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Forum Index: DISCUSSION: Event Reports: Hobie 16 World Championships 2010

The Publisher ***** Aug 18, 2010, 10:10 AM Post #1 of 13 (9822 views) Shortcut Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 Log-In to Post/Reply Introduced in 1972, the Hobie 16 was a trend setter at the time, but has seen the cutting edge of multihulls move pretty far along. Regardless, it is believed to be the second largest boat fleet in existence with over 109,000 boats built to date, and according to the report below by Anthony Duchatel, the class looks to be providing an amazingly turn-key experience at the 2010 Hobie 16 World Championships: (August 15, 2010) - Racing is imminent at for the 19th Hobie 16 World Championships in Weihai China. Racing starts Monday in the Masters and Grandmasters series at the Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai, China (with the Women's, Youth, and Open events to follow over the next two weeks). The venue is now ready with the completion of the sailing centre, a fully landscaped beachfront clubhouse for competitors that includes viewing platforms, lockers, showers and bars. Chinese organisers and craftsman have established, almost overnight, a magnificent stage for the launch of the World titles and for up to 400 sailors from around the World. Competitors have been overwhelmed by the capability and hospitality of the Chinese people. All 60 new Hobie 16 have been fully assembled and sit outside the sailing centre ready for the Masters and Grandmaster sailors. The Australian and American factory teams have excelled in putting the boats together in record time. Beach captain, John Hooper said "there is nothing better to look at than the sight of 60 brand new boats except maybe when they launch for racing" while Steve Fields, the person leading the factory teams has nothing but praise for his team and the Chinese assisting them. The Chinese hosts and event organisers and some competitors have had a full dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony Monday morning following the sailor's race briefing. The Opening Ceremony looks like it will surpass anything seen before at a Hobie Worlds or any other international catamaran regatta. There is genuine excitement in the air for the competition that starts tomorrow. -- Event website: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/

The Publisher ***** Aug 18, 2010, 10:13 AM Post #2 of 13 (9818 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Masters, Grand Masters racing August 16, 2010 – day 1 Rod and Kerry Waterhouse of Australia lead in the Masters from William and Lucinda Edwards of South Africa and Park Byeong Ki/Youn Hae Kwang of Korea. Harry Handley/Peter Evrard of New Zealand lead Bruce Tardrew/Sarah Turnbull and Anthony Duchatel/Evely Curtis, both from Australia. Sailing got underway in a very light offshore breeze after an amazing opening ceremony. The Chinese hosts put on an unprecedented opening ceremony, choreographed by the person responsible for the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. In race 1 Duchatel/Curtis led at the top mark from Edwards and Handley/Evrard however the race was abandoned when the breeze dropped out. Race 2 was dominated by Waterhouse who led from the start finishing well ahead of the other Masters competitors with Edwards 2nd followed by Park/Youn. Handley/Evrard sailed a masterly race winning from Tardrew/Turnbull and Duchatel Curtis in the Grandmasters. Racing was cancelled when the breeze dropped out again. More light weather is expected tomorrow. By Anthony Duchatel Web site www.hobieworlds.com

The Publisher ***** Aug 18, 2010, 10:14 AM Post #3 of 13 (9816 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Masters, Grand Masters racing August 17, 2010 - Day 2 Weihai, China. What a difference a day makes!!! Instead of a weak offshore breeze the competitors where met with clear skies and a building breeze that the race committee took full advantage of, running five races. The day started out with a seven knot sea breeze building to 13 knots and finished with a 9 to 13 knot offshore breeze. In the Masters, Rod and Kerry Waterhouse from Australia have been jostling with William and Lucinda Edwards from South Africa, with very little separating the two teams. Heavyweights, Bob Engwirda and Brad Wilson from Australia have put together a great set of scores to finish the day in third. In the Grandmasters Anthony Duchatel and Evelyn Curtis put together four first places and a second to be in the lead from Graham South wick and O. Chan, representing Fiji, and Harry Handley and P Evrard of New Zealand. The results across the line are shown below. The forecast for the next 2 days is 9 – 13 knots offshore Web site www.hobieworlds.com by Anthony Duchatel

