Hobie 16 Worlds News

I will be posting reports in this thread as I receive them. If you have independent reports from other sources, please put those in this thread, as well.

Here is the latest press release from Bob Merrick:

PRESS RELEASE
May 1
The largest ever Hobie 16 World Sailing Championship
is only days away. Two hundred and forty three teams,
representing twenty-eight countries, are registered
for the event in Cancun Mexico. Five championships
will be determined between May 4 and the 14th sailed
in sixty-four brand new Hobie 16s provided by the
Hobie Cat Company. Racing for the Women, Master, Grand
Master and Youth World Championships will be contested
on the May 5,6 and 7. The Open World Championship will
start on the 8th with a two day qualifying round for
the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be sailed for
three days followed by a two-day finals with the top
56 teams.
www.HobieWorlds.com

The Numbers:
Open: 199 teams registered
Women: 18 teams
Master: 44
Grand Master: 13
Youth: 34
Note: registration had to be closed eight weeks prior
to the event
Some teams are registered for more than one event.

With around 315 teams, if I remember correct, the biggest event os far upon the invitation of the Sheikh of Dubai in 1994.

Fritz

Fritz
You are correct. It looks like I got some inaccurate information.
There were just over 300 teams at the 1996 Hobie 16 Worlds in Dubai.
Bob

Just got a correction on the original release:

From: Robert Merrick
Subject: CORRECTED Hobie 16 Worlds CORRECTED

The original release incorrectly referred to the 2004
World Championships as the biggest ever. The biggest
ever Hobie 16 World Sailing Championship was the 1996
event held in Dubai with just over 300 teams.

this is from the web site



The Final Countdown has begun!

From this moment on, we're transmitting from the Mayan Riviera.

64 boats are already on the beach. The Hobie Cat Factory Team has broken a world record by completely assembling a Hobie Cat 16 in 7.5 minutes. The best experts in the world, under the command of Doug Skidmore and Matt Miller work like Formula 1 pit mechanics.

The Reception Center is ready. The flags of more than 30 countries are now waving with the Mexican Caribbean Breeze. The multinational staff is working on the final details on every area: TV Production, journalism, photography and Telecommunications.

The Barceló Mayan Beach is one huge Hot Spot where hundreds of computers have been connected wirelessly with broadband speed.

Paul Ulibarri, the Principal Race Officer of the Mexico 2004 Coca Cola Hobie Worlds 16 declared exclusively to the International Press Center. "The quality and attention to detail that the Organizing Committee has put to this event is impressive" and he added: "without a doubt, this is the most organized Worlds I have ever witnessed."

Lori Monhey, Vice President of the IHCA and Coordinator of this World Championship is supervising the Reception Center, the Competitors Registration, the Regatta Office and the Judges' Room, the Communications Center and every detail of the facilities.

Mexico is ready. Competitors from over 30 countries will arrive tomorrow and on from different flights from all round the globe. The land of the Mayas grants the "flying cats".

And, friends, this is just the beginning.

Visit the Official Website www.hobieworlds.com for information to the minute.

Communication Center

Hobie Worlds Mexico 2004

Mayan Riviera

The Hobie 16 Worlds
Racing starts on Wednesday for the Women’s, Youth, Master and Grand Masters World Championship.
The Forecast is for partly cloudy skies with a high of 87oF with winds from the East Northeast at 12 mph.




Who to watch:

In the Women’s the defending World Champions from France Lauren Pelen and Lea Jeandott will be on the starting line ready to defend their title. To do that they will have to hold off their French teammate and winner of the ISAF World in the Hobie 16 class Marie Duvignac sailing with Pauline Thevenot.

Bronze medallist from the ISAF Worlds Susan Korzeniewsi sailing with Kathleen Tracy (USA) will be looking for her first World Championship victory.

Annie Nelson, sailing with Eliza Cleveland[my favorite H-16 sailor], will be making her return to the Hobie 16 class after winning the Women’s Worlds in 1995.

The youth helms who finished first second and third at the last World Championships will all be in Mexico for the 2004 Youth Worlds.

Defending Youth World Champion from Australia Robbie Loving will be sailing with Sarah Holland. Christophe Relaud (FRA) second in 2002 will be sailing with Alban Rossollin. Third in 2002 was Brice Pelen also from France he will be sailing with Loraine Beaumont.

