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5:11 AM Thu 8 Jan 2009 GMT
Five times A-Class Catamaran World Champion Australian Glenn Ashby this morning won the 2009 A-Cat World Championship for a sixth time, when he streeted the fleet in Race 7 of the nine race series.
Ashby started the series slowly by his standards, with a third in the light weather first race in the series; he then won five of the next six races. There are two more races that can still be sailed but with the two worst results able to be dropped, the Beijing Tornado class Olympic Silver medallist cannot be beaten in this series.
Ashby gave the fleet a clinical sailing lesson. He started immediately next to the Committee boat, swinging around its stern just three seconds before the gun. Ashby's start was perfectly timed and he was away one second after the gun, heading starboard for 300 metres, he then tacked right.
Ashby was followed by 1996 Olympic Tornado Bronze medallist Andrew Landenberger.
At the bottom mark after one lap, Landenberger was ahead by 20 metres and had gone further to the right. Landenberger headed left back up the course, while Ashby went right, followed by 2001 A-Cat World Champion Steve Brewin.
By the next lap Ashby was well clear of Landenberger. Brewin was next, followed by Scott Anderson, Manuel Calavia and then Brad Collett and Tom Slingsby.
Down the final run Ashby cleared right away to take a very convincing 1 minute and 56 second win.
The modest Victorian just grinned as he crossed the line; he then lined up for race eight of the series.
The focus now shifts to the battle for the minor podium places with 2001 A-Cat World Champion Steve Brewin looking like the bridesmaid again.
With another 'worst result' race drop tomorrow, Australian 1984 Olympic Tornado Silver medallist Scott Anderson is fighting to hold off a solid group, which includes Swiss sailor Luc du Bois, Spain's Manuel Calavia and BMW Oracle match racer, Australia's James Spithill.
More news during the day.
Results Race 7:
1 AUS 1 1 Glenn Ashby VIC
2 AUS 4 11 Steve Brewin NSW
3 AUS 24 35 Andrew Landenberger NSW
4 AUS 10 17 Brad Collett QLD
5 AUS 902 2 Scott Anderson NSW
6 ESP 11 87 Manuel Calavia ESP
7 AUS 832 52 Tom Slingsby NSW
8 SUI 202 89 Luc Du Bois SUI
9 AUS 938 53 James Spithill NSW
10 NED 3 80 Sjoerd Hoekstra NED
11 GER 14 70 Bob Baier GER
12 AUS 924 18 Ben Deed VIC
13 DEN 1 64 Thomas Paasch DEN
14 AUS 321 58 Andrew Williams NSW
15 AUS 13 5 Jack Benson NT
16 AUS 822 45 Nathan Outteridge NSW
17 AUS 893 22 Dave Ellis VIC
18 NZL 245 82 Mike Drummond NZL
19 AUS 907 40 Dave McKenzie VIC
20 NZL 1 83 Murray Philpott NZL
21 GBR 007 67 Chris Field GBR
22 AUS 865 50 Stuart Scott VIC
23 ITA2 91 Eugenio Calabria ITA
24 AUS 923 41 Simon McKeon VIC
25 SUI 216 88 Sergio Vela SUI
26 AUS 889 47 Graeme Parker VIC
27 AUS 021 24 Ben Geisker NSW
28 GER 12 71 Donald Beike GER
29 NED 28 79 Pieter Jan Dwarshuis NED
30 AUS 37 37 Bruce McArthur NSW
31 AUS 900 42 Wayne Mercer VIC
32 AUS 908 10 Dave Brewer VIC
33 AUS 8 8 Graeme Harbour VIC
34 FRA 7 65 Jean Louis Le Coq FRA
35 AUS 880 56 Gavin Vize NSW
36 AUS 922 31 Mark Johnston NSW
37 AUS 7 51 Hamish Sinclair VIC
38 ITA1 94 Guido Longhi ITA
39 AUS 19 19 Russell Denholm VIC
40 AUS 844 30 Richie Howells VIC
41 GER 599 72 Matthias Dietz GER
42 AUS 864 23 Matt Firth VIC
43 AUS 936 7 Stephen Brayshaw VIC
44 GBR 33 68 Nigel Lovett GBR
45 AUS 9 20 John Dowling QLD
46 GER 79 74 Klaus Raab GER
47 ITA31 90 Luigi Blancato ITA
48 AUS 831 46 David Parker VIC
49 AUS 935 9 Steve Breaden NSW
50 BRA5 62 Clinio Swan de Freitis BRA
51 AUS 914 36 Dave Loutit VIC
52 NZL 233 84 Ken Urquhart NZL
53 AUS 824 55 Ken Symonds QLD
54 AUS 913 29 Brian Hooper QLD
55 ITA946 92 Rosario Cangemi ITA
56 ESP 42 86 Mariano Martinez Pina ESP
57 AUS 911 33 Michael Kopp VIC
58 AUS 916 54 Andrew Steenhuis VIC
59 GER 21 73 Marco Goetz GER
60 AUS 883 3 Christopher Batenburg NT
61 GER57 69 Andras John GER
62 GER 56 75 George Reutter GER
63 AUS 862 4 David Beeby NT
64 AUS 828 14 Andrew Chaney QLD
65 AUS 939 43 Campbell Miller VIC
66 ESP 9 85 Juan Antonio Ladron de Guevara ESP
67 AUT 1 60 Klaus Schober AUT
68 AUS 802 49 Konrad Schultz NT
69 AUS 5 34 Horst Kopp VIC
70 AUS 934 12 Peter Bradbury QLD
71 BRA3 61 Claudia Swan de Freitis BRA
72 GER 95 77 Ekke Von Selzam GER
73 AUS 837 44 Claire Neeskens QLD
74 AUS 524 15 Roger Coleman NSW
75 AUS 788 95 Julian Jenkins NSW
76 IRL 5 66 Yvonne Sheehan IRL
77 AUS 800 59 Steve Wright VIC
78 AUS 849 21 Pat Drover QLD
79 AUS 661 32 Michelle Jones NT
80 AUS 765 27 Robert Griffits NSW
dnf AUS 836 28 Zac Breaden NSW
dnf BRA 6 63 Roger Wright BRA
dnf AUS 857 38 Lucas McDonald QLD
dnf GER 76 76 Helmut Stumhofer GER
dnf AUS 912 16 Vic Collett QLD
dnf AUS 869 25 John Goldsmith NSW
dnf AUS 868 26 Andrew Grant QLD
dnf AUS 863 39 Russ McDonald QLD
dnf AUS 101 48 John Richards VIC
dnf NED 8 78 Theo Van Hilton NED
dnf AUS 6 6 Glenn Brown NSW
dnf AUS 839 57 Tom Watson VIC
dnf NED 1 81 Piet Saarberg NED
dnf ITA64 93 Roberto Casadei ITA
by Rob Kothe
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