Today's Race Report
Open Hobie 16 World Championships
Tuesday, March 5th, Semi-Finals - Day 2 of 3
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Dubai, (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): With just one day remaining in the semi-finals of the 1996 Hobie Cat 16 World Championships, each of the surviving 112 teams go into the concluding five races in the semis determined to capture one of the precious slots in the elite final 56.
Already seven semi-final races have been staged at the Dubai International Marine Club in the Arabian Gulf with just one skipper having enjoyed more than one win. Brazil's Claudio Cardoso - the world championship runner-up on the past two occasions - and crewman Frederico Monteiro notched up their second win yesterday (Tuesday) and are well-placed to make their third consecutive finals. The Brazilians won race two ahead of Mark Laruffa and Liz Wardley of Papua New Guinea and Rod and Kerry Waterhouse of Australia.
With winds of just six knots, the sailors battled hard to find the best parts of the sea for the breeze. First to score in the opening race of the day were Rob and Paula Archibald of South Africa who edged fellow countrymen Shaun Ferry and Alison Lewis into second place. Third home were Bob Engwirda and Nicola Wardley of Australia.
With 56 Hobie Cats out on the water for each race in the Dubai Ports Authority/O'Neill-sponsored world series, the battles for the best lines and turns at the marks are tightly fought and that was exactly the case in the penultimate race of the day. Engwirda - one of the best placed racers this morning after four races - secured his first win of the semis to give himself a great chance of appearing in the finals tomorrow and Friday.
The Australian skipper took the race off the Mina Seyahi coast from fellow Australians Gavin Luxton and Freya Derrick with South African husband and wife team Willian and Lucinda Edwards in third. But for Engwirda - like many of the sailors - there was little time to rest as he changed boats and went straight back on to the water for the fourth and last race of the day.
Engwirda, however, could only follow with 18th place in a race won by South
Africans Ferry and Lewis, the third placed crew in the 1995 World Championships.
Second across the line were Claude and Jean-Marie Thelier of the French West
Indies while third place went to former European Champion Stephen Griesmeyer,
the German skipper representing Italy, and Edward Canepa.
Today (Wed) the competitors are expected to face a five-race card with each crew likely to sail a maximum of six times over the semi-final stages. At the end of the day the worst score from the six will be dropped and the five best results will determine whether or not they reach the six-race finals.
Still in with a chance of reaching the last two days of competition are Womens World Champions Kerry Ireland and Jenny Dickson of Australia. After a poor 40th place in their opening run, the pair fared even worse with a 44th before bouncing back with a 16th and a much welcome and long-awaited fifth place.
"It's tough competing against these teams as some of the all-male crews are very strong," admitted Ireland, who currently lies in 63rd place overall but who is cheered by the fact that several crews ahead of her have raced just three times. With the lowest scoring teams making the finals, those above Ireland and Dickson may well trail her after their fourth race points are added on. Of the crews to have four races already under their sailing belts, leading the way with 29.75 points are Engwirda and Wardley, second best are South Africa's Blaine Dodds and Steve Arnold on 32, while next up are Ferry and Lewis on 43.75.
Because of the intricate scoring system involved in this sailing event, one man poised to shake up the leaders is Greismeyer. The man from Hamburg who sails under the Italian flag is down the overnight field in 35th place after four races, but a closer look at his scores so far reveals a first place, a fourth and a third added to a 57th which he incurred thanks to a premature start on the opening day of the semis and which he will surely discard.