The best hope for a good US finish most likely lies with Bret Sullivan and Samantha Simon from New Jersey.

In the Masters Kerli and Ali Corlett will be the team to beat as the highest placing returning team from the 2002 Masters Worlds. They finished third in 2002. To win they will have to beat New Zelands Rex Sellers and Bev Sellers. Rex Sellers is a Gold ('84) and Silver ('88) medallist in the Tornado class.

Bruce Tardrew and Sarah Turnbull (AUS) finished second in the Grand Masters in 2002 and will be in Mexico They will be challenged by Brazilian Luiz Gonzaga Machado, winner of the 200 Masters Championship sailing with Carlos Motta in the Grand Masters in Mexico

Results, pictures and comentary are up on the website.
http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

Direct Link to results
Youth
Women
Masters

Press Release
For Imediate Release
May 5

Report from Eliza Cleveland (USA) crewing for Annie Nelson in the Womens Hobie 16 World Championship


Hello Race Fans!!!
This is my first report from the Women´s Hobie 16 Womens World Championship! I am down on the Riviera Maya -- about an hour south of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula. I got here two days ago and it is about 85 degrees during the day going down to about 70 at night. The hotel that is hosting the World Championship is huge with a huge pool, beach, spa, and I’m not sure what else. I have done absolutely
nothing except eat eat eat since my skipper and I weighed in only .7 kilos over the minimum weight.

Today was the first day of racing for the following World Championships: Youth, Masters, Grand Masters, and Womens. There are 60 boats provided by the Hobie Cat Company, and so there are two heats of sailing. In the morning the Masters and Grand Masters went out first while the Women and Youth waited on the beach.

Finally it was our turn, and the conditions had gotten more and more perfect. By the time we got out to the race course, it was blowing about 14 knots and there was some chop and waves.

We had an amazing first start. We were probably in fourth place and then rolled the boat in third place. But when we got to the windward mark, we HIT it (which is a huge no-no) and we had to do a "penalty turn" which meant that we had to turn 360 degrees on the water. It is a very very slow thing to do and means that all the boats that are close to you just zoom by you. We caught up with some boats down wind, but then on the next beat, we hit the mark again. Annie Nelson (my skipper) was trying to stay on the trapeze as we started rounding the mark, but she got tea-bagged and
flew off the back....thus forcing us to hit the mark again. So we did another 360! But we did catch up with some of the pack and ended up finishing in 7th place (out of 18 boats).

Race 2 the conditions were fairly similar except that the waves were getting a little bigger. Our start wasn’t the greatest, and then we actually hit another mark. Our rudder got caught on the line and kicked up slowing us way down. At this point we were second to last.

We tacked and went to the right side of the course where no one else had gone...we had nothing to lose... But it paid off and we rounded the windward mark in about 7th place. We kept going to the right side of the course on every beat, and eventually we ended up finishing in third place in that race.

We are in 5th place overall and the top American team.

We have two more days of racing.

Liza Cleveland

Great Video at the Worlds Web site. It takes a little time to load, but it's worth it.

Check it out May 5 Results & Reports

Video at bottom of page

that video was very well done... save the cheesey music

Day 2 Update from Eliza Cleveland, sailing with Annie Nelson, USA

Hello Race Fans!!!

The weather conditions were similar to yesterday. Fairly light winds (single trapping to start out) built in the afternoon to solid, screaming double trapping. The Women and Youth sailed in the morning, and the Masters and Grand Masters sailed in the afternoon. Since we raced in the morning, the breeze was lighter than yesterday.

Race 1: We had what could best be called, a third-row start. I'm not quite sure what happened, but during the last 20 seconds we got totally buried. Needless to say, we tacked as soon as possible on to port tack and had to duck a number of boats. So once again we headed right, which really did well by us yesterday -- however it was a huge gamble given that the wind conditions were so different in the morning than they were yesterday afternoon. The right side of the course was definitely the slow side yesterday for those groups sailing in the morning -- it was full of huge holes where there was no wind apparently.

So off we went, and the further we got, the better the wind got. By the time we were at the layline, we were double trapped. To our great surprise and delight, we rounded in 5th place. We had to go twice around the winward mark and had a downwind finish, where we ended up in 3rd place. Annie Nelson (my skipper) is a total master at surfing the waves downwind.

