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ETCHELLS WORLD CHAMPIONS
@ Mon Jul 02 10:31:00 +0100 2007
ANDY BEADSWORTH, OSCAR STRUGSTAD AND SIMON FRY ARE ETCHELLS WORLD CHAMPIONS
Despite constant rain and poor visibility the final race of the Etchells World Championship in Cowes was an absolute stunner. At last the wind had moderated although conditions were still extremely testing with constant shifts in the south westerly breeze which varied from 8 to 15 knots as the bands of rain came through.
2006 World Champion Jud Smith, sailing USA1361 with David McClintock and Steve Girling, bowed out of his tenure as World Champion in true style by giving the rest of the fleet a master class in Etchells sailing to win the final race and take second overall. But the day belonged to Andy Beadsworth, Oscar Strugstad and Simon Fry, sailing GBR1361, as they took on and ultimately trounced Ante Razmilovic, Jez Fanstone and Stuart Flinn sailing GBR1333, in a stunning final show down for the championship.
Going into the final race Beadsworth knew that Ante Razmilovic was his only rival for the title and the two boats came off the line side by side just to the left of centre. Beadsworth was to weather as they headed off on starboard but Razmilovic had a little more speed and began to climb out eventually forcing Beadsworth to tack and initiating a gripping match race style dog fight. The main body of the fleet had gone right and before long the two boats were out on their own going at it hammer and tongs. The atmosphere was electric and spectators held their breaths each time the boats came back together. Beadsworth’s greater match racing experience showed and although Razmilovic briefly had the upper hand it wasn’t long before he was back in control as the pair rejoined the main body of the fleet at the top of the beat.
At the weather mark it was Tom Hughes, sailing USA1306 with Ron Rosenberg and Steve Hayles, leading with Jud Smith second, Jake Gunther, sailing AUS1244 with Andrew Cooper and Russell Tyson, third and Nils Razmilovic, sailing GBR1340 with Brian Hammersley and Charlie Cumbley, fourth. Despite the distractions of their dog fight Beasdworth still rounded ninth with Ante Razmilovic 12th.
The leading four held their positions down the first run while Beadsworth pulled up into eighth and Ante Razmilovic dropped down to 14th. On the second beat Smith was perfectly in tune with the shifts and sailed round Hughes to lead at the second weather mark. Nils Razmilovic had picked up a place to round third just ahead of Gunther, while Beadsworth held eighth and Ante Razmilovic came back up to 12th.
The leading group held their order on the second run but behind them Beadsworth moved up into sixth place and Ante Razmilovic to 11th. As the boats rounded the final mark ready for the long beat to the finish Beadsworth was the first boat to go for the right side of the gate. He tacked back left immediately but the move was to prove a crucial one as it gave him clearer air and put him onto the edge of a slightly stronger lifting breeze band.
Smith and Hughes were clear of the pack, but behind them it was a joy to watch Beadsworth, Strugstad and Fry who kept right of the group and had one of those perfect sailing moments in absolute tune with the wind. Each time they came back towards the fleet they’d gained. First they overtook fifth placed Peter Duncan, then picked off Jake Gunther for fourth. At they approached the finish they were neck and neck with Nils Razmilovic vying for third. Yet again they were on top of the breeze and as Nils Razmilovic took a final hitch right they stayed left and gained one final place to finish third and take the championship convincingly.
At the prize giving ceremony outgoing World Champion Jud Smith, for whom this is a fifth second place at an Etchells Worlds, paid tribute to the new world champions declaring them worthy winners and thanking them and the rest of the fleet for a great competition.
An elated Andy Beadsworth paid tribute to his co-owner Oscar Strugstad and team mate Simon Fry – “Simon and I had a crack at it last year with a different co-owner as a last minute thing and we were competitive. At that time we were already committed to this programme which was very much targeted at trying to win these worlds. We talked about doing something with Oscar and discussed whether he drove or I drove or what ever and we decided that trying to win the worlds was our goal and this was the best way we could do it together as a team. Since then we’ve worked hard to put the programme together in the best way we possibly could.
“We bought the boat in America at the beginning of the year and did Miami, then came back here and did all of the UK events. We’ve had great competition from the UK fleet which has been vital in helping us to raise our game to this level. I think the thing I’m most proud of in winning this Worlds is that we led on the opening day and we’ve led every day since so I feel we can be very happy with ourselves.
“Oscar has been fantastic. It’s been a really fun campaign and he’s made fantastic decisions and has been a really integral member of the team. It’s very rare that you get somebody like Oscar who does this sort of thing. He’s put a lot of effort in and as he said at the prize giving some of the best and worst sailing moments of his life have been in the Etchells. I can remember days when we’ve been going upwind and Stirfry’s been shouting ‘hike harder!” and I’ve looked at him and he’s been so determined that he’s almost had tears in his eyes and I’ve had to say, you know, relax, this is supposed to be for fun.”
This event would not have been possible without the generous support of the many individual volunteers and members of the Cowes Etchells fleet who gave so generously of their time and supported the event in many different ways. In particular we would like to acknowledge the generous financial contribution made by Etchells owners Mike Till, Paul Kelsey, Doug Flynn, Robert Elliott, Ante Razmilovic and Nils Razmilovic. And last by no means least we would like to thank corporate supporters Greenhill & Co Investment Bank, Slam, North Sails and Mount Gay.
