A warm day greeted the sailors in La Rochelle for the two day of qualifications for the Hobie 16 Europeans. This is for the crews that didn’t manage to qualify in their own country.
52 sailors made it to the startline and sailed in light winds. Camilla Cordero Di Montezemolo/ Simona Cordero Di Monteze ITA started with a two firsts and a second to comfortably lead the series after Day 1.
Racing continues tomorrow with the top sailors joining the