Today's Race Report
Open Hobie 16 World Championships
Monday, March 4th, Semi-Finals - Day 1 of 3
Results Home Page | Report | Regatta standings as of today
Dubai, (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): High winds and unpredictable seas provided a difficult day's sailing for many of the sailors taking part today (Monday) in the first semi-finals races in the 1996 Hobie Cat 16 World Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
With the weather having the upper hand, the original four-race card was reduced to three as the 112 crews took to the water for the first of three days' racing to determine the 56 finalists. Sponsored by the Dubai Ports Authority and O'Neill, sailing's biggest-ever Hobie Cat World Championship finally saw the appearance of the world-class crews seeded to the semi-final stages.
And it wasn't long before they made their mark with German-born skipper Stephen Greismeyer of Italy and partner Edward Canepa clinching the opening race in what were flat conditions, before South Africans Alan Lawrence and Alex Oreten overcame 26 knot winds to claim the second.
Greismeyer, the 1993 and 1994 Hobie 16 European Champion, looked in determined fashion as he came from sixth place at the first turn to outmanoeuvre five other crews to win comfortably from German qualifiers Jen Ahlgrimm and David Dittmann. Third home was another seeded skipper Harry Peeters and his crewman Laurence Eckman of Belgium.
After finishing ninth and eighth in the last two world championships, Greismeyer is set on a higher finish in what is being described by many of the competitors as the toughest-ever Hobie World Championship. Unfortunately for the man from Hamburg, he was ruled a premature starter in race three and had a weighty 57 points added to his 0.75 for that opening win. But with each crew losing their worst score from six races, he is still handily placed.
In an unfamiliar position back in 40th place in race one were Women's World Champions Kerry Ireland and Jenny Dickson of Australia. "We left everyone for dead at the start but lost the wind," said Ireland. "It was frustrating to see the boats go out in rougher weather later on as those are the conditions we're used to, but that's sailing and you have to make the best of what you get. We're confident we can bounce back in the other races."
The second race of the day saw a South African double as Lawrence and Oreten led home the British/Irish husband and wife team of William and Lucinda Edwards who are also seeded and representing South Africa. Third home behind the two RSA teams were British qualifiers Mathew Eeles and Philip Hillyard.
It was a day when many of the fancied sailors failed to deliver. Defending world champions Aaron Worrall and David Sylvester of Australia could only finish in seventh place in race two and 13th in race three, while in the opener Blaine Dodds and Steve Arnold from South Africa were down in 14th position. "This is a very difficult world championship with a lot of top quality teams," said Worrall. "At the moment, we're just looking to make the cut for the finals."
Also boosting his semi-final account with a win was Brazilian Claudio Cardoso who had been disappointed with a 21st place finish in the opening race. Cardoso and partner Frederico Monterio - runners-up in the past two world championships - bounced back in leg three to win by almost two minutes from South Africans Dodds and Arnold at speeds of around 16 knots. Third across the line were Tahiti's Didier Arnould and Billy Besson.
Of the crews to have completed two races so far, the Edwards' from South Africa lead he way with a second and a seventh, Peters and Eckman of Belgium are just behind them with a third and a 10th, while also performing with a mild degree of consistency are Denmark's Jesper Chrsitensen and Martin Thomsen with a 12th and a fourth.