Etchells ace

The Daily Sail caught up with Simon Russell, aka Fumsey, currently leading the Etchells Worlds with Stuart Childerley and Roger Marino

The Daily Sail managed to catch up with a ‘bunged’ up Simon Russell (aka Fumsey) sailing with Stuart Childerley and Roger Marino at the Etchells World Championship in Auckland. All three are suffering from a ‘lurgy’, which Fumsey is blaming on Stuart’s children.Fortunately this does not seem to have jinxed the team who scored a 1.9 to extend their lead to 17 points over second place Bradford.

As defending World Champions, the trio are currently lying in first place after three races with an impressive 2,2,1 score line in a fleet of 100 boats, including many of the world's top sailors. Nine races are scheduled in the Championship running through until Sunday, with one race already being lost to bad weather.

TDS: So are you surprised at your results so far, given the number of boats?
SR: Yes we are, we came in with the aim starting the regatta with top ten results and we’ve surpassed this. There are probably about 20 really quick boats here and in all races we have managed to get into this main pack and work through it.

TDS: Any scary moments so far?
SR: Well, in race two we we’re over the line and had to go back.

TDS: And you still got second?
SR: The beats are long, usually three miles, so it was a case of getting into phase with the shifts and finding clean lanes to work in. We got to the first mark in second place and Stuart was in disbelief in what he called the best beat he has ever sailed. From there we hung in to keep second to the finish.

TDS: There are a lot of weather resources in Auckland at the moment, how are you using them?
SR: We are just using the various websites down here for forecasting; the Louis Vuitton Cup site is pretty good for this. Also when the Cup boats have been out there’s plenty of information coming over the VHF about the conditions, it’s just a case of interpreting this on our race area.

TDS: How have you managed in the weather conditions so far?
SR: It’s been windy, 20-25 knots on average and even in that amount of breeze there is a lot of up and down combined with shifts. We are pretty confident in our ability to change gears, this is important to keep on the pace. Yesterday was the layday and it blew 42 knots.

TDS: Did you go and play golf?
SR: Roger did, Stuart and I went off to the Zoo.

TDS: How is Roger fitting in as a replacement to Nick Pearson?
SR: Nick sailed with us last year and now is part of GBR Challenge just up the road. Roger is fitting in great and we’ve actually only sailed altogether eight times before we came out here.

TDS: So not too much practise in the UK then?
SR: We had to send the boat down here two months ago, we borrowed a boat in the UK to practise in and managed to get six weekends in. This was frustrating though, as it wasn’t set up like ours and there were plenty of things to fix, so it certainly wasn’t a boat speed exercise.

TDS: Have you got any unusual gear on the boat?
SR: No, we have standard new sails from North’s Australia, which we are very happy with, but that’s it.

TDS: What about Dennis [Conner], how’s he getting on?
SR: Any of the top crews can easily fall into the big double figures, we’ve lined up next to Dennis and thought he’s been sailing fast but pretty low.

TDS: And what about all the guys at GBR Challenge?
SR: It’s been great to see them all, we went out to the pub shortly after arriving and met up with a load of them as they had the next day off. They are pretty upbeat about things and have certainly earned a lot of respect around here for their sailing skills. The big decision I suppose is whether they risk bringing GBR78 into the mix.

TDS: What are you going to do nowl?
SR: Going to have some breakfast! Forecast is for another breezy day, so its important to rest and eat well, otherwise you’ll just knacker yourself out.

TDS: Thanks for talking to us and best of luck today.