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Etchells World Championships at Chicago Yacht Club - Overall

by Christie Kirchner 29 Jun 2008 10:50 BST 21-28 June 2008

Hardesty crowned 2008 World Champion

Bill Hardesty, Erik Shampain, Steve Hunt, and Jennifer Wilson of San Diego take their first Etchells World Championship title after ending the regatta with a strong 12 place finish in race 6. After dropping a 39 point finish from their 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 of San Diego, came in second with 38 points followed by Jud Smith, Henry Frazer, and James Porter with 41. After protest and redress hearings at the end of today, Peter Duncan moved from 16th to tie Beadsworth/Dwyer at 56 points for 4th. Duncan won with tie breaker with his 2nd place win in today’s race.

The 6th and final race of the regatta was run today in beautiful conditions with 10-20 knot westerly winds, waves, and warm sunny weather. Bush, Hough, Sinks, and Burton took the lead on the first downwind leg, and from there they proceeded to walk away from the fleet on every leg and capture first place by a substantial margin.

“We went right on the first beat while most of our competitors went left,” Busch explained. “We were pretty behind after a bad start at the right end of the line, but we found better velocity and some good shifts on our side and we were able to work out way back through the fleet. Once you’re out front, it’s a lot easier to stay there It’s the races where you’re deep and have to fight your way back that really make the difference.”

Busch, Hough, Sinks, and Burton definitely take the role of the stealthy stars of the regatta. After a disappointing 49th finish on the first day, the team moved to 8th with a 2nd and a 4th on the second day of racing. They continued their climb up the score board with respectable finishes in races 4 and 5 which brought them up to 6th and then into the top three. With a decisive win today, the San Diego team ultimately captured 2nd place by three points from Smith, Frazer, and Porter.

Winners Hardesty, Shampain, Hunt and Wilson 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.”

Remarkably, with the exception of one drop race apiece, Hardesty, Busch, and Smith all posted top 20 finishes in the five races counting toward their final score. It is undoubtedly this impressive consistency, despite challenging conditions, that places these three boats on the Etchells Worlds podium this year.

The next Etchells World Championship will be held in March 2009 on Port Philip Bay, Melbourne with the host club being Royal Brighton Yacht Club. For more information log on to or www.chicagoyachtclub.org

Overall Results:

