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5:23 AM Tue 6 Jan 2009 GMT
Australia's Glenn Ashby performed brilliantly today in Races 4 and 5 of the A-Cat Worlds at Belmont, on Lake Macquarie.
At the start of Race 4, Principal Race Officer Peter Moore got the fleet away in about 11 knots of breeze.
Glenn Ashby dashed down the line midway and headed right. At the back of the fleet was Olympian Nathan Outteridge, who seemed to misjudge his start.
Andrew Landenberger was first to the bottom mark, followed by Ashby and Steve Brewin, who had come from the right hand side of the course. James Spithill picked up 30 seconds around the right hand mark, zipping across from the left to avoid gaps from the oncoming fleet.
The wind shifted fifteen degrees to the right, causing PRO Moore to shorten the race at the bottom mark, after two laps.
First across the line was Glenn Ashby, followed by Scott Anderson, Andrew Landenberger, Steve Brewin, Ben Deed, James Spithill and after recovering from his ordinary start, Nathan Outteridge.
As Race 5 began, the wind direction was 090 with a speed of 11 to 12 knots.
There was a 10-degree wind shift to the left to 080 degrees as the fleet came down the run; Brewin was first to the bottom mark ahead of Bob Bower. Next was Manuel Calavia (ESP), Ashby, Tom Slingsby, Brad Collett and Outteridge.
At the second bottom mark Bower lead the fleet, followed by Ashby and Calavia.
A big finish from Ashby produced another win for the champion sailor. Next came Bower, Brewin, Calavia, Anderson, Brewer and Outteridge.
Luc du Bois (SUI), who at the start of racing this morning was third overall in the Championship, is happy with his results so far and is looking forward to more racing.
'It's a very big fleet and it is the beginning of the Championship, so you have to be very focused and sail well. It's difficult to predict, but hopefully I won't break anything and we'll see how it goes. When it comes to competition, anything is possible.
'I'm pretty pleased with my results because I haven't raced the boat much since July, so I came here pretty cold. I finally managed to get back into shape just in time for the practice race, so I'm very happy to be around today,' he said.
More to follow shortly.
Race 4 Results - Top 50
Fastest Elapsed Time 0:36:26 Race 4
Last Boat Finished Protest Time Limit
Place Sail No. Bow No. Skipper Origin
1 AUS 1 1 Glenn Ashby VIC
2 AUS 902 2 Scott Anderson NSW
3 AUS 24 35 Andrew Landenberger NSW
4 AUS 4 11 Steve Brewin NSW
5 AUS 924 18 Ben Deed VIC
6 AUS 938 53 James Spithill NSW
7 AUS 822 45 Nathan Outerridge NSW
8 ESP 11 87 Manuel Calavia ESP
9 AUS 10 17 Brad Collett QLD
10 AUS 908 10 Dave Brewer VIC
11 AUS 321 58 Andrew Williams NSW
12 GER 599 72 Matthias Dietz GER
13 DEN 1 64 Thomas Paasch DEN
14 AUS 889 47 Graeme Parker VIC
15 NED 3 80 Sjoerd Hoekstra NED
16 ITA31 90 Luigi Blancato ITA
17 AUS 865 50 Stuart Scott VIC
18 NZL 245 82 Mike Drummond NZL
19 AUS 37 37 Bruce McArthur NSW
20 NZL 1 83 Murray Philpott NZL
21 BRA5 62 Clinio Swan de Freitis BRA
22 AUS 832 52 Tom Slingsby NSW
23 SUI 202 89 Luc Du Bois SUI
24 NED 28 79 Pieter Jan Dwarshuis NED
25 AUS 907 40 Dave McKenzie VIC
26 ITA1 94 Guido Longhi ITA
27 GER 14 70 Bob Baier GER
28 ITA2 91 Eugenio Calabria ITA
29 AUS 893 22 Dave Ellis VIC
30 GBR 007 67 Chris Field GBR
31 AUS 857 38 Lucas McDonald QLD
32 AUS 7 51 Hamish Sinclair VIC
33 AUS 13 5 Jack Benson NT
34 AUS 19 19 Russell Denholm VIC
35 AUS 936 7 Stephen Brayshaw VIC
36 GER 76 76 Helmut Stumhofer GER
37 FRA 7 65 Jean Louis Le Coq FRA
38 ESP 9 85 Juan Antonio Ladron de Guevara ESP
39 AUS 844 30 Richie Howells VIC
40 AUS 880 56 Gavin Vize NSW
40 GER 79 74 Klaus Raab GER
42 AUS 864 23 Matt Firth VIC
43 ITA64 93 Roberto Casadei ITA
44 AUS 863 39 Russ McDonald QLD
45 GER 12 71 Donald Beike GER
46 AUS 8 8 Graeme Harbour VIC
47 AUS 9 20 John Dowling QLD
48 AUS 824 55 Ken Symonds QLD
49 AUS 900 42 Wayne Mercer VIC
50 ESP 42 86 Mariano Martinez Pina ESP
by Rob Kothe
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