Hobie 16 NAs underway

Jake,

We had 14 boxed boats in a semi, another 22 framed that we carried on trailers. 9 of them stacked in another semi. Took us about 3-4 days to finish up and get ready for the racing.

The weather has been near perfect. Cool and grey for the rigging and clear on the first day of the event. The wind kicked in strong yesterday and the surf has reduced. Perfect!





Event Photos

Matt
Is this a first time for this H16 color combination? I think its the best combination I have seen... Its really stunning.

Congrats.
Mark

This is the "Misty" Main sail with optional (3) jib colors. One of two sail colors for 2005.

Thanks!

Why the low sail numbers???

Don't those numbers 'belong' to someone somewhere ?

I thought Hobie sail numbers are supposed to be unique to the model they are issued to by the factory. (Apparently not!)

My number is MY NUMBER !

Sorry, couldn't help it. When you wrote "my numbe is my number" I couldn't help but hear MC Hammer's "....can't touch this...." playing in the background somewhere ........"Hobie time.....my number.....can't touch this"..... sorry, it's late

This site's welcome page has a headline and link to the full story. Annie Nelson and Kathy Kulkoski won the Women's NAs
Rick

Interesting Question - If so - they were most likely origional 14 sail #'s, and very old at that, so there should not be a conflict when regatta-ing.

Typically, if there is a conflict however, the person with the origional # gets to keep it and the other person would duck tape a large 1 or X or something at the beginning or end of the sail #.

Had to work (Damm!) and not in CA.
Go 204 teams in CA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rico

Sadly the 16 nationals lost 2 days of the qualifier to no wind and/or large surf.

What have they done in the past when using factory boats) so that they can move on and start their championship series?

Nothing posted on the web site with how they manage this circumstance.

Good Luck Jim G and Kelly

Mark

I think that when the factory supplies the boats for a major event, they put numbers on the sails based upon the number of boats supplied, to make it easier for the race committee for scoring.

I am assuming that after the event is over, they replace those numbers with the actual numbers that belong with those boats.

All entrants divided into 4 groups, round robin for 20 races.

The boats will have these numbers forever...

We have always numbered this way for major events with supplied boats. Usually not a problem at local regattas as they get sent all over the North American region.

How is the seal doing? (see attachment)
What it's name?

According to the boat owner - "Stinky"

Ever try to wash seal juice off your boat?

Watch the finals live on the web cam

http://web.insidevc.com/webcam/

>Ever try to wash seal juice off your boat? <
I always use a tight seal to reduce clean up.

Any observations why the Caribean and Mexican teams were so dominant?

First of all I think we had more competition this year. The Figueroa's (1st , PUR) , Maegli/Guirola (2nd , GUA), Viana/Gomes (4th, BRA), Enqwirda/Elred (9th, AUS) all these teams were not there last year or the year before. Then look at teams like Murrieta/Akle (5th PUR) and Colon/Roldan ( 6th PUR), these teams have done fine in the past but have had consistency problems in the shifty venues of the last two NAs. The wind was fairly straightforward this year. There was a big right shift on the starboard layline and it was there just about every race. This made it easier to be consistent if you were fast and could get good starts.
The Division 13 guys sailed great and it was fantastic to sail against all of them. It was a good clinic for us.

I would add that many of those guys train a lot, have coaches and sail in those conditions year round. As the wind built and the wave size increased they did better and better. When I did get a good start and rounded A in good position I would get passed downwind by the good ocean sailors. Sailing in a real 18-20 knots and 5-6ft waves can be very difficult when you sail on lakes. Great learning experience on rigging and driving. The attachment shows Sarah Bisesi (10)and Scotty Alter(12) racing. Letting thier dad's drive for now.

I'd have to concur with Pat and Bob.

Personally, I was almost never able to get a good start. Fortunately, the thing to do in nearly every race was to tack almost immediately after the start and bang the right hand corner (if you could make it past the pier). Once in clean air, I could keep up with everybody but Enrique. He's just on a different plane than the rest of us.

Now THAT's a photo that I imagine means an awful lot to both dads, and will mean just as much to both kids in 20 years. Whatever you guys spent on the regatta, time and money, would be worth that single photo, for me.

Geez - I'm all misty

That picture really demonstrates the beauty of the Hobie 16 class. It's all about keeping it simple. No carbon fiber, no spinnaker, no rotator, no centerboards, and an affordable price tag. All these things allow parents to sail with their young kids, kids to sail with their friends, grandparents to keep sailing, beginners to get started and the list goes on. But the best part is that you don't have to sacrifice top-level competition.
I know that if it wasn't for the Hobie 16 Liza and I wouldn't be sailing catamarans at all. We'd probably be in a Vanguard 15 or something.
-Ok I'll get off the soapbox now -

I'm still trying to figure out how / why you stand up when tacking in waves, Bob. Holdover from the 470 days?

I usually do the horizonal slide onto the tramp, knock off the trap with my forward hand, then roll over / around to get into position to flip the tiller over and get under the boom.

Then again, you're skinnier than I am.

Liza doing a little jig on the boat?

I want to be sure the hook comes out

The pictures from Thursday have just been posted

Cant you just pee in your wetsuit instead of dragging like that?

ahhh, the rinse cycle...

or, as they say on SA - "that's not fast..."

That's what I call shark bate for those of you that didn't read my story on www.wetasschronicles.com (scroll way way down it may still be there). Matt, the pictures really are wonderful! Thanks!

Nice form Paul!!!!

Oh how I hate that feeling.

Enrique









Even the best can have a moment.
The Friday pictures are up.

Who taught Paul Hess how to do a "Wicked Dick"?

Teri got a nice shot of my a$$ going through the surf:

Literally.

That wind must really be nuking...

It really wasn't blowing that hard - maybe 20 at the most. It was the combination of the wind and the 4 - 6 foot waves that made it really challenging to stay on the boat. You had to keep the weather hull up to keep from getting wiped off by a wave.