Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championship: Beashel challenges

Under spinnaker - Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championship. Image copyright Sail-World/AUS.

by Rob Kothe

Under overcast skies the Etchells left the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and sailed towards the centre of the Lake.

PRO Ross Wilson set course 165 with legs 2.1 nautical miles in length, starting the fleet in more open waters than yesterday and further off the Carey Bay shoreline.

The breeze was variable, blowing 10 - 18 knots as the fleet went into sequence for Race 5 of the series.

The start was clear with the Etchells going towards the Coal Point shoreline more advanced down the first beat.

The breeze had lifted to 16 knots at the top mark and a new pressure line came through, giving the advantage to those left of middle as they approached the top mark.

At the first mark Adam Beashel (Steam Packet 7) led the fleet, followed by Damien King (Barry), Ian Johnston (Bananas in Pyjamas), Graeme Taylor (Magpie), Tom Braidwood (Fantazia), Julian Plante (North Star), Brendan Garner (The Moe Szyslak Experience) and Kane Sinclair (Why be Flat), Bruce Cheek (7 to 4) and John Bertrand (Triad).

Beashel extended his lead down the run while the fleet jostled behind them. At the second top mark Beashel rounded ahead of Garner, who had moved up into second.

Taylor had also moved up a place, with Sinclair up from eighth to fourth. King dropped back to fifth, with Gary Boyd (B Squared) next and Ian Johnston seventh. Bertrand was back in tenth place.

Coming down the run towards the finish the Etchells found more pressure and went surfing.

Beashel was leading the fleet home. Bertrand made a move up into seventh.


Adam Beashel and crew (Bow 53 Steam Packet 7) coming into the mark - Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championship. Image copyright Sail-World/AUS.

Adam Beashel (Steam Packet 7) led from start to finish to win Race 5. Graeme Taylor GT (Magpie) was second and Kane Sinclair (Why be Flat) third. Brendan Garner (The Moe Szyslak Experience) was next, then Ian Johnston (Bananas in Pyjamas) with Damien King (Barry), then John Bertrand (Triad),Tom King (Iron Lotus), Julian Plante (North Star) and Gary Boyd (B Squared)

Winner Adam Beashel said ‘A good start helped, then it was just a matter of being patient and picking the shifts. The pressure is coming through in bands and its just about not making a mistake.’

Provisional Race 5
1. Steam Packet 7
2. Magpie
3. Why be flat
4.The Moe Szyslak Experience
5. Banana's in Pyjama's
6. Barry
7. Triad
8. Iron Lotus
9. North Star
10. B Squared

Race 6

The breeze was at 11-12 knots, the sky still grey and overcast as the Race Committee reset to course 185 with legs 1.8 nautical miles in length.

Race 6 start and a general recall, which was just as well for John Bertrand (Triad) as he was in trouble just about locked outside the Committee boat.

When the fleet did get away Damien King (Barry) probably won the start, about six boats down from the Committee boat.

Adam Beashel (Steam Packet 7) was very fast midline, while John Bertrand was again buried back in the second row. At the start Bertrand tacked onto port to clear the fleet and then back onto starboard.

Coming up to the top mark Beashel took the lead. Tom Braidwood on Fantazia was second, then came Tom King (Iron Lotus), Bertrand who had recovered his bad start, Mark Bulka (Perfect Balance), Peter (Billy) Merrington (Odyssey), Julian Plante (North Star), Graeme Taylor (Magpie), Chris Hampton (Tango), Jake Gunther (The Boat) and Damien King (Barry).

Again a fast run from Beashel extended his lead. Bulka made some gains then and on the second beat.

At the top mark for the second time Steam Packet 7 had ten boat lengths on its nearest rival Perfect Balance (Bulka).

Bertrand snuck around the top mark just inside Taylor, who was ahead of Plante, Merrington and Braidwood.

