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Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011

Posted By: Qb2

Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 12/31/10 08:35 AM

The Orange Power Aussie A Class Nationals are being held at Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club, Queensland with racing from Monday 3rd January.
Daily results available from the club website:
http://www.lcsc.org.au/mam/

and the Aussie A Class Association.
http://www.a-cat.org.au/index.html

Seven time World champion Glenn Ashby is facing a tough week fending off defending champ and runner up in the last two world titles Steve Brewin

Top Queensland sailors Brad Collett and four times Aussie champion Brian Hooper are in the hunt as is Darren Bundock who is taking part in his first A regatta.

Others out to make their mark include Mitch Booth, Olympic medalist Andrew Landenberger, James Spithill and nine other America's Cup sailors.

Conditions are perfect despite recent massive rainfall which has lifted the lake, and caused the worst ongoing flooding in living memory in other areas of Queensland.

A number of volunteers are working to ensure there are quality images, videos and reports to keep you updated daily.





Posted By: Gilo

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/01/11 06:55 PM

Was today the first racing day? Any results available?
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/01/11 08:55 PM

This morning is registration, midday briefing and then the invitation race. Race 1 & 2 are being held tomorrow.
Conditionsa are exected to be excellent 10-15 knots of wind although more rain is on the way. Tuesday is predicted for 15-20 knots so the action should be fast ad furious.

I will get some photos of the club, set up area and competitors this morning and try to get links here before the day is out.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/02/11 08:34 AM

73 A sailors registered today with just two still to arrive.

I asked a few competitors who they thought would fill the top five spots and the order went roughly
Ashby, Brewin, Bundock, Collett and Landenberger.

One sailor said Darren Bundock has spent the past five weeks training. The guy said in the first week He was ahead of Bundy but by the second Darren was well out in front.

So its all on for young and old from tomorrow.

I grabbed a few images before my old digital camera played up but did get a shot of Team NZ's Dean Barker, Glenn Ashby and UK tornado olympian Will Howden

http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q183/hihosilver1953/Australian%20A%20Class%20Nationals%202010/

The racer breakup is 16 from NSW, 24-Qld,21-Victoria, 8-NT,1 each from West Australia, FRA, (Phillipe Presti) and GBR (Will Howden) and 3-NZ-(Murray Philpott,Stu Bettany and Dean Barker).

Eight Northern Territory competitors signed up. Most found their way through the floodwaters. Chris Battenberg and John Gibson went the long way round, driving from Darwin to Melbourne to collect a new cat and then drove back north to Queensland.
Competitors ages range from 17 to 72.






Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/03/11 11:18 AM

Glenn Ashby won race one today but went overboard in the second and spent some minutes with the mast in the water before he got it upright again and was able to take off after the leading bunch. He will need a new tiller for tomorrows races The left hand side of the windward leg was favoured and where the top guns went.

first dozen places race 1
1 A1 G Ashby 1.0
2 4 S Brewin 2.0
3 888 D Bundock 3.0
4 308 A Landenberger 4.0
5 10 B Collett 5.0
6 N8 D Barker 6.0
7 G8 W Howden 7.0
8 902 S Anderson 8.0
9 900 W Mercer 9.0
10 865 S Scott 10.0
11 889 G Parker 11.0
12 898 C Cairns 12.0

race 2
1 308 A Landenberger 1.0
2 888 D Bundock 2.0
3 10 B Collett 3.0
4 N8 D Barker 4.0
5 902 S Anderson 5.0
6 G8 W Howden 6.0
7 889 G Parker 7.0
8 A1 G Ashby 8.0
9 898 C Cairns 9.0
10 20 C Batenburg 10.0
11 900 W Mercer 11.0
12 957 D Loutit 12.0

for full results go here:

http://www.lcsc.org.au/mam/

Photos from the Invitation race can be found at http://picasaweb.goo...feat=directlink.
Posted By: scooby_simon

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/03/11 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by Qb2
Glenn Ashby won race one today but went overboard in the second and spent some minutes with the mast in the water before he got it upright again and was able to take off after the leading bunch. He will need a new tiller for tomorrows races The left hand side of the windward leg was favoured and where the top guns went.

