Hobie 16 Worlds - Masters Prizegiving

by Penny Roberts on 13 Oct 2007
The prize giving for the Masters, Grand Masters, Women and youth divisions was held on Thursday night, a 'lava lava night' and what an impressive evening it was.

For a start the organizers had catered for 300 people but over 425 turned up. In Fiji that’s not a problem as hospitality is extended to everyone and so all were fed!

Interspersed with the giving of the prizes was superb entertainment which reflected the mix of cultures in this country. A group of young people from Banaba Island performed one of their traditional dances. Banaba is a very small phosphate island in the pacific whose people were removed from the island by the British and the Australians and given a new home in Fiji.

There was a Samoan dancer who was formerly a member of the anti doping squad, a Fijian dancer who had grown up in Hawaii and performed one of that country’s traditional dances .Organizing Committee Chairman, Robin Mitchell’s own daughter danced charmingly and the trio of hula girls were a huge crowd pleaser!

Then there was the band music. Eighteen bands have been recruited to entertain during the course of this event. Some are music groups from the university and some are past winners of talent quests and all the music is of a very high standard. They play during the day, they play in the evenings In no time the dance floor was full and the lava lava clad bodies were rocking to the beat.

At the prize giving and over and over again since we’ve been here, what has stood out in the comments has been what a family oriented class this is and what a sail for life sport it has become, with the ages of the sailors ranging from 72 to 10 years.

Take Grand Master Curly Corlett from Australia, sailing in this event with his wife. Curly has been trying for 35 years to win a world championship and this time he narrowly pipped his long time friendly rival, Harry Handley from New Zealand to do just that. Well done Curly!

Above all at this regatta, it is the spirit of friendliness that pervades, from the camaraderie of the competitors to the hospitality of the local people. The cab drivers all chat and are interested to know where we come from, the staff in our hotel fall over themselves to be helpful and the baby sitters are wonderfully patient with their young charges.

There is no sign of political unrest in the streets and we find it difficult to understand why New Zealand and Australia in particular are issuing strong travel warnings.

Until last night the weather has been perfect – blue skies and favourable winds, but we have had a real tropical storm go through with bucket loads of rain coming down. The competitors are sloshing through puddles of water to set up their boats and we feel as if we are in a sauna, but the sun is out again and the breeze is blowing away the rest of the clouds. The competitors in the open qualifying event are ready to sail their second day.