Report on Day 3 of the Australian National A-Cat Championships
by SailRaceWin
Day 3 of the A-class catamaran Australian Nationals at Lake Cootharaba SC, Queensland, saw a nice 12 knot breeze for 2 more races.
The sailors were initially a bit keen to get away. Race 5 started with a general recall, followed by a start under black flag. A wind shift led to a postponement before the race was finally under way, with three laps of a windward/leeward course, in rather patchy breezes.
Emirates Team New Zealand's skipper, Dean Barker, was on fire upwind. He rounded the top mark with a nice lead. Other first time at the top mark placings included Brewin 3rd, Landenberger 6th, Ashby 7th, and Bundock 9th.
At the second visit to the top mark Ashby led, just ahead of Brewin. These two are particularly quick downwind. Bundock was third around the mark, Landenberger fourth, and Barker fifth. At the finish the top four were Ashby, Brewin, Bundock and Barker.
The wind picked up a couple of knots for the start of race 6, and also shifted left, blowing down over a big hill on to the race course.
It was a clear start at the first attempt for race 6. Dean Barker had speed to burn upwind and rounded first at the top again, with Landenberger in second, Anderson third and Bundock fourth.
On the second lap, Barker was still in the lead at the top mark. There was a nice comeback from Ashby and Brewin after first lap, rounding fourth and sixth at the top, respectively, as a storm was building in the background.
Ashby, the king of the downwind, won race 6 in style. Landenberger was second, Anderson sailed well and took third place, with Barker in fourth, Bundock fifth, and Brewin sixth.
Dean Barker is clearly the fastest boat upwind at the event and Ashby is "absolutely smoking" downwind, as Darren Bundock says. "The bar has raised. Good to see. Cool!"
Many thanks to Carolijn Brouwer and Darren Bundock for the race reports on day three.
Race 5 (top 10)
1 Ashby
2 Brewin
3 Bundock
4 Barker (NZL)
5 Howden (GBR)
6 Anderson
7 McKeon
8 Deed
9 Parker
10 Scott
Race 6 (top 10)
1 Ashby
2 Landenberger
3 Anderson
4 Barker (NZL)
5 Bundock
6 Brewin
7 Brayshaw
8 Howden (GBR)
9 Scott
10 Collett
Overall (top 10) after 6 races and 1 discard
1 Ashby 5pts
2 Brewin 14pts
3 Landenberger 16pts
4 Bundock 17pts
5 Barker (NZL) 18pts
6 Anderson 29pts
7 Howden (GBR) 32pts
8 Collett 33pts
9 Parker 46pts
10 Mercer 55pts
Australian A-Cat Nationals 2011
