I did talk to Piet and he is sailing a Tool, the EVO was not completly ready and his idea was that the Tool was better to do the Worlds on so he kept it in the container.

Interesting to see the AC sailors are doing so well.
Spithill (BMWO) in 2nd, Luc duBois (Alingi) in 3rd, only after 3 three races so still a long way till the podium.
Ashby in 1st obviously.

THey are good sailors or they would not be doing what they are doing; they have (I assume) the budget for the bst kit, and the time to train!

That's is pretty ordinary. Ashby took out the 07 Worlds on US soil.

This fleet as with all A class Worlds is full of previous world champions and some of the best cat sailors in the world. Ashby is giving them a hiding. I'd imagine Gashby's Olympic campaign has only increased his speed and smarts in the class he has dominated like no other sailor....... And just like other Worlds, the top 10 is very heavily AUS bias.

If the US sailors came over, then they would have been taking on the best A Class nation on their home soil.

In the last 23 years,

AUS have won 16 WCs
ITA - 3 WCs
USA - 2 WCs
GER - 2 WCs

And each year the top 10 results are really impressive for AUS.

WORLD CHAMPIONS:
YEAR VENUE CHAMPION NATIONALITY
1981 Botany Bay (Aust.) B. Anderson Australia
1982 Cesanatico (Italy) A. Babbi Italy
1984 Wellington (N.Z.) A. Goodall Australia
1985 Spray Beach (USA.) A. Goodall Australia
1986 Brenzone (Italy) S. Anderson Australia
1987 Blairgowrie (Aust.) B. Schafferius Australia
1988 Turkey Point(Can.) G. Goodall Australia
1990 Napier (N.Z.) G. Goodall Australia
1991 Gromitz (Germany) P. McKenzie Australia
1992 Silvaplana (Switz.) P. McKenzie Australia
1993 Sanguinet (France) E. Babbi Italy
1994 Lake Cootharaba (Aust) M. Booth Australia
1995 Andijk (Holland) E. Babbi Italy
1996 L'Estartit (Spain) G. Ashby Australia
1997 Long Beach (USA.) P. Melvin U.S.A.
1999 McCrae (Aust.) N. Bunkenburg Germany
2000 Cesenatico (Italy) N. Bunkenburg Germany
2001 Port Genesta (Spain) S. Brewin Australia
2002 Martha's Vineyard (USA) G. Ashby Australia
2004 New Plymouth (NZ) G. Ashby Australia
2005 Sanguinet (France) P. Melvin U.S.A.
2006 Vastervik (Sweden) G. Ashby Australia
2007 Ismoralda (US) G.Ashby Australia

Without inflating your ego further ( ), I always thought Australia to be the premier beachcat nation

Cool to see that the AC/olympic sailors do well. Indicates that sailing fast is a skill transferable into new classes.

Aus is one of the coolest countries anyway! (10x better than NZ!).

Stephen:
Why are you not competing? Its practically in your backyard.

A few cat sailors here make the rest of us look good as a whole

Sold the T to buy an new F18 when they anounced the AUS Worlds. Like many other class jumpers, tried to sell the boat post worlds. Took a year and a half and lost a lot of money on the boat. A little hesitant to do that again. I am also looking at growing up a bit....... Buying a house and getting married. So the next new boat will be on the back burner for a bit. May have to get a cheapy though to ease the itchy feet.

Soil??

Why do you suppose Australia is so dominate in the cat world?

Great conditions for more than 4 months of the year. Established class with great racing for many years. As you see the fleets grow in each country, The europeans are catching up. ESP, GER, ITA, USA etc all have growing fleets. It is great to see.

Hi Stephen,

I told you that now you live in Vic you should back the Vic's. Ashby has cleaned up again, winning by minutes and it wasn't even that windy which is when he shines most.

Glad he is on our side, a awesome talent, yet so humble and happy to pass on tips to us mortals. I learn stuff every time I am lucky enough to sail near him.

If only we could all afford A classes.

So what did we bet on Ashby winning