Aussie leads Etchells

A report from the World Championships in Auckland

Young Brisbane sailor Mark Bradford showed his all round helming skills in winning today's first race of the International Etchells World Championship being sailed on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

Steering Racer X, Bradford outsailed the 90-plus fleet one-design keelboats in blustery conditions which caused many retirements due to damage, winning from defending World Champion, Stuart Childerley from Great Britain, steering Bedrock into second place. Fellow Australian and Bradford's boss at North Sails, Michael Coxon from
Sydney, came in third at the helm of North Sydney Station.

Racing was held in a 19 knot southwestherly. Dennis Conner, no doubt seeking inspiration for his flayling America's Cup program finished a respectible 10th, while his nemesis John Bertrand was 17th.

Pos	Helm	Nat	Pts
1	Mark Bradford	AUS	1
2	Stuart Childerley	GBR	2
3	Michael Coxon	AUS	3
4	Cameron Thorpe	NZL	4
5	Robert Weir	AUS	5
6	Tim Patton	BER	6
7	Michael Manford	AUS	7
8	Peter McNeill	AUS	8
9	Edward Fort	GBR	9
10	Dennis Conner	NZL	10
11	Peter Duncan	USA	11
12	David Champion	USA	12
13	Adam Hawkins	AUS	13
14	Grant Wharrington	AUS	14
15	Gavin Gerrard	AUS	15
16	Julian Plante	AUS	16
17	John Bertrand	AUS	17
18	Lucas Down	AUS	18
19	Ante Razmilovic	GBR	19
20	Barry Fairley	AUS	20
21	Nick Rogers	AUS	21
22	Bruce Kendall	NZL	22
23	Lindsay Kennedy	NZL	23
24	Ian Johnson	AUS	24
25	James Gregory	USA	25
26	Cameron Miles	AUS	26
27	John Ulbrich	USA	27
28	Russell Steiner	USA	28
29	Mark Doyle	AUS	29
30	Nathan Williams	NZL	30
31	Sven Hansen	SUI	31
32	Ben Noble	AUS	32
33	Martin Payne	GBR	33
34	Tim Law	GBR	34
35	Grant McKellar	AUS	35
36	Mark Richards	AUS	36
37	Brian Jones	NZL	37
38	David Clark	AUS	38
39	Jake Gunther	AUS	39
40	Iain Murray	AUS	40
41	Gray Gibson	NZL	41
42	Grant Turnbull	NZL	42
43	Jon Andrews	NZL	43
44	John St Clair Brown	NZL	44
45	Rod Jones	AUS	45
46	Phil Dash	AUS	46
47	Bill Steele	AUS	47
48	Bryan Treleaven	NZL	48
49	Gavin Brady	NZL	49
50	Bruce McBriar	AUS	50
51	Gavin McPherson	NZL	51
52	Nick Burns	HKG	52
53	Richard Hammond	AUS	53
54	James Hardy	AUS	54
55	Ian Crisp	AUS	55
56	Charles St Clair Brown	NZL	56
57	Steve Gunther	AUS	57
58	Marco Cimarosti	ALG	58
59	Simon Minoprio	NZL	59
60	Andrew Cooper	GBR	60
61	Steve O'Rourke	AUS	61
62	Erik Bentzen	USA	62
63	David Morrell	AUS	63
64	Wayne Mercer	AUS	64
65	Jervis Tilly	GBR	65
66	Gordon Hinds	AUS	66
67	David Yourieff	HKG	67
68	Tony Hirst	AUS	68
69	Kjeld Hestehave	USA	69
70	Marvin Beckmann	USA	70
71	Barry Dunning	GBR	71
72	John McDougall	AUS	72
73	David Jones	AUS	73
74	Harald Orneberg	GBR	74
75	Jeff Moseley	USA	75
76	David Ritchard	AUS	76
77	Geoff Smith	AUS	77
78	Jeff Nehms	AUS	78
79	Chris Morton	NZL	79
80	Roger Crabtree	NZL	80
81	Ganson Evans	USA	81
82	Tim Herbert-Smith	GBR	82
83	Kers Clausen	USA	83
84	Sherwood Kelley	USA	84
85	Masato Fujimaki	NZL	85
86	Ken Vaughan	AUS	86
87	Neil Forrester	NZL	87
88	Ken Womack	USA	88
89	Tom Michilis	AUS	89
90	Damien King	AUS	90
91	Andrew Colliver	AUS	99
91	Rob Coutts	NZL	99
91	Nigel Brown	NZL	99
91	Gary Philbrick	USA	99
91	Andrew McGill	AUS	99
91	Richard Lott	GBR	99
91	Jason Owen	GBR	99
91	Chris Jackson	AUS	99