first dozen places race 1
1 A1 G Ashby 1.0
2 4 S Brewin 2.0
3 888 D Bundock 3.0
4 308 A Landenberger 4.0
5 10 B Collett 5.0
6 N8 D Barker 6.0
7 G8 W Howden 7.0
8 902 S Anderson 8.0
9 900 W Mercer 9.0
10 865 S Scott 10.0
11 889 G Parker 11.0
12 898 C Cairns 12.0

race 2
1 308 A Landenberger 1.0
2 888 D Bundock 2.0
3 10 B Collett 3.0
4 N8 D Barker 4.0
5 902 S Anderson 5.0
6 G8 W Howden 6.0
7 889 G Parker 7.0
8 A1 G Ashby 8.0
9 898 C Cairns 9.0
10 20 C Batenburg 10.0
11 900 W Mercer 11.0
12 957 D Loutit 12.0

for full results go here:

http://www.lcsc.org.au/mam/

Photos from the Invitation race can be found at http://picasaweb.goo...feat=directlink.


Link to pictures does not work; the UBB forum software is not good at long url's!
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/04/11 12:09 AM

try this

http://picasaweb.google.com/HumpybongYachtClub/

Includes a nice sequence of shots of Glenn Ashby going overboard during a jibe in Race 2.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/04/11 07:44 AM

Ashby took two wins today
overall standings to date:

1 A1 G Ashby 11.0 1.0 1.0 8.0 1.0
2 1.0S 308 A Landenberger 14.0 4.0 5.0 1.0 4.0
3 888 D Bundock 14.0 5.0 4.0 2.0 3.0
4 N8 D Barker 16.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 6.0
5 10 B Collett 23.0 6.0 9.0 3.0 5.0
6 G8 W Howden 28.0 9.0 6.0 6.0 7.0
7 902 S Anderson 30.0 7.0 10.0 5.0 8.0
8 889 G Parker 37.0 12.0 7.0 7.0 11.0
9 900 W Mercer 43.0 11.0 12.0 11.0 9.0
10 898 C Cairns 48.0 14.0 13.0 9.0 12.0
11 20 C Batenburg 51.0 13.0 11.0 10.0 17.0
12 865 S Scott 63.0 22.0 16.0 15.0 10.0
13 957 D Loutit 68.0 19.0 21.0 12.0 16.0
14 936 D Parker 75.0 21.0 23.0 13.0 18.0
15 A8 G Harbour 76.0 30.0 15.0 18.0 13.0
16 4 S Brewin 78.0 2.0 2.0 72.0B 2.0
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/04/11 08:07 AM

Looks like Glenn is giving another masterclass. It would have been interesting to see him on his old boat. A similar display with it would have brought the DNA bandwagon to a holt and based on his performance to date may well have been on the cards.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/04/11 09:06 PM

thats probably the A being chartered by Mitch Booth as Glenn brought five boats to the nationals.
latest media report :

Day 2 Australian A Class Championships.

Once again Lake Cootharaba turned on ideal sailing conditions, with a 12 to 15 knot south east breeze. The breeze was well established even at todays 11:00 am start time.

The day belonged to Glenn Ashby who won both races.Steve Brewin and Dean Barker also had a very consistent , finishing 2nd ,and 3rd respectively in each race. Andrew Landenberger had a 5th and a 4th, whilst Darren Bundock had a 4th and a 5th. These five competitors seemed to have established a mortgage on the top five positions.

The first race was underway after one general recall. Dean Barker showed excellent speed upwind, and rounded the top mark with handy lead from Ashby and Brewin. Barker who seems to have quickly mastered the skills of driving these boats upwind, could not withstand the downwind speed of Steve Brewin, who rounded the leeward in first place. Brewins lead however was shotlived. He found that he was soonon the wrong side of a shift, which well exploited by Ashby and Barker, who both slipped back into 1st and 2nd positions respectively . Ashby was never headed thereafter, but later in the race, Brewin passed Barker and bagged second place, with Barker finishing 3rd.

