EFG Bank Etchells Coral Reef Cup 2022 at Coral Reef Yacht Club

Luke Lawrence, Andrew McCrae and Eric Lawrence snatched the Coral Reef Cup from Steve Benjamin in an eight race slug-fest over the long weekend March 25-27 on sunny Biscayne bay.

Coral Reef Yacht Club and their army of volunteers did an amazing job of hosting the event, both on and off the water! EFG bank provided welcome support, including some amazing drone footage and a lovely social atop the junior clubhouse on Friday night and a fantastic dinner on Saturday night.

With 36 boats on the line and multiple world and Olympic champions on the race course the intensity of competition matched the frisky post -frontal northwesterly breeze on day 1. After two races and a pair of bullets it looked as though Steve Benjamin and his team word walk right away from the fleet, but a black flag in race three of day one opened the door for the rest of the pack. In race one, Benji was followed home by Victor Diaz (standing in for Jud) and John Heaton, a new addition to the fleet who has been actively racing J70s. In Race two, Benji was followed home by Andy Beadsworth and Luke Lawrence.

Ultimately there were five other race winners in the eight race series and one very special one in Race three of this series as the Hardenberg brothers in USA1012 (led by Ted and with multiple world champ Jamie and perennial Etchells guru Mark aboard) managing to hold off Malcolm Lamphere’s youth team for a victory that will be savored for a while to come. Third home was James McHugh.

The leader on the board at the end of day one was Luke Lawrence, with a consistent nine, three, eight score line.

Day two delivered a much sunnier day on the water and the threat of some thermal influence omnipresent in the minds of tacticians. Luke and Benji started the day with safe top 10 results. In race four, Paul Ward just managed to get his bow in front of Benji for the win, with Scott Kaufman third. In race five, Luke sailed hard left for the anticipated left shift and it paid handsomely as he led the fleet by a country mile at the top mark. Meantime Benji was stuck in the cheap seats. In race five, Luke was followed home in a tight light air finish by Kaufman and Steve Girling.

In race six, Benji came back with a solid victory, posting his third win of the regatta (!), this time, he was followed home by Andrew Lawson and James McHugh, while Luke posted a 29!

Did I mention how difficult it was to manage the left gusting shifts as air mixed down to the water with the shifting but solid bands of pressure from the right in races four and five and how by the time race six rolled around we frequently had crew off the rail and in the boat trying to manage the competing gradient and thermal influences…!

Going into the last day for races seven and eight the scores were very tight, with Benji now two points ahead (but carrying a BFD and a 21) and Luke with only one win, but everything else inside the top 11 (and carrying that 29). Everyone else in the top ten was already carrying two scores in the high teens and some a lot worse! Just another reminder of the strength in depth of the fleet currently gathered in Miami.

The forecast for the day was for a diminishing gradient with bright sunshine yet again threatening right side thermal influence. Out in the starting area it was quite sporty (!) with 18-22 knots of solid pressure and the continuing pattern of left gusts vs the bands of shifting pressure from the right continuing to do battle.

The fleet got away after a bit of practice under the UFD flag. Both Luke and Benji were in the pack at the top mark. Peter Duncan led, with the pack in hot pursuit. By the next top mark Andrew Lawson’s team was clearly in the lead, hotly pursued by Andy Beadsworth and Steve Girling.

On an exciting run into the finish, Lawson and Girling crossed the line overlapped with Beadsworth holding on for third. Benji and Luke finished eight and eleventh respectively. (Advantage Benji!)

With the breeze holding for the start of race eight, the middle of the start line was very strong and this group were able to take the first shift. Beadsworth was out in front and Luke was right there with him! Now Benji was stuck in the pack and it was game on! Breeze on the course was starting to fade into the single digits at times and so it was no surprise that the course was shortened. The location of the finish line, way left of the prior beats did catch many teams out!

Thankfully for Andy, Brian Ledbetter found the finish location on their boat early enough to crush home for the win. Luke was second, Shannon Bush had a cracking race in third and Peter Duncan rolled his second fourth of the day to clinch third overall…but where was Benji? Well, he had recovered, but ran out of race track and he could only get back to tenth, where seventh (Peter Vasella, the boat that he followed into the right leeward gate), would have been enough for the Cup on a count back. After a dominant start, it just wasn’t to be for this great team, this weekend.

So Luke, Andrew and Eric score an epic victory in their beautiful brand new Ontario ‘works’ boat CAN1501! Congratulations to this team for sailing a very strong series in challenging conditions for all.

A special thanks to a special club, Coral Reef Yacht Club! Well done! And of course to our amazing sponsors EFG Bank.

Overall Results: