Hill wins Etchells World Championship

Brisbane, Australia (October 27, 2018) – The final day of the 2018 Etchells World Championship delivered a classic mix of sun and just enough wind for the last two races to decide the title. Despite dire predictions, including no breeze at all just after lunch, it seemed Huey the God of Wind was just as motivated as the Race Committee to all nine races completed.

Overnight leader, Lisa Rose (Martin Hill, Julian Plante, Sean O’Rourke, and Mat Belcher) would collect the win in Race Eight. Now whilst this may not have set the padlock on the gate, a sixth in the final race for the Aussie team secured the title in hand. Hill’s team (above) averaged 10.6 points to win by 17 over Mark Thornburrow (HKG) with Matthew Chew (AUS) two points further back in third.

In addition to the overall win, there were the Senior and Masters Divisions wins, as well. “Yes, it is very nice to hear those words, World Champion,” said Hill. “It is something we did not expect. We did know that we had a good team, however. I had known Mat for over 10 years, but it is a pretty tall order to arrive here with a fresh team, and against this sort of fleet, but we worked it together, and we felt the chemistry was right, so we improved as the series went on.

“Even today when we started as leader, we knew that it was so easy to be first one day and 50th the next in a 94 boat fleet like this. Nervous was not the issue, but you do have to take each race as it comes. We started in the middle in that first race, and tacked on the shifts, which had us around the weather mark in third spot. We did well on the run to make it up to first place, which was important given we had a weakness in that area earlier. So then we hung onto that lead for the race win.

“It was fantastic, but there was the matter of the next race, and whilst there was a buffer of like 17 points to the next competitor, we were ultra aware that you could lose that much faster than you could gain it. Tactically, we just covered in Race Nine, rather than go for another win. Gen XY did get one place up on us, but again, the wonderful camaraderie of this class showed when John Bertrand and Scott Kaufmann realized we were in this tussle, and wave us through on port, which was just marvelous.

“The team was awesome, but Mat makes ordinary, extraordinary. He is fantastic. Having Will Ryan (Mat’s 470 crew) on Racer C in second place just goes to show the caliber of the Australian Sailing Team.”

Of course, Lisa Rose had an amazing support team of family and friends, including AST Coach, Michael Blackburn. “It is great. I could hear them cheering at each mark rounding and it is wonderful to share it with Lisa, the kids and grandchildren.”

The largest division in the regatta is the Corinthians, who represent over half of the 94-boat fleet and are also 100% amateur. The popular Iron Lotus crew of Tom King, Ivan Wheen, David Edwards, and Greg O’Shea finished in 13th place overall but claimed the Corinthian title.

The 2018 World Championship was held October 22-27.

Event details – Results – Facebook – Photos

Final Results (Top 10 of 94; 9 races, 1 discard)

Source: John Curnow