Ashby had the second race of the day claimed soon after the start. With a brilliantly timed pin end start, he quickly established a good lead and was never headed. Brewin finished 2nd, Barker 3rd, Landenberger 4th ,and Bundock 5th.

After 4 races, Ashby is considered that fastest overall around the race track. Brewin is the clear downwind specialist, and on todays performance Dean Barker was judged to have the best upwind speed. At this stage Ashby has the overall lead. There are 5 more races planned over the next four days. Will Team New Zealand's skipper Dean Barker find a bit more speed downwind, and start beating Ashby and Brewin?

Report by Bob Griffits.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/05/11 08:26 AM

Ashby took out first place in todays races
Race 5
Ashby,brewin, bundock,barker, howden , anderson, landenberger up on 16 and collett 20th.

race 6
ashby, landenberger,anderson, barker, bundock,brewin, brayshaw, howden, scott and collet 10th


Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/05/11 10:24 PM

story by sailworlds bob griffits

Day 3 A Class Nationals.

Glenn Ashby is relentessly tightening his grip on yet another major A Class event. After six races, Glenn has a solid overall lead, having won 5 of the 6 races, whilst capsizing when leading in other remaining race. A formidable record.

Today he added another two bullets . Analysis shows that whilst he may not always be first to the top mark, he has the ability to make his way to the front somewhere during the course of a race, with the skills to assume the lead either on a downwind or an upwind leg. His boathandling skills are a joy to watch both in grace and efficiency, sail trim is superb, he has obvious ability to steer the boat.

Sailing conditions today were again ideal, with the weather gods one again smiling on the fleet, and providing winds in range of 10 to 14 knots.

The first race of the day was underway in the shadow of another black flag , in a 10 knot breeze from the east, a little lighter than conditions experienced on the first 2 days. Dean Barker once again put on a command performance on the first windward leg to round the top mark in first place. The downwind whizz Steve Brewin assumed the lead on the first downwind leg, but Ashby exploited a shift on the 2nd upwind leg to pass both, to assume the lead.

By the time of the last downwind mark rounding, Ashby and Brewin were together. However, on the next windward leg,Ashby worked out to establish a 100 metre lead at the rounding of the last upwind mark.Downwind Brewin was faster, closing to within 4 boat lengths of Ashby by the finish. 3rd place went to Australia's 2008 Tornado Olympic silver medalist Darren Bundock, 4th to Team New Zealand's Dean Barker, 5th to British Olympian Will Howden, and 6th place to Australia's Olympic bronze medallist, Scott Anderson.

By the time of the start of the second race, the wind had strengthened to 13 to 14 knots, and had shifted to the northeast. The Queensland sea breeze had made its way across the sand hills and had arrived on the lake. Steve Brewin who is currently in second place overall in this regatta , with a score card that includes four 2nd places, did not enjoy good boatsspeed upwind due to a broken cunningham eye system, and rounded the first winward mark somewhere in the mid 20's. The upwind ace this race was Andrew Landenberger, rounding the windward mark ahead of Dean Barker, Ashby then Scott Anderson. By the first leeward mark it was Barker leading Landenberg, ahead of Ashby.

Positions amongst the leading boths went through a number of changes of permutations during the remainder of the race, but the seemingly inevitable happened with Ashby once again assuming the lead.

The other performance of this race of note was that of Scott Anderson. Scott sailed very well upwind in the race, and moved into 3rd place up the last windward leg. Scott's performance in this race and over the regatta has been remarkable,He has been sailing one of the older boats with straight rather than curved centreboards. He has always rounded the first winward mark somewhere in the top ten, but he has been unable to hold onto the most recent designed boats fitted with the curved centreboards. The curved centrboards are clearly faster downwind in the conditions experienced so far in this regatta.

The final positions for this race were Ashby 1st, Landenberger 2nd, Anderson 3rd, Barker 4th, Bundock 5th, with Brewin largely overcoming his upwind speed difficulties with excellent downwind speed.

Three races remain in this regatta. Ashby is looking solid for first place, and I think that we can pencil in Brewin.

