Hobie 14 Open World Championships
Hobie Tiger Europeans
Hobie Cat Fox Eurocup
Hobie Cat FX-One Eurocup
Hobie Youth Challenge 2003

Travemunde, Germany
Thursday, July 24, 2003

German Teams dominate the Leader Board at Hobie 14 Worlds

German sailors hold down three of the top four places in the Hobie 14 World Championships being held at Travemunde, Germany. In the light and tricky conditions, consistency has been the key to success with Joachim Webener the only sailor in the fleet able to boast all five races with top ten finishes. This has been enough to secure him a tie for first place with another local sailor Frank Suchanek.

Three races were held today, the second day of racing, but with a later afternoon storm forecast, organisers were keen to finish racing early and have all sailors ashore prior to the change. Several sailors were caught out in the variable conditions while waiting for the start of race 2 of the day. Having drifted downwind from the Committee boat after the completion of Race 1 of the day, they found it difficult to get back to the line for the start of the next race when the wind softened for several minutes just prior to the start. The wind filled in again, but too late for many to get back to the line, and the remainder of the race was spent trying to salvage a respectable result.

Dutch sailor Thorin Zeilmaker finished the day with a top ten finish followed by two firsts, but unfortunately an OCS in the first race dropped him down the results. With excellent speed and an uncanny ability to find the best of the breeze on the long courses, Zeilmaker was the dominant sailor on the course, but with an OCS and one other mid fleet result it will be difficult for him to get back into the top placings.

Young South African sailor Philip Du Toit has also sailed well, although a lapse in concentration between races saw him late for the start of the second race and a 21st place finish.

The big improver through the first two days has been Peter Manvis from the Netherlands - a multi-European Champion in the Hobie 16, but virtual newcomer to the Hobie 14. Scores of 20,15,4,2,12 have moved Manvis into third position, although a significant 20 points between the leading German sailors.

Racing continues tomorrow with the new World Champion decided on Saturday.

14 Year Old Brits prove too much for Olympic and World Champions

The Hobie 16 Spinnaker event being held off the beach at Travemunde is aimed at providing young sailors the experience of sailing the Hobie 16 with the newly released spinnaker kit. To provide these sailors with an even more unique experience, Mitch Booth (two time Olympic medallist) and Gavin Colby (Hobie 16 World Champion) are sailing against the youth sailors in the Open Division. Booth and Colby were expected to dominate the event, but these two world class sailors are currently being upstaged by two 14 year old British sailors after the first two days of sailing.

Tom Phipps and Jonathan Cook are leading having sailed the more consistent series with a worst place of third while Booth and Colby have each suffered from inconsistency in the light and moderate conditions. Booth and Colby have come in for some not so subtle ribbing from many of the other 200 Hobie sailors at the event, but both were extremely complimentary of the sailing of Phipps and Cook, noting in particular their teamwork and boat handling which has obviously benefited from the coaching and training prior to the event.

All Hobie sailors at the event will be watching the remainder these results with interest, as Phipps and Cook have an excellent chance of taking out the Open event as well as the Youth event.

Racing continues tomorrow, with the final races on Saturday.

Great Britain’s Youth Cat programme produces results

The future of cat sailing in the UK looks extremely promising with younger and younger sailors in the RYA’s youth programme. Sam Newton and Nicholas Taylor have won every race in the two person, spinnaker cat, the Dragoon. With less sail area the Dragoon provides a great training ground for younger sailors to develop skills before moving on to more demanding and powerful boats. Racing continues off the beach at Travemunde tomorrow and Saturday.

Local sailors dominate Hobie Tiger Europeans

Joerg Gosche and Christoph Bock are dominating the Hobie Tiger European Championships with 2 wins from races held today in the moderate conditions. The first race of the day, sailed in shifty 6 - 8 knots proved to be a one-way track with the left side favoured upwind and downwind, making it difficult to pick up places for any team. With a port biased line and a favoured left side, the race was almost one and lost at the start with Gosche and Bock leading from start to finish. Second place went to the mixed British/Swiss team of Will Howden and Cori Camenisch who did manage to make up some places moving up from fifth at the first mark to second at the completion of the race.

The second race was also won by Gosche and Bock with Howden and Camenisch crossing the line second in a building afternoon sea breeze. However, on the way back to shore, Howden crossed through part of the course for another fleet and were disqualified from the race along with several other teams. It is likely that some teams will be seeking redress from this action of the race committee.

Brian Phipps, coach of the British Youth Squad, was not able to match the performance of his son in the Hobie 16 Youth event, but is still doing well in 11th position in the 50 boat fleet.

Dutch sailors battle it out in the FX-one

The newest member of the Hobie family, the single handed FX-one, is proving to be an all Dutch affair, with Dirk Pool, Dirk Zwitser and Herre Deurloo holding down the first three places. Conditions have been near perfect for the boats with flat water and moderate breezes the order of the day. With a mainsail and geneker and only one person to handle both sails, the moderate conditions have enabled sailors to work on techniques to gain the best from this new breed of Hobie.