Master tactician Tom King combined brilliantly with crew mates David Edwards, Owen McMahon and Ivan Wheen to win the 2011 Musto Australasian Etchells Winter championship off Mooloolaba today.
They faced the final two races with exceptional confidence after sailing smart in a difficult wind system to record a 2-4-2-1 which paved the way for Iron Lotus crew to basically shut out all challenges with a commanding 31 point lead.
As expected Tom King the Sydney 2000 470 class Olympic Gold Medallist continued to dominate the race for the championship steering Iron Lotus into 13th place to seal the win with a race to spare.
The Iron Lotus crew who managed to remain consistent in a tricky wind system led the series by one point after the opening two races on Friday firmed a vice like grip on the championship with a 2-1 score on Saturday then put the final result to bed with their 13th in race 5.
They had no need to contest the sixth race leaving Melbourne’s Mark Tonner-Joyce (Dawn Raid) and the 2009 Musto trophy winner Damien King at the helm of Barry to set up their own private match race to decide the minor medals.
Mark Tonner-Joyce was put to the test but remained in control to protect his score when her steered Dawn Raid to a 4-2 to claim second by 3 points with 9-1-14-(16)-4-2 while Damien King secured third overall with his 3-5- (42) – 2-20-3.
David Clark who lost the 2010 series in the final 200 metres of the last heat proved to be the star performer on the final day steering Fifteen to a 1-2 to recover from a below par 16th to finish seventh.
His relative failure was not alone with former champions David Rose (This will make her scream) placing 15th after winning race 1 while Michael Coxon (North Star) struggled to finish 19th with Victorian Ian Johnson (Bananas in Pyjamas) one of six skippers Black Flagged in race 2 finished a disappointing 27th.
Final overall results: Iron Lotus (Tom King, NSW) 2-4-2-1-13-(DNS-42) 22pts 1,
Dawn Raider (Mark Tonner-Joyce, Vic) 9-1-14-(16)- 4-2 30 pts 2, Barry (Damien King, Vic) 3-5-(42 bfd) 2-20-3 33pts 3, Roulette (Mark Johnson, NSW) 7-(36)-16-3-6-5 37pts 4, Perfect Balance (Mark Bulka, Vic) 12-(16)-11-8-1-7 39pts 5, Racer X (Mark Thornburrow) Hong Kong 15-(18)-6-4-5-10 40pts 6, Fifteen (David Clark, NSW) (26)-22-9-12-2-1 46pts 7, Absolute Pearler (Peter McNeill, NSW) 6-17-5-(18)-10-9 47 pts 8, B Squared (Gary Boyd, NSW) (28)-2-15-14-11-8 47pts 9 Critical Balance (Mark Langfoird, NSW) 18-3-18- 11-3-(27) 53pts 10.
By Ian Grant.