In 1965, Yachting Magazine launched a competition to select a new three-man Olympic keel boat. E.W. “Skip” Etchells, yacht designer and builder from Greenwich USA, designed a sleek, 9.30m monohull: a fast, stable sloop that could be raced competitively and safely by 3 or 4 sailors.
Fifty years later the yachts, now called Etchells, are raced in over 50 fleets around the world.
The strict one design rule provides for very competitive sailing. All hulls produced are virtually identical, carefully measured and weighed before a major championship. It is this one design sailing that attracts top sailors from around the world. A race on any day depends on a crew’s sailing skills, the ability to read the tide and weather and tune their yacht to local conditions.
The 2018 Etchells World Championship will be hosted by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly and sailed on Moreton Bay. The pre-world regatta will be sailed from the 12th to the 16th of October with the main event from October 18th to 27th.
Visit the Village and enjoy the atmosphere as 100 yachts and almost 400 sailors and their partners from all around the world turn Manly Harbour Village into a hub of international yachting activity.
