'The Boat' Australia - Jake Gunther, John Collingwood & Ben Morrison-J
John Bertrand Maintains Etchells lead on Day 4 - Thursday
John Bertrand and his crew on 'Triad' - Andrew Palfry and Tom Slingsby - continued to dominate the Etchells World Championships at HYC with a win in the afternoon race, despite a disappointing 9th earlier in the day. His main rival, Ante Razmilovic, with a 4th and a 5th, has closed the gap to 7 points after discards while his brother Nils had mixed fortunes on the day and lies third overall, a further seven points adrift.
The Championship, sponsored by Fingal County Council, has three more races on the schedule, two on Friday and one on Saturday, with only one discard allowed for the 9-race series, underlining the need for consistency at this level. Four wins in six races by Bertrand is undoubtedly exceptional consistency!
The 42-boat fleet faced a freshening north-easterly for the start of Race 5, sailing in 18 knots of wind and a choppy sea. Nils Razmilovic of the Royal Swedish YC (sailing for Singapore) enjoyed the conditions to lead from the first windward mark to the finish.
'Holly Scott' GBR - E O'Nolan & J Gimson
It was a good day for the British contingent, filling the next three places, with O'Nolan securing his best placing in 2nd spot and Julia Bailey taking a well-earned third while Ante Razmilovic's 4th was enough to retain 2nd overall, tied on points with his brother.
As if to exorcise the ghosts of his 9th place in the previous race, Bertrand got back to winning ways in the sixth race to extend his overall lead, although he left it late. He was behind the ever-improving Julia Bailey at each mark rounding but on the final beat - shortened earlier because of dropping wind strength - he pulled ahead of the Royal Thames helm by the finish.
For the Burrows family - Richard on helm with son David and daughter Samantha crewing - seventh was an encouraging result, maintaining their 11th place on the leader-board and consolidating their position as the leading Irish boat.
Etchells World Championships - overall placings after 6 races:
