Channel Islands Hobie Cat Championships

by Bill Harris on 22 Sep 2006
The Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club’s annual Channel Islands Hobie Cat Championships were held over the weekend of 16 and 17 September. Conditions were ideal for the fifteen boats that came to the starting line in St Aubin’s Bay late on Saturday morning. As forecast, the wind was a moderate north-westerly that remained steady throughout the series of three back-to-back races, coupled with just a slight southerly swell.

Proceedings got under way with a general recall in the first race for the open class, as competitiveness overcame caution. Boats quickly reassembled for a restart and were on their best behaviour for the remainder of the Championships.

First blood went to David Carter and Simon le Huray sailing their Hobie Tiger, Wilfred, just beating Mick Doleman and Damian James’ Tiger, Roar Edge. Both boats, with spis hoisted at every opportunity, gave a stunning performance throughout the weekend. The first race also saw the first appearance of Darren Stower and Mike Winspear, sailing their Hobie 16, Suma’s, taking third in the first race. Grant Neale and Karen Larose’s 16, iCAT, was fourth.

Getting into her stride, Suma’s took the second race on corrected time, relegating Wilfred to second. Peter Scriven and Yvonne Winspear’s Hobie 16, Blade Runner, put in her best performance to clinch third with Roar Edge mysteriously lying seventh. Andrew Hart and Mike Kinross sailing the only Hobie 16 to fly a spi were fourth.

That poor result seemingly galvanised Roar Edge, coming home first in the third race, seventeen seconds ahead of Wilfred with Suma’s notching up another third. Gordon Burgis and Ken Snell, sailing their Hobie 16, Pure Energy, were fourth.

The increasingly competitive RCIYC Hobie Dragoon class saw four boats on the line with the first race going to last year’s champions, Laura-Jane Carter and Tom Harris, sailing Half & Half. Laurence Carter and Leo Schofield, bent on giving them a real challenge, came home second on Orchid with Rhiannah de Carteret and Hannah Voak third on Sonny G.

Orchid went on to win the next two races, ahead of Half & Half, with Sonny G securing a further two thirds.

By Sunday afternoon the breeze had gone to the south, averaging five to seven knots at the start of the first race. Although the race got away on time, the finish was somewhat slow in coming as the wind died to virtually nothing half way through the race. The race committee despatched a RIB to shorten course on the windward mark, enabling the Tigers to finish within the hour, with Roar Edge under a minute ahead of Wilfred. One hour later, the first Hobie 16 finished when Suma’s sailed very gently over the line, marginally ahead of Blade Runner. The wind eventually started to fill in to a sailable breeze enabling the back markers to finish after two hours’ intense concentration.

With just twenty minutes to go before the cut-off time for starting races the race committee quickly re-organised the course to take account of the wind that was now coming from just north of west and starting to freshen. The fifth race turned out to be a short but exhilarating blast around the course with Wilfred notching up her second win of the weekend. Roar Edge finished, less than a minute after to take second with Suma’s notching up another third overall but achieving her fourth win in the Hobie 16 class. Hangover finished fourth overall and second in class. This race saw young Matthew Dale and James Winchester’s 16, Chez-la-Vie, best result when they came sixth overall, just two seconds behind Pure Energy.

The Dragoons, equally, suffered from the light winds in their first race of the day. Every one of the five boats demonstrated tremendous tenacity and powers of concentration as they attempted to gain the early finish line on the beam mark. They certainly had plenty of time to study the tidal influence in the Bay! As with the open class, they sat at the mercy of the tide until the breeze started to fill. First over the line was Runrig, sailed by Alex Winchester and Rachel Wijsmuller to be followed by Half & Half and Sonny G, now sailed by Emma and Hannah Voak.

The final race saw another win for Orchid with Sonny G second and Half & Half third.

The scheduled sixth race was abandoned as being timed out and all of the results stood, there consequently being no discard.

The prize-giving was held in the RCIYC on Sunday evening when the Commodore, Mr Tony Eggleston, presented the prizes.

Principal results:

Open Class
1st Wilfred (Tiger) D Carter S le Huray 1st Tiger
2nd Suma’s D Stower M Winspear 1st Hobie 16
3rd Roar Edge (Tiger) M Doleman D James
4th Pure Energy G Burgis K Snell 2nd Hobie 16
5th iCAT G Neale K Larose 3rd Hobie 16
6th Hangover A Hart M Kinross 4th Hobie 16 (spi)
7th Blade Runner P Scriven Y Winspear 5th Hobie 16
8th Chez-la-Vie M Dale J Winchester 6th Hobie 16 (1st Youth)
9th Sidewinder S McCue C McCue 7th Hobie 16
10th Spain Worlds K Chapon R Kazmierczak 8th Hobie 16
11th Marlin M Smith R Smith (Hobie 15)
12th See-saw M Vautier E Harris 9th Hobie 16
13th Cutting Edge J Fulleron T Simms 10th Hobie 16

Full results have been posted in the RCIYC and www.rciyc.org