Day of drama

At the ACE Etchells Worlds reports Peter Campbell

Strong winds, collisions, disqualifications, wild broaches, torn sails, protests, some minor injuries to the sailors, and even a whale on the race course, provided a spectacular fourth day of sailing in the ACE Etchells World Championship 2004 off Mooloolaba on the Queensland Sunshine Coast today.

Michael Manford from Perth, skippering The Croc, followed his win yesterday by taking out this morning’s race in fine style, but was among several boats disqualified for being OCS (on course side) at the start of the afternoon race.

Among the others called by the Race Committee was overall second placegetter Cameron Miles, a former Etchells World Champion from Pittwater, helming Pacesetter, and leading Sydney sailor Michael Coxon, steering North Sydney.

The afternoon race went to Satu, skippered by Glen Collings from Mornington, Victoria, a former World OK dinghy champion who has been sailing Etchells for only the past year.

At the end of the day, after six of the eight races on the program, the clear overall leader is still Peter McNeill from Lake Macquarie with Cameron Miles holding second overall, despite his disqualification from race six.

However, results are provisional with eight protests or appeals for redress, with both McNeill and Miles before the International Jury tonight,

McNeill, steering Tom Pepper XVII, continued his consistent sailing with a 9th and a 4th today for a total, after one discard race, of 35 points. Miles has 47 points after being able to drop the OCS.

Ocean racing yachtsman Grant Wharington, steering Satu II, also from Mornington, has moved up to third overall with placings of 10th and third today to be on 53 points, while Chris Pratt from Adelaide has sailed Squid into a close fourth overall on 58 points.

Just one point back is Tasmanian Andrew Hunn, sailing Zulu. He has 59 points after discarding the morning race result of 51st and finishing 12th this afternoon.

It was a day of difficult conditions for race officials and sailors, with the freshening breeze backing from west nor’west to west sou’west and varying in strength during the day from 12 knots to 20 knots. A short, choppy sea added to the testing conditions.

This morning’s race race five saw the first general recall of the competition with Michael Manford getting an excellent start in The Crop and working the oscillating breeze up the course.

With a large number of boats coming into the first weather mark on port tack, then tacking to lay the mark, amid an armada of starboard tackers, there were several collisions, including one in which three boats were involved.

However Manford was well clear of the melee and sailed away to lead at each mark, with Dennis Conner steering Menace into second place at the finish, third going to Melbourne international yachtsman Noel Drennan, sailing A Cat and Two Saints.

With the finish off the wind, it was an extraordinary sight as 85 boats came surfing down to the line, at times a dozen or more boats abreast.

Race officials called six boats as OCS at the start of race six, among them being Michael Manford, Cameron Miles and Michael Coxon. Dennis Conner was also over the line at the gun, but returned to re-start. “Coming back from 85th to finish 18th was very pleasing,” an amiable Conner said later.

Glen Collings, the former World OK Dinghy Champion from Victoria’s Mornington Yacht Club, worked the middle of the course, picking the windshifts well to grab a handy lead at the first weather mark and leading for the rest of the race.

Cameron Appleton, the Team Zealand America’s Cup deputy helmsman tried to force them into a match race over the final few hundred metres to the finish but could not break through. “We knew they were coming at us and were prepared…it was great to beat a crack America’s Cup crew,” a delighted Collings said after the race.

Appleton finished 23 seconds astern of Collings with Cameron Miles crossing the line in third place but OCS, third thus going to Grant Wharington with Peter McNeill steadily improving throughout the race to finish fourth.

The Italian crew of Hobe El Bahir continued their run of bad luck. They broke their mast on Tuesday, sailing up the Moololah River to their berth, borrowed a spar rig from Dennis Conner to race yesterday, but their regatta virtually ended today with the boat holed in a collision and their spinnaker blown to pieces.

While the large whale surfaced several times near the Italian boat, there was no report that it caused the hole in the hull.

Several boats retired with sail and rig damage in the strong winds, while Australian champion Mark Bulka from Mornington, sailing Balanced A-Tac retired from race six with a crewman suffered a back problem.

