A-Cat Worlds 2009 Race 3

by Rob Kothe on 5 Jan 2009
After a late lunch the A-Cat fleet was back on the water for the third race in the series. Conditions had changed little from Race 2, again perfect A-Cat conditions, 15-18 knots from the north east. The fleet was gunned away to a clean start at 16:16.

At the top mark BMW Oracle mono and multihull racer James Spithill came in on starboard tack to lead, with Tom Slingsby speeding in on port, slotting into second ahead of Brad Collett and Hamish Sinclair. Fifth was Glenn Ashby, who flew down the run, quickly over taking Collett and Sinclair.

At the top mark for the third time, World Champion Glenn Ashby had sailed through Spithill. Third on the water was veteran Scott Anderson ahead of Dave Brewer, Steve Brewin. Slingsby was nowhere to be seen, and then the green and gold trampoline appeared, about 15th on the starboard lay line, struggling for boat speed, after a gear failure.

A disappointed Slingsby had to retire from the race. ‘One of my lines snapped. While I tied it up, I couldn’t put any load on it so I had to come ashore.'

Ashby won again, from Spithill, Scott Anderson, Dave Brewer, Steve Brewin and Andrew Landerberger.

In the series overall after the first three races Ashby with five A-Cat World Championships under his belt is certainly looking good for number six, with a 2,1,1 result. Behind him is Spithill 3,9,2 and Switzerland’s Luc Dubois with 7,2,7 is third overall. Dave Brewer, the unlucky sailor who was struck by lightning on the first day of the Pre-Worlds event, is fourth with 5,10,4.

Ashby commented dockside 'Pleased to be 2,1,1 against this quality fleet. It’s been great racing. James is surprising everyone with his boat handling, race tactics and race management. I’m sure we’ll have some classic races down the track.'

Spithill commented 'There is a long way to go in the series, but it was certainly fun out there today.'

Brewer, who spent the night in the regional base hospital after being the only A-Cat sailor holding onto his carbon mast when lightning struck the water, has sailed into contention in this top quality fleet.

He commented 'You’ve got to start well and sail consistently. The last race was beautiful; about 15 to 16 knots. All the Olympic guys have been doing well, so I am just pleased to up there.'

Results of Race 3

Place Sail No. Bow No. Skipper Origin
1 AUS 1 1 Glenn Ashby VIC
2 AUS 938 53 James Spithill NSW
3 AUS 902 2 Scott Anderson NSW
4 AUS 908 10 Dave Brewer VIC
5 AUS 4 11 Steve Brewin NSW
6 AUS 24 35 Andrew Landenberger NSW
7 SUI 202 89 Luc Du Bois SUI
8 GBR 007 67 Chris Field GBR
9 GER 14 70 Bob Baier GER
10 AUS 822 45 Nathan Outerridge NSW
11 AUS 889 47 Graeme Parker VIC
12 AUS 865 50 Stuart Scott VIC
13 DEN 1 64 Thomas Paasch DEN
14 AUS 900 42 Wayne Mercer VIC
15 AUS 13 5 Jack Benson NT
16 NZL 1 83 Murray Philpott NZL
17 AUS 893 22 Dave Ellis VIC
18 NZL 245 82 Mike Drummond NZL
19 AUS 924 18 Ben Deed VIC
20 AUS 923 41 Simon McKeon VIC
21 AUS 321 58 Andrew Williams NSW
22 AUS 907 40 Dave McKenzie VIC
23 AUS 7 51 Hamish Sinclair VIC
24 AUS 8 8 Graeme Harbour VIC
25 AUS 844 30 Richie Howells VIC
26 AUS 37 37 Bruce McArthur NSW
27 GER 599 72 Matthias Dietz GER
28 AUS 19 19 Russell Denholm VIC
29 GER 76 76 Helmut Stumhofer GER
30 FRA 7 65 Jean Louis Le Coq FRA
31 AUS 922 31 Mark Johnston NSW
32 AUS 880 56 Gavin Vize NSW
33 AUS 936 7 Stephen Brayshaw VIC
34 AUS 916 54 Andrew Steenhuis VIC
35 AUS 831 46 David Parker VIC
36 BRA5 62 Clinio Swan de Freitis BRA
37 NZL 233 84 Ken Urquhart NZL
38 ITA1 94 Guido Longhi ITA
39 AUS 913 29 Brian Hooper QLD
40 GER 79 74 Klaus Raab GER
41 ITA64 93 Roberto Casadei ITA
42 AUS 934 12 Peter Bradbury QLD
43 AUS 864 23 Matt Firth VIC
44 AUS 836 28 Zac Breaden NSW
45 AUS 824 55 Ken Symonds QLD
46 GER 21 73 Marco Goetz GER
47 AUS 021 24 Ben Geisker NSW
48 ITA31 90 Luigi Blancato ITA
49 AUS 9 20 John Dowling QLD
50 AUS 868 26 Andrew Grant QLD
51 NED 1 81 Piet Saarberg NED
52 GER 12 71 Donald Beike GER
53 BRA 6 63 Roger Wright BRA
54 AUT 1 60 Klaus Schober AUT
55 AUS 935 9 Steve Breaden NSW
56 AUS 869 25 John Goldsmith NSW
57 AUS 939 43 Campbell Miller VIC
58 AUS 862 4 David Beeby NT
59 AUS 883 3 Christopher Batenburg NT
60 GER 95 77 Ekke Von Selzam GER
61 GBR 33 68 Nigel Lovett GBR
62 AUS 6 6 Glenn Brown NSW
63 AUS 911 33 Michael Kopp VIC
64 AUS 912 16 Vic Collett QLD
65 AUS 788 95 Julian Jenkins NSW
66 ITA946 92 Rosario Cangemi ITA
67 AUS 839 57 Tom Watson VIC
68 GER 56 75 George Reutter GER
69 BRA3 61 Claudia Swan de Freitis BRA
70 GER57 69 Andras John GER
71 AUS 837 44 Claire Neeskens QLD
72 AUS 5 34 Horst Kopp VIC
73 AUS 524 15 Roger Coleman NSW
74 AUS 661 32 Michelle Jones NT
75 IRL 5 66 Yvonne Sheehan IRL
76 AUS 828 14 Andrew Chaney QLD
dnf AUS 800 59 Steve Wright VIC
dnf SUI 216 88 Sergio Vela SUI
dnf AUS 914 36 Dave Loutit VIC
dnf AUS 849 21 Pat Drover QLD
dnf AUS 101 48 John Richards VIC
dnf AUS 857 38 Lucas McDonald QLD
dnf AUS 832 52 Tom Slingsby NSW
dnf ITA2 91 Eugenio Calabria ITA
dns ESP 11 87 Manuel Calavia ESP
dns NED 3 80 Sjoerd Hoekstra NED
dns NED 28 79 Pieter Jan Dwarshuis NED
dns ESP 42 86 Mariano Martinez Pina ESP
dns ESP 9 85 Juan Antonio Ladron de Guevara ESP
dns AUS 765 27 Robert Griffits NSW
dns AUS 863 39 Russ McDonald QLD
dns AUS 802 49 Konrad Schultz NT
dns NED 8 78 Theo Van Hilton NED
OCS AUS 10 17 Brad Collett QLD

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