MultiWorlds & Hobie 16 Europeans 2015 @Gargnano: Day 8

Report sent by Hobie Class – // For race results, photos and videos, head to hobie16europeans.com to check out all the action.
“The Hobie 16 Gold Fleet Daniel Bjornholt DEN current Hobie 16 Youth World Champion lost his lead to Cedric Badder.
The morning started promising with the wind from the North at about 6-9 knots. Unfortunately the wind dropped before the Hobie 16 could finish and the race committee shortened the race for the Hobie Tiger and Wild Cat.
For the Wild Cat Mitch and Ruben Booth had a runaway win with Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland AUS second.
On the Tiger course Joe Bennett and Marko Reynolds GBR won the race but series leader William and Douglas Edwards finished fifth which was enough to keep the lead.

After a short lunch break the wind moved to the south and filled in.
On the Wild Cat course Mitch and Rubens Booth had an excellent day on the water with another three first places. Mitch said ‘that was champagne sailing, 12-15 knots, flattish water and a few wind shifts to make it exciting. It doesn’t get better than this.’ Rubens Booth ‘it is fun sailing with dad and I am learning a lot. It was a great day’ . Clement Peduzzi and Maxime Blondeau FRA moved up the leader board. They both echoed ‘that was a lot of fun’

On the Tiger course it was a mixed day for the defending world champions Robbie Lovig and Andy Dinsdale. They were called for breaking the start and returned. Unfortunately they didn’t see the ‘I’ flag which requires boat when the return to the start them must go around an end. So they were scored an On Course Side penalty. On the other two races they scored two second places. Robbie was disappointed ‘we are sailing well just making silly mistakes. Because we don’t live near each other we don’t have much time to practice as a team. I feel we are getting our team work together’. Series leaders William and Douglas Edwards sailed constantly to maintain their lead. William said ‘we were consistent and not taking the risks.’

The Hobie 16 Gold Fleet Daniel Bjornholt DEN current Hobie 16 Youth World Champion lost his lead to Cedric Badder. Cedric commented ‘the racing was great with a few windshifts making it fun to catch up if you are behind a bit. No side was favoured so we had to concentrate.’ The results will be much closer after the 9th race which allows a second drop race.

On the Hobie 16 Silver Fleet Rich and Carol McVeigh USA won all four races. They clearly showed they prefer the stronger winds that unfortunately weren’t there for the qualifying series”.