MIAMI, USA — Steve Benjamin didn’t know where to begin when asked to handicap the AON 2023 Etchells World Championships, which gets underway Monday on Biscayne Bay. In most one-design classes, only a handful of top tier boats are truly capable of winning a Worlds. In the Etchells class, the list of elite teams is a heck of a lot longer.
“It’s going to be a tough regatta because there are so many good people here. I’d say any of around 20 boats could win this thing,” said Benjamin, the 2017 Etchells World Champ. “We respect every boat in this fleet. There are just too many talented teams not to.” Some might take newly-installed class president Jim Cunningham as one of the favorites since his Lifted (USA 1504) team was overall winner of the Biscayne Bay Winter Series. The California resident and his crew consisting of Steve Hunt, Erik Shampain and Serena Village captured the Coral Reef Cup that doubled as the North American Championship and the Midwinters West held out of San Diego Yacht Club.
“Lifted is sailing extremely well and was the most consistent boat all winter. They are very well-rounded, good in all conditions,” Benjamin said.
Cunningham was pleased with the consistency Lifted showed during the four-event Winter Series, but said it does not mean a whole lot going into this week. “I feel good about where we’ve come from, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us if we hope to win a World Championship,” Cunningham said. “I feel as though the team is working well together and we’ve got the boat sorted out. We just need to maintain the consistency we have shown so far this season.”
Cunningham pointed out that seven different boats won a race during the North American Championship.
Four different boats won regattas during the Winter Series with Veracity (John Sommi, USA 1477) taking the Sidney Doren Memorial, Oatmeal (Peter Duncan, USA 1453) topping the fleet in the Florida State Championship and The Martian (Marvin Beckmann, USA 1378) capturing the Midwinters East.
“We saw from the Winter Series that there are a lot of boats that can win races and win regattas,” Cunningham said. “I don’t think there is any one favorite, for sure. There is a lot of depth to this fleet.”
While the Winter Series has been held on Biscayne Bay since 1998. This marks the first time Miami has ever hosted the Etchells World Championship. It would seem the teams that routinely compete in the Winter Series would have an advantage in terms of local knowledge.
“In most sports, home court advantage is real and does mean something. If anything else you’re comfortable with the surroundings,” Cunningham said. “That said, the race committee is going to set square and fair courses, while the location of the racing reduces the local knowledge factor as far as shifts and currents.”
Sure enough, the New Zealand entry New Order (NZL 1499), which did not enter any of the 2023 Winter Series events, showed up Sunday and won the practice race in convincing fashion. Skipper Anatole Masfen and his crew of Simon Cooke and Matthew Kelway pretty much led wire-to-wire.
“You saw today that the boat from New Zealand crushed everybody,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day, the teams that wind up standing on the podium are going to be the boats that get off the starting line well consistently, get up the first beat in good shape and make good decisions.”
Biscayne Bay Yacht Club is hosting the AON 2023 Etchells World Championships with support from Coral Reef Yacht Club and Shake-A-Leg Miami. Principal race officer Dave Brennan said the organizing committee has put considerable time and effort into ensuring the fleet of 63 boats from nine different countries is treated to top-notch racing and first-rate hospitality.
“We’ve been working on this for a year and a half and now that the regatta is here I feel we are in great shape,” said Brennan, one of the world’s most experienced regatta managers. “My team is very strong and I feel we are well organized. I’ve got very few things on my list I need to deal with as we get ready to get going.”
The week’s schedule calls for nine races with the goal to complete two a day Monday through Thursday then one on Friday. Six races qualifies as an official World Championship, while seven brings a throwout into play.
The Sailing Instructions call for two types of courses — four and five leg windward-leewards. Brennan intends to use both courses at some point during the week.
“I will probably use the five-leg course on Tuesday. We’re going to be way down the bay. I’ll give them a five-leg race with the windward finish so they are closer to the yacht clubs,” he said. Trying to determine the prevailing wind conditions for the week is a huge challenge for skippers and tacticians, who were required to submit their sail inventory Saturday afternoon.
“Conditions play an enormous role in sail selection and you had to place your bets by 4 p.m. Saturday,” Benjamin said. “We are seeing top winds speeds of 18 knots and not too much over 15. We went with a light and medium jib, while a lot of the other teams have chosen a light medium and a medium heavy.”
Brennan said the long-range forecast shows enough breeze to complete a nine-race series. Target time for races at Etchells Worlds is 90 minutes, he said. Monday may be the lightest day of the week with winds likely to hit the teens at some point for the rest of the week.
“I think tomorrow I’ll make the first beat a bit longer, closer to two miles, then start shrinking the course to hit that target time,” said Brennan, adding that he is not “married” to 90 minutes. Benjamin, who captured his World Championship on San Francisco Bay in 2017, is one of several skippers with new boats. The career sailmaker raced Stella Blue (USA 1427) for most of the Winter Series then debuted Tons of Steel (USA 1511) at the North American Championships. Benjamin and crew Michael Buckley, Ian Liberty and David Hughes were winning after Day 1 of North Americans, but wound up finishing 10th.
“We’ve been playing catch up pretty much all winter, especially once the new boat arrived,” Benjamin said. “We barely got Tons of Steel on the water for North Americans and were not confident in the setup. We’ve been working hard since then and feel a lot better about where we are.”
Sure to be in the mix is Great Britain’s Ante Razmilovic, the defending Worldchamp. Razmilovic steered Swedish Blue to all single digit finishes in notching his first title on home waters off Cowes as the Royal Yacht Squadron hosted. The Swedish Blue crew remains intact with Etchells class legend Noel “Nitro” Drennan and Brian Hammersley back to help Razmilovic retain the crown.
“Ante has a very strong team and will certainly be a factor,” Benjamin said.
Beckmann, who won his World Championship in 2013 out of Rapallo, Italy, also enjoyed a strong Winter Series — securing the Midwinter Championship by four points over lifted. However, the Houston Yacht Club member has since bought a new boat and will be racing Martian 2 (USA 1378) during Worlds.
“Winning Midwinters gave us some confidence, but we’ve changed some things since then with the new boat being the biggest,” Beckmann said. “I think we’ve gotten the boat close to where we want it, so we’re feeling pretty good. We’ve just got to go out and execute. Winning Worlds require great chemistry among the crew and sailing mistake-free as much as possible. Getting off the starting line is king.”
Showcasing the international flavor of the Etchells class is the fact there are boats from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and the United States competing this week.