The Publisher ***** Aug 18, 2010, 10:15 AM Post #4 of 13 (9815 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Masters, Grand Masters racing August 18, 2010 - Day 3 Rod and Kerry Waterhouse (AUS) extended their lead in the Masters as did Anthony Duchatel and Evelyn Curtis (AUS) in the Grand Masters. The day dawned clear, a good sign for wind and sure enough by 10am a decent 10-12 knot offshore breeze had settled in and two races were put in the bag. The shifty offshore breeze had competitors digging deep for the best lines of breeze. After a lunch break the competitors were sent out into a double trapping 14 knot sea breeze. There was just enough time to get a great race in before it shifted back offshore and began to fade with one last race managed before the breeze dropped out completely. The race committee managed the tricky wind conditions and set some great lines and courses that really did test the sailors, such as a pin end favoured lines when banging left was a preferred option! In the Masters, William and Lucinda Edwards (RSA) are a clear second while Bob Engwirda and Brad Wilson (AUS) hold third. In the Grandmasters, Harry Handley and Peter Evrard (NZL) hold onto second with Bruce Tardrew and Sarah Turnbull (AUS) third. The last day of the Masters/Grandmasters series looks like it will be held in a similar breeze and the same great spirit of competition that seems to pervade these great championships. Event web site www.hobiewrolds.com By Anthony Duchatel

ms ***** Aug 22, 2010, 3:25 PM Post #5 of 13 (9757 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Women's and Youth racing RACING CONCLUDES AT HOBIE 16 WORLDS Weihai, China (August 22, 2010) - In a convincing display of consistent sailing, Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin from Australia today won the Hobie 16 Youth World Championships in Weihai, China. Benjamin Deguine and Benjamin Roulant took second, with James Wierzbowski and Pip Pietromoncao finishing third. The Womens World Championships was a much closer affair with Natalie and Jasmine Hill, also from Australia holding off Charlotte Picou and Julie Avron from France who finished second. Alizee Angibaud and Constance Huard took third overall. In perfect sailing conditions, the Race Committee today had a slightly different wind direction to play with. Still predominantly offshore, the weather mark was away from the high rise hotels along the beachfront, resulting in significantly more consistent breeze across the course. The morning started in perfect conditions in a temperature of 30 degrees and 16 knots of breeze. The wind built steadily finishing off the morning session in a solid 20 knot breeze. With the flat water, boats were at maximum speed. Presentation to the new World Champions took place at a formal awards function Sunday evening. Racing for the Open division starts Monday with three days of Qualifying races. -- Full story: http://www.hobieclass.com/?Page=8772&format=popup

The Publisher ***** Aug 23, 2010, 4:22 PM Post #6 of 13 (9748 views) Shortcut Re: [ms] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 23, 2010 - Day One The Hobie 16 World Championships continued today in Weihai, China, with the start of the Open Series. The format of a Hobie 16 Worlds is quite different to most other events with 60 brand new Hobie 16's supplied and rigged ready to sail by the manufacturers, and competitors fly in with only a wet suit, life jacket and trapeze harness. With more teams than boats, the format for the Open is similar to a Tennis event where there is a pre-event Qualifiers tournament, followed by the main draw. The Qualifying Round is an open competition for all sailors on a first come first serve basis. At the end of the Qualifying round, the top 30+ teams will advance to the next round, the semi-finals. For the teams that move on from the Qualifying round, none of their scores are carried forward. The semi-finals are where the "pre-seeded" teams join the competition. These are the top teams selected from their respective regional championships. For example, the top 15 teams from the European Championship, the top 15 from the North American Championship, etc. In the semi-finals, there will be the "pre-seeded" teams, plus the top 30+ competitors from Qualifying to top up to a total of 112 teams. Racing is run in a round robin format with each sailor sailing in every second race and coming ashore between races to change boats. At the end of the semi-finals, the top 56 teams advance to the Finals where each team sails every race, again changing boats between races. The World Championship is decided on the combined results of the semi-finals and the Finals Series. Overnight the strong onshore breeze had built up the sea state greeting sailors with a solid