Braidwood had come in on port and with some shouting going on, had just managed to slide into the starboard line ahead of Hampton, Tom King and Brad Sheridan (Tusk).

The plain white spinnaker on Steam Packet 7 was in the middle of the course and now well ahead of the fleet. The next five boats were over towards the Coal Point shore looking for more pressure.

At the bottom mark the fleet had closed up. Beashel was still leading ahead of Taylor.


Ian Johnston and crew (Bananas in Pyjamas) - Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championship. Image copyright Sail-World/AUS.

Taylor went round the left hand pin and headed left whereas Beashel, Bertrand and the following lead group headed towards the Coal Point shore.

Taylor then tacked Magpie behind the fleet coming down under spinnaker. Back in the fleet Tom Braidwood moved up to seventh.

Taylor had taken a gamble on a flyer on the left and the question was could he catch Beashel?

In 13 knots of breeze the fleet tacked its way up towards the finish line.

Adam Beashel (Steam Packet 7) crossed ahead of John Bertrand (Triad) who recovered from his bad start. Graeme Taylor (Magpie) hung on to beat out the fast finishing Julian Plante (North Star). Then came Peter Merrington (Odyssey), Mark Bulka (Perfect Balance), Tom Braidwood (Fantazia) and Damien King (Barry).

After scoring his second win of the day, Adam Beashel was delighted.

‘Nice starts, good tidy crew work all the way round the race. Playing the shifts up the right hand side was important. The top mark being a bit further up made for some unknown territory.

‘The guys coming in from the left were doing well, we were not sure whether to play the right or the left. We played the middle and managed to get ahead, although we lost some of our lead.

‘The runs were pretty tricky. You wanted to be able to do an early gybe but there was a lot of traffic dirty air. We had a couple of early loses on the runs. JB (John Bertrand) came hard on us in the second race. We managed to just cross him - it was pretty powerful to be the first boat on the right.

‘Twice, coming in around Coal Point, we got a little out of phase. The shifts for the guys behind only needed to be a few degrees extra and all of a sudden they were coming right at you.

‘It’s all about getting something to come out on. In the last race we found a good rightie and that was all we needed.’

John Bertrand observed ‘Adam's sailing very well, getting two excellent starts today and two good wins. There were big shifts and wind strength variations.

'We were hammered in the second race start, but we were able to get across to the right and recover. You can’t miss a shift in a big fleet like this. All we could today was to hang on.'

Damian King smiled a little ruefully. ‘Flat water, Etchells all going the same speed, you have to be on top of your game. We probably won the second start, but a little while later we were just slow out of one tack and we just got sucked up by the group. Game over.’

Julian Plante said 'Its tough out there. Yesterday we went in too far on the right and that cost us. But overall we've made our best gains there coming towards the top mark. We've had good speed all regatta, getting in sync with the shifts is so important.'

Overall John Bertrand, Tom Slingsby and Andrew (Dog) Palfrey are leading the regatta but Adam Beashel, Bruce Wookey and Gary Gudmunson are throwing the kitchen sink at them. Tomorrow will be another interesting day on Lake Macquarie.


Fleet preparing to hoist their spinnakers - Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championship. Image copyright Sail-World/AUS.

Series Results [One Design ET] up to Race 6 (Drops = 1)
Ties Bow Boat Name From Skipper Crew Crew. Crew .. Series R6 R5 R4 R3 R2 R1

