Puerto Rican duo wins Hobie 16 NAs

by Robert Merrick on 1 Aug 2005 After a week of intense racing off Ventura California the husband and wife team of Enrique and Carla Figueroa, from Puerto Rico, have taken another Hobie 16 class North American title.

This is Enrique’s fifth North American title in the 16 class and Carla’s second. Enrique was also this years Hobie Tiger class World Champion.

Figueroa grew up in the Hobie class winning his first Championships in the smaller Hobie 14 and moving on to win his first Hobie 16 championship in 1984. Two years later in 1988 Enrique was attending his first Olympics in the Tornado class. Figueroa has continued in the Tornado and will be competing in the Tornado Europeans next week.

The simplicity of the Hobie 16 gives many people like Enrique and Carla the opportunity to compete with their spouses and children without sacrificing the excitement of a fast one design or the competitiveness of an international class. This is the formula that has made the venerable Hobie 16 the most popular one-design catamaran class in the world.

The Figueroa’s were followed by Juan Maegli and Cristina Guirola, an outstanding pair of youth sailors from Guatemala . Competing against the top adult competitors is not a new thing for this young team and there are clearly some major championships in the future for them.

Armando Noriega and Rodrigo Achach, last years Champions from Mexico, finished in third.

This year the American teams were left thinking that there must be a new tuning guide out there that hasn’t been translated from Spanish. The top Americans were 8th this year.

This event was the qualifier for the Hobie 16 World Championships in South Aftrica starting in late October. The top 17 teams from the North Americans will be awarded pre-qualified spots at the Worlds.

Full results, pictures and reports are on the website at www.HCA-NA.org.