Etchells Worlds 2007
@ Wed Jun 27 12:59:00 +0100 2007
BEADSWORTH LEADS AFTER FIRST DAY OF RACING AT THE 2007 ETCHELLS WORLDS
The first day of racing at the Etchells World Championship, hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes, brought two incredibly challenging races for the forty five boat, eight nation fleet. With rain squalls running across the Solent on a regular basis the wind was constantly shifting by up to 40 degrees and ranged in velocity from 6-16 knots. The difficulty of the conditions is amply demonstrated by the results with only three teams – GBR1361 Andy Beadsworth, GBR1332 James Howells and NZL1058 Anatole Masfen – ending the day with two single digit race results.
The Race Committee experienced its own dramas when the principle committee boat caught fire as a result of an electrical fault. Fortunately the crew successfully fought the fire without assistance before transferring to another boat to continue their duties, leaving the competitors none the wiser until the end of the race.
Overall Andy Beadsworth, sailing with Oscar Strugstad and Simon Fry, is leading having won the first race very convincingly and taken sixth in the second. James Howells, sailing with David Bedford and Oscar Mead is in second place with a 3, 5 score line while defending World Champion Jud Smith, sailing USA1351, and Anatole Masfen, sailing NZL1058, are both on 12 points with Smith scoring 10, 2 and Masfen scoring 4, 8 to place them 3rd and 4th respectively.
The first race of the series (technically Race 3 in the official schedule following the postponement of yesterday’s Races 1 and 2) got underway on time and in about 12 knots from 310 degrees. On the first beat the wind began to back and a change of course was signalled at the first mark where Nils Razmilovic headed the fleet just in front of Ted Fort, Andy Beadsworth, Doug Flynn and Anatole Masfen. On the run Beadsworth pulled up right onto Nils Razmilovic’s transom and as the two came into the leeward mark there was nothing to choose between them. Meanwhile the wind had continued to go left and at the mark the committee boat was signalling a new weather mark direction of 270 degrees. Fort had dropped back into fifth place, but on the final approach Masfen and Flynn over stood and had to reach in allowing Fort to slip between the two and into fourth place.
As they took off up the second beat Beadsworth initially went right whilst Nils Razmilovic took left. About a third of the way up Nils Razmilovic was looking good but the wind still had plenty of tricks up its sleeve and by the weather mark Beadsworth had sailed a blinder and rounded with a huge lead. Fort meanwhile had moved into second ahead of Nils Razmilovic. The wind shifts had caught lots of people on the hop and equally allowed several boats to make massive gains. Ireland’s Tom Fitzpatrick and Britain’s Ante Razmilovic were the biggest gainers in this shuffle rounding fourth and fifth respectively just ahead of James Howells with Masfen now in seventh.
The wind went very light as the boats started off down the run then about half way down the leg the next rain squall came through turning the leg into a tight reach. The squall also brought stronger wind which reached the back of the fleet first and within moments virtually the fleet was once again closely bunched. “At one point we were pole forward on the forestay going no where and Richard Merriweather came storming through from 25 yards behind, passing us just 8 feet away with his pole back and 8 knots of wind to end up 25 yards ahead.” Commented Laurence Mead of this second run nightmare. Beadsworth played a conservative game and was able to defend his generous lead round the leeward mark and up the short beat to the finish but behind him it was all to play for. Ultimately Nils Razmilovic finished second with Howells third, Masfen fourth and Ante Razmilovic fifth. Fort crossed the line in sixth only to discover that he and Flynn had both been over the line at the start and were disqualified.
The start of the second race (officially Race 4 on the results) was delayed by some three hours as the wind went round in circles under successive squalls. For the crews it was a cold, wet and miserable wait but eventually the wind settled, the committee set up with the windward mark at 260 degrees and racing got underway in approximately 12 knots. Sadly the wind did not stay stable for long and at the weather mark the committee was signalling a change of leeward mark to 130 degrees.
James Howells, sailing GBR1332 with David Bedford and Oscar Mead led the fleet away down the run with Andy Beadsworth and Jud Smith in hot pursuit. The pack was closely bunched and places were changing all the way. At the first leeward mark Beadsworth had just edged into the lead and took the left side of the gate with Howells going right. The second beat brought another massive shift and it was all change again with different faces hitting the front of the fleet every few minutes.
By the final leeward mark Australia’s Noel Drennan, sailing with Mal Parker and Wade Morgan, had taken the lead and he held it through the long final beat to the finish. At the last leeward mark Graham Bailey, sailing GBR1352 with Stephen Bailey and David Heritage, was at the back of the leading group and decided extreme measures were called for, heading for the left hand corner despite the theoretically stronger tide on that side of the course. As he came back to the fleet in the final approaches to the finish he and Smith were neck and neck with Smith gaining the upper hand on the final tack to take second place with Bailey third. Mike Sparks, sailing GBR1297 and crewed by Solent gurus Barry Dunning and Eddy Warwick slipped into fourth with Howells fifth and Beadsworth sixth.
Back ashore the extreme weather conditions during the first race were the subject of much discussion and a protest was lodged to have the race thrown out, however the jury dismissed the protest and the results of both races stand.
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