The 1996 Hobie Cat 16 World Championship is shaping up be the most competitive ever, with over 300 entries from 52 countries making it the most hotly contested event in the 20 years since the first Hobie 16 World Championship was held in Hawaii in 1976.
From the outset, the hosts for the event, the Dubai International Marine Club were keen to make this a competitive Championship. Rather than leave it to chance, the DIMC generously donated 100 airline tickets to be used for the top team from each of 50 countries. Not only has this brought together the top 50 teams, but it has encouraged even more top sailors to enter for the event knowing that every country will be represented, and the eventual winner will not just be the best sailor at the event, but will truely be "World Champion".
Probably the strongest team, in terms of both quality and quantity is from the Republic of South Africa. Thirty Four South African Hobie 16 teams have entered for the Dubai Worlds - constituting the largest contingent ever to leave their shores for an event of this nature. Bearing with them is the promise of a good number of finishers in the top 10 considering South African performances at previous worlds where entries have generally been limited to five or 6 teams.
All of South Africa's top Hobie Sailors have entered, with the campaign spearheaded by Blaine Dodds and Steve Arnold (Nine time winners of the S.A.Hobie 16 Nationals) - Blaine having finished 2nd overall at five different Hobie Worlds and confident that 1996 will be his year. Also in attendance will be Shaun Ferry, World Champion in 1993, as well as ex Hobie 14 World Champion Alan Lawrence whose recent form on Hobie 16's has been threatening the established upper echelon of South African Hobie 16 sailors.
William and Lucinda Edwards, Garth Louden, Colin Whitehead, Andrew Ward and a number of other top sailors will also be there, together with S.A's first ever Hobie 16 World Champion (1978), Mick Whitehead, who will be vyeing for this first ever Master's title.
Backing up the recognised masters will be a number of South Africa's "young turks" ...... sailors who have learned their trade on Hobie 14's and recently moved up to 16's. Not to be ignored, they have recently been appearing on the rostrums at various regattas with frightening regularity - often one step above Ferry, Kruyt and Dodds. Watch for a few of these names appearing in the top 10 at the worlds: Brent Latter, Stoddard Lance, Gui Verhoevert, Andrew Young and Paul Lagesse.
One of the most successful countries, having won five of the ten World Championships run so far, Australia will be sending one of its strongest teams for several years. Defending Champions Aaron Worrall and Dave Sylvester will be keen to retain the title they won in Mexico last year. Since that win they have gone on to win the Hong Kong, Japanese and Australian Nationals. The Australian Nationals was close however, and they only won in the last race of an 8 race series from Mark Laruffa, sailing for Papua New Guinea, who is back at his best and training hard. The competition was so tough that Shaun Ferry could only manage a sixth and the teams that beat him are all now pre qualified for Dubai. It includes Rod & Kerry Waterhouse, Peter Bates, Bob " Bad News" Hughes, and Bob Engwirda who all consistenly achieve top 10 in Australian Nationals. Kerry Ireland won the Australian Women's Nationals sailed after sailing in the open and coming 13th, so she is keen to confirm her world champion status.
Having come second in the last two events, Claudio Cardoso and Frederico Monteiro from Brazil will be keen to move that one place up to on the winner's podium. In the '95 event, Cardoso lead with one race to sail, and only Worrall had any real chance of beating him. Cardoso and Worrall traded places up the last 200 metres of the last race, with the final outcome decided in the last tack, 50 metres from the finish. They will be out to erase the memory of this race.
Although few in number, the quality of Team USA is still very strong with 1995 National Champion Wally Myers heading the charge. Another strong contender is Carlton Tucker, a heavy weather specialist from the coastal town of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. This small community was severely devestated by the recent Hurricane to hit the area, and was also the site of the 1984 Hobie 16 World Championships. Carlton's has been the top US sailor for several years and finished 3rd in the windy '93 event in Guadeloupe, where his crew was injured in a spectacular crash in one of the early rounds.
Europe is sending the largest contingent to the event and will be keen to win, as no team from Europe has yet won the top spot in Hobie 16s. One of the strongest teams is the German Mohr brothers. Eight times European Champions (6 in the Hobie 16) and reigning European Champion after winning the record breaking European Championships in August 1995 attended by almost 250 teams.
Stefan Greismeyer from Italy, European Champion in 1993 and 1994 is expected to do well as are the two Dutch teams skippered by Geert Schouten and Peter Manvis. Other teams to look out for from Europe are Bredendiek, Hochfeld, and Stoll from Germany, Gazzanaud and Fequet from France, and Bardram from Denmark. Two Danish youngsters, Jesper Christensen and Thomas Gregersen, could also give the establihed names a hard time with both sailors having won junior European Championships. They, like the rest of Team Europe are well prepared and set to make their mark in Dubai.
The scene is set, the entries are in, the teams are ready, the talking is over. Everything is now in place for the what is shaping up to be the most exciting event ever in the history of Hobie Cats, and indeed catamaran sailing. Only time will tell who will walk away with the most highly sought after title of "Hobie Cat 16 World Champion".