match racing circuit.

Amanda Hargreaves, part of the youth crew sailing a borrowed boat, led by Paul Verry, asked about her experiences, said, while munching a hard-earned muffin, which she had baked, on return to shore: “I’m on bow and I do everything! It’s not too bad. If we get the gybes right, it’s all good. This is my second regatta in an Etchells. I’m enjoying it. We have four up this time to help a bit with weight, but we’re still a very light crew and we’re struggling a bit - going sideways a bit upwind - but we need to do a bit of rig tuning as well. We’re going to the Worlds this year, but with a Wellington boat.”

The Championship will be decided after two more races tomorrow. After six races one discard is permitted, so this could change some of the results, especially where an OCS is being counted at present.

Provisional Results – top six after five races

Sail number Skipper/crew/crew Places

AUS 1244 John Bertrand/Richard Allanson/Mark Richards 4-1-1-1-5
NZL 1184 Cameron Appleton/Peter Merrington/Paul Gudmonson 8-2-2-2-1
NZL 809 Brian Jones/Rob Bassett/Alan Gwyer 5-5-6-4-4
NZL 991 Cameron Thorpe/Steve Barton/Paul Morrish/
Anna de Fluiter 3-6-9-6-9
NZL 892 Grant Turnbull/Keith Hogan/Andrew Wills ocs-3-3-5-3
NZL 1227 Dennis Conner/Steve Jarvin/Matt Day 12-7-5-3-7