Tomorrows forecast is for moderate winds, the return of the rain, and thunderstorms late in the day.
Report by Bob Griffits.
Posted By: Phile

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/05/11 11:30 PM

I didn't realise until yesterday that Simon McKeon (currently 14th) has been nominated for the prestigeous 2011 Australian of the Year. Simon has a CV longer than my arm (investment banker, Chairman of CSIRO- Australia's leading government scientific research organisation, skipper of world speed recorder holder Yellow Pages, successful Little America's Cup skipper, and general good guy). I'd say he has a good chance of achieving this accolade.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 03:02 AM

Simon has done a lot of great things but without a doubt his most important work has been helping in
the fight against MS.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 05:59 AM

Todays (Thursday 6/11) two races were abandoned. The SE Qld east coast is being hit by massive rainfall which has caused some localised flooding.

Presumably organisors will get at least two and possibly if needed, a third and final race in tomorrow- weather permitting.
Posted By: Dazz

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 07:59 AM

I think the biggest thing from this nationals has to be the adoption of trapping downwind. you would have said they were mad a year or so ago!

Attached picture IMGP8962.JPG
Posted By: TEAMVMG

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 11:19 AM

Will that trend make a lot of older platforms redundant?

Posted By: Jake

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Dazz
I think the biggest thing from this nationals has to be the adoption of trapping downwind. you would have said they were mad a year or so ago!


heh? b...wha? trapping downwind?
Posted By: waterbug_wpb

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 02:49 PM

I concur. Please explain a bit more on the benefits of this technique.

Is it the typical 'gain speed high and once you get apparant wind going, drive down' type thing? Or is this something unique to uni-rigs in moderate breeze?
Posted By: Lost in Translation

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 04:41 PM

see sailing anarchy for a good discussion that covers the trap'ing down wind to some extent along with other info. Many pictures are available on picasa from the thread.

Jay, I think this technique relies on the regular techniques you mention above. Seems to work with some squatting, not straight leg downwind. http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=117069
Posted By: scooby_simon

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by waterbug_wpb
I concur. Please explain a bit more on the benefits of this technique.

Is it the typical 'gain speed high and once you get apparant wind going, drive down' type thing? Or is this something unique to uni-rigs in moderate breeze?


Yep; same as on a Spi boat; Go high; get the appearent moving forward and then drive down on it; I'd bet the increased speed thru the water makes the cureved plates work better too to give more lift.
Posted By: Jake

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by waterbug_wpb
I concur. Please explain a bit more on the benefits of this technique.

Is it the typical 'gain speed high and once you get apparant wind going, drive down' type thing? Or is this something unique to uni-rigs in moderate breeze?


I believe this has a lot to do with curved boards.

While there has been power and apparent angle to trap out downwind, the a-cats just haven't had enough buoyancy to support it. Heck, that's part of the reason the wild-thing is so important to do well on the a-cat downwind. In moderate breeze, the wild-thing helps to unstick one hull and make it quicker...more apparent breeze at deeper angles. When the wind is up, wild-thing is a survival technique. With your weight in the middle of the boat, righting leverage is decreased which reduces the amount of pressure the leeward bow has to support. Less pitchpolling is faster.

With the introduction of curved boards, the sailor gets a chance to manage the amount of lift the leeward hull/foil is generating with his weight position fore/aft and now trapping downwind is possible. It's no different than trapping downwind with a spinnaker really.
Posted By: Dan_Delave

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 10:21 PM

Very nice reporting Qb2. Thanks for the details.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/06/11 11:21 PM

Glenn Ashby needs one more high score to claim the nationals but with 45 minutes from now to the start of the final 3 races there's little or no wind. 15-20 knots is predicted by about midday (2.45 hrs from now) and while the breeze is filling in here in Brisbane there's little at the Lake which is 120k's north. The lake is close to the ocean so hopefully the breeze will quickly kick in and make the final events red hot for the competitors and the photographers.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/07/11 04:15 AM

Glenn Ashby has convincingly won his latest Australia A Class Nationals after taking out the single heat able to be held today.

Competitors started in 12 to 15 knots but faced huge wind shifts and variable winds from 6 to 20 knots around the course.

Race officials tried to start heat two but couldn't set a course as storms cells which passed through led to wind shifts of 60 degrees.

