The Official
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'We undertacked the mark and were lucky to get a lift,' said LE SUEUR after their victory. 'We could double trapeze, as everybody else sat inside.' FERRY and LE SUEUR had a bad start, 'We had dirty air and we were pushed up, so we were forced to tack.' They took a flier inshore and sailed between the rocks just outside the surf towards the upwind mark. LE SUEUR commented, 'That paid, so we decided to go back in the second beat and this time we tacked earlier.' That was their golden move, since it opened up a comfortable lead.
At the finish, the South Africans cheered for their fellow countrymen. The French teams of Thomas RICHARDS and Moana TRANKCART and Cédric BADER and Yann MONTOYA sailed consistently in the top three and finished second and third respectively. BADER reflected, 'We did not take any risk and staid with the fleet. Our start was bad, but we went to the right side on the left. There was more wind and the waves pushed us up.'
During the boat swap, the competitors showed real team spirit, as they helped each other with tuning the rig. After two general recalls, the second fleet started clearly. The wind had dropped to five knots, so it was a game of wind search. The French sailors from New Caledonia, Rudolph CHICHEMANIAN and Christian BRUGES, had good boat speed and were first at the upwind mark. CHICHEMANIAN said, 'After we rounded it, we passed another boat in front on port tack, but it was too close and we had to take a penalty.' FIGUEROA and MALATRASI grabbed the lead and finished first.
FIGUEROA commented, 'We were fighting with them, because they were really fast. The wind was very light and shifty, so it was difficult sailing. We came inshore and halfway we got more pressure.' The race committee shortened the course at the bottom mark, due to a further wind drop. The South Africans Paul LAGESSE and Tyran KERFORD came in third.
After a postponement, the third fleet was sent out, but two general recalls later, the race was abandoned.
Today will see the second day of the semi finals for the 17th Hobie Cat 16 World Championships. 112 teams are competing for one of the 56 spots in the final races on Thursday and Friday.
Semi Final Top Ten After One Race
Pos | Nation | Helm | Crew | R1 | Pts |
1 | PUR | Enrique FIGUEROA | Carla MALATRASI | 1 | 1 |
1 | RSA | Shaun FERRY | Michele LE SUEUR | 1 | 1 |
3 | FRA | Rudolph CHICHEMANIAN | Christian BRUGES | 2 | 2 |
3 | FRA | Thomas RICHARDS | Moana TRANKCART | 2 | 2 |
5 | FRA | Cédric BADER | Yann MONTOYA | 3 | 3 |
5 | RSA | Paul LAGESSE | Tyran KERFORD | 3 | 3 |
7 | FRA | Jerome LE GAL | Siret MICKAEL | 4 | 4 |
7 | GUA | Juani MAEGLI | Cristina GUIROLA | 4 | 4 |
9 | FRA | Christophe Renaud DE MALET | Albin ROSSOILIN | 5 | 5 |
9 | AUS | Tim SHUWALOW | Cameron HOOPER | 5 | 5 |
Qualifier Top Ten Results
Pos | Nation | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | Pts |
1 | TAH | Teiva VERONIQUE | Kaya GUILLAIN | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2 | RSA | Andrew WARD | Steve ARNOLD | 4 | 1 | 5 |
3 | NZL | Fletcher WARREN | Georgia MYERS | 2 | 3 | 5 |
4 | ITA | Mark LARUFFA | Joshua SELIG | 2 | 4 | 6 |
5 | FRA | Alban BRUNO | Jean BERNAZ | 1 | 6 | 7 |
6 | AUS | Shane PETERSON | Jesse DOBIE | 4 | 3 | 7 |
7 | FRA | Maxime CLERCQ | Yoann BONTE | 7 | 1 | 8 |
8 | BRA | Bernardo ARNDT | Bruno OLIVEIRA | 2 (RDG) | 8 | 10 |
9 | BRA | Carlos AZEVEDO | Daniel AZEVEDO | 6 | 5 | 11 |
10 | RSA | Robert ARCHIBALD | Paula ARCHIBALD | 10 | 2 | 12 |