TNZ: Ashby, Burling & Tuke training for 2018 A-Cat Worlds
2018 A-Class Worlds will sart November 11. 4 years have passed since the iconic 2014 Worlds at Takapuna. First foiling Worlds where the Ashby, Tuke & Burling finished top 3 in that same order.
Equipment has been developed greatly since those early flights and this year we will see some top notch sailing from these 3 plus Brewin, Bundock and others.
2018 Worlds will be the pinnacle of A-Class development towards 100% flying, we already saw some upwind foiling at the 2016 Worlds by Mischa, Bundock & Brewin and also at this year Europeans by Ashby.
Can the A-Cat dethrone the Moth as the top foiling single handed machine? Still room for development but lets wait for the end of this Worlds to see the actual theoretical gap.
Burling & Tuke got the pace of early A-Class foiling back in 2014, with current platforms and led by Ashby anything can happen.
Brewin, Bundock & Mischa will be there too challenging the Team New Zealand Squad.
A-Class Worlds will be held at Hervey Bay, Australia. Entry list here.
Video & text below by Emirates Team New Zealand:
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“Emirates Team New Zealand’s sailors Glenn Ashby, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have their eyes set on one event: the 2018 A-Class World Championship.
The sailors have been training this week in McCrae – Ashby’s hometown – and will move to Hervey Bay, about 300km north of Brisbane, in time for the start of the races on November 11th.
Glenn Ashby is a veteran of the class and is aiming for his 10th A-Class World Championship title this year, whereas almost 4 years have passed for Pete and Blair since their last regatta – the 2014 Worlds. That time Ashby won his eighth title and Tuke and Burling ended in 2ndand 3rdplace respectively. Ray Davies who continues to fill the role as Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team member is in Australia now as a coach helping the guys to improve their performance and the boats setting.
The A-Class catamaran is a developmental class sailing catamaran for single-handed racing and often leads over other classes in terms of design development.
It’s 18ft long with a total allowed rig area of 150ft2, but weighing in at a mere 75kg. In the last few years, developments have seen this class take off, quite literally, with the introduction of foils (rudders and daggerboards).
“Emirates Team New Zealand has played a role in the development of the class” remembers Ray Davies “In 2014 we took delivery of half a dozen ‘A’ cats and set about seeing how far we could push them. It worked as the boats started to fly.”
“I’m just trying to remember how to sail these boats!” said Blair Tuke “They are a lot more faster than when we sailed them 4 years ago. There have been great improvements in the class and now we can also fly upwind. We are learning a lot and I’m looking forward to going racing.”
Burling: “It’s been pretty loose this week, we have had strong stuff as well as lighter conditions so it has been great. ”
“We had a really fortunate week weather-wise.” continued Glenn Ashby “We had the chance to test all the settings: sails, mast, foils. You can learn a lot about flying on these boats, which is essential for the future and can help us press on with our America’s Cup development.”
The Worlds will start in 10 days and have registration from over 100 sailors from 13 nations.
Stay tuned!
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