Causing Havoc
Iain Murray, Colin Beashel and Richie Allanson claim the 2020 Etchells Victorian Championship to go back-to-back.
Written by John Curnow
10 March 2020
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The reigning Etchells World Champions, Iain Murray, Colin Beashel and Richie Allanson secured the 2020 Victorian title with a race to spare. After placing second and sixth in the first two races of the day, they headed back to the Royal Brighton Yacht Club to put Havoc back on her trailer for the journey to Sydney.
“It is always nice not to have to race the last one, as you can come in, clean up, and get set for the trip home tonight,” Iain Murray said. You look back over the weekend and we had a great day on Saturday, which set us up, and allowed us to sail the boat expansively, with not too much pressure.”
Finishing in second place overall was Magpie, which is crewed by Graeme Taylor, James Mayo, and Tom Slingsby. They were three points astern of the leaders in the end, whose worst result for the regatta was a sixth place. Interestingly, Magpie’s worst was a fourth, it is just that they did not have the string of bullets (firsts) to match Havoc.
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Reflecting on getting one back on Magpie since the win in Texas (Worlds) last year, Murray commented, “ It is always good to win, especially against Magpie (who are their close training partners), and to see all the new boats doing well, and affording everyone a race win at some point. Those who won them are all class acts, and the competition this week has been terrific.”
Chris Hampton, Charlie Cumbley, and Jamie Lea on Tango finished in third place, some nine points further back. Cumbley and Lea also travelled the farthest to be part of it all, from the UK, with others coming from Thailand, and the East Coast of Australia to be part of this vibrant class.
Now it took until the finish of the last race, but The Cure, David Clark, Ray Smith and Ben O’Brien eventually secured the Corinthian Trophy over the crew on Triad (Kirwan Robb, Rod Muller, and Brett Taylor) who had lead that challenge until the very last race.
Smith said after they had secured the win by two points and placed fifth overall, “It is a pleasure to sail in this really competitive fleet. We set about to do the best we can against the best in the country, and it is always a challenge. To consider ourselves Corinthian for this event is fantastic, and to knock off Triad who are the National Champions and sailed really well here is terrific. They should be commended on their result (sixth overall) as well.”
“We’re pretty happy with our scorecard, which is reasonably consistent. It was not by any means a clean regatta for us, we were struggling being a new crew for this regatta, but Ben did a tremendous job up on the bow, and we got it together. We improved as things went on, including our speed, and also starting.”
“Overall it was a really enjoyable regatta, and great to do the nine shorter races.
“It gives you an opportunity to improve each time, and the weather Melbourne turned on has been absolutely brilliant.” Reflecting on the range of conditions served up, Smith added, “It is nice to use both jibs. The Race Committee set really fair courses, and so overall we are happy with the whole weekend.”
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