Ashby wins A Class European Championship

by Media Services/VIS on 19 Jun 2007 Victorian Insititute of Sport sailor Glenn Ashby won the 2007 A Class European Championship at the weekend in Los Alcazares, Spain. Ashby had already clinched the championship before the final race, and enjoyed the luxury of sitting out the final stage of the series.

Ashby and World Champion team-mate Darren Bundock have registered for this week’s Round Texel Race in the Netherlands, which begins on Saturday.

Reports on the A Class European Championship from Glenn Ashby..

Day 5
A lay day yesterday gave the fleet a chance to relax though many took the option to enjoy the good breeze and sail.

Today started with clear start with Brewin and Ashby immediately tacking to the right whilst Philpott started down the line and went left. Up the beat proved to favor the middle left with Philpot (NZL) Just tacking inside Ashby o round the top mark in 1st position. Far left was not the way to go.

Manolo Calavia (ESP) rounded third followed by Sjoerd Hoekstra (NED) David Brewer (AUS) and Kike Cornejo (ESP) with the fleet quite tightly bunched behind.

David Brewer (AUS) had the best second lap and rounded second behind Ashby on the second lap with picking shifts proving to be the main cause of gains and losses.

Manolo Calavia (ESP) had a fantastic last beat to move from 4th to second passing Brewin and Brewer to finish second behind Ashby with Brewin (AUS)3rd and Brewer (AUS) 4th followed by Kike Cornejo (Porno man ESP 5) and Scott Anderson (AUS)in 6th

Race 2.

Race 2 got way on a slightly pin biased line with Anderson and Ashby taking the pin with Calavia (ESP) and Giovarni Callabria (ITA) getting the best starts from the left hand end of the line. Ashby tacked and ducked Anderson and narrowly but comfortably crossed the fleet to head up the middle on a solid angle. The middle proved to be the way to go with a handful of boats getting to the top mark ahead of both the left and right sides.

Many of the top guys were on the left and rounded mid 20’s.

Hoekstra (NED) sailed a great race to slip past in to second whilst Calavia was the big mover of the race and battled his way through to 4th only 2 seconds behind Anderson and Hoekstra who crossed the line overlapped.

Ashby crossed the line comfortably clear by a minute and secured his string of European Championship wins with a clean score card.

There is one race scheduled tomorrow and the battle for the top 6 places is fierce with podium finishes up for grabs. Calavia (ESP) Anderson (AUS) Hoekstra (NED) and Brewin and Brewer (AUS) will all battle it out. A similar scenario to the Worlds in Sweden with Calavia (ESP) and Anderson (AUS).

There are many battles going on throughout the fleet and tomorrows forecast is looking like the same again as today.

1 AUS 1 GLENN ASHBY (Ashby Sails/Gel-Tek) – 1,1,2,2,1,1,1,1
AUSTRALIA 1
2 AUS 902 SCOTT ANDERSON (Ashby Sails) - 4,2,2,3,3,2,6,3
AUSTRALIA 4
3 ESP 11 MANUEL CALAVIA (Ashby Sails/Gel-Tek)– 2,3,4,4,2,3,2,4
SPAIN Cataluña 2
4 AUS 767 STEVEN BREWIN - 5,6,6,1,OCS,4,3,9
AUSTRALIA
5 NED 3 HOEKSTRA SJOERD (Ashby Sails)- 7,4,9,5,5,6,8,2
NETHERLANDS 7
6 AUS 908 DAVID BREWER (Ashby Sails / Gel-Tek) – 11,18,11,6,4,5,4,5
AUSTRALIA 11

Day 3 Racing
Race 1 today saw the fleet get way in a solid 10 to 12kts of breeze on a slightly port biased line. The pin end saw most of the hot shots get away well but there were to be 8 OCS starters including Steve Brewin (AUS) and Giovarni Calabria (ITA).