PosSail NoCrewR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1USA979Bill Hardesty, Erik Shampain, Steve Hunt & Jennifer Wilson711-3981330
2USA969Chris Busch, Chad Hough, Chuck Sinks & Peter Burton-49241912138
3USA102Judson Smith, Henry Frazer & James Porter159-41211441
4USA1327Peter Duncan, Thomas Blackwell & William Barton1722105-51256
5IRL1375Dave Dwyer, Andy Beadsworth & Simon Fry-40242243356
6GBR1352Graham Bailey, Stephen Bailey & David Heritage2473-6471859
7USA706Artie Means, Will Stout & Chuck Skewes133(84\OCS)13171662
8CAN1349Hank Lammens, Dirk Kneulman & Dwayne Smithers3527-431121186
9USA1227Vincent Brun, Ben Mitchell & Jeff Pape455-51254786
10USA1310Robert Wray, Scott Nixon & Mike Wolfs3749346-5090
11USA1224Kurt Winkelmann, Larry Ledgerwood & Brad Boston248-61330992
12USA1228Brian Camet, Eric Doyle & Brian Terhaar22631-40211595
13NZL1058Andrew Wills, Anatole Masfen & Alastair Gair148(43\SCP)2441895
14USA1238Gary Gilbert, Mark Mendelblatt, Stu Argo & Mark Strube272333104-3497
15GBR1329Julia Bailey, Dylan Potter, Anna Bailey & Pedro Rebelo de Andra-28182520112397
16NZL716Simon C Minoprio, Ryan Houston, Mike Buckley & Kelly McKenna30-58231791998
17USA1296Jeffrey Siegal, Jeff Madrigali, Willem Van Waay & Becky Nygren-661930272210108
18USA701Aaron Housten, Daniel Somers & John Harford330122146-56112
19USA1168Peter Vessella, Tracy Usher & John Callahan-341313332826113
20USA1229Argyle Campbell, Jack Jakosky & Dwight Belden956645-734120
21USA1306Thomas Hughes, Ron Rosenberg & Curt Oetking201146-592320120
22USA1232Marvin Beckmann, Matt Cunningham & Timothy Banks122628-583817121
23USA1308Senet Bischoff, Colin Gordon & Ben Kinney850171-5948124
24GBR1333Ante Razmilovic, Jez Fanstone & Stuart Flinn-57252963925124
25USA1285Bruce Golison, Steve Flam & Steve Girling-7614732695127
26IRL1015David Burrows, Peter Coad & Dan O'Grady-551619481036129
27USA1350Bruce Burton, Glenn Burton & Jon Easley-52333982030130
28AUS915Peter McNeill, David Gleadhill & Tom Woods581524613(84\OCS)134
29USA1085Ethan Doyle, Holt Condon, AJ Crane & Matt Hooks25311435-3632137
30USA1363Justin Palm, John Erik Garr & Hans Pusc Pusch117325042-54142
31NZL1127Gavin Gerrard, Richard Bouzaid & John Baxter545-56154433142
32SUI1187James-Se Mc-Hugh, Oliver Tache, Nick Gibbons & Anthony Kotoun1138-5574843147
33CAN1247Allan Leibel, Kent Paisley & Mike Hren322811-661859148
34USA1373Buddy Cribb, Eammon DeLisser & Frank Atkinson3334183726-46148
35USA822Fred Joosten, David Williams & Niels Heemskerk104416971-73150
36AUS1320Rob Bird, Graeme Johnson & Nick Gray-695135121639153
37USA978Rick Kaiser, Gerri Whitley, Matt Shirilla & Libby Christy422927565-57159
38BER1249Tim Patton, Patrick Siewers & Christian Monachon21\SCP-744526657164
39CAN398Andrew Macrae, Marcus Stone & Bruce Scott-68128384363164
40USA1281Frederic Laffitte, Janet Laffitte, Lucas Laffitte & Jean-Didi Martial2920206137-72167
41USA1149John Pedlow, Craig Cooper & Blaine Pedlow47215218(84\DSQ)31169
42USA1097Jose Fuentes, Greg Hryniewic & Paul Garn184244-72636173
43USA1301Peter Shumaker, Michael Herlihy & Brad Swebles-654964161435178
44AUS1356Michael Manford, Dean McAullay & Richard Rowell(84\OCS)4338293240182
45AUS1134Matty Whitnall, Christian Brook & Ant Elliott-644015255746\ZFP183
46AUS1102Steve O'Rourke, Scott Condie & Steve Backhouse3647-68444712186
47IRL1323Stephen Quinn, Stephen O'Flaherty & Peter Kingston-704654142745186
48USA1207Jeff Padnos, Juan Pabl Del Solar, Sam Padnos & Josh Padnos-593649361555191
49USA928Bill Mauk, Michele Sumpton, Jeff Eiber & Matthew Smith-773726412465193
50USA1008Michael Goldfarb, James Stewart & Mark Brink19(84\OCS)57554024195
51AUS1244Jake Gunther, Andrew Cooper & Russell Tyson44392153(81\SCP)41198
52USA1283Andrew Whittome, Bob Capita & William Kalmbach3810675245(84\OCS)212
53AUS1355Bryon Ehrhart, Chris Lefferdink & Stewart Dilisser41594223-7049214
54GBR987Robert Elliott, Sam Richmond & Matt Adams4832-66425042214
55USA1239Stephen Horwitz,, Robby Brown, Erick Rodriguez & Megan Place28\SCP734847(84\DSQ)29225
56AUS1150Terence Steele, Jameson Buxton & Bradley Moore66071-783458229
57USA1044David Whelan, Jake Scott & Joshua Knapp-736650301969234
58USA1315John V Gilmour II, Andrew Mirkwitz & Patrick Vincent31\SCP547043-7837235
59USA1307Jeffrey Nehms, Ezra Culver & Fred Chandler504147-695344235
60USA1199William Mills IV, Christoph Constant & William Mills III536936-704938245
61GBR1354David Franks, Graham Sunderlan & Mark Watson713524-756161252
62USA1137Shannon Bush, David Thomas & Charlie Dickey61-6759635222257
63GBR962Rob Goddard, Garth Britton & Dave Freemantle54(84\OCS)53656627265
64USA21Doug Scheibner, Tom Norsworthy & Angela Scheibner4361514964(84\DNS)268
65USA1342Thomas Dawson, Chris Clark & Don Maxwell5157-65626239\ZFP271
66USA1076Ray Harrington, Karl Fjeld & Don Brush5670-76285860272
67USA668Richard Sidell, Ed Coyne & Paul Mahon3952-78743575275
68USA980Jack Bernhardt, John Powell & Marc Simmel6271-74225666277
69USA1211Kevin Boyle, Mike Considine & Steve Outlaw316569-736851284
70USA1069Elizabeth Altman, Ed Furry, Doug Nickel & Vickie Matthews-756234675467284
71CAN1053Allan Gray, Gregg Rolston & Matt Skafel-745340606074287
72IRL1271Mary O' Loughlin, Katie Dwyer, Karena Knaggs & Alice Cowman6379(84\DNF)682953292
73IRL1252Alexander Lacy, Paul Derham & Jonathon Carroll(78\SCP)6373763152295
74CAN898Jerry Wendt, Darrell Suderman & Bryan Milne795558-803370295
75USA1241Ken Womack, Marc Holdaway & Andrew Lee217660-797564296
76CAN1154Glenn McKay, Brian McKay, Richard Weld & Michelle Skutelsky6777625455(84\DNS)315
77USA583Kers Clausen, Bob Branstad & Alson Silva4575-77716762320
78AUS1360Jan Muysken, Steve Tracey & Ed McCarthy60687257(84\DNF)71328
79USA1313Patricia Stadel, Patrick Sloan & Mark Toso466475(84\DNF)7678339
80ITA942Marco Cimarosti, Peter Bellingham & Charles Winstone(84\SCP)84\DSQ79318068342
81USA1166Gretchen Sullivan, Ralph Carpenter, Brent Sullivan & Sarah Callahan807263-817276363
82AUS917Stephen Ingate, Andrew Jeffery & Nick Smith7880-81777977391
83USA1299Jerry Fulp, Randall White & Marie Hansson827880(84\DNF)7784\OCS401

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