Glenn Ashby

 “A 17-time world champion across several multihull disciplines, Olympic silver medallist, and America’s Cup-winning skipper, Glenn Ashby has defined high-performance sailing for over two decades.”  Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Assessment Panel

Growing up in Bendigo, Victoria, Glenn Ashby learned to sail from Bendigo Yacht Club on Lake Eppalock, where time on the water quickly turned from a hobby into a lifelong passion and a successful career. By the age of 15, he had earned selection in the Victorian Youth Squad, and in 1996 at the age of just 18, Glenn went overseas for the first time in his life for the A-Class World championships in Spain where he came away victorious from a world-class field of 86 teams. The performance was an early sign of the talent, focus, and competitive drive that would propel him to the very top of world sailing. 

From there, Glenn’s rise was meteoric. He went on to become one of the most successful multihull sailors in history, collecting an extraordinary 17 world titles across several classes. His first came in 1996 at the A-Class Catamaran World Championships, a victory that marked the beginning of an era of dominance in high-performance catamaran sailing. Over the next two decades, he added nine more A-Class World Championships, most recently in 2018, displaying an unmatched ability to stay at the cutting edge of both technology and technique as the sport evolved. 

In partnership with Darren Bundock, Glenn also achieved exceptional success in two-person multihulls, winning three Tornado World Championships and three Formula 18 World Championships. The pair represented Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, earning a silver medal in the Tornado class, a significant milestone in Glenn’s already distinguished sailing career. 

In 2018, he once again demonstrated his versatility and dominance, adding another world championship crown in the G32 foiling catamaran class. 

Glenn’s reputation as a foiling and multihull specialist soon drew him into the world’s most prestigious sailing competition - the America’s Cup. He joined BMW Oracle Racing in 2010 as a coach during their successful campaign, before moving to Emirates Team New Zealand for their Challenge for the 2013 America’s Cup. His technical expertise, innovative mindset, and calm leadership played a pivotal role in shaping the team’s revolutionary approach to foiling technology, helping redefine what was possible in yacht racing. 

In 2017, Glenn skippered Emirates Team New Zealand to a historic victory in Bermuda, serving as wing trimmer on the AC50, and reclaiming the America’s Cup for New Zealand. Four years later in 2021, he remained central to the team’s success, trimming the mainsail during their successful defence in Auckland, this time on the groundbreaking AC75 foiling monohull, a design that once again changed the face of the sport. 

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Glenn turned his attention from water to land in 2022, leading a project that set a new world land speed sailing record aboard Horonuku on Lake Gairdner in South Australia. Powered only by the wind, Glenn reached an incredible 222.4 kilometres per hour, showcasing the same innovation and courage that have defined his entire career. 

Glenn was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to sailing in the 2019 New Year Honours, won two Australian Sailing Male Sailor of the Year Awards in 2007 and 2017 and was a finalist for World Sailing Male Sailor of the Year in 2017. 

Across a career spanning decades, Glenn Ashby has combined innovation,  dedication, and a down-to-earth humility, Glenn is admired worldwide for his sportsmanship and generosity and he continues to inspire sailors of all ages.