#etchells – Consistency is king and Bill Hardesty and crew of Stephanie Roble, Taylor Canfield and Marcus Eagan have earned the 2014 Etchells World Championship by sticking to a steady plan for success. Ireland's title bid, that included an eighth place in race three, was cut short after the sole Irish entry in the 90–boat fleet. Howth's Burrows family, sailing Bedrock, only completed the first five of the nine race series in New York. Full results here.

Hardesty's plan was formulated 6 months ago, when he put together his young team consisting of Match Race World Champion Taylor Canfield and top women's match racer Stephanie Roble—25-year-olds eager to dedicate themselves to a worthy goal. Add in top trimmer Marcus Eagan and the team was complete.

After a tough series in Miami last winter, Hardesty made the decision to train in his home waters of San Diego where he had top talent and similar conditions to the worlds venue in Newport. "Tom Carruthers, Vince Brun and Bruce Nelson helped us up our game through sail testing and boat tuning," Hardesty said. But they didn't focus solely on boat speed. "We worked on evaluating risk management to make good decisions, define it, buy into it and follow through; that all came together at this regatta and helped with our consistency."

Hardesty further commented that having three elite match racers on board "gave us an advantage at the start through our time and distance timing and laylines, which made starting easier and more comfortable. We only had one bad start, that was the race we finished 20th."

Commenting on his third Etchells World title, Hardesty said: "This was one of the toughest to win; the level of sailing was at its highest. But it's very exciting. I love the class, I love the boat."

Winning the last race was Peter Duncan, who had local ties. "We didn't sail a particularly great series," said Duncan. "Our expectations were certainly higher, so this was great to end on a high note, which is better than the alternative." Duncan's crew included former world champion Jud Smith and Thomas Blackwell.

Ante Razmilovic, Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn finished second overall, with 2013 world champion Marvin Beckman, Steve Hunt and Ezra Culver in third.

Competitors will look forward to the 2015 Etchells Worlds which will be held in Hong Kong, hosted by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, November 1 to 7, 2015.

Final Top-10 Results

Place, Sail Number, Boat Name, Skipper, Hometown, Race 1, Race 2, Race 3, Race 4, Race 5, Race 6, Race 7, Race 8, Race 9, Total (not including worst score)
1. USA 979, Line Honors, Bill Hardesty, San Diego, 2-2-20-1-4-5-13-15-96/DNC 62.0
2. HKG 1333, Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic, London, U.K., 3-6-8-44-14-19-3-31-13 97.0
3, USA 1378, The Martian, Marvin Beckmann, Houston, 8-3-11-5-15-46-32-7-19 100.0
4. USA 1308, KGB, Senet Bischoff & Ben Kinney, Larchmont, N.Y. 10-20-25-52-1-31-2-9-15 113.0
5. USA 1372, Aretas, Skip Dieball, Beaver Dam, Wis., 38-13-4-19-7-17-1-61-23 122.0
6. CAN 1396, Hank Lammens, Norwalk, Conn., 1-8-1-12-16-7-47-49-42 134.0
7. AUS 1383, Triad, John Bertrand, South Yarra, Australia, 4-10-5-28-27-23-53-43-2 142.0
8. USA 1376, Arethusa, Phil Lotz, Newport, R.I., 9-18-6-96/BFD-52-9-12-37-8 151.0
9. USA 1137, La Tormenta, Shannon Bush, Refugio, Texas, 26-16-31-37-6-21-6-16-66 159.0
10. USA 1404, Lifted, Jim Cunningham, San Francisco, 42-4-32-40-50-3-4-25-10 160.0

#etchells – An eighth scored in race four of the Etchells World Championships has moved sole Irish boat, Bedrock sailed by Richard, David and Samantha Burrows, up to 27th overall in New York. Overall results are here

Bill Hardesty's resilience has brought him and his crew of Taylor Canfield, Stephanie Roble and Marcus Eagan to the top of the leader board despite a heavy downpour and fluky winds on the third day of the 2014 Etchells Worlds, hosted by the New York Yacht Club at Harbour Court in association with Sail Newport.