All this in horrendous rain with reduced visibility. All starts were followed by abandonments and lengthy delays because of the shifts and deteriorating conditions.


Winds peaked at 31 knots as sailors headed for shore.

Full results should be on the lake cootharaba sailing club website soon.
Posted By: Dazz

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/09/11 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by TEAMVMG
Will that trend make a lot of older platforms redundant?



In A-cat fashion, yes a heap of boats are redundant overnight. that has always been the nature of the beast though.
Posted By: Qb2

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/09/11 02:36 AM

this comment on SA from matthew watching from a safety boat summed up the event

From watching the different rigs around the course the only conclusion we came to was that everything is inconclusive.

Separating the DNAs from the guys that sailed them was impossible. The same could be said for rigs and sails. The keys were in how each sailor got the best out of the rig that was suited to them. Downhill the fastest boats were those were they were still on out on the wire the whole way down. Some kept boards down for the downhill, while others pulled them up. With so many options and combinations within the boats it is impossible to say this one is faster because"...

I wonder what the result would have been if Ashby, Brewin, Bundock, Barker etc sailed older models with straight boards.
Certainly because they are pro talent you would expect they would be in the top places still.
Posted By: ACE11

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/09/11 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by Dazz
Originally Posted by TEAMVMG
Will that trend make a lot of older platforms redundant?



In A-cat fashion, yes a heap of boats are redundant overnight. that has always been the nature of the beast though.


I don't agree with you on that one Dazz.
As the organisor of this regatta, a competitor in the event and an A sailor for the last 30 years I've seen plenty of changes with more impact than what we saw in the last week.
The move to wing masts and composite hulls in the early 80's, flat top sails in the late 80's,carbon masts in the early 90's and wave piercing hulls and high profile foils in the late 90's all were very significant steps forward. Through all these eras I've always been able to sell my old boats for good value. There are always people wanting to get in to the class with boats that are well set up and maintained. The class is already the largest OTB cat class in AUS and has very strong numbers in Europe. The US is seeing strong growth and will only get better as their sailors compete overseas more. Hosting the 2012 Worlds will also be a boost.
Of course a development class will see change, but the redundancy factor doesn't seem to restrict interest. The top sailors seem to use new boats in the limited or one design classes too when they compete at the highest level. I don't think world class sailors would use 5 or 10 year old boats in a Hobie 16 event or a Capricorn in a F18 Worlds if a C2 was available. Are they redundant - maybe by your definition, but still very attractive to the mid fleet sailor. I felt very comfortable on my Geltek II with canted straight boards in the event. I sailed next to DNA's many times and didn't feel outclassed. It's just incremental improvement.

Cheers
John Dowling
Posted By: Dazz

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/09/11 10:22 AM

Not sure I follow your drift John, you dont agree there is redundancy then you do.

It actually quite good for the class, top end laser sailors are changing boats 6-12 months because they go soft and the sails stretch. 160,000+ boats now the formula must be good!

The same principal has worked wonders for the f18 class, my own Capricorn for example was less than half the new price and still quite competitive. no complaints about built in redundancy here.

p.s. I was sailing a-class about 26 years ago... yeah have seen many changes, but i would suggest that if it were only slight increase then the best sailors would have saved their pennies and stuck to their existing platforms.
Posted By: ACE11

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/09/11 11:31 AM

Dazz - my point was you seemed to be suggesting it was just an A cat thing when I believe it happens in most classes.
My observation is that the top sailors do buy new boats regularly in most classes. They either believe changes may have some benefit or a fresh boat may be a slight advantage. Agree that it is a good process to feed the second hand market.
There are some real bargains in F18's in AUS with the current slump in numbers sailing. It's just a cycle though and with enthusiastic class members pushing the class it will come back.
Posted By: ACE11

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/15/11 12:56 PM

Some pretty good videos of the AUS Nats here.
http://sailcam.tv/
Posted By: JJ_

Re: Australian A Class Nationals 1-7 January 2011 - 01/15/11 04:16 PM

A cats are about the most photogenic boat on the water. Those are good.
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