The recipient of the mid-fleet prize at the recent Etchells 2025 Australian championship is a relative newcomer to owning and sailing the class.
Peter Robson, with his crew of Aaron Stead, Gink Yang and Tao Hsu, on board Playing Around 3 AUS1444, finished in the top 10 three times during the regatta, and was a happy recipient of the North Sails voucher for a new jib.
“I’ve been sailing as an owner since 2019 and I’m still learning,” Robson said.
Robson and his crew on board Playing Around 3 finished seventh in the invitational race that was held prior to the 2025 Australian championship regatta.
They sailed in all nine races in the regatta, in variable conditions, finishing 18th, 10th, 8th, 19th, 14th, 17th, 10th, then 19th in the final two races.
Playing Around 3’s overall standing was 17th at the end of the championship regatta.
The 2025 Australian championship was contested over four days, sailing on Lake King at Metung, on Victoria’s Gippsland Lakes.
The regatta was hosted by the rural sailing community of Metung Yacht Club.
North Sails has been supporting a mid-fleet prize for the Etchells class in Australia for 20 years.
Noel Drennan, North Sails’ One Design Manager, said the prize was an encouragement award.
“North Sails supports a mid-fleet prize for the Etchells Australian championship, and for the World championship when it’s held in Australia,” Drennan said.
Robson has sailed Etchells since 2019, mostly in Port Phillip Bay out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC), a few times in Hong Kong including as crew with Mark Thornburrow (who also raced the championships), and sailed at Metung to contest the 2024 Victorian championship.
Sailing with Thornburrow in Hong Kong was Robson’s introduction to the class and motivated him to buy his own Etchells when he moved to Australia.
The 2025 Australian championship was the first time Robson’s crew has sailed together in races and he is keeping the team together for the 2025 World championship.
The Etchells 2025 World championship is being hosted by RBYC in Melbourne, and Robson is chairman of the organising committee.
“We’re very much an amateur crew, I’ve owned an Etchells since 2019 and I’m very much still learning,” Robson said.
Stead has considerable experience sailing and helming VxOne boats, while Hsu has been sailing on keelboats for a few years.
Yang has the least experience of the crew, and has been sailing J24s for about 12 months.
“So, everybody’s experience is all quite different, we experimented a bit out there in the races, finding roles for everybody,” Robson said.