shore chop on the beach, making launching an interesting exercise in itself. After the briefing and boat assignments were taken care of, the sailors were obviously very keen with general recalls the order of the day on the first race before most teams settled down and got away for the first race. Unfortunately a couple of competitors were still a little too keen with three teams being scored OCS in the first race, including the eventual winner of the race Cam Owen and Susan Ferris of Australia. "Off the start line we had a boat underneath us who went early and a boat over the top of us who did the same, so we just had to go" said Ferris. However, in the second race they got off the line cleanly and once in front, the clear air allowed them to extend their lead and win comfortably in a fading breeze. The overnight leader overall is former Hobie 16 World Champion Aaron Worrall and Bradly "Worse News" Willson from Australia who sailed consistently and conservatively to record a third and a second. Worrall commented that "We came off the line well but went the wrong way up the first beat. However, with the chop being almost the same as where I grew up and learnt to sail, we managed to pick up several boats on each downwind leg". Worrall is a second generation Hobie sailor, with his father, Bill, being one of the original Hobie Dealers in Australia and himself a former Australian Champion. Another second generation team are the brother/sister duo of Andy and Lisa Dinsdale from France. Unfortunately their day did not produce the results they would have liked. "The start is 60% of the race and we didn't start well in either race. If you don't take your opportunities then your race is done. There were some opportunities out there with the wind a bit shifty and also with some changes in the strength of the wind across the course" commented Andy. Another European team, the husband and wife team of Nathalie De Keyser and Gaetan Verhegge of Belgium also struggled in the lighter conditions and larger than normal waves. In a switch on the normal husband/wife combination, the skipper of their boat is Nathalie, while husband Gaetan crews. Nathalie complained that "Gaetan wouldn't shutup the whole way around the course. We are not the lightest crew out there and with the bigger waves and the wind dropping out, we struggled to even tack the boat, let alone make it go fast." The real winners of the day were the Korean teams in general with six of the top 12 teams from the nearby Korean peninsula. Not normally fielding strong teams, the finishing positions and the depth of the team surprised most observers at the event. Time will tell if they can maintain their strong positions over the remainder of the event. After two solid races in the morning, crews came ashore for lunch and to change boats. Just as they were starting to leave the beach for the afternoon session, the wind died and unfortunately failed to materialise for the rest of the day. Racing continues in the Qualifying series tomorrow and Wednesday. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-qualifying_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 24, 2010, 10:49 AM Post #7 of 13 (9735 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 24, 2010 - Day Two The Hobie 16 World Championships continued today in Weihai, China, with day two of the three day Qualifying Series. Competitors were greeted this morning with cooler conditions than earlier in the week and with a solid onshore breeze of about 15 knots. Race Officer Tony Lu (CHN) commented that "With such stable good wind, and with waves that were not as big as yesterday we decided to run three races in the morning to take advantage of the excellent conditions. It was obvious as the sailors crossed the finish line that they were having a good time, so we kept them out for one more race than we originally planned." This proved to be an excellent decision as a storm came through while the sailors were on the beach for lunch whipping up winds to register 25 knots at the Committee Boat. Sailors were sent off the beach by the beach captain for the afternoon session, but several decided that discretion was the order of the day and stayed ashore. Many others found the going not to their liking and headed for the safety of the shoreline. There were a few minor injuries and some capsizes, but generally people were excited about the conditions. The three morning races in the lighter 15 knot winds were all quite tactical and at the midday break the leading team were Aldo Cailleux and Titovan Galea from France. When asked what they were doing that was working for them, Cailleux replied that "we are really just trying out different things during the Qualifying Round, with different boat settings as well as testing each side of the