Conner tips Bertrand

Prior to ACE Etchells World Championship next week in Mooloolaba

Dennis Conner today named his America’s Cup rival of near 21 years ago, Australian John Bertrand, as the skipper to beat in next week’s ACE Etchells World Championship at Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“John is on fire this year and is one of the favourites, if not THE favourite to win his first Etchells Worlds,” said Conner, a two times winner of the prestigious title in this one-design keelboat class.

Bertrand, however, does not under-rate Conner’s prospects of winning a third Etchells World Championship, also ranking New Zealand America’s Cup helmsman Cameron Appleton and former Etchells World Champion Cameron Miles from Sydney as among his toughest rivals.

Arguably two of the world’s best known America’s Cup yachtsmen, Bertrand and Conner met this afternoon for a press conference at Mooloolaba Yacht Club which is hosting a fleet of 85 boats for the World Championship.

Racing starts with an invitation race on Sunday with Monday scheduled for the first of eight scoring races through next week.

Since that famous Match in 1983 when Bertrand outsailed Conner to end the New York Yacht Club’s 132 year ownership of the America’s Cup, the two have sailed against each other in subsequent Cup regattas and regularly in the Etchells class.

Both agreed they are still very competitive sailors; “I guess we have been competitive for the past 21 years,” said Bertrand. He added that whilst they did discuss the America’s Cup when they met from time to time, it was mostly on the future of the event, not the past.

Both said they really enjoyed sailing Etchells and particularly so at Mooloolaba. “The sailing here is superb, the hospitality is superb; it is always a joy to sail here,”said Bertrand.

“I haven’t had much time to focus sailing an Etchells this year, but I’m trying to hone my skills again before the regatta starts and then sail against some of the best sailors in the world,” said Conner, adding similar complimentary remarks about Mooloolaba as a venue for the World.s

Conner has won the Etchells World Championship twice: “I probably won because you were not competing then,” the American quipped - and he has also placed ahead of Bertrand, but only slightly, in their encounters in Etchells Worlds.

According to Bertrand, Conner placed second in the 1991 Worlds with Bertrand fourth; in 1998, Conner was 21st, Bertrand 22nd, and in 2002 the Australian finished sixth with Conner 12th.

Both Bertrand and Conner have new crews sailing with them in this World Championship.

Sailing with Bertrand, who is representing the Melbourne Etchells fleet at the helm of Two Saints and a Magpie, are two young international sailors from Sydney, Mark Richards and Richie Allanson, while Conner’s crew on Menace comprises Canadian Dick Kneulman and Mooloolaba-born international sailor Peter Burton.

Kneulman is also a former World champion skipper, having won the title at Marblehead, USA in 1998.

Ideal sailing conditions, with 10-15 knot south-easterly seabreezes, have been forecast for the early days of the ACE World Championship 2004, with Sunday’s Maroochy Shire invitation race and Monday’s first heat scheduled to start at 12 noon. On Tuesday, two races are scheduled, the first at 10am.

