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'The regatta was held in mostly light wind and was a very tough physical contest, with 11 races sailed in five days,' said ASHLEY, a member of the Yachting New Zealand Olympic Squad. 'Whilst I am here primarily for training, I am really happy to see that my racing form is coming up well and that I am not making too many mistakes in competition.''I won by five points, at the start of the day I had a ten point lead, so I just had to play it safe and do what was required in the Medal Race to secure the win.'

14 Nations Represented

20 sailors competed in the Men's RS:X fleet with representatives from an impressive 14 countries. ASHLEY, who won silver at last year's RS:X World Champs, only finished outside the top four in one of the eleven races, recording three wins, three seconds and three third places.

The standard of competition was high with local windsurfer SANTOS second and Joao RODRIGUES (POR) in third overall.

ASHLEY continues his training in Brazil before returning to New Zealand. After missing out on the ISAF Grade 1 Sail Melbourne, ISAF Grade 1 Rolex Miami OCR and ISAF Grade 1 Sail Auckland, he is looking forward to getting back on the Olympic Classes circuit.

'I will be here training for another eight days before returning home for a three week training block with sailors from Israel and France,' sayid ASHLEY. 'On 19 March I travel to Palma de Mallorca for the first big event of 2007 - the ISAF Grade 2 HRH Princess Sofia Regatta.'