After a two-hour postponement on shore followed by another two hours on the water, storm clouds gathered, the wind velocity increased and the wind direction settled down enough to allow Race 5 to start. Shortly after that, the rain began, so forceful at times the weather mark was obscured. Those who sailed to the right, toward the squall, faired better and rounded the weather mark in the lead, albeit a bit wetter for their efforts. The wind shifted left throughout the race dropping slightly in velocity. Senet Bischoff and Ben Kinney won Race 5 by a healthy margin with Hardesty finishing fourth, giving him a 9-point lead over Hank Lammens, who finished 16th in today's race. Marvin Beckman sits in third overall followed by John Bertrand in fourth and Ante Razmilovic rounding out the top 5.

Today's start time has by moved up one hour tomorrow to maximize what is expected to be a dying northerly breeze. After six races have been completed, each team will be able to discard their worst finish.

The 2014 Etchells Worlds will continue until tomorrow Saturday.

#Etchells – Malahide trio David, Richard and Samantha Burrows have had a mid–fleet start to their Etchells World Championships bid in New York yesterday. The sole Irish contenders placed 66 and 26 in the first two races in the 95–boat fleet in near perfect sailing conditions off Newport, R.I. Full results here.

For two-time Etchells World Champion Bill Hardesty (San Diego) it was hard to imagine a better start to the regatta. Hardesty and his team placed second in both races and lead the regatta overall, with Ante Razmilovic's Swedish Blue team (London, U.K.) in second and defending world champion Marvin Beckmann (Houston) in third. In his first visit to Newport in more than 30 years, John Bertrand (South Yarra, Australia), the America's Cup-winning skipper of Australia II, lies fourth.

It wasn't easy for anyone, however. To spread out the fleet, principle race officer Tom Duggan stretched the legs to between 2 and 3 nautical miles, with each race taking between 90 and 120 minutes. The bulk of the fleet didn't reach the dock until after 6 p.m.

"We were physically grinding it out all day," said Taylor Canfield, who serves as tactician for Hardesty. "Finishing up with a five-leg course just made it that much more grueling. Our downwind speed was great, we gained a couple of boats every run. Then we were able to catch one or two boats on the upwind."

Hardesty, who won his world titles in 2008 and 2011, Beckmann (2013), and Bertrand (2010) are all former world champions, and their experience and poise showed today. With 95 boats on the starting line and both starts run under the black flag (which means that anyone who is over the starting line early is disqualified from the race), it was a day to limit risk and avoid large mistakes. Sailors will often say before events such as this that you can't win the regatta on the first day, but you certainly can lose it.

"The goal today was to get two single-digit finishes," said Steve Hunt, Beckmann's tactician. "We did and so we're happy."

Those teams that were not so fortunate today can take some comfort in knowing that, should the regatta schedule play out as planned, they will be able to discard their worst finish from their scoreline. But those teams with one or more disappointing finishes on Day 1 are now operating with little margin for error.

The regatta will continue tomorrow through Saturday. 

2014 Etchells World Championship
Tuesday, June 24, Day 1 Preliminary Top-10 Results
(Place, Sail Number, Boat Name, Skipper, Hometown, Race 1, Race 2, Total)

1. USA 979, Line Honors, Bill Hardesty, San Diego, 2-2 4.0
2. HKG 1333, Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic, London, U.K., 3-6 89.0
3. USA 1378, The Martian, Marvin Beckmann, Houston, 8-3 11.0
4. AUS 1383, Triad, John Bertrand, South Yarra, Australia, 4-10 14.0
5. USA 1411, Elizabeth, Tom Carruthers, San Diego, 5-12 17.0
6. USA 1208, Gumption3, Kevin Grainger, Rye, N.Y., 6-19 25.0
7. USA 1376, Arethusa, Phil Lotz, Newport, R.I., 9-18 27.0
8. CAN 1396, Hank Lammens, Norwalk, Conn., 20/ZFP-8 28.0
9. USA 1308, KGB, Senet Bischoff & Ben Kinney, Larchmont, N.Y., 10-20 30.0
10. USA 1296, Appreciation, Jeffrey Siegal, Portsmouth, R.I., 17-17 34.0

#etchells – Ireland has a single entry in a 95–boat fleet for the 2014 Etchells keelboat World Championship from June 21 to 28 in New York. The class's 46th world championship will be one of the biggest and most competitive in its celebrated history. 