Results:

Pos	Sail #	Skipper	Boat Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	AUS915	Peter McNeill	Tom Pepper XVII	2	8	11	-13	9	4	34
2	AUS509	Cameron Miles	Pacesetter	11	12	8	5	11	(86\OCS)	47
3	AUS1237	Grant Wharington	Satu ll	-49	19	17	4	10	3	53
4	AUS1143	Chris Pratt	Squid	9	-40	6	25	12	6	58
5	AUS1289	Andrew Hunn	Zulu	7	7	19	14	-51	12	59
6	USA1060	Dennis Conner	Menace	23	11	-44	8	2	18	62
7	AUS1117	Glenn Collings	Satu	14	23	16	12	-29	1	66
8	AUS874	Jason Muir	Racer XY	6	-61	7	6	6	42	67
9	AUS1254	Julian Plante	Odyssey	13	1	29	18	-43	7	68
10	AUS865	Bruce McBriar	Fast Forward	12	10	9	9	-44	34	74
11	AUS1244	John Bertrand	Two Saints &a Magpie	-37	4	13	20	26	13	76
12	AUS1160	Rob Bird	Moody Blues	48	2	-51	11	13	8	82
13	AUS1213	Lucas Down	Whooshka	29	-47	1	31	5	22	88
14	AUS832	Damien King	Barry White	16	18	26	-51	7	24	91
15	AUS923	Mark Bradford	Racer X	28	5	14	39	-47	9	95
16	AUS751	Steve Gunther	Legless	35	14	15	27	-75	5	96
17	AUS1131	David Clark	Little G	24	21	22	10	-74	19	96
18	AUS1219	David Turton	AUS1219	10	-49	5	35	20	30	100
19	AUS1121	Ian Johnson	Bananas In Pyjamas	17	3	23	-40	31	27	101
20	AUS867	David Rose	The War of the Roses	25	20	2	38	22	-43	107
21	AUS945	Michael Manford	The Croc	19	57	33	1	1	(86\OCS)	111
22	AUS1277	Mark Bulka	Balanced A-Tac	20	13	4	59	17	(86\DNF)	113
23	NZL892	Grant Turnbull	The Old Hag	-54	26	18	37	21	11	113
24	AUS1030	Noel Drennan	A Cat and Two Saints	38	34	-40	7	4	33	116
25	AUS1273	Michael Coxon	North Sydney	1	28	42	24	28	(86\OCS)	123
26	AUS864	Vaughan Prentice	Little Bit Funky	31	52	27	-55	3	10	123
27	AUS1088	Rob Brown	SteamPacket V	39	6	24	-61	41	15	125
28	AUS1186	Peter Gardner	Humpback	-50	46	3	17	18	49	133
29	HKG1269	Mark Thornburrow	HK1269	47	27	10	-62	19	35	138
30	NZL1184	Cameron Appleton	Embers	41	59	35	3	-60	2	140
31	AUS1274	Rod Jones	Ethel	26	25	20	-65	8	65	144
32	NZL1240	John D. St. Clair Brown	Waiwera Infinity	36	36	43	-63	23	14	152
33	NZL814	Lindsay Kennedy	Upfront	18	24	(86\DSQ)	16	57	39	154
34	AUS1275	Rob Antill	Trekker	4	30	12	52	-83	57	155
35	AUS869	John Warlow	Blinky 3 Eyed Fish	21	-64	60	2	16	58	157
36	AUS1287	John Savage	Cobra IV	3	15	41	42	-61	60	161
37	AUS850	Andrew Drummond	Run Like You Stole S	43	38	25	-66	37	20	163
38	AUS951	Mark Soulsby	Fish Factory	-58	22	21	44	36	41	164
39	AUS1257	David Lawrance	Temptress	44	17	30	-69	56	26	173
40	AUS1144	David Bull	Bullet	27	42	69	22	14	(86\DNF)	174
41	AUS1102	Steve O'Rourke	Panther	34	16	62	41	24	(86\OCS)	177
42	AUS940	Phil Dash	Just a Dash	45	-62	39	50	34	17	185
43	AUS1134	Robert Weir	ARGHA Noah	33	-72	45	43	35	29	185
44	AUS1025	Greg Mellody	Walk on Water	51	39	-59	21	59	16	186
45	AUS1084	Richard Coxon	The Bottle	5	-60	38	48	53	47	191
46	AUS1136	David Royle	Bohica!	42	29	48	45	27	-50	191
47	NZL809	Brian Jones	Irish Crystal	-65	45	47	34	40	28	194
48	NZL1127	Gavin Gerrard	Golli Gosh	-81	74	34	28	15	46	197
49	AUS1253	Mark Doyle	Miramar	8	-63	57	60	38	40	203
50	AUS893	Michael Bellingham	Queen Annes Revenge	64	51	28	29	32	-68	204