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A - Class Worlds 2009
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    Posted: 16 Dec 08 at 12:29pm

Right after Christmas, action is about to start  at Belmont  sailing club, Lake Mc Quarie, NSW, 2 hrs north of Sydney.

28-31 December the Australian Nationals are planned as a tune- up -series, 2-9 January the Worlds are scheduled.

Lake Mc Quarie is a well known location for championships. 

Steady breezes between 8 and 15 knts are regular, combined with flat waters .

Ideal circumstances fort the lightweight high competitive A class catamarans .

A highly competitive fleet of 100 boats is expected, with many former World- and European champions .

Quite unique : the complete top 9 boats of the last European championship in La Baule, France  is on the starting line .

Without any doubt  5  times A class  world champion and Olympic silver medallist  in the Tornado, Glenn Ashby is the highest ranked favorite. After an intense period for him focusing in the Beijing Olympics, Glenn is looking forward to race the ‘most fun class around’ again, trying to claim his record sixth world title.  Glenn is sailing the ‘ashby-sailcraft-geltek-flyer’ with off course the latest generation Ashby bighead on the Fiberfoam mast .

Main Contenders  for Glenn are expected Steve Brewin  ( AUS ), Manuel Calavia (ESP) and Scott Anderson ( AUS).

Steve Brewin  , the current European, Australian  and  2001 World champion is sailing a 'Tool' A class, designed by Wayne Mercer, and uses off course his own Brewin Maxx sail on a Saarberg mast . Steve is really eager  to reclaim back his 2001 world title.

Manuel Calavia , 2nd in the Europeans this year and two times third at the 2005 and 2006 worlds  will be a strong contender especially in light and medium winds . Manuel is using the same equipment as Glenn.

Good old Scott Anderson  is sailing a nearly home regatta . Scott , former World champion and world champion ‘2nd at worlds ‘  is sailing the same equipment as Glenn, using off course his own produced Fiberfoam mast. Scott and Glenn cooperated together in developing the latest Ashby sail.

Besides this group  a whole bunch of strong sailors of different countries will fight for the top 10 spots, among them :

Brad Collet (AUS), Dave Brewer (AUS), Andrew Landenberger ( AUS),  Bob Baier (GER), Donald Beilke (GER),  Luc Dubois (SUI), Sjoerd Hoekstra (NED) , Pieterjan Dwarshuis (NED), Eugenio Calabria, Roberto Casadei and Luigi Blancato ( all from the Bimare V-1 team from Italy), Mike Drummond (NZL) , Murray Phillpott ( NZL), Chris Field(GBR) and Thomas Paasch (DEN)

New surprise entries from Australia are without any doubt James Spithill ( Americas cup skipper en world # 1 match racer), Tom Slingsby , Australian representative in he olympic Laser class in Beijing  and Nathan Outterridge, 49 er World champion who just missed Olympic Gold in Qingdao. Expectations are high for this three toplevel sailors . This shows once more the appeal of this unique racing class!

 

This world championship is the first after extensive discussions  about curved dagger boards and hydrofoil rules . The box rule is still in place, and time will learn if big innovations will show up.

Some boats are expected with curved foils . The Nikita A class’ from Bob Baier and Thomas Paasch are expected, and also Luc Du Bois  and Pieter Saarberg (NED) will use the newest Scheurer curved boards. Maybe other innovations are showing up. 

The solid wing  we saw in the last worlds  will stay in the US , together with all American sailors, which is an disappointment for the organization . After an successfull Florida world championship from November 2007 with many foreign competitors, at least the top US sailors have to be present at a World championship….

Anyway,  we are looking forward to a great championship at one of the # 1 sailing spots in Australia...

stay tuned.   

event website : http://www.a-catworlds2009.org.au/



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Big names head for A-Cat Worlds Print
Spithill, Slingsby and Outridge to compete on Lake Macquarie in January
Some unlikely characters will be at Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie NSW in a few weeks when it hosts the 2009 A-Class Catamaran World Championships.

The youngest ever America's Cup skipper, Australian match racer James Spithill, started in monohulls but has been working hard on the multihull scene, while continuing to be a top class monohull skipper.

As one of BMW Oracle America's Cup helmsmen, he was suddenly thrust into the multihull world with the giant BMW Oracle 90 foot catamaran and as part of his new multihull program he has been sailing the two crew Formula 18 cats and the very fast Extreme 40 cats. In October Spithill came eighth at the 2008 North American A-Cat titles.

Two interesting entries come from the monohull sailors and Australian Olympians, Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge.

Slingsby, who hails from Gosford on the News South Wales Central Coast, is the dual Laser World Champion. Outteridge, a Lake Macquarie sailor, is the 2008 49er World Champion whose high-speed skiff capsized on the last big wave in Qingdao. He was just 15 seconds from winning an Olympic gold medal.