Malahide and Howth Yacht Club sailing family trio, Richard, David (a four time Olympian) and Samantha Burrows are entered in the Corinthian, Masters and Seniors divisions in a fleet that has already attracted some of the world's top professional and amateur sailors.

Long Island Sound yacht designer and builder Skip Etchells created the 31-foot keelboat in 1965 hoping to win selection as the new Olympic keelboat.

The design dominated the racing in the selection trials, but lost in the onshore voting for Olympic status. For the 2016 Olympics, there will be no keelboat sailed in the Olympic regatta.

But nearly 50 years after the first Etchells touched the water, the class is as strong as ever.

The number of entries in recent class world championships has varied from 41 last year to a high of 100 in 1998.

Up to nine races are scheduled, all but one of which will count toward a team's final score. Registration and measurement for the regatta will start on Saturday, June 21, with the racing taking place on Rhode Island Sound, Tuesday, June 24, through Saturday, June 28.

For an entry list click here.

#etchells – At the Etchells World Championship in Rosignano, Italy the top Irish boat was Richard Burrows and crew from Howth who finished 12th in the 41–boat fleet. (download results below as a pdf file). There was no wind and no race for the final day of racing organised by Yacht Club Cala de' Medici.

After 8 races out of the nine scheduled the winner was "The Martian" skippered by American helmsman Marvin Beckmann, from Houston, sailing with tactician Steven Hunt and Ezra Culver.  

Burrows club–mate Stephen Quinn sailing Fetching was 30th overall. 

In the final results the second ranked boat is "Raging Rooster" skippered by American Peter S. Dunkan with Olympic champion Judson Smith and bowman Thomas Blackwell.

"Swedish Blu" skippered by European champion Ante Razmilovich (Hong Kong) together with American Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn got the third place.

#etchells – There's not much interest in recruiting women into the Etchell's class as it prepares for the world championships in Rosignano Solvay, Italy this week if the response to an Irish 'bio break' query is anything to go by.

There was a howl of resistance – mainly Australian in origin –  against any special provision for women when Irish skipper Richard Burrows from Howth asked about mother ship facilities for his female crew at this weekend's pre-world Italian championship.

Burrows is sailing with son David and daughter Samantha at this week's Italian championships and next week's worlds at the same venue.

"Bucket and chuck it" appears to be the mantra. Easy for some!

There will be no facility in high temperature and long days on the water.  Is this the way forward at an international world championships or should regatta organisers make such a provision?

Or is it a wider issue where it appears class traditionalists would probably prefer if women were not taken as crew in the class?

A glance at the entry list so far shows the Howth trio is one of only two mixed crews in the entire line up.

The regatta site proudly boasts this Italian venue is the 'first Etchells Worlds to be held in a non–Anglo Saxon country'. 

It's great to see the venerable class charting new waters but perhaps a more considerate approach to the fairer sex might also help in the drive to boost numbers?

Photographer Ingrid Abery who covered last week's Etchell's World Championships in Howth has uploaded images to the Afloat gallery HERE.

John Bertrand picks  up the World Trophy in Howth. Photo: Ingrid Abery

Howth got a makeover for last week's Etchells World Championships and the video clips below show the fruit of all the hard work after a successful championship there.

America's Cup legend John Bertrand is among 42 entries received for the Etchells World Championships coming to Howth Yacht Club later this month. A quarter of the fleet are Irish but entries are also coming from Australia, Bermuda, USA and Sweden. Bertrand and his crew are coming from Victoria in Australia. Bertrand skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America's Cup, ending 132 years of American supremacy. Bertrand won the bronze medal in the Finn competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He is a member of Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne Australia, and currently competes in the Etchells class boats. The Howth entry list as at July 30th can be downloaded below.

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. TUESDAY SERIES 2 (RACE) 06/07/2010 Puppeteer SCRATCH: 1, Trick or Treat A Pearson; 2, Eclipse A & R Hegarty; 3, Harlequin Clarke/Egan; Etchells SCRATCH: 1, Fetching Quinn/O'Flaherty; Puppeteer HPH: 1, Schiggy G Kennedy; 2, Ile Molene Byrne/Stanley; 3, Eclipse A & R Hegarty