International Etchells Class Association
News

Etchells Bedrock Challenge Trophy 3-5 May 2014

published 05/07/2014


Twelve Etchells competed for in the first classic Etchells Regatta of the year. The Bedrock Challenge Trophy is a 3-day 9-race series for a cup presented by double world champion Stuart Childerley. But it took a day and a half to get going as high pressure dominated the Solent. On day one the boats were towed out and then towed in again although there was enough breeze to sail, it was unstable and insufficient to race against the tide.  It was disappointing, but the Etchells were luckier than the many cross- channel racers who were stuck out at sea that weekend with no breeze - at least the Etchells sailors could retire to port and a comfy bed!
 
The  promised  wind forecast for Day 2 failed to materialise by lunch time but just as the Cowes Corinthian Yacht  Club Race Officer Andrew Millband was about to send the fleet home, a solid looking band of thermal-driven wind appeared in the eastern Solent  so at last a race was on.  Dick Cowen, Mark Jones and Graham Birkett from the Mersey Fleet aboard loaner boat Palaver quickly took the lead and kept it for the first two legs. Unknown to them in  the central Solent the south easterly  breeze has to fight the  south  westerly sea  breeze if it develops , and so suddenly on the last beat the right hand side of the course had  40 degree  wind shifts   and Shaun Frohlich’s Exabyte  was ideally positioned to benefit, rounding  the top mark four boat lengths ahead of the rest of the fleet; he kept that lead to the finish line.
 
Day 3,  Bank Holiday Monday,  the fleet all agreed to  an hour’s early start, but it  transferred itself to the race course; in  race 2 almost all boats jumped the first gun for a general recall.  On the restart it was Exabyte who showed the fleet a clean pair of heels, headed right and led the race from start to finish followed by Rob Goddard’s Stampede which started on the left and was the last boat on to port which demonstrated the minimal tidal variation at that point of the day.
 
Another early start for race 3 caused a general recall, but this time Andrew Millband’s generosity had waned; it restarted under a black flag.  Goddard starting at the leeward end of the line was out of the starting blocks the fastest and emulated Frohlich in the previous race. He was only troubled near the end of the race by Richard Burrows’s   Matatu Dubh who nearly caught Stampede on the final downwind leg. Stampede had to do a last minute gybe to change gates to stay firmly between Matatu Dubh and the finish line for the beat to the finish. A port and starboard incident at the finish line gave Exabyte a fifth, and moved Stephen O’Flaherty’s Fetching down to 8th delayed by a penalty turn.
 
Race 4 saw David Franks’ Elvis find her fast groove and looked like a runaway winner, but again it was the downwind leg where gains were to be made. Waiting to pounce and deprive Elvis of her first place was Exabyte, taking the advantage just before the bottom mark.  Exabyte finished the race first, Elvis second.
 
The early start meant that the fleet had time for an extra race, and the early leader for race 5 was Robert Elliott sailing Esprit with guest crew appearance from Jonnie Brinkers (JB). It was the downwind leg yet again where places changed, and the wind shadow of the closing pack of four Etchells behind Esprit soon slowed her down allowing Richard Burrows’s  Matatu Dubh to slide through into first place, Esprit  followed, then Andrew Cooper’s Ice and Stampede;  all rounded the bottom mark nose to tail while Exabyte,  the series leader,  was back in 8th place. By the finish, however Goddard had moved to 3rd behind Matatu Dubh 1st and Esprit 2nd and Frohlich’s Exabyte, had moved through the fleet up to 5th , tying her regatta points with Goddard’s Stampede on 13. After count-back Exabyte with Shaun Frohlich, Dave Bedford and Duncan Truswell were the 2014 Bedrock Challenge Trophy winners, with Rob Goddard, Matt Hannaby and Stephen Lines sailing Stampede second, with Richard Burrows, daughter Sam Burrows and James Downer aboard Matatu Dubh took 3rd.
 
The next major Etchells event is the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy on 24th and 25th May 2014.

The event was the first Etchells event that was supported by ZHIK, the classes’ new official clothing supplier. ZHIK is known for producing the most technically advanced sailing clothes used by World and Olympic champions.  Their product designs and features are developed by an amazing team of sailors resulting in innovations never seen before in the sailing clothing market. Over the past two years ZHIK has added a range of clothes suitable for keelboats ensuring that the keelboat sailors experience the ZHIK difference.  ZHIK team riders dominated the latest ISAF Sailing World Cup leg in Palma amassing a heavy bag of 6 Gold Medals spread among 5 nations. www.zhik.com