Micky Todd (ESP) Glenn Ashby (AUS) and Jean Louis le Coq (FRA) had good starts at the pin and got away cleanly to the favored left hand side to take advantage of the first shift. Murray Philpot (NZL) showed excellent speed to arrive at the top mark in the top few along with the ever consistent Scott Anderson (AUS) and Manolo Calavia (ESP)

The second beat saw a 25 degree wind shift to the right which Anderson used to his advantage to pass Ashby who had previously had a comfortable lead. As the breeze filled in from the right there were many variations in pressure and directions which caused chaos in the fleet with boats coming down wind in all directions with big gains and losses to be had. The committee could not get a course change done in time and the rest of the race became a precession when the breeze filled and it was Ashby (AUS) who made the best of the shifty breeze to regain the lead over Anderson (AUS) followed by Calavia (ESP).

Race 2
Race 2 got away after a general recall this time with a slightly starboard biased line and most of the fleet wanting to go right.

Ashby (AUS) and Steve Brewin (AUS) battled for the best committee boat start along with many others but it was Ashby who won the spot and was able to get clear and get a good lane to the right. With an obvious increase in pressure on the right it was clear which way was favored.

At the top mark for the first time as the breeze kicked it was Ashby who rounded well clear of the following bunch of Anderson (AUS) Calavia (ESP) Brewin (AUS) Penco (ITA) Hoekstra (NED) Calabria (ITA) and a big group of others.

Ashby commented; ' I am having a little bit of trouble working out when to sheet on to start on the A class at the moment. 3 times I have had to dump the sheet with 2 seconds to go and stop the boat to avoid a OCS! The A class accelerates much faster than the Tornado and F18 and I a still getting my feel back with how quickly the boat gets going from being completely stopped. The Tornado can take up to 10 seconds to get going where the A can be at full speed from stopped in about 3…..'

This race saw the breeze drop on the first down wind from 12kts to 4 to 5. Then increase to 15 and gusts of 18kts by the end of the race. The fleet was bunched quite tightly for most of the race and the fleet enjoyed some fantastic high speeds and good rides both up wind and down as the water remained very flat. However as the race went on the front few boats slipped away from the following fleet and secured there positions comfortably. Ashby(AUS) crossed first 2 min ahead of Anderson(AUS) followed by Calavia(ESP), Brewin(AUS) and Brewer(AUS).

1 AUS 1 GLENN ASHBY
2 AUS 902 SCOTT ANDERSON
3 ESP 11 MANUEL CALAVIA
4 AUS 767 STEVEN BREWIN
6 AUS 908 DAVID BREWER

Day 2 Racing

Race 1

Race 1 had two attempts to commence racing with unsettled winds causing the committee to re set the course. On the third attempt a clear start was made by the fleet.

100metres out from start saw the whole fleet tacking on to port to lay to the top mark in a big left hand shift. Three quarters of the way up the leg the breeze filled from the right after a rain cloud passed and the right then payed as the guys from the left struggled there way through the middle of the course to get to the new breeze. The new breeze from the right caused a few headaches for a number of the top sailors who were on the left of the course. However there were to be plenty of shifts to follow which allowed for some big gains and losses to be made both up and down wind.

First to the top mark was Glenn Ashby (AUS) followed closely by Arno Terra (NED) overlapped and Scott Anderson (AUS), with a tight bunch of sailors not far behind.

Murray Philpot (NZL). 'My highlight was battling the race out with Piet Saaberg throughout the course.'

Bands of shifty pressure continued through out the remainder of the race and the light conditions tested all.

After sailing some good shifts both up and down wind Glenn Ashby broke away to have a good win followed by Scott Anderson (AUS) who passed Arno Terra (NED) on the last downwind leg to the finish. Paolo Penco (ITA) and Manolo Calavia) sailed well to finish in the top 5.

Race 2

A clear start again saw the fleet get away in 8kts with an oscillating breeze of about 12degrees. Glenn Ashby starting at the committee boat had a good start and managed t