1 55 Triad RBYC John Bertrand Tom Slingsby Andrew Palfrey 13 2 [7.0] 1 2 5 3
2 53 Steam Packet 7 RPAYC Adam Beashel Bruce Wookey Gary Gudmunson 15 1 1 2 1 [20.0] 10
3 14 Magpie MYC Graeme Taylor Grant Wharington Steve Jarvin 19 3 2 4 4 [13.0] 6
4 11 Barry SYC Damien King Simon Cunnington Andy Butler James Ware 28 9 6 3 5 [21.0] 5
5 31 B Squared LMYC Gary Boyd John Boyd Tony May 34 [20.0] 10 6 14 3 1
6 13 North Star RPAYC Julian Plante Nick Garland Hannah Nattrass Michael Dunstan 37 4 9 [27.0] 16 4 4
7 3.0S 23 Why be flat LMYC Kane Sinclair David Gleadhill Mark Phillips 42 12 3 11 10 6 [25.0]
8 48 Bananas in Pyjamas RBYC Ian Johnston Tim Ede Phil Smidmore 42 14 5 8 8 [14.0] 7
9 58 Perfect Balance RBYC Mark Bulka Stephen Young Mark Tonner Joyce 44 6 14 15 [30.0] 1 8
10 6 Absolute Pearler LMYC Peter McNeill Dean Williams Wade Morgan 48 [24.0] 15 5 3 2 23
11 9 Fantazia LMYC Tom Braidwood Darren Senogles Ben Lamb Aden Menzies 50 7 11 [18.0] 9 10 13
12 12 Iron Lotus RSYS Tom King David Edwards Josh Grace Paul Baskett 52 11 8 12 [17.0] 12 9
13 38 Tango RBYC Chris Hampton Ben Morrison Ben John Durham 57 8 [19.0] 17 11 9 12
14 8 Tusk RPYC Brad Sheridan Michael McAullay Brett Shoebridge 67 10 [31.0] 21 7 8 21
15 51 Pedro II RBYC Kirwan Robb Rodney Muller Breeahn McCraken Jordan Bradly Smith 78 16 13 10 [26.0] 22 17
16 35 Echo Beach LMYC Tom Woods Dean Blatchford Phil Barber 85 19 20 14 13 19 [27.0]
17 39 Bushfire RSYS Jervis Tilly Peter Davidson James Arnold 88 13 [26.0] 22 20 17 16
18 17 The Boat RBYC Jake Gunther Stuart Skeggs Tony McPhail 91 15 16 9 12 [44.0] 39
19 25 The Moe Szyslak Expe RGYC Brendan Gardner Tim Clark Mike Schilt 96 [35.0] 4 28 15 27 22
20 50 Critical Balance LMYC Mark Langford Paul Garaty Kyle Langford 98 27 23 13 24 [29.0] 11
21 2.0S 52 Chill Pill RFBYC Rob Bird Graeme Johnson Nic Gray 102 [40.0] 29 24 21 26 2
22 42 Dream On (Racer x) RHKYC Mark Thornburrow Greg Farrell Andy Service Martin Mok 102 [31.0] 18 7 29 24 24
23 45 Magic Buzz RBYC Steve Gunther John Collingwood Russell Tyson 103 [33.0] 27 19 23 15 19
24 3 Seven 50 LMYC Todd Wyborn Dean Wyborn Brendan Quinlan 106 [44.0] 17 31 6 37 15
25 5.0S 41 Odyssey RPAYC Peter (Billy) Merrin Geoff Bonourrie Pat Langley 108 5 [35.0] 20 18 32 33
26 47 Addiction GH Lindsay Kennedy Simon Minoprio Trevor Swindburne 108 22 28 25 22 11 [30.0]
27 44 The Nurse SYC Ross Lloyd Matthew Turner Peter Dowdney 110 43 12 [44.0] 19 18 18
28 43 La Vie Dansante RSAYS Chris Pratt Simon Estella Caillin Howard 124 25 [59.0F] 30 25 30 14
29 32 Wobbegong CYCA Doug Flynn Calvin Gardner David Baker 137 21 33 23 40 [49.0] 20
30 18 Cruise Control CSC Paul Minter John Minter Ross Bull 146 28 25 33 [37.0] 34 26