Race 2: This time we had an unbelievable start near the boat. We were first off the line, and decided to stay with the rest of the fleet in order to cover them. Only 4 boats went right this time (probably because they saw what it had done for us in the first race). We tacked out so that our lay line would be super easy to call, and what did we find at the mark were a couple of the people who had gone right rounding first. We were third around the mark at that point. This time the course was one where we had to round the windward mark three times and finish downwind. We kept our lead, and then passed the second-place boat during one of our runs. We were really close to Pam Noriega and her mom, but didn't get a chance to pass them before the finish. We came in second!

Presently we are in third place with Pam Noriega and her mom, Martha, winning with 6 points, Rosarito Martinez and Kamil Berrios from Puerto Rico are in second place with 8 points, and Annie Nelson and I are in third place also with 8 points. A tie is broken by determining who has had a better race, and the Puerto Ricans won the first race today, so that's why they are in second place.

The entire experience continues to be fantastic. The organization is wonderful, with huge numbers of helpers on the beach. All the top guys from the Hobie Cat Company are here and along with Alberto Ponce, (our Mexican host who as spent the last three years working on this regatta) the entire regatta is running smoothly, quickly, and on time.

The food continues to be astounding, and rumor has it that the mohitos are the best anyone has ever tasted. Every night we have videos that were taken during the races, and for the last two nights we've been given "chalk talks" by the current world champion, Gavin Colby who has completely blown most of us away with new ways of tuning the boats.

Tomorrow is our last day of racing, and the Women will most likely sail in the afternoon when it promises to blow once again.

Liza Cleveland

For results, pictures, video and commentary go to the Hobie Worlds web site:
http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

Friday:
Cloudy skies. High 88F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph.

I'd like to know more about these so called "new ways" of tuning the boats.

I'm not in Mexico until Saturday but Liza has promised to take good notes.

Over the Aussie summer, word has it that Gavin (already damn fast on a 16) found another gear - I'd like to hear about it, too. He's definitely got the credentials and the credibility to back up any tuning he may be trying. He's a world champion who may be about to repeat. As far as I'm concerned, he sailing's E.F. Hutton.

And a really nice guy. We had him in Ireland in March 2003 for a training session, and then in August we were de-rigging beside him at the UK Nationals. He chatted away and offered advice on our rigging etc., even though we were sailing different classes. A great ambassador for all sailing.

I just spoke to Liza
She and Annie had a rough day today that included a capsize. It looks like the Mexicans, Pamela and Martha Noriega have won the Womens Wolrds (not 100% on that).

Hello Race Fans!!!
I am sending this report a day late because we did not find out the results of the regatta until late last night because there were a number of protests that had to be heard by the Protest Committee.

The day was going to be a challenging one. Arriving on the beach at 8:30 to help the Brazilian Grand Master team with whom we were switching off boats, the wind was alread blowing hard. It was cloudy, and the wind was still from the NE with a possibility of going more easterly as the day progressed.

The Masters and Grand Master teams left the beach, and I went back to the hotel to eat more food. Because Annie and I were only .7 kilos over minimum weight, there was still a possibility of another weigh-in. Which reminds me, at the end of our last race on Day 1, we hit the beach and immediately a gentleman from the Race Jury came up and asked that we please get weighed again. We had promised ourselves to be sure to drink a bottle of water each on the way back to the beach, but we forgot, and once you hit the beach, if they think you might be underweight, you get weighed immediately. If it turns out that you are underweight, all your races for that day are disqualified. So we went over to the high-tech scale, stripped down to our bathingsuits, and got weighed. Luckily we had gained a kilo...as I mentioned, we´ve been trying to eat as much as possible!

Race 1: After the somewhat chaotic exodus from the beach (due to the fact that they blow a horn and all of a sudden 60 boats want to leave out of a fairly small stretch of beach that is not near reefs), we headed out to the race course. Suddenly I was experiencing conditions heretofore never experienced by yours truly. The waves were massive. The wind was blowing about 17 knots which is a decent double-trapping breeze, but the waves made just staying on the boat difficult. At times when you are out on the trapeze, the boat would fly over a wave and both your feet would leave the boat!

