Today's Race Report
Open Hobie 16 World Championships
Wednesday, March 6th, Semi-Finals - Day 3 of 3
Results Home Page | Report | Regatta standings as of today
Dubai, (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): The unrelenting renaissance of South African sportsmen continues in Dubai, UAE where 14 RSA crews will dominate a 56-boat line-up in the Hobie Cat 16 World Championship Finals.
Following the final semi-final races in the Dubai Ports Authority/O'Neill sponsored event, the 112 teams were whittled down to the final 56 with South Africa, Australia and Germany supplying more than half of the qualifiers.
With the cut having been made, the two-day finals will be dominated by South African sailors who make up a quarter of the 56-boat fleet, while the next biggest contingent of qualifiers in the 17-nation final represent Australia with 10 teams, while Germany come next on five.
The remainder of the 56 finalists are made up of sailors from France, Holland, Brazil, Tahiti and the USA (three teams each), New Zealand, New Caledonia and Denmark (two teams each), and sole remaining entries from Papua New Guinea, the Ivory Coast, the French West Indies, Italy, Belgium and the UK.
Top of the list are Shaun Ferry and Alison Lewis with 18.5 points, followed by fellow South Africans William Edwards and his wife Lucinda on 22. Third best over the semis were Papua New Guinea's Mark Laruffa - five times South Pacific Champion - and Liz Wardley on 25 points.
In yesterday's three races, wins went to Germany's Detlef and Reinhold Mohr, Tahiti's Phillip Hars and Maxime Pouvreau and 1993 World Champion Ferry. The Mohr brothers, who finished the semi-finals in sixth place, took race one from Pierrich Artault and Vincent Baureau of the Ivory Coast with Brent Latter and Michael Cockburn of South Africa in third.
Hars and Pouvreau were first over the line in race two ahead of French pair Eric Proust and Beatrice Adam in second and third placed Andrew Ward and Angela Moderman of South Africa.
The final race of the day saw Ferry and Lewis score their second win of the semis to give them the overnight lead, while Holland's Peter Manvis and Martin Van de Bunt took second and Germany's Jens Ahlgrimm and David Dittmann claimed third.
With the points scored in the semi-finals being carried over to the six-race finals, skippers Ferry, Edwards and Laruffa hold a big advantage as the world's biggest-ever Hobie Cat 16 World Championships reach the critical stage. Also in with a chance of success are South Africa's Alan Lawrence and Alex Oreten, defending world champions Aaron Worrall and David Sylvester of Australia and Brazilians Claudio Cardoso and Frederico Monterio.
Still in the finals after a mixed bag of results in the semis are 1996 Women's World Champions Kerry Ireland and Jenny Dickson. The two Australians - the only all-girl team left - made it through by just a single point in 54th place. "It's a very strong finals line up in what is easily the toughest Hobie Cat World Championship ever staged," said Paul Pascoe, President of the International Hobie Class Association (IHCA). "At the moment it's wide open with any of the top crews in with a good chance of winning the title."
Supported by Emirates, Xerox, Net Tours, Catamaran Swiss Watches, APL and the Chicago Beach Hotel, the Hobie Cat 16 World Championships resume at around 10am today with the 56 finalists praying for good winds as the event reaches a dramatic climax.