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Races 4 To 6 - SHUWALOW And HOOPER Grab The Lead

Yesterday's conditions arrived right in time, as the Hobie 16 Worlds 2005 are coming to an end and the weather has been very tricky. The fourth semi final race had to be cancelled again on Wednesday, due to a 40 knot offshore wind that all of a sudden came in during the starting procedure. This morning, the race committee decided to use short courses (upwind, downwind, finish), in order to catch up on the schedule. Blaine and Roxanne DODDS from South Africa were in the lead at the first upwind mark, followed by the British youngsters Tom PHIPPS and Andrew TAYLOR. Both of them choose for the left side of the course, whilst SHUWALOW and HOOPER went to the right. The finish was close, but the Aussies caught a puff and beat father and daughter DODDS at the line. SHUWALOW remarked, 'We got it just before them.'

All teams swapped their boats quickly and sailed out again. The Germans Stefan WIESE-DOHSE and Versi GEHRMANN took the lead from the beginning and sailed a conservative fifth race. They went inshore after the upwind mark and increased their lead. 'It was nerve-racking,' said GEHRMANN afterwards. The DODDS finished second. Race six showed exciting competition between Australia and South Africa. FERRY and LE SUEUR were heading from the seaside of the course towards the finish, as SHUWALOW and HOOPER came from inshore. The South Africans got a header and fell back to a second position. SHUWALOW, who works for the Volvo Ocean Race organization, took advantage of a lift an won, 'We had a nice pressure on the run downwind.'

Races 7 To 9 - Brazil Dominates

The blue, green and yellow colours of the mainsails symbolized the Brazilian colours yesterday, as Brazil took three bullets. Juliano VIANA and Sebastiao GOMES won the seventh and ninth race, with Robert BEZERRA and Sergio NOTTINGHAM scoring a bullet in the eighth. After his first victory, VIANA explained their success, 'We come from a place with strong winds, so we know what to do with the breeze that was picking up. And we always went out on the ocean, because it was better there.' Hilton HALE and Kim ROWLANDS (RSA) grabbed the second position on the finish line saying, 'Blaine undertacked the line and we got him.'

In race eight, BEZERRA and NOTTINGHAM had a port tack start at the committee boat. BEZERRA commented, 'We had clean air and went off, but we watched the other competitors all the time.' There was more Brazilian fortune, as Bernardo ARNDT and Bruno ALIVEIRA finished second. All of them received a warm and enthusiastic welcome back on the beach by their fellow countrymen. BEZERRA reflected on their national team spirit, 'We live at the same place as Juliano and Sebastiao and we train together.'

VIANA and GOMES had to fight for victory in race nine, after rounding the first upwind mark in third position . VIANA said, 'On the downwind reach, we looked for wind and gibed several times in the center of the course. Sometimes for catching puffs and sometimes aggressively on others.' It paid off and they finished far ahead of the runners up, Paul LAGESSE and Tyran KERFORD from South Africa. VIANA added, 'We are going to celebrate it tonight. You never know about tomorrow.'

The top 56 teams will now go on to compete in the final round for the 2005 Hobie Cat 16 World Championship.

Semi Final Top Ten Results

Qualifier Top Ten Results