Overall
Ever-steady Australian John Bertrand and his crew win the New Zealand Etchells Championship. Dennis Conner had best results to end the competition in 9th place.
   
Crew
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Total
1 AUS John Bertrand/Ernest Lawrence/Bill Browne
3
2
5
2
DSQ
3
2
17
2 NZL Morgan Larsen/Matthew Mason/Will Bayliss
4
7
3
1
12
1
3
19
3 USA Bruce Nelson/Mark Mandelblatt/Jeremy Scantlebury
5
1
2
4
6
OCS
7
25
4 AUS Jan Scholten/Mike Hughes/Simon Grosser
1
4
6
10
4
11
5
30
5 USA James Spitthall/Ben Durham/Joey Newton
10
3
4
6
5
5
10
33
6 NZL Cameron Thorpe/Steve Barton/Paul Morrish
13
8
1
7
14
4
4
37
7 NZL Kelvin Harrap/Craig Monk/Peter Weymouth
12
5
10
3
OCS
8
8
46
8 AUS Jake Gunther/Tom McPhail/Andrew Palfrey
6
13
11
12
1
6
11
47
9 USA Dennis Conner/Steve Jarvin/Matt Day
11
12
22
8
2
10
9
52
10 AUS Julian Plante/Nick Garland/David Stevens
16
17
OCS
5
13
2
1
54
 
Day 2
Races were sailed in gusty southwesterlies and southerlies up to and over 20 knots, with choppy seas, forcing some crews to abandon while others cried off even before the start. The conditions and the close racing in the big fleet led, not surprisingly, to some damage, with a couple of yachts holed.

Ever-steady Australian John Bertrand is in second place on the same points as Nelson. Dennis Conner had his best result so far - eighth in the fourth race - to end the day in 12th place.
First-day leader Australian yachtsman Jan Scholten could not repeat those early efforts in difficult conditions yesterday and slipped back to fourth place after four races in the Etchells nationals off Gulf Harbour yesterday.

Scholten followed Thursday's first and fourth placings with a sixth and 10th yesterday, allowing Bruce Nelson - second and fourth in races three and four - to leapfrog from third to top of the table.
 
Day 1

With a third and a second place, John Bertrand heads the leaderboard at the end of the first day of the NZ Etchells Championship. Dennis Conner finished 11th and 12th.

Bruce Nelson, best known as the designer of the Stars and Stripes yacht Conner sailed to America's Cup victory in Fremantle, with his crew of New Zealanders Richard Dodson and Jeremy Scantlebury, was 5th in the first race then won the next in ideal conditions - 15-20 knot westerlies - to finish the day in third place behind Australian Jan Scholten.

The closeness of the racing was reflected in the finishing times - less than six minutes between first and last (48th) in the first race and just under 10 minutes in the second.