course. We have found we are quite fast, so when you have speed, you don't have to take risks, especially at the start". Another French team, Sébastien Eyssartier and Alizée Angibaud found themselves on the wrong end of protest last night, picking up a DSQ from the International Jury for an incident in Race 1 earlier that day. Eyssartier commented that "We kept out of trouble today and had two good races at the start of the day. Each race we started next to the Committee Boat and then tacked across to the right hand side of the course. Unfortunately we did not do so well in the third race of the morning. The wind was very good and very stable, but the seas were quite confused with waves coming from multiple directions". The Korean team again continued their solid run with seven of the top fourteen places being from Korea. Given that they have eight teams at the event, and their lowest place team is in 20th place, there is a strong chance that all will progress through to the semi-final round. When asked why the team was doing so well, the general consensus amongst the sailors was that it was because they all sailed against each other in and around the Pusan area of Korea, so regularly had good competition with a fleet of about 15 boats on the start line. Hobie are a relatively recent addition to the sailing scene in Korea with most of the team having sailed 16's for only a few years. Up until know the teams have generally sailed within the Asian circuit but they have made an impact at their first major venture to a Hobie Worlds. Racing concludes in the Qualifying series Wednesday after which the top teams will advance to the semi-finals where they are joined by all of the pre-seeded teams who have qualified at their regional championships. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-qualifying_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 25, 2010, 10:42 AM Post #8 of 13 (9714 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 25, 2010 - Day Three Today's racing concluded the Open Qualifying at the Hobie 16 World Championships in Weihai, China, with teams completing three races today in a solid, consistent 14 - 16 knot breeze. With the breeze being onshore, but at an angle to the shoreline, the water was considerably flatter than yesterday providing perfect sailing conditions for all competitors. With light rain initially falling, competitors were sent off the beach for the three final races of the Qualifying Series. The overnight leaders, Aaron Worrall and Bradley Willson decided that they had already done enough to qualify, so with slight arm injury, Worrall decided to sit out the final day and try to recover in time for the Semi-Finals starting the next day. Some of the other teams also decided the same with two further top team deciding to sit out the last race of the day. The first race of the day was a breakthrough for the Korean team with Joohyun Jun and Gweon Jeong winning the race after coming close on several other occasions. "We were fourth at the first mark, but on the downwind leg the wind shifted slightly which gave us an advantage so we were in front at the leeward gate. After that we covered the other boats to make sure we stayed in front" said Jun. It was a good win for the team and finally broke the French/Australian domination at the front of the fleet. In the final race of the day, another Korean team, Dong Hwan Kim and Jeong Jae Kim also broke the strangled hold, lifting them to fourth place in the Qualifying Round. With competitors from around the world, some teams have crews from mixed countries, and mixed background. The team of Patrick and Yvonne Boutonnet are truly a mixed team with Patrick originally from France and Yvonne from Sri Lanka but both now living and sailing in Sydney Australia. "Conditions were perfect out there today" they said. "We had a great time with a good steady wind and waves that were a lot smaller and more predictable than yesterday". The PRO, Mr David Brookes echoed the same sentiment. "Today was an easy day for us with the wind a perfect strength and very consistent both in direction and strength. With the flatter water today, the boats were getting around the course incredibly quickly allowing us to run the three races back to back in good time." Racing continues tomorrow with the first of three days of semi-finals, where the top qualifiers will be joined by all of the pre-seeded teams who have qualified at their regional championships. In this round, sailors will race in a round robin format, coming to the beach in between races to change boats. With more teams than boats, each team will not sail in each race, but are allocated to groups which each sail against each other in turn with scores added to provide and overall result. Scores from the Qualifying Round do not carry forward to the next round. