Guess who is placed number 1 in the Finals fleet for the Open Finals in the 2016 Hobie Worlds?
Rod Waterhouse from Pittwater, who won the Hobie Grand Masters International Cup earlier this week after a previous victory in the Masters Class only a few days ago. Rod goes into the final series in the lead, this time sailing with his daughter Bridget, after clocking up two series wins so far in this regatta, the Masters and the Grand Masters, with his wife Kerry as crew.
Rod shared his thoughts on the event so far:
“The race was called off for the day which leaves us leading which is fantastic and I’m really pleased to get this one. Once again it was a super tough series and it went down to the wire with three contenders going into the last race. So we are really happy to win the Grand Masters and now we have three days off. Hopefully, we’ll have some wind for the next few days for the Open Qualifiers.”
When asked if he and his crew Kerry were going for the trifecta (winning the Masters, Grand Masters and Open titles), Rod replied.
“We would definitely love that to happen but I know that is going to be a tough ask. We’re just going to be happy to be out there amongst some serious competition and with 50 to 60 boats on the start line it’s a whole new ballgame, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Pittwater sailor Nina Curtis, with crew in Haylee Outteridge, placed second overall in the Women's fleet and may have gone one better had the wind been with them. While her mum, with skipper Anthony Duchatel also took out a second in the Grand Masters.
As we go to publish time five Pittwater crews are into the Finals for the Opens in the 2016 Hobie Worlds: 1st Rod and Brigit Waterhouse, 9th Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland, 13th Anthony Duchatel and Evelyn Curtis, 25th Nina Curtis and Haylee Outteridge and 43rd David Renouf and Rachel Renouf are in the Finals fleet of 44 out of 56 crews that competed in the Semi Finals.
Outstanding! And certainly a very strong Palm Beach Sailing Club and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Cub family representation.
On Friday, June 10th, Dave Renouf, from Pittwater, reflected on his semi final performance so far, “ We came through the qualifiers and made it to the semis, but we’re borderline to go through to the finals. If we get the onshore breeze and it builds, us “fatter” people (Laughs) should do a bit better”.
David did much better - he's through!
Another champion, Anthony Duchatel, also a Palm Beach Sailing Club member and former Commodore of the club, said, “ We had a great first day we picked up a 1st and a 6th but our third race was not so flash, we just couldn’t get it moving. We were 5th coming into today and we’re pretty confident of making the finals and we’re looking forward to some more sailing and a bit of stronger weather. But it’s a great place here”.
Mr. Duchatel is in the Finals anyway!
The Hobie 16 Open World Championship Final Races are scheduled to run June 13th.
June 6, 2016
The final day of racing in the Hobie® Great Grand Masters, Grand Masters, Women and Youth Classes in the 2016 Hobie® 16 World Championship regatta in Dapeng, China was completed yesterday.
Teams woke to thunder and lightning early yesterday and while the storm had passed as competitors arrived at breakfast the prevailing winds were too inconsistent throughout the day to achieve any races and the day was abandoned late in the afternoon with the scores from days one and two determining the places in the championships.
Auxence Thomas and Noa Ancian from New Caledonia were proud to represent and win the Hobie 16 Youth World Championship for New Caledonia.
Noa said, “During this World Championships the wind was light but it was great for us. The conditions here have been very different from New Caledonia where we have 20kt winds, but we prefer these lighter conditions and that is why we did so well. We are very proud to represent New Caledonia and to win the world championship for our country, that is really great”.
Auxence was very proud and full of gratitude, “Thank you to the Hobie Cat team here at the world championships and to the Hobie Cat Company. Also thank you to the International Hobie Cat Association. This has been a really good championships with excellent conditions that we really like, we just love the Hobie Way of Life, thank you.“
Krystal Weir and Georgia Warren-Myers from Australia won the Hobie 16 Women’s World Championship and were thrilled to have achieved their goal.
Pittwater's Nina Curtis with crew mate Haylee Outteridge placed second overall in the Women's Worlds.
“ The Hobie 16 Worlds has been awesome. We’ve been lucky to have a small but really competitive fleet to race against. I’ve had my champ crew with me, Georgia. On day one communication was a bit tricky for us because we haven’t sailed together much. On day two we changed things a lot and we were able to get it together.“
It’s just amazing to be the world champions, that was the goal coming over here, it’s just such a relief really, just a joy.”
Rod and Kerry Waterhouse from Australia won the Hobie Grand Masters International Cup after a previous victory in the Masters Class only a few days ago. Rod shared his thoughts on the event.
“The race was called off for the day which leaves us leading which is fantastic and I’m really pleased to get this one. Once again it was a super tough series and it went down to the wire with three contenders going into the last race. So we are really happy to win the Grand Masters and now we have three days off. Hopefully, we’ll have some wind for the next few days for the Open Qualifiers.”
When asked if he and his crew Kerry were going for the trifecta (winning the Masters, Grand Masters and Open titles), Rod replied.
“We would definitely love that to happen but I know that is going to be a tough ask. We’re just going to be happy to be out there amongst some serious competition and with 50 to 60 boats on the start line it’s a whole new ballgame, so we’re looking forward to it.”
The Hobie Great Grand Masters International Cup winners are Grahame Southwick and Sharon Rayner, representing Fiji. Grahame offered his thoughts on the team’s victory today.
“It’s been absolutely great sailing we’ve had a bit of everything we had some really light air and some screaming runs in amongst some really fierce competition. We are really lucky to have managed to get over Tards (Bruce Tardrew) regardless of what event is on, it seems it’s always between Tards and myself, he’s a great competitor. We’re glad we were able to sail in this event, there were some very good sailors in that group, the venue is fantastic and the boats are beautiful with the best sail design I’ve seen in probably any event, so yeah we’re very, very happy.”