Our start was good, and about half-way down the course we headed right which was windier the other two days. It was definately a crazier place to be with huge waves coming at all angles due to a very strong current running north. At the windward mark I believe we rounded in 5th place. The boat that actually won that race was about 100 feet in front of us. Downwind was a rollercoaster ride. The key is to try and surf the waves while making sure that you don´t dig in your bows which would result in the boat pitchpolling Annie is very experienced at surfing the waves on a Hobie, and it was an amazing learning experience for me. What a wild ride downwind!

At the gates we rounded the left one and headed up the right side of the course to big wind and big waves. Annie´s rudder did not go down all the way after the rounding (it is normal to raise your windward rudder going downwind) and so she had to get off the trapeze to get back onto the boat to fix it. Just as she was going in, a wave came and knocked her completely off the boat, so she was dragging behind it! At that point we started capsizing, and so I unhooked my trapeze line (so I wouldn´t get pulled under the boat if it turtled) and swam out of the way as the boat came down over me. We both swam to the other side of the boat to get up on the hulls so it wouldn´t turtle and so we could right it. Luckily with a lot of wind that is pretty easy to do if you have the mast pointing just off the wind. So it only took about 4 or 5 minutes to get sailing again, but we knew that was a lost race for us. But we caught a lot
of the fleet and ended up 7th in that race. A number of boats got out to the race course and simply decided not to race in those conditions.

Race 2: We had a less-than-perfect start, but not horrible, and all of a sudden the team from New Caladonia was port-tacking the entire fleet. All of a sudden there was mayhem, and people were screaming ¨starboard¨ Then people started yelling ¨Protest¨. I really thought someone was going to be hurt -- it was an incredibly crazy thing to do with the crazy wave-wind conditions we were sailing in.

But the rest of that race was uneventful and we finished in 5th place.

We sailied six races over the three days, and thus we were allowed to throw out our worst race. After throwing out one of our 7s, we finished the regatta in 6th place. There was an awards banquet last night, and the award went to the first 6 place finishers, so I have a wonderful plaque with a Mayan sculpture on it. I am thrilled!

My hands and feet are completely chewed up with blisters and cuts, but I have two days off until the Open World Championship begins on Monday. The cuts will certainly not heal, but my skipper/boyfriend, Bob Merrick is bringing me some new sailing gloves (which are actually gardening gloves apparently that all the Tornado sailors (I think) use. I will have to completely tape my hands and feet so that nothing gets worse.

I wish I could explain to you the comradrie between all the many countries who are here and the passion which they all feel for catamaran sailing. It is amazing.

Liza Cleveland

We are through the Women’s, Jrs, Masters and the Grand Masters events... and one day of the Championship. We completed 3 races today with winds in the low teens. There was a scare before the first race with a storm cell and some lightning. All boats were sent back to the beach. It was a wild few minutes with 60 boats trying for any available space as they came in all at one time from the start area. The beach team and other sailing teams on the beach assisted and we were able to get all on the beach with no damage. THAT is a good thing for the beach team as any damaged boats have to be repaired of replaced before the next off the beach is called. We had 3 races and a few collisions during the day including one good port starboard... that boat was holed, but will be ready to go in the morning. We now have 121 teams in the semi finals as an error allowed too many to be qualified. He is a happy man as Doug Skidmore convinced us to allow the 61st boat into the event. This is an issue as we have only 3 spare boats now. YIKES!

It really is a great event. I wish you all could be here!

Sorry not so many reports from me... I am and have been very busy!

Hello Race Fans!!!

Hobie 16 Worlds semi-finals day 1

Our day was not the greatest. We are now a fleet of 120 boats and so 60 sail every other race. We switch boats every race we sail, which means that we have to get it all set up in a short time.

We were in the first group, and we were out on the course on time by 10:00 this morning only to be sent in when a thunderstorm moved over the sailing area. They made us sail back to the beach as fast as we could, sail up onto the sand, and get away from the boat quickly. Lightening was coming down not far away. After a two-hour postponement racing got under way in difficult conditions. The current was moving up wind, as it has been all week, making for large steep waves. The wind was just strong enough for marginal double trapping. The teams that were the best at powering their boat up on the beats and surfing the waves down wind had the best days.

