Hobie Tiger wins Canadian F18 Nationals

by Mischa Heemskerk on 3 Oct 2010
Mischa Heemskerk reports on his Canadian F18 National Championships experience.

It was two years ago that Olympian Kevin Stittle (Can) on Tornado sailed catamarans. At the moment he is sailing RS:X and was just back from the Worlds in Denmark. We were training partners in the Tornado for three years. We had always said we needed to do an event and what is better than going to the Canadian Nationals Formula 18. We got a Hobie Tiger to use from a kind competitor and brought a set of sails from a Dutch Tiger team.

We arrived Thursday evening at the battle field in Toronto. Forecast was super windy on Friday. Arriving on Friday morning there was no wind at all, we got worried which setting to put in the boat. We hit the water at eleven and breeze was building rapidly. We were happy that we kept the heavy wind setting in the boat cause it started homping.

After two races the breeze got so wild in relation with the short steep waves of lake Ontario that the race officer decided to do no more races.

That evening I gave a seminar to the catamaran fleet of Canada. Many questions got answered and tips got used the next day in racing.

Saturday was a little less wind but still sporty conditions with maximum twenty seven knots measured. It was a competitive day with super conditions to be play full with the wind. We sailed a great day with a first, first and a second. After the third race the wind picked up even more and it was wise to safe the crews from disaster. Sunday was the finally day with light winds for a change.

We had to wait before the wind filled the racing area with five knots of breeze and an occasional eight knots. Those were the spots to find in the race. We did well and were fighting for the lead many times in the race. We finished with a second place in the last race which made us win the overall event for the Formula 18 on a Hobie Tiger. Second Mike Easton and Tripp Burd Infusion, Third Robbie Daniel and Gary Chu C2.

The Canadian National tittle for a full Canadian team was won by Oliver Pilon and Guillaume Paradis on a Hobie Wildcat.

Round Tiengemeten Second
While Mischa was racing in Canada, Bastiaan was racing the Round Tiengemeten with our hero Eduard Zanen. Without any training and no sailing since his Tybee500 victory Eduard got on board with Bastiaan and scored an impressive second place in the Formula 18 class together with a fourth place overall.

For more information please go to: www.hobieclass.com