Aussies win Kieler Woche Tornado

by Julie Sharpe on 26 Jun 2006 Multiple World Champions Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby have continued their domination winning Kiel Week in Germany on the Olympic Class Tornado.

Bundock from the NSW Central Coast and Ashby from Central Victoria sailed a seemingly faultless regatta winning six of the eleven heats with a final points margin of 29 points on completion of the final Medal race.

The medal race in the class started fifty metre off the Kieler Harbour wall. The breeze was favourable and had increased to 12-14 knots prior to the Tornado fleet start.

With the shortened course it was evident that greater importance would be placed on getting a good clean start in the sprint to the first mark.

Bundock and Ashby decided to start on port tack and cross behind the fleet and head to the right hand side of the course, this proved to be the winning factor of the race even though they started last they saved themselves one tack in the choppy water and reached the stronger wind pressure first.

The Australians led at the first mark from Gaebler/Struckman (GER).
Their nearest overall rivals McMillan/Howden(GBR) and Echavarri/Paz(ESP) were match racing between themselves and rounded the first mark last and second last respectively.

The medal race comprised of two short laps and was all over within 12minutes awarding the Australian pairing the overall win by a whopping 29 points.

Darren Bundock commented dockside ' We had a fantastic start and got clear of the pack and never looked back, after the start it became apparent our nearest rivals were just fighting it out for second and third. We are extremely pleased with our medal race performance having now contested three medal races since being in Europe this summer and come away with three wins. '

Ashby said 'this was a great result for us this week. Kieler Woche has provided good preparation against our major competitors in the lead up to the 2006 European championships. It’s always good to win using your own designed and manufactured sails.'

Bundock and Ashby now travel to defend their Formula 18 World Championship in Hyères, France from the 8-15 of July. The pair will then return to the Olympic Tornado with the goal to continue their success at the Tornado European Championships starting the 22nd of July in Travemunde, Germany.

The Australian team have proven to be the form team in 2006 leading the Hyères Olympic Week, winning the Princess Sofia Regatta, Eurocat regatta, Holland regatta and the ISAF World Sailing Games already this year and they are well on their way to their own personal goal to be the first team to win three World Championships in three different classes.