Final race decides Etchells World title
Published on January 14th, 2025
Etchells World Champion Graeme Taylor defended his 2024 title with crew James Mayo and Ben Lamb by winning the 2025 edition on January 10-14 in Melbourne, Australia. Forty-six teams completed the nine-race series with the winner decided in the final race.
“That is just one of the most epic wins of my life, to be honest,” said Taylor. “Perth (in 2024) was awesome and to win at home is just like wow, in front of all your mates, your family … just really special.”
With two races on the final day, the scores leading into the last race were tied between Taylor and John Dane III with Eric Doyle and Bill Hardesty, and for the first time a different team was on top of the leaderboard with Dane having more race wins.
But Taylor’s discard was a 7th compared to Dane’s 16th, so Taylor’s plan was to bury Dane.
“We were super strong mathematically going into that last race, and I guess that’s how you win a world championship in the end, two boats duking it out, seeing what happens,” noted Taylor.
The match racing began from the time the Orange Flag was hoisted (start line on station), five minutes before the warning signal for the race. It continued right until the gun. Taylor started slightly to leeward of Dane, and when the latter tacked onto port, Taylor followed, and the teams went well beyond the starboard layline.
“Lamby did an epic job of just going [saying], this is what we’ve got to do and this is how we’re going to do it, and I’m like, okay,” shared Taylor. “I’m sure they would have done it the same way if they needed to as well.”
Taylor maintained control, with both teams soon deep in the fleet. Taylor’s finish of 27th compared to Dane’s 36th secured the title.
“Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield,” commented Hardesty on how the final race unfolded.
Dane added, “To be tied going in the last race was pretty exciting. These guys did such a great job pulling me through. This guy in particular [Bill Hardesty] yelled at me a lot, but loves me.”
Dane won the Senior skipper (highest Placing Skipper over 60 yrs of age) prize as well as the Grandmasters World Championship (150 years combined age).
“At my age to be tied going into the last race, at 74 years old, I feel good,” admitted Dane. “These guys were all disappointed. Needless to say, to come so close. But it was a great regatta,”.
The Corinthian and Youth titles were won by Jack Abbott’s team of Xavier Winston Smith, Tom Trotman, and James McLennan.
“It’s been a massive learning exercise for us … we went out probably with the lens to keep it simple and just keep improving every day and we love every day we get on the water because we get better,” said Abbott.
“We can’t wait to do more as a team,” added McLennan.
Event information – Entry list – Results – Facebook
Source: Etchells World Championship, SSN