The Presentation Dinner for the series was held last night in the ballroom of the Manwan Harmona Resort. Congratulations to all of the winners and the second and third place getters. Thank you to all who participated in the regatta and battled it out on the water.
Cranking Winds Cracking Semis
June 10, 2016
Day one of the 2016 Hobie ®16 World Championship semi finals kicked off yesterday morning in a solid, square breeze on the waters of Dapeng Bay in South Eastern China.
The field of 56 teams, were divided into 4 groups of 14 with 28 teams in each race. The 4 groups will shuffle over the three days of semi final racing, making up different combinations of 28 boats, a method designed to make the series equal for all competitors.
The first race of the day (1A) was a short and sweet 1GO course to 090 degrees at 0.7 nautical miles. As the hooter sounded for the start, all was looking very clear until two boats, that had set up in good positions to leeward, crossed early and were given individual recalls (OCS). The rest of the fleet were off and rolling with equal numbers to port and starboard.
At the bottom mark boats were flying coming in from both directions with Bates (AUS) leading and heading to the offset with Darmanin (AUS) and Peterson (AUS), who was (OCS), followed. In the pack, some boats were single and double trapping, heading to the mark in a tight bunch, when one boat flipped.
The pressure built and the course was extended mid race to 0.9nm on the same bearing. At the gates Bates was still in the lead with Bjornhout from Denmark now in second.
Boats were scattered all over both sides of the course and as the leaders rounded the A Mark steaming in with spray flying up from the bow they were double trapping, the same was happening all over the lengthened course.
At 10:55 as rain came in the first boat to pass through the orange flags and greeted with the winner’s siren was Bjornhout from Denmark with a fantastic lead ahead of Bates from Australia who tacked down the middle of the course to take second followed by Phillip Epps also from Australia.
In Race Two (1B) we saw a new set of 28 fired up international teams take to the water after a boat swap on the beach. As teams jostled for the pin end of the starting line, in white caps, some boats were causing havoc, shouts came from all over the fleet and some boats bailed out of their positions. On the siren a large proportion of the fleet crossed the starting line early, and as all offenders couldn’t be identified a postponement was called.
The sequence for a “Black Flag” restart began with any offender crossing the line early to be disqualified. In 14kts at the start of the 1GO course, the same as the previous race, the black flag start was all clear and got underway without incident. Thomas (NCL) who had to pinch the mark, got around and led from Waterhouse (AUS) with Chan (HKG) crossing in third.
Some boats went to the right but the majority went to the left, really spreading it out across the course. Heading to weather there was a lot more pressure than the previous race and competitors were double stringing.
At weather the course was extended to 1 nautical mile with plenty of squirt blowing up to 18kts. The first boat, Park (KOR) rounded the mark double trapping to the offset. In second Borcherding (USA) flew along, chased by Warren-Myers (AUS) having a great sail. The fleet rounded the weather mark and headed back to the Gates in rain with patches of blue sky.
The first boats through the Gates were clear leaders, double trapping on the beat up wind, with most electing to go to the right hand side of the course. Boats approached A Mark at high speed slashing through the chop.
At the finish Rob Andrews (AUS) crossed in first place followed by Darmanin (AUS) with Thomas (NCL) in third place.
Race three of the day (2A) had an all clear start with Thomas (NCL) crossing the line just ahead of Renouf (FRA) and Darmanin (AUS) as all boats smoked across the line double trapping on the first 2GO course of the series.
At the A Mark the pressure was up to 16kts with bumpier conditions than we have seen so far. Thomas continued to lead at the top and the congested field charged around the offset for the run downwind.
At the Gates for the first time Brown (USA) rounded in 14kts with a 10 length lead and Waterhouse (AUS) followed. At the A Mark for the second time with just enough wind to be trapping Duchatel (AUS) came in from the left side of the course in front of Brown and Waterhouse.
With the breeze at Gates at 7kts the course was shortened and Duchatel held his lead over Waterhouse who moved ahead of Brown. A fresh breeze blew half way down the next leg and teams were again double wiring down the left side of the course. At the A Mark for the final time positions remained unchanged in the top three as they headed for the finish line Duchatel retained a 6 to 8 boat length lead over Waterhouse to win the race with Brown holding on to third.
Race four (2B) turned out to be the final race of the day. After the boats departed the beach the race moved into sequence at 2:25pm. Boats settled and waited for the Blue Peter to go down with a 1GO course heading to the A Mark at a 095 degree bearing at a distance from the Signals boat of .7nm.
In 8kts at the siren some teams were single trapping but once again it was Thomas (NCL) who continued his great starts and led the fleet across the line. Nevertheless, by the Weather Mark it was Borcherding (USA) in the lead over Warren-Myers (AUS) and Roulant (FRA).
Most teams were now sitting on their tramps with an occasional light crew with one on the wire, most going to the Gates on the port side with Warren-Myers now in the lead over Roulant with Andrews (AUS) now in third. At the A Mark teams were again single trapping as they approached the Offset Mark.
In a quickly lightening breeze Fletcher Warren-Myers from Australia crossed first for his second win from two races and a 1m40sec lead over second place finisher Benjamin Roulant from France with Australian Rob Andrews in third place.
The wind had blown itself out and racing was halted for the day. It was an excellent start to the series with some heavy pressure across the course from early morning and averaging around 12kts.
Today, the battle continues.
