Etchells Swan River Fleet

ETCHELLS NATIONALS PRE-REGATTA ANNOUNCEMENT

With Perth’s sailing community buzzing electric after an action-packed January, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club will welcome a competitive fleet of Etchells for the 2026 National Championships to punctuate the 2025-26 summer with a high. SailGP, the 5o5/OK Dinghy/470 Nationals, Geographe Bay Race Week brought excitement, spectacle, and mass entertainment. Etchells sailing offers these things, with an emphasis on refined excellence; poised, thoughtful fleet racing, and a compelling demonstration of the grassroots value of elite sailors committing to consistent club-centric, one design, Corinthian racing.

Scheduled for the 23rd-25th of February, when the waters are warmer, and the Freo Doctor is somewhat mellowed, competitors will expect glorious conditions over a 3 day, nine race series. We’re expecting to see shifty light easterlies in the mornings, followed by building afternoon sea breezes, offering opportunities for every style of sailor, and ensuring the best in class will be a well-rounded team.
With the WA state championships immediately beforehand as a warmup event, competitors will, in total, enjoy six days of sailing, and seventeen races in a single week. In this warm-up event lay some clues to the current form of a fleet that is densely studded with past world champions, Olympians, ex Americas’ Cup sailors, national team members, and some of WA’s most promising youth ILCA skippers.

The event winner, Ahern, didn’t win a race. That’s not to turn one’s nose up at 6 of 8 races finished in 2nd place but it does highlight the significance of consistency in these small fleets where one bad race can leave a substantial scar on the regatta ranking. One point lower, the boys on Ratpack will be feeling this. They won four races, a third, and a fourth. If not for a disastrous first day [9, 7], the silverware would’ve surely been theirs. Kitto, with local match racing guns Ethan Prieto-Low & Adam Brenz Verca, will be fired up and looking to right that, while the highly regarded McAullay tribe, split crewing across 3 boats, won’t give them any room to breathe. 1 and 2 by one point, 3 and 4 by half a point, 5 and 6 tied, you want close racing? This fleet has it.
And they’re in safe hands. When describing Principal Race Officer Rob Hubbard (AS Official of the Year), SRS Secretary Chris Pratt had to say:
“He set very challenging courses, sometimes left favoured and sometimes right - he ‘owned’ the river! He kept everyone alert all the way to the finish line. Some of us were sure Rob had upstairs connections as he was almost minute perfect with race target times every race.”

Forecasted light winds, and temperatures in the mid 30s will test the resolve of sailors and RO alike. Whether the sailors are more excited for the racing, or time in the bar soaking up panoramic views from the hill of Australian Sailing’s current Yacht Club of the Year, it is sure that those involved will have an elite week. Spectators and friends alike are encouraged to join the sailors at the bar after racing. Photographs and write ups will be prepared daily by Tom Hodge Media

The summer program is finalised.
It's in 3 parts:
Weekend Regattas
• Sail Fremantle - FSC
• Syd Corser - RFBYC
• State Championships - RPYC Annex
• Bill Steele Regatta - !!!!
All of them are in association with other fleets, so Etchells will be 'on display’ and having fun being part of the wider sailing community.
For the Bill Steele Regatta, the Mandurah option didn’t work out, but we are investigating with others to spend a weekend racing at Rottnest Island before Easter.
Windward/Leeward Racing
• On the river
• Multiple races over 4 Saturday afternoons with points counting for the Rob Bird Series and Michael Manford Series
Our hosts will alternatively be RFBYC and RPYC and again in in association with other fleets and ‘Etchells on display’.
Pennant Races
• RFBYC Pennant Races but with a twist.
• Races the weekend before Windward/Leeward races (which are themselves just before weekend regattas) will also be tuning days with an emphasis on getting together before and after the races to talk through boat set ups and techniques.
• On the attached schedule the ‘red’ pennant days will have two mid river races – a sprint and a longer race. The SR pennant race days will be from the RFBYC club start line and there will be three sprint races.
For the Windward/Leeward race days and the tuning day pennant races immediately prior, the committee has set aside a budget for a little catering back at the clubhouse for the debriefs after racing.
YES, we want to sponsor fun!

The Swan River Etchells fleet is pleased to announce that the 2024 Etchells worlds will be held in March 2024 on the waters off Fremantle.
For more information please visit the worlds website ,which is currently up and running and will be updated over coming weeks.
www.etchellsworldsfremantle.com

Bill Steel Cup 2022 - Read the full report here:
https://www.etchellsswanriver.com/_files/ugd/8b2742_c95e2b1e91e046ba973a8eb4fc4decfc.pdf