31 46 Ganesh RSYS Glenn Nattress Steven Tracy Stuart Nattress 147 32 37 34 [50.0] 16 28
32 22 Alchemist RSYS Richard Hammond Rodger Gain Gil Mor 149 [45.0] 40 26 31 23 29
33 2 Ivy GSC John Denton Peter Bailey Daniel Eddy 151 30 42 16 [52.0] 31 32
34 54 Two Speed RSYS Nigel Nattrass Christian Brook Andrew Coates 153 18 39 38 27 [43.0] 31
35 22.0S 20 Vertigo LMYC Doug Williams Chris Blanch Darren Cooney 154 29 22 [43.0] 36 25 42
36 40 Miramar RPAYC Mark Doyle Travis Tubman David Hayes Toby Cusack 154 23 36 29 32 [55.0] 34
37 36 Dutch Moth LMYC Aaron Hampo Garry Van Dijk Anthony Patterson 159 26 30 37 28 38 [40.5]
38 33 Touch Pause Engage RSYS Michael Stovin-Bradf Keith Short Andrew Gordon 171 17 38 39 [43.0] 40 37
39 10 Count Boris's Secret RBYC Nick Knezic David Bretherington Michael Roberston 172 36 21 35 45 [47.0] 35
40 37 Carabella IV RSYS Matthew Mc Cann Neville Wittey Stephen Quigley Jean Claude Strong 172.5 46 [47.0] 40 39 7 40.5
41 56 Concubine RSAYS Jason Ward Damien McCaughey Mark Roberts 175 41 24 36 41 33 [51.0]
42 28.0S 30 Dragon Lady RPYC Bill Steele James Dagge Brad Moore 185 42 48 32 35 28 [56.0]
43 28 Rapscallion RQYS David Healey Josh Willis Ben Davis 185 37 32 [50.0] 44 36 36
44 7 Three Ring Circus MYC Trevor Martin Paul Braithwaite Glenn Thomson 201 34 34 [59.0Q] 34 54 45
45 21 Resurgent LMYC Christopher Rabbidge Andrew Campbell Steve Carrick 202 38 41 42 42 39 [49.0]
46 27 Mens Shirts-Short Sk RBYC Peter Stubbings Ross Melville Dick Stephens 221 52 45 [54.0] 38 42 44
47 57 Jazasa RSYS Jan Muysken Paul Grundy Steve Langton 224 39 51 45 46 [51.0] 43
48 34 License To Chill LMYC Bryce Johnson Peter Johnson Rod Verstegen 229 50 44 46 51 [53.0] 38
49 24 Surprise RSYS Adrian Fisk Ryan Fisk Matthew Fisk 230 48 50 49 33 50 [53.0]
50 16 Back in Business RBYC John Coates Rod Mackintosh David Buckland 235 49 43 53 49 41 [54.0]
51 26 QRS RSYS Alistair Stone Ian Kingsford Smit Colin Binet 237 [51.0] 49 47 47 48 46
52 49 Go With The flow LMYC Robert Griffits Noel Bagnall Konrad Schultz 239 53 46 41 [57.0] 52 47
53 5 Tian Hou MYC Simon Ellis Warren Myles Darrell Civil 244 47 59.0F 55 48 35 [59.0Q]
54 19 Predator GSC Greg Humphries Bruce Tennant Rod Moore 259 59.0C [59.0F] 51 53 46 50
55 45.0S 59 Max Power LMYC Keith Ritchie Darren Pickavance Tom Michilis 262 59.0C [59.0F] 48 55 45 55
56 1 7 To 4 LMYC Bruce Cheek Les Smith Bryan Gresham 262 55 53 52 54 [56.0] 48
57 4 Champagne Charlie CYCA Mike Thackray David Thackray Kim Le Gras Daniel Corke 271 54 52 [59.0F] 56 57 52
58 29 Mojo LMYC Ian Knight Keith Jensen Warwick Bagnall 295 59.0C 59.0C 59.0C 59.0C 59.0V [59.0V]

Murphy & Nye 2010 Etchells Australian Championships