Fleet 46- Auckland
| Events/Notices | Results | Gallery | About us | Crew requests | |||
| NZ HOBIE NATIONALS - TAURANGA - MARCH 2~4 2012 Wow what a weekend of adventure, challenge, fun and personal growth!! As was expected we had a fantastic weekend at the annual Hobie 16 nationals held in Tauranga. Friday started with 5-6 knots NW coming down the harbor, and as 10 hobie skippers with crew and support set up amongst 12 or so Tornado’s and the Nacra crew, We began to colour the sulfur pt reserve with our colors. Blue skies and the picturesque backdrop of the mount set a stunning scene for the years premium sailing event. We set out on the clear waters, pumped up and ready for action! My plan was, Harry’s the man, follow him! so we followed him and Bill up wind checking the course, then realized when we were 100 meter’s up wind of the line and the race had already started!! We crossed the start 5 min late just behind Harry, and he still managed to win race 1!! Lots of close exciting moments including a top mark capsize by us (one of those freak gusts, you know the ones )as the wind gradually rose to 18 knots in the last race, yyeeeehhhaaaaaa!! Stunning sailing amoungst awesome people! Having the tornadoes and Nacra racing the course with us was insane, just when your ripping downwind in a puff feeling fast, a tornado flying a hull boasting a full geneka flies past at twice the speed!! I did however notice the odd tornado crew swimming franticly behind after being “tea bagged” Harry the master lead day one closely followed by Gemma Jones Rob Stewart and Steven Elder. A great club buffet dinner, drinks, raving about special moments ended a fantastic day 1 Saturday, well for Malcolm and I just another standard Manly Sunday day, 30 knots plus and angry surface conditions! We would have gone out (yeah right) but never the less a good day to talk boats, watch you tube and go pro clips and spend good time with good friends, followed by another well run BBQ by the club, hanging out and picking up sailing / tuning tips from the guru’s. A nice relaxed day. Sunday brought a stunning bluebird day, glassy windless conditions and eager sailors. Wind creeping up to 5 knots we hit the water. Some rather heated starts with El Presidente getting rather vocal as we bumped hulls, and snaked him on one start, along with Fee kindly washing Steven’s sails (another freak gust eh?) and some intense one on one duals, mixed with tornadoes ripping through the fleet and funky wind shifts made the day nothing short of exceptional! The last race is one I will remember for life. A fluky start of a 2 leg sprint, all boats stalling to stay on the line we opted to hold back then gently power up we got a great start, super close up wind dueling with Springy and Rob we were tight as at the top mark. Down wind Rob got a fluke gust and rocked ahead with Springy hooting and cheering him on! We rounded the bottom mark then half way up the wind started doing 360’s!! it was nuts, 5 boats all close, facing the same way all with different wind directions!! Time to be sharp I told Malcolm “this is it mate lets crack this one”! sneaking from one shift to the next we rounded second to Nath and Julia in the ANZ Fiji worlds boat, and the wind came beam on and kicked in! They were 2 boat lengths ahead, no idea we were right on there tails reaching hard one on the wire, franticly focused, 50 meters out then just when it counted picked up a gust and flew over the top wining it by half a boat length!!!!! I have to say it was the most glorious moment of my sailing life, a first at the nationals!! Unbeatable A relaxed unpack and prize giving with some amazing prizes generously donated by Springy saw the master of Hobie Harry take out 1st place by miles. Well done and well deserved. Also congrats to all the youth who did really well, and Gemma for taking out youth 1st. Casual sailing is great, but I have to say weather you win or not, racing is the only way to really know how to sail a hobie, how well your doing and how to improve. Thanks to Andrew Springford, Tauranga yacht club, Tim and the Nacra crew for having us, and all of you who made the effort to join in…………….. Zane  |
2011 Hobie Nationals, March 2011: 2011 Hobie16 Nationals REVIEW and RESULTS, 19-20 March (PDF |
, right click > Save as...) CONTACT:
Andrew Springford
Email: andrew.springford@cdb.co.nz
Phone: 09 917 4002