Glenn Ashby, the race favourite, five time A-Cat World Championship winner and 2008 Olympic Tornado silver medallist feels that his Australian Olympic teammates may surprise with their results, despite their lack of Cat racing experience. He said that Slingsby and Outteridge were definite contenders because of their Olympic experience, as well as their impressive training sessions.

"You'd certainly have to count Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge in the mix because they're both come off an Olympic campaign - certainly they've both grown up in that neck of the woods.

"I've sailed both with Nathan and Tom myself, (on Lake Macquarie) about a week ago and did three days with them. They've just been sailing up there with Scott Anderson who is a very good yardstick for them. Their sailing skills and their tactics are of course of a very high standard. I think they'll certainly surprise a lot of the international guys with how well they'll be sailing their boats when the Worlds come around," Ashby said.

Outteridge says he and Slingsby have been training hard, but the conditions will have to be right for them to do well. 'If conditions are light and shifty then our tactical experience will help us, but it's a very steep learning curve and if the summer sea breezes are honking then it will be the experienced cat sailors who will shine,' he said.

"Actually I've found the A-cats quite similar to the 49ers, sailing hot angles with little tacking. But for Tom it's just so different from the Lasers. It's a lot of fun for us both,' Outteridge remarked.

The action starts with the Australian A-Cat Nationals on 28 December followed by the A-Cat World Championships from 2-9 January 2009.

The World Championship fleet will consist of 95 to 100 boats, with sailors from 12 countries competing. Around 40 international entries have been received and amongst these are many of the top ranked sailors, including Luc du Bois (SUI), third in the 2008 Europeans, Manuel Calavia Arias (ESP), the top ranked European behind Ashby and Anderson at the 2007 Europeans and second behind Brewin in the 2008 Europeans, Sjoerd Hoekstra (NED), fourth at the 2008 Europeans, Donald Beike (GER), sixth at the 2008 Europeans, UK and Belgian champion Chris Field (GBR) and well know America's Cup sailor Kiwi yacht designer Mike Drummond, who finished in the top ten in the 2007 A-Cat Worlds.
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Around 40 international entries have been received and amongst these are many of the top ranked sailors, including Luc du Bois (SUI), third in the 2008 Europeans, Manuel Calavia Arias (ESP), the top ranked European behind Ashby and Anderson at the 2007 Europeans and second behind Brewin in the 2008 Europeans, Sjoerd Hoekstra (NED), fourth at the 2008 Europeans, Donald Beike (GER), sixth at the 2008 Europeans, UK and Belgian champion Chris Field (GBR) and well know America's Cup sailor Kiwi yacht designer Mike Drummond, who finished in the top ten in the 2007 A-Cat Worlds.

So whos willing to put money on the winner of this event??
lifes to short to sail slow boats!

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Posts: 514 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Stuart O Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Dec 08 at 2:27pm
Ashby...has to be favourite

but really hope Chris gets top 5
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Posts: 1047 		Post Options Post Options   Quote hurricane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Dec 08 at 3:38pm

Ashby or Brewin.........

Hopefully Field will be in the top 5, a hard task in the quality of this event....
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Best of luck to Chris - top non-Aussie would be a great achievement.  I'm expecting good things from Landenberger too - perhaps he may win?
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Bow No Skipper Sail No State Place Pts Place Pts Place Pts Overall Pts Rank

1 Glenn Ashby AUS 1 VIC 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 1

53 James Spithill AUS 938 NSW 3 3 9 9 2 2 14 2

89 Luc Du Bois SUI 202 SUI 7 7 2 2 7 7 16 3

10 Dave Brewer AUS 908 VIC 5 5 10 10 4 4 19 4

35 Andrew Landenberger AUS 24 NSW 12 12 7 7 6 6 25 5

70 Bob Baier GER 14 GER 16 16 5 5 9 9 30 6

2 Scott Anderson AUS 902 NSW 22 22 6 6 3 3 31 7

64 Thomas Paasch DEN 1 DEN 8 8 12 12 13 13 33 8

45 Nathan Outteridge AUS 822 NSW 10 10 16 16 10 10 36 9

47 Graeme Parker AUS 889 VIC 14 14 13 13 11 11 38 10

67 Chris Field GBR 007 GBR 9 9 24 24 8 8 41 11

42 Wayne Mercer AUS 900 VIC 11 11 20 20 14 14 45 12

83 Murray Philpott NZL 1 NZL 15 15 14 14 16 16 45 12

18 Ben Deed AUS 924 VIC 6 6 23 23 19 19 48 14

GBR's top sailor is doing well currently in 11th after 3 races, there are some big name sailors currently down the pan
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hurricane stop brown nosing your helm, your turning my stomach!!
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and
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Originally posted by oz man

hurricane stop brown nosing your helm, your turning my stomach!!


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