#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