Our start was pretty bad because we hadn't checked every little tiny thing when we got the boat. As soon as Bob got on the trapeze, his line loosened and he was washed over the back. Luckily as I had had this experience with Annie, I knew to get off the wire and back on tto the boat as quickly as I could so that we didn't capsize. Yes, I saved the Day! Haha. but it was a small victory as we were now in last place. The fleet is So Good that even tiny mistakes like that that take up an extra 3 minutes will leave you in last place...alas.

The rest of the race was a matter of bouncing off waves, getting hit broadside by waves (anyone see "Master and Commander?") and trying to keep your feet on the boat, and having some scary mark roundings as we seemed to always be coming in on port tack. But it was a great learning experience. We finished 51st out of 60 boats. Pretty BAD.

The second race we got a little buried at the start, but quickly tacked and headed off to the right side of the course with the biggest waves but hopefully some wind. It was not to be the case. There were some huge holes without wind out there and we would practically stop. But we tried to ride the waves downwind while keeping the jib flying, and we ended up 24th. There are only two more days before they cut the top 56 teams and send them to the gold fleet. If we make that, it will mean back to back races with switching boats every race. It will be grueling, but at this point we face an uphill battle to make the cut. We will do our best.

Since we only had 3 races today, some teams have sailed two races and others have sailed only one. More tomorrow.

Full results are on the web site: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

Liza

Hello Race Fans!!!

Yesterday was another day of minimal wind. At times we were double trapped, but mostly it was single-trapping conditions.

There were four races yesterday, and we were supposed to race in the second and fourth races. So while we could have gotten up late, we didn't -- probably because we were too keyed up.

Race 1: (Our first race) Wind was out of the east blowing about 9 knots. Our start was unbelievable. But it was so good that I thought we were probably over the starting line early. We headed up the left side of the course closer to the beach than the open ocean where the waves would have been smaller. At the top mark we rounded in 5th place. The rest of the race went well and we didn't lose any boats, finishing 5th. It was GREAT. And NO, we were not over early!

Race 2: Again, our start was one where I kept saying, "Bob, we are already over the starting line!!" But in a World Championship, you never go back and re-cross the starting line to exonerate yourself from an over-early. But it made me feel very relaxed the entire race because I assumed we were going to have to throw out that race. But again, we stayed on the shore side on all beats upwind and had a very respectable finish of 16!

We have now sailed four races altogether in the semi-finals, and we get to throw out our worst race and not count it. So we threw out our 51 from yesterday so now we are in 21st place overall with 121 teams. Not too shabby. We didn't get off the water until 6:00 pm because the poor people in the third race today were stuck on the water for over 3 hours because the wind died in the middle of their race thus the race committee had to abandon it. And so they had to start their race all over again.

Today is the last day of the semi finals. We should have two more races, and then the top 60 teams advance to the Gold Fleet -- the finals.

Liza Cleveland

May 11

Hobie 16 Worlds semi-finals day 2

The fleet was again racing in marginal double trappezing conditions Tuesday with steep waves. Race one and two went off without a hitch, but the groups racing in race three had a much tougher time. Race three was plagued by general recalls, postponements (while waiting for the wind to increase) and an abandonment. The race was not completed until some five hours after the boats left the beach. As a result race four for the day was not completed until 6:00 at night and, needless to say, the race committee’s goal of getting in five races today was not met. Racing in the semi-finals will continue tomorrow (Wednesday).

Gavin Colby and Simone Mattfield from Australia are in the lead at the moment. When asked who his competition was for the championship Colby responded that he wasn’t focused on anyone else. His goal was just to continue to get good starts and top five finishes in the races. In that regard the Australians faltered a bit today with a 21 in the second race today, which at this point they are throwing out.

Colby and Mattfields teammates from Australia, Worrall and Seibold, are in second but have also sailed a bad race, a 31.

Right behind the Australians in third is the youth team from Guatemala, Maegli and Lopez. The Guatemalans have the advantage at this point with a 10 as a throw out.

For complete reults: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

May 12, 2004

Hobie 16 World Championships

Today was the last day of the semi-finals. Five races were completed giving each team a total of six races in this stage of the championship. The wind conditions were a bit more consistant today but not much different than they have been all week. From this point the top sixty teams will advance to the final round and sail as one fleet for the remaining two days of the World Championships. For those who make the cut, racing will get more difficult with all of the top sailors in one fleet. For everyone else it is time to party. Most of those who do not qualify will remain in Mexico over the weekend to take advantage of all that this beautifull all-inclusive resort has to offer. The official list of qualified teams will be announced at the "cut party" tonight, and scores will be posted shortly after the anouncement has been made.

