Etchells Event Page https://www.mooloolabayachtclub.com.au/etchells/etchells-event-page/

The Etchells Australasian Championship is an annual event, organised by Mooloolaba Yacht Club.

The ‘winters’ started in 1997.

The finest one-design sailors hailing from America’s Cup, Olympic and World Championship ranks join the ever-keen weekend warriors seeking out the Etchells Winters competition each year.

Competitors from across the Australasian region – Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong – compete in this annual four-day, single class sailing regatta. Some of them are professional sailors, but most are business leaders seeking the challenge of mastering and dominating the Etchells class.

The Etchells is a sleek, 30-foot keel sailing boat with strict one-design class rules that ensures all boats are of equal standard. Designed and launched in 1966, the class is found in America, Europe and Australasia. The 15 Australian fleets are resident in Victoria, NSW, West Australia, South Australia and Queensland.

Mooloolaba is a popular sailor’s destination offering one of the few sailing venues on the east coast that provides quick, easy access to open water where the Etchells racing is held. Onshore and within walking distance of the regatta site Mooloolaba offers a large range of competitively priced accommodation and family entertainment options.

The Winter competition is fierce; six races over three days, a fleet of 50 plus Etchells and a title that has never been successfully defended. They come to win and they race accordingly. At the end of the regatta there are plenty of ‘wounded soldiers’, men and women, who are still quick to talk up the racing and their plans to return the following year for another tilt at the coveted Etchells Australasian Winter Championship title.