A-Cat NZ Nationals- Olympic Silver medalists take top three places

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 8 Feb 2014
Newly signed Emirates Team NZ sailor, Peter Burling, has won the New Zealand A-Class National Championship sailed off Takapuna Beach today.

The current World 49er Champion, and winner of the recent Red Bull Youth America's Cup beat seven time world champion, Glenn Ashby (AUS) , who is also a team mate at Emirates Team NZ.

The National Championship is a test event for the World Championships to be sailed next week, and attracted an 81 boat fleet.

Third overall was Andrew Landenberger (AUS) a Silver medalist in the 1996 Olympics, and 2012 European champion in the A-Cat. In fact all three top placegetters are Olympic Silver medlaists, with Ashby winning his medal in the Tornado in Qingdao, China in 2008 and Burling winning Silver in the 49er class in 2012.

Burling won three of the four races sailed, and placed third in the other. Ashby started well with a win in race one, but confusion over the number of laps to be sailed resulted in him begin to sail an extra lap of the two lap course before realising the error and dropped back to fifth in race 2. He placed second behind Burling in the remaining two races.

Landerberger finished with a 4, 2, 11, 4 scorecard to be 11pts behind Ashby.

Artemis Racing helmsman, and 2012 Olympic Gold medlaist in the 49er class, Nathan Outteridge, finished a creditable 8th overall after capsizing just before the finish after his foiling catamaran took flight downwind. His other placings were a consistent 4,6,7 in the testing windshifts and puffs which made foil-borne sailing a challenge - even for the top sailors in the 18ft singlehanded catamaran, sailed from a trapeze.

The event was shortened to just one day after strong onshore winds forced the abandonment of the first two days of racing. The final day was sailed in ideal sailing conditions of around 15kts in an offshore breeze with flat water.

Measuring will take place on Sunday, and the World Championship gets underway on Monday.

For results from the Nationals click here