Event web site: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

For more pictures check out: http://portcredit.net/h16worlds/

Hello race fans!!
Well, today was the last day of the semi finals, and the top 60 teams only will advance to the finals. The winds were light all day 8 - 12 knots, and that is good for Bob and me.

Race 1: The winds were so light that it was mostly only single trapping conditions, and I am the lucky one that gets to be on the wire when it is light. Poor Bob has to sit on the boat and maybe even hike out with his feet under the hiking straps if it is marginal... We got the boat tuned up exactly as we've been doing every day on the beach and we remembered to check everything. On the way out to the race course, we do some testing to see if it is all working correctly. There isn't much time for that as they were trying to get five races in today so that everyone sailed six races in the semi-finals. And we had a fairly good start right in the middle of the starting line so we were on starboard for a while until about the middle of the course when we tacked over to the right side. As we were getting somewhat close to the starboard when we got a huge header so we tacked. All the boats that thought they were already on the layline were now overstanding and so we actually beat a
number of them around the mark. Very good luck there!!!!!
Down wind was the same as yesterday -- trying to focus on keeping the jib trimmed perfectly and trying to catch some waves. No major mishaps. They shortened the course and we ended up in 13th. Very respectable.

Race 2: Another good start in the middle of the line where we slogged it out for a while with other boats all around us so we tacked out a little earlier than the first race. The wind picked up nicely up at the windward mark and we were double-trapping. I believe we rounded in about 15th, but then we caught some boats during our downwind legs and ended up that race with an 11th.

So now our final scores are 51, 24, 5, 21, 13, 11. It pretty much means that we have qualified for finals!!! We won't know the final standings until the party tonight, so I'll have to give them to you tomorrow. Or you can check the website:
www.hobieworlds.com
I heard I was in part of yesterday's video -- hugging the organizer of the regatta, Beto Ponce after our race where we came in 5th. I haven't had a chance to check out the website, but I have heard it is really well done.

A lot of people are taking photos, and hopefully the competitors will be given them after the regatta, so I'll be sure to send along the good ones.

The them for the party tonight is a Cuban festival, and they have set up a huge wooden pirate ship on the beach with giant speakers, a dance floor, food stations, and tables with tablecloths!!!! It is going to be somewhat formal apparently.

So now we have two days of racing left. Only 60 teams sail, so with 60 boats, we are racing the entire day. It is normal to switch boats after every single race, and that will make things tough as well. Wish us luck -- we're hanging with the big dogs now!!!!!

Liza

Hobie 16 World Championship – Finals – Day 1

Hello Race Fans!!

Last night was the “Cut Party.” Traditionally, it is a party to celebrate those who made it into the final round, and make those who didn’t feel better. The party last night was an all-out grand festival with excellent food, warm sea breezes (it was held on the beach), and even dancing girls (and boys). Alberto Ponce, our Mexican host, put together an extravaganza! A few days ago, a crew started building a giant ship and stage on the beach, and yesterday they added huge speakers and lights. With puffs of smoke and fireworks coming out of the stage last night, the first set of performers were fire dancers. They held either batons or cords with fire burning at the ends. It was beautiful. Then the dancers and singers came out and they were right out of a Vegas show. Tons of beautiful costumes, lots of songs in Spanish, and great dancing.

At the end of the show, the names were read out, and Bob and I were in 20 place out of 60. That was good since we have to carry over our scores into the final round.

Today was the first day of the final round, and we had to sail every race competing against the top 60 teams in the world. Needless to say, it was a challenging fleet. One mistake and about 20 boats would pass you. The mark roundings were absolute scream-fests of people yelling in multiple languages, and the starts were like none I’ve ever been in…imagine 60 boats all lined up perfectly at the last second and then zooming off with incredible acceleration.

I won’t give you a blow by blow of our four races because I really don’t remember much about them. We had to switch boats for every race which meant that we had to tune each of them to our liking…changing trap wire lengths, changing batton tension, etc.