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-qualifying_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 26, 2010, 11:44 AM Post #9 of 13 (9640 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 26, 2010 - Day Four Thursday's racing at the Hobie 16 Worlds in Weihai China brought in the heavy hitters, with the pre-seeded teams from around the world joining the sailors who made the cut through the Qualifying round which concluded on Wednesday. The addition of the seeded teams certainly added to the pressure on the start line with each of the three races of the day taking three attempts to get away cleanly. PRO David Brookes set a square line with plenty of length, but with adrenalin running high, everyone was up on the line early, and eventually with the tide running towards the weather mark, by the time of the start the majority of the fleet were over the line setting the tone for the day with a general recall. Each subsequent race for the day followed the same pattern with a Blue Flag attempted start, then an "I" flag attempted start (around the end if you are over early) followed finally by a Black Flag start (over early and you are DSQ from the race). Jason Waterhouse, a pre-seeded sailor as a result of his win in the Youths, commented that "The line was long and pretty square, but everyone was just racking up on the line way too early. " Once away, the conditions were perfect with teams double trapezing on each upwind leg. With the current assisting the sailors upwind, many competitors overlayed the weather mark resulting in some high speed footing off to round the weather mark. Downwind the order of the day was working the waves to obtain the most out of the short chop across the course. During the earlier days of the event held in the offshore gusty conditions, sailors had been looking to find the puffs as they came down the course, but today the emphasis was clearly on making the most of each wave. On the first race of the day, one of the pre-event favourites Jerome Le Gal and Enrick Obert from New Caledonia and representing France was caught in dirty air near the Committee Boat. To clear themselves, they tacked off early to the right hand side of the course, sailing all the way to the starboard layline before tacking back to round the first mark. This proved to be the way to go and LeGal led the race from start to finish to get off to a perfect start for the event. Not so fortunate was defending World Champion Mick Butler with new crew Yu-ting Chan who had a horror start leaving Butler to wonder if had run over a black cat on the way to racing this morning. With a ninth place finish in the first race, they were subsequently disqualified for an collision at the first weather mark. If that wasn't bad enough, while waiting for the start sequence to begin for the second race of the day, they and the boat of Korean Donggyu Lee were not concentrating and had a collision which saw Lee's rudder ripped off the back of their boat. Both were at fault for not keeping a lookout, but as he was on port and clearly in the wrong Butler offered to swap boats with the unfortunate Lee, which they did. Lee then raced on Butlers original boat while Butler sailed the damaged boat back to the beach and once ashore picked up a spare boat. On the new boat they then sailed back to the start line, managing to make it in time as a result of the two subsequent General Recalls, eventually finishing the race in 9th place. An excellent example of good sportsmanship from Butler, but incredibly unusual and a nightmare for the scorer to work out who finished where. The overall results show some of the pre-event favourites at the top of the leader board, with Le Gal/Obert (FRA) and Worrall/Worsty (AUS) both with a first and a second, and all other top contenders with the exception of Butler, having two solid top ten finishers. With only one drop allowed over the entire series, the most important aspect in the semi-finals is to not have a bad race as the competition will only get tougher when sailors progress to the finals on Sunday and Monday. With three groups of 25 sailors, each team sails two races and then sits one out, so overall results during this phase of the competition are only meaningful after 3,6,9,12 races have been completed and all sailors have completed the same number of races. Racing continues Friday and Saturday in the semi-finals before there is another cut and the top 56 sailors continue on to the finals on Sunday and Monday. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-qualifying_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 29, 2010, 2:06 PM Post #10 of 13 (9590 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 27, 2010 - Day Five After ten straight days of consistent breeze, today the wind deserted the beach at Weihai, China, and with light rain falling, the Race Committee abandoned racing for the day. Racing will contine in the Semi-Finals tomorrow. Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 29, 2010, 2:59 PM Post #11 of 13 (9586 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 28, 2010 - Day Six The final day's racing in the semi-finals started with a wait for wind in the morning, with most people of the opinion that we were in for another day similar to yesterday with no wind all day. However, earlier in the afternoon, the wind picked up with the first race starting in 8 knots and building to 13 knots by the end of the race. The two subsequent races were sailed in perfect 14 - 16 knots of steady breeze and flat water. In the first race, Jerome le Gal and crew Enrick Obert from New Caledonia had a metre or two jump on the fleet off the start line and that was all they needed, and gradually pulled away to win comfortably. le Gal seems to have the edge in speed in the moderate conditions, and any time they get even a small break, they are hard to catch, let alone pass. Unfortunately the big mover of the day was recently crowned World Youth Champion Jason Waterhouse and crew Lisa Darmanin. "In the first race we were buried off the start line, so we had to tack off to clear our air, which completely threw us off our game plane. We had to go inshore which was definitely not the right way to go. Fortunately we managed to pull back a few boats around the course and salvaged a 19th place". Not so fortunate in the last race of the day, the Race Committee flew the Individual Recall Flag indicating that boats were over the line at the start and had to return. Aldo Cailleux was one of the boats over and returned to restart correctly, however Waterhouse, unsure if they were over or not, continued racing and were scored OCS, making this their drop race and with no more chances for a bad finish and now having to carry their earlier 19th place dropping them out of the top 10. Jason's parents, Rod & Kerry, faired much better, showing everyone a clean pair of heels in the second race of the day, clearing out from the pack and opening up a 20 second lead and winning comfortably. The youngest competitor in the fleet is 9 year old Stephanie Goodyer, crewing for her father Michael. Hailing from Johanesburg, South Africa, Stephanie sailed her first race on a Hobie at the age of five and has regularly crewed since she was six years of age. "We struggled a bit the other day in the 22+ knot conditions" said Michael, "but today in the more moderate conditions we were pretty competitive and very happy with our 18th place in the second race of the day". Normally sailing on the Vaal River, the younger Goodyer has found the conditions generally "a bit rougher and windier than at home, but the racing today was just perfect". At the other end of the age spectrum, and showing that age hasn't slowed him down too much, Harry Handley from NZL, runner up in this year's Grand Masters and a former Masters World Champion had a good race at the start of the day. "We had a couple of shockers on the first day in the strong conditions, so it was good to go out and get a decent race this morning" said Handley. "While we weren't right at the front of the fleet, at least it was an improvement on the two 36th places from the first day". Competitor's are sailing on 60 identical Hobie 16, provided by local Hong Kong Dealer Tom Cheng. Cheng is also sailing in the event with crew Jonathan Shue. When asked about his day on the water today, Cheng said "sorry, I'm crying too much to give you anything". Obviously not a great day on the results sheet. With the end of the Semi-Finals, the positions are a lot clearer with the overall winner most likely to come from the top five or six placings. The aim in this early round is not to pick up a bad race, and these top six crews are all carrying good scores into the next round. With each team having now completed four races each, there is a cut party this evening with the top 56 boats advancing to the final two days of racing on Sunday and Monday. The winner of the World Championships will be the based on scores for both the last three days of Semi-Finals and the two days of Finals. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/...