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| Comments for 'Hobie 16 Nationals 2008' |
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| Posted by NickH on the 19 November 2008 |
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The re-scheduled H16 National Championship was held over the weekend of the 4th and 5th October, and the change of date and venue saw sixteen boats turn up to Rockley in Poole Harbour. Unfortunately strong winds and heavy squally showers deterred some from racing on Saturday, but with a delayed start, racing got under way at midday in a slight lull in the conditions.
On the race course it soon became apparent that conditions were deteriorating again and with numerous spectacular capsizes and pitchpoles, only half the fleet managed to finish. The team of Seb Greber and Nikki Boniface, enjoying the challenging conditions and stormed home in first place, closely followed by Neil Watts and Malcolm Barton in second and Luke Butler and Sam Rowles in third. As conditions continued to worsen, and with the wind gusting to 30 knots, the Race Officer made the wise decision to abandon racing for the day.
Sunday saw a break in the terrible weather and with a few hours of force three to four winds predicted between weather systems the racing was on. The light and shifty winds made for some very close and interesting racing and choosing the favoured side of the course was all important. There was a tremendous battle at the front of the fleet between Greber / Boniface and Butler / Rowles, with the latter team showing excellent consistency by never dropping below third. Three first places however, meant that Greber / Boniface just did enough to take the title by one point. Third place went to the father / daughter team of Dave and Emma Boniface, last year’s champions, who sailed a consistent series after experiencing a mighty crash on the first day. An excellent fourth place went to Simon Ellyant and Manny Austin who are relative newcomers to catamaran racing, who put in a string of consistent results just outside the top three. Sunday proved to be an excellent days racing thanks to the great race management of Race Officer Paul Butler. Laying on five good races in shifty conditions is quite an achievement, so our thanks go to the Butler family for their good work.
It was great to see a good number of H16s racing together and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Great competition in a relaxed environment. Our thanks go to Steve Beard at the Hobie Centre for hosting the event and donating generously to the prizes by awarding Hobie vouchers to the first four teams, and thanks to the Rockley Training centre for offering the use of their facilities.
Dave Boniface |
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