7:27 AM Mon 11 Jan 2010 GMT
As the fleet approached the start line for the Invitation Race of the Murphy & Nye 2010 Australian Etchells Championship, the wind was 12-15 knots from the east nor' east, but swirling around under the grey clouds.
Soon thereafter, the fleet had split into three groups, left, right and just a few in the middle of the course. Those on the right looked like they had the best of the wind shifts. The fleet headed across Lake Macquarie, towards the mark boat located just outside the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club. First around was Graeme Taylor with Magpie, then The Moe Szyslak Experience (Brendan Garner) and The Alchemist (Richard Hammond).
Julian Plante from North Star was fourth around the top mark. Earlier on in the day he told us 'There's a lot of people we'll need to keep an eye on. For sure there's John Bertrand (who'll be out there as of Tuesday), Tom King and Peter McNeil too.
'The team from Barry were second in the Worlds and Adam Beashel is now driving Steam Packet 7 and Gary Gudmanson sure knows the pointy end. I think they could well be a surprise. We've got the #13 bow number, so you cannot afford to be superstitious.'
As the fleet rounded the hitch mark, the spinnakers popped and the loud words set in with those a bit further back still rounding the top mark.
It was expected the fleet would do the usual and peel off and go back to the clubhouse, but today was going to be special and nearly all of the crews decided to 'sail it out'.
Back over towards the southern side of the Lake, local boat Echo Beach (Tom Woods who is the event organiser) found they were heading straight for the mark on a big shift and were rapidly taking over the lead.
Others had to adjust to the many shifts and send the kite poles forward in the hope they would not be left too far out the back door. The result - not too many of the top 10 from the first mark were in the same positions by the time they went round at the bottom.
The right hand side was again favoured early as the fleet trudged back up to the top mark again, but Graeme Taylor persevered with the left and just before the top mark, he was rewarded with the huge lift that took him straight in on port while the boats coming in from the right were now bow down and losing ground.
From being a twenty something, they were now looking at a fourth. The top five stayed pretty much the same to the finish. Those that followed the locals would have done well.
A few smart skippers had even indicated earlier that they would be very closely watching the likes of Peter McNeil and that proved to be a very wise choice. The breeze certainly moved through 40 degrees, but depending where you were on the course it may have only been 20 or so.
As a local Lake Macquarie sailor, Peter McNeil did not get the first work right, but after that he slipped into gear and did nothing wrong. They had an absolute blinder on the right hand side for the last work and he said 'It sure was a nice long tack on port and we really picked the shifts. Couldn't be happier!'
Damien King from Barry, who is moored right next door to McNeil's Absolute Pearler, was quick to chime in with 'You know that's the first Barry that he was sailing today.'
No we didn't, but we do now!
Event organiser Tom Woods (Echo Beach) was second at the finish. Tom said, 'I certainly wasn't expecting that result. There's been a lot to do over the last week getting this all arranged. I stepped on just a few minutes before going out. It certainly is good when you're in front. What a great reward it was to get this sort of podium position, when you've put so much in.'
Graeme Taylor's Magpie finished third with Brendan Garner's The Moe Szyslak Experience (Brendan Garner) fourth and fifth was another local, Gary Boyd's B Squared.
Several boats chose not to complete the race today, perhaps not wanting to show their hand too early in the game. You just never can tell with Etchells, but then that adds to the excitement of it all.
by John Curnow
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