-finals_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 29, 2010, 3:06 PM Post #12 of 13 (9583 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 29, 2010 - Day Seven The first day of the Finals of the Hobie 16 World Championships being held in Weihai, China provided some great beach weather, but not as much great sailing weather as sailors would have preferred. The day started promisingly enough with the top 56 sailors for the event greeted with a solid 12 knot onshore breeze. The first race produced the customary General Recalls before the fleet got away with a clear start under a black flag. Mid-race conditions were picking up with the steady breeze filling in first from out to sea, but unfortunately the wind then started to moderate with the remainder of the race run in a steady but light 6 knot breeze. At the Cut Party the previous night, the top 56 sailors were announced from results of the semi-finals run over the previous three days of sailing. With the organisers only publishing individual race results on the last day of the semi-finals, and only the top ten overall publicly available, any teams that were mid fleet were unsure at the start of the party as to whether they were above or below the cut line, adding to the excitement at the event. All semi-finalists were presented with wonderful trophies from the Weihai Organising Committee, providing a wonderful memento of the event, even if they are not going to figure in the final placings. The local hosts have been extremely generous and very keen for everything to go smoothly, and not just the organising committee or the band of volunteers, but the people of Weihai. On the way to the party last night, the scorer, carry with him the results to be announced, missed the last bus and not being able to find a taxi, the local police provided transport, delivering scorer and results to the party with all lights blazing on their police car. Each team has a different boat for each race, and with sixty factory provided boats numbered 01 to 60, the boat allocations for this morning's race were allocated based on the team's overall position at the end of the semi-finals. So overnight leader Jerome le Gal and Enrick Obert from New Caledonia were on boat 01, second placed Aaron Worrall and "Worstie" from Australia on boat 02 etc down the fleet. The colour scheme for the sails are also done by boat number, so boats 01 - 15 have red jibs, 16 - 30 have blue jibs, 31 - 45 have yellow jibs and the white jibs from 46 - 60. So all eyes this morning on where on "the red jibs" to see where the leaders were heading. Most of the "red jibs" were starting at the pin end of the start line in a pack, fighting for the right to foot off the bottom end of the start line. Current World Champion, Mick Butler from Australia commented, "I was going to tack and head out to sea, but when I came off the line and saw the mass of red jibs heading out to the left, I couldn't afford to be the only one heading the other way. What a mistake that was". Unfortunately for this group of boats heading to the inshore, left hand side of the course, the wind started building beginning from out to sea, so any boats that headed in looking for a lift along the shoreline ended up well down the fleet, including all the leading boats. With only a two lap race and in a breeze that eventually faded to a steady but frustrating six knots, opportunities to make up lost ground were few and far between. At the end of the race Cam Owen and Susan Ferris from Australia were the only pair from the overnight leading group who managed a solid finish, crossing the line in sixth place. The big winners were sailors from Korea, filling both first and second positions in the race. In first place were Donggyu Lee and Beomgyun Baek followed closely by their teammates Keunsoo Kim and Minhae Song. The majority of the Korean sailors hail from the Pusan area of South Korea and generally train and race against each other ensuring that they are constantly pushing each other on the water. This was Lee's first race win for the event after starting strongly in the Qualifying Rounds. Also finally finding form was the third placed crew of Mario Roberto Arantes Dubeux and Karoline Silva Bauermann from Brazil. With Brazil sending a much smaller team than usual, and with sailors generally performing better in the stronger breezes, Dubeux managed to find the extra breeze that so many were not able to do, and sailed conservatively to ensure a top three finish. During this first race, the sun came out, the temperature rose and with it the wind gradually dropped to under five knots - an unacceptable level for racing as deemed by the PRO, Mr David Brookes. With everyone shore for lunch, the volleyball game started, the water fights broke out and sailors decided that we were done for the day. A beach party this evening will finish off the day before racing concludes tomorrow with the last day of racing in the Hobie 16 World Championships. Current results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-finals_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