Unfortunately, our first race was really bad and we were almost last. It kind of set a negative tone for day… We had the boat tuned wrong, and while everyone else was double trapping, we could only single trap. We were so slow…!

Our last race went very well. We had a great start, and went up the left side of the course where the waves were flatter. (Yes, another day of 6 foot seas!).

All the course were long courses – three times around the windward mark with a downwind finish.

We started this part of the regatta in 20th place, but now we are now in 30th place. Our scores for today’s races were: 53, 18. 42, 11.

Lots of food and a very early to bed are in order so we can sail another full day tomorrow. Lots of pictures and video on the website. I heard we were in one of the videos too!

Liza

For Imediate Release

Hobie 16 Worlds

After day 1 of the finals Axel Silvy and Pauline Jupin have taken the lead with four incredible races. The french duo scored a 1,8,1,2 in the four races sailed on Thursday and have a solid lead going into the final day of the championship. Defending Champions from Australia, Gavin Colby and Simone Mattfield, have slipped to third.

Six American teams made it into the finals. William Jeffers and Karen Grisko, from New York, are the top of the American goup in 24th. In other news a group of Americans who did not make the final round had a great day fishing and so the US team will be feasting on mahi mahi tonight.

Full results at: http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/default.asp

For Imediate Release
May 15

The Hobie 16 World Championship ended Friday with four more races on the final day.
There were once again marginal double trapeezing winds for the first two races of the day.
There was a long postponement before race three when the winds dipped below the
five knot class minimum. Fortunately the wind filled with a vengance and the last two
races were sailed in about 18 knots. Much credit goes to PRO Paul Ulibarri for patiently
waiting for the wind, not to mention the fantastic work performed by him and his team over the course of the entire regatta. Fourty seven races were run over the two weeks of racing.

The French team of Axel Silvy and Pauline Jupin had another epic day to win the series by seventy five points over the defending champions from Australia.

All of the sailors have had the time of their lives racing in paradise off the beach of this tropical resort. The general consensus is that the event organizer Alberto Ponce put together the best Hobie Worlds ever.


The next Hobie 16 Worlds will be held in South Africa in 2006.

Event website http://www.hobieworlds.com/h16-2004/

END

Hello all!

Yesterday [Friday] was our last and final day of racing in the Hobie 16 World Championship. We were sailing against 60 of the best teams in the world, with over 200 teams competing for spots in the final round. The day started out with another heavy breakfast (ham omelet, waffles, sausages, potatoes, orange juice and very strong Mexican coffee) (Thank goodness I can now go back to my bowl of oatmeal...). The winds for the first two races were marginal for double trapping - most of the time Bob was hiking out with his feet under the hiking straps, and I was on the trapeze. But for the first race we had tuned the boat incorrectly, and were slow slow slow. We literally got rolled on every leg. As the course was a 2G, that meant there were 6 legs...! Also, we hit a boat rounding the windward mark and had to do a 360. It was a slaughter. We ended up in 43rd in that race. It would have been worse, but there were some OCSs that pushed us up a little.

The second race was a little better -- we ended up with a 38. The third race was sailed after a very long postponement on the water as we waited for the winds to pick up to the class minimum of 5 knots. And the wind finally did come in with a vengence. In the last two races, the winds were blowing about 17 knots, and the entire pace picked up. Mark roundings were complicated, scary, total mahem events. People are screaming in all different languages so that you see them. Luckily, Bob has sailed in a number of World Championships in other classes of boats, so he remained pretty cool throughout.

Our last race turned out to be our best with a finish of 22. We ended up in 34th place in the World Championship, with the only other American beating us being Jeff Alter -- the son of Hobie Alter, designer of the Hobie 16. He came in 20th. The event was dominated by the Australians and the French. A French team won the event, and the second and third places were taken by Australian teams.

After the racing was another closing ceremony/show where we had a chance to see all the people who have been working for over two years to put the event together. They were a cast of thousands, it seemed. The event ran so smoothly that the competitors were completely unaware of the numbers of people running the show, and it was wonderful to have a chance to thank them.

The famous Cuban dancing show once again entertained the crowd, and rumor has it that numbers of race committee folk, competitors, and others stayed up until dawn drinking and dancing the night away.

All in all it was an event that was wonderful to be a part of.

Liza