Glenn Ashby secures eighth A-Class World Championship title

Auckland, New Zealand (February 16, 2014) – The final day of racing scheduled in the A Class Catamaran World Championships was basically a drifter when the crews arrived at the Takapuna Boating club this morning. There was one race for the final day, but after waiting on the water for an hour the committee called the boats back to the beach to wait for some breeze.

As seems to be always the case, once the boats hit the beach the fingers of breeze extended towards the shore, finally allowing enough wind to convince the race committee to call for a start.

The sailors were ready and charged for the final race, with the eagerness causing more than half the fleet to be over the line early, triggering a recall. The second start saw the black flag flying, leaving no room for error. The fleet made a more cautious start toward the pin end, sailing out toward the left hand side of the course.

Event leader Glenn Ashby was among the leaders off the line followed by Blair Tuke and Peter Burling looking for wind toward the shore before heading out to the middle of the course. By the top mark Ashby had secured the lead. At the first bottom mark it was still Ashby followed by Pete Melvin and Tuke.

For the second upwind leg, most of the fleet appeared to favour the shore and left side of the course following Ashby. Taking the right side of the course was Burling, Tuke and Nathan Outteridge on the final beat, hoping for a wind shift to allow them to make a significant gain on Ashby. The wind shifted some 120 degrees and in the end the right paid dividends, compressing the frontrunners, and giving many a chance by the final top mark.

Ashby had a bad gybe at the top mark and left the door open for Outteridge to pass on the run home. Outerridge crossed ahead of Ashby from Ray Davies and Tuke. Outerridge had built his reputation for being a master in light conditions and displayed his immense talent by foiling across the line to a round of Australian cheering.

The final race results do little to upset the leader board, but most notable perhaps is the fact that the top three places, and four of the top five, are all members of the America’s cup syndicate Emirates Team New Zealand.

It was Ashby’s eighth A-Class World title. “It’s one from the best world championships I’ve been to from the point of view of all the new technology introduced to the class and the ideas from people from all over the world here at the regatta,” shared Ashby.

Final Results (Top 10 of 81; 9 races, 1 discard)
1. Glenn Ashby (AUS), 1-2-1-(82/DNF)-2-1-1-3-2; 13 points
2. Blair Tuke (NZL), (15)-9-3-4-3-2-4-1-4; 30
3. Peter Burling (NZL), 11-3-2-5-1-(15)-9-4-5; 40
4. Andrew Landenberger (AUS), 8-4-9-2-4-4-2-9-(12); 42
5. Ray Davies (NZL), 7-6-4-(15)-10-3-11-5-3; 49
6. Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 12-1-17-6-6-(48)-8-2-1; 53
7. Scott Anderson (AUS), 2-5-7-14-(15)-8-5-6-7; 54
8. Brad Collett (AUS), 3-19-8-8-13-6-3-10-(24); 70
9. Adam Beattie (AUS), 6-8-20-3-8-17-14-7-(27); 83
10. Steve Brewin (AUS), 13-(82/BFD)-15-7-5-16-20-8-11; 95

Click here for final results.
Click here for event photo gallery.
Click here for photos by Chris Cameron.

Class website: http://www.a-cat.org/