The Publisher ***** Aug 30, 2010, 11:22 AM Post #13 of 13 (9537 views) Shortcut Re: [The Publisher] Hobie 16 World Championships 2010 [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply Hobie 16 World Championships - Open Series August 30, 2010 - Day Eight The final day of racing at the Hobie 16 World Championships ended with more volleyball than sailing, as the wind failed to materialise and racing was called off at 3pm by the PRO, Mr David Brookes. With a total number of six races sailed in the Semi-Finals & Finals, the new Hobie 16 World Champions are the team of Jerome Le Gal and Enrick Obert, representing France and hailing from New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Le Gal and Obert, the reigning Hobie 16 European Champions, were clearly the team to beat from the outset with a speed advantage over the rest of the fleet and consistency in finishing places, unmatched at the event. Le Gal has gradually improved his positions in the overall fleet at World Championships since the 2002 Worlds were held in his home waters of New Caledonia. At the 2002 event, Le Gal finished 4th in the Youths, and a very commendable 10th in the Opens, showing that he had the skill and composure to match the top sailors. At the more recent Hobie 16 Worlds in Fiji, Le Gal improved to an impressive 6th place in a exceptionally strong fleet but inconsistency kept him from the podium. However, in this event, Le Gal has been a model of consistency with his first four races never outside the top four placings. However, things did not always go Le Gal's way, with the fifth and final race of the event proving to be extremely difficult with a 13th place finish. Following a protest and rescheduled hearing, Le Gal was subsequently disqualified in this race for a port/starboard incident. However, as this was his discard race, and with no further racing on the final day due to lack of consistent wind, Le Gal and Obert were tonight crowned 2010 Hobie 16 World Champions. In second place was former Hobie 16 World Champion Gavin Colby, and crew Sasha Marks from Australia. While consistency was the key to their finishing place, they were unable to match the speed of the New Caledonia's finishing one place behind in three of the four races. Another Australian team, Darren Smith and Jasmine Hill finished in third place, again with consistent but not race winning results being the key. With the wind failing to materialise, the beach games flourished this afternoon with the volleyball court being the main focus of attention, and spectators at the beach bar applauding the skills of the participants. Official scorers, referees and line judges were appointed, and any disputed line calls were dealt with swiftly. Every now and again at Hobie sailing events, there is a special moment that goes down into folklore. At this event, it will clearly be the ‘Bike Raffle’. For 13 days of racing, plus the one week of boat building, a team of committed local volunteers (mainly English language students) moved boats around the beach, helped competitors get to the water, and have done everything humanly possibly to make sailors from around the world feel welcome in Weihai. Several sailors had purchased bicycles to get from their hotel to the regatta site, so to thank the boat volunteers, Lucinda and William Edwards from South Africa organised a raffle of these almost new bikes to go to the volunteers on the beach. The Hobie Factory chipped in with signed Hobie flags and other gifts, and in a break in the beach activities, the bikes were raffled off to the local beach boys, and flags presented to individual volunteers. It was a fantastic coming together of sailors from around the world and the young students of Weihai that will clearly be the defining moment of the regatta. The genuine goodwill of the students was clearly evident and will be remembered by all sailors. The city of Weihai is now firmly a Hobie City, with a new clubhouse and a new commitment for ongoing Hobie sailing. While Jerome Le Gal and Enrick Obert were crowned Hobie 16 World Champions this evening, the real winners must surely be the local community and their newfound commitment to the "Hobie Way of Life". Open Finals - Overall Results 1 FRA J.Le Gal/E.Obert Total pts: 8 (1,2,1,4,57) 2 AUS G.Colby/S.Marks Total pts: 15 (5,3,2,5,26) 3 AUS D.Smith/J.Hill Total pts: 17 (8,3,3,3,35) 4 RSA W.Edwards/L.Edwards Total pts: 19 (2,6,9,2,20) 5 AUS A.Worrall/W.News Total pts: 21,1,2,17,1,27) 6 AUS R.Waterhouse/K.Waterhouse Total pts: 21,7,7,1,6,12) 7 AUS C.Owen/S.Ferris Total pts: 23,4,1,14,12,6) 8 AUS T.Booth/E.Sturgeon Total pts: 30 (9,8,16,2,11) 9 FRA M.Orion/H.Charlotte Total pts: 31,11,22,7,4,9) 10 FRA A.Cailleux/T.Galea Total pts: 35,8,13,5,9,17) Regatta Website: www.hobieworlds.com Final results: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2010/results/open-finals_overall.html Regards, Paul Pascoe

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