30th June 2008
By Peter Campbell
Americans Bill Hardesty, Erik Shampain, Steve Hunt, and Jennifer Wilson from San Diego have scored their first Etchells World Championship, taking out the 2008 title on Lake Michigan, Chicago, over the past week.
After dropping a 39 point finish from their six-race score, the team secures first place overall with a total of 30. Hardesty was the pre-event favorite having won both the Midwinters East and West.
Chris Busch, Chad Hough, Chuck Sinks, and Peter Burton, also from San Diego, came in second with 38 points followed by Jud Smith, Henry Frazer, and James Porter with 41.
The winners sailed an impressive regatta. “Our two firsts on the second day really helped. We’ve been training hard, and it paid off.” Hardesty said.
With the exclusion of their 39 point drop race, the team never scored below 13th in the racing this week. On how the team managed to stay consistent in the tricky conditions Hardesty explained, “We sailed conservatively. Once we figured out what was working for us, we stuck with that strategy.”
Ten Australian teams contested the World Championship, including three from the Sydney fleet. Top scoring Australian was former World Champion Peter McNeill from the Lake Macquarie fleet who placed 28th in the 84 boat fleet with placings of 58-15-2-46-13-OCS for 134 points.
From the Sydney fleet, Matt Whitnall placed 45th (64-40-15-25-57-46, 182), Jan Muysken 78th (60-68-72-57-DNF-71, 328) and Stephen Ingate 82nd (78-80-81-77-79-77, 391). Steve O’Rourke from the Botany Bay fleet placed 46th.
The next Etchells World Championship will be held in March 2009 on Melbourne’s Port Phillip, with the host club being Royal Brighton Yacht Club.
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