Entries

	Boat	SailNo	Skipper	Fleet
1	One for the Money	USA 1234	Kers Clausen	US San Francisco
2	Dragon Lady	AUS 1150	Bill Steele	Swan River
3	Bohica!	AUS 1136	David Royle	Adelaide
4	Squid	AUS 1143	Chris Pratt	Adelaide
5	Fish Factory	AUS 951	Mark Soulsby	Adelaide
6	La Vie Dansante	AUS 1270	Simon Estella	Adelaide
7	Hobe El Bahar	ITA 836	Marco Cimarosti	Italy
8	Va Da Dio	NZL 961	Neil Forrester	NZ Eastern
9	Carina	USA 1212	Jonathon Nye	US LIS Greenwich
10	Miramar	AUS 1253	Mark Doyle	Pittwater
11	HK1269	HKG 1269	Mark Thornburrow	Hong Kong
12	Cobra IV	AUS 1287	John Savage	Melbourne
13	Susie	GBR 1175	Ted Fort	Uk Cowes
14	Two Saints and a Magpie	AUS 1244	John Bertrand	Melbourne
15	The Bottle	AUS 1084	Richard Coxon	Pittwater
16	That’s life	AUS 813	Ian Crisp	Melbourne
17	Legless	AUS 751	Steve Gunther	Melbourne
18	Waiwaru One	NZL 1083	Rob Croft	NZ Gulf Harbour
19	The Rat	AUS 963	Rick Maxwell	Swan River
20	Tuskany	AUS 1142	Gary Smith	Swan River
21	Golli Gosh	NZL 1127	Gavin Gerrard	NZ Eastern
22	Licorice Allsorts 3 Charter	GBR 1110	Michael Till	Uk Cowes
23	Moody Blues	AUS 1160	Rob Bird	Swan River
24	Fast Forward	AUS 865	Bruce McBriar	Melbourne
25	Walk on Water	AUS 1025	Greg Mellody	Melbourne
26	AUS 766	AUS 766	Brad Sheridan	Swan River
27	1219	AUS 1219	David Turton	Mooloolaba
28	Ethel	AUS 1274	Rod Jones	Brisbane
29	No Boundaries	NZL 729	Paul Verry	NZ Wellington
30	Fury	Aus 921	Bill Butler	Mooloolaba
31	Bananas in Pyjamas	AUS 1121	Ian Johnson	Mornington
32	Trekka	AUS 1275	Rob Antill	Lake Macquarie
33	Odyssey	AUS 1254	Julian Plant	Pittwater
34	Menace	USA 1060/1221	Dennis Conner	US San Diego
35	Pacesetter	AUS 509/1292	Cameron Miles	Pittwater
36	The Croc	AUS 945	Michael Manford	Swan River
37	Top 40	NZ 746	Ian Smith	NZ Queenstown
38	Mood Indigo	AUS 916	David Roberts	Swan River
39	SteamPacket V	AUS 1088	Rob Brown	Pittwater
40	The Old Hag	NZL 892	Grant Turnbull	NZ Gulf Harbour
41	Balanced A-Tac	AUS 1277	Mark Bulka	Mornington
42	Barry White	AUS 832	Damien King	Melbourne
43	One Crowded Hour	AUS 738	Gordon Hinds	Sydney
44	Little G	AUS 1131	David Clark	Sydney
45	North Sydney	AUS 1273	Michael Coxon	Sydney
46	Bald Eagle	AUS 936	John Dunn	Sydney
47	Humpback	AUS 1186	Peter Gardner	Sydney
48	ARGHA Noah	AUS 1134	Robert Weir	Sydney
49	Yandoo XX	AUS 868	Bruce Hollis	Sydney
50	Just a Dash	AUS 940	Phil Dash	Sydney
51	Razors Edge	AUS 885	Ray Stone	Sydney
52	Queen Annes Revenge	AUS 893	Michael Bellingham	Sydney
53	Foolhardy	AUS 1272	James Hardy	Sydney
54	Upfront	NZ 814	Lindsay Kennedy	NZ Gulf Harbour
55	New Wave	AUS 1158	Robert Griffits	Lake Macquarie
56	Bullet	AUS 1144	David Bull	Brisbane
57	The Don	AUS 1291	Donald Wilson	Gosford
58	Racer XY	AUS 874	Jason Muir	Brisbane
59	Satu	AUS 1117	Glenn Collins	Mornington
60	Thrash	BER 1249	Tim Patton	Bermuda
61	Embers	NZL 1184	Cameron Appleton	NZ Gulf Harbour
62	Tom Pepper XVIII	AUS 915	Peter McNeil	Lake Macquarie
63	Run Like You Just Stole Something	AUS 850	Andrew Drummond	Mornington
64	Pleasure and Pain	AUS1129	Shane Duessen	Adelaide
65	War of the Roses	AUS 867	David Rose	Brisbane
66	Three Ring Circus	AUS 852	Trevor Martin	Mooloolaba
67	Blinky the Three Eyed Fish	AUS 869	John Warlow	Brisbane
68	A Little Bit Funky	AUS 864	Vaughan Prentice	Brisbane
69	Racer X	AUS 504	Mark Bradford	Brisbane
70	Screaming Plum	AUS 1022/866	Doug Kerr	Swan River
71	Waiwera Infinity	NZL 1240	JD Brown	NZ Gulf Harbour
72	Phantom	AUS 720	Mark Sanders	Gold Coast
73	Waiwera Naturally Hot	NZL 779	Peter Delaney	NZ Wellington
74	Whooshka	AUS 1213	Lucas Down	Mooloolaba
75	Temptress	AUS 1257	David Lawrance	Blairgowrie
76	Enigma	AUS 1082	Andrew Colliver	Blairgowrie
77	Next Frontier	AUS 1255	Wayne Mercer	Blairgowrie
78	No Mercy	AUS 943	Burke Melia	Cronulla
79	Irish Crystal	NZL 809	Brian Jones	NZ Gulf Harbour
80	Jack's Hut	AUS 1026	Barry Fairley	Melbourne
81	Panther	AUS 1102	Stephen O'Rourke	Cronulla
82	Zulu	AUS 1289	Andrew Hunn	Isolated
83	Satu 2	AUS 1237	Grant Wharington	Mornington
84	Gybe Talking	AUS 767	Jon Harris	Cronulla
85	No Jacket Required	AUS 1030	Noel Drennan	Melbourne