The crew of Gelert – James Howells, David Bedford and Mark Lees – dominated the Ullman Sails 2012 Etchells National Championship from the outset, taking three wins and a second place in the first four races. Although they slipped to an uncharacteristic fifth place in the next race, they returned to the podium in all but one of the last four races, winning overall by a comfortable 14-point margin ahead of Bleddyn Mon’s young British Keelboat Academy crew on Darling S.
The long weekend provided an excellent series of super-close racing for a wide variety of crews. The youngest, on Romain Szjan’s Lady Susan had a combined age of just 67, while the oldest, on Dick Cowan’s Eccentric, notched up an impressive 187 years, sailing three up. Eight of the 17 boats scored at least one podium result and only two failed to make at least one top 10 position.
Numbers in the fleet have recovered following a concerted campaign by the class to ensure all aspects of the experience of racing the boats is maximised to the full. This includes sharing of knowledge, repair facilities, après sail socials, and continued off-water discussions via the class Facebook page.
There are also two fully-funded boats for youth teams, in conjunction with the British Keelboat Academy, and made possible by the generosity of class stalwart Ted Fort. In total 40 young sailors have competed in the class this season.
Next weekend will see an introductory session for six potential new Etchells owners, and second-hand boats are available from less than £10,000.
Etchells National Championships - 14th/15th/16th September 2012
1 1331 Gelert, James Howells 1 1 2 1 - 5 3 1 5 2 16pts
2 1175 Darling, S Bleddyn Mon 2 6 8 - 10 8 2 2 1 1 30pts
3 1339 Freelance, Laurence Mead 4 4 - 11 8 2 7 3 3 3 34pts
4 937 Sumo, Sam Carter 6 3 5 6 - 11 1 5 8 5 39pts
5 987 Loup Garou IX, Stuart Childerly 7 5 3 3 1 - 10 6 9 6 40pts
6 1407 Ice Andrew, Cooper 3 2 4 5 3 6 - 10 10 8 41pts
7 1333 Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic 9 - 18 dnf 1 7 7 5 4 2 18 dsq 53pts
8 1352 Exabyte V, Shaun Frohilch 5 9 6 9 4 4 12 - 13 12 61pts
9 1329 Stampede, Rob Goddard 12 13 - 14 2 9 8 8 4 7 63pts
10 1354 Elvis, David Franks 10 7 9 11 10 - 14 7 6 4 64pts
11 1036 Esprit, Robert Elliot 11 - 18 dnc 7 4 6 11 9 7 11 66pts
12 1353 Lady, Susan Romain Szjan 8 8 10 12 - 18 ocs 8 17 12 9 84pts
13 1014 Palaver, Rupert Holmes 13 12 12 - 14 12 13 11 14 10 97pts
14 927 Shamal, Hugh Evans 14 10 13 13 - 15 12 13 11 14 100pts
15 1005 Eccentric, Dick Cowan 15 11 15 - 17 14 17 15 17 16 120pts
16 992 China, White Nick Stagg - 18 dnf 18 dnc 18 dnf 15 13 16 14 15 13 122pts
17 17 Pretty Vacant, Chris Davidson - 18 dnf 18 dnc 16 16 18 dnc 15 16 16 15 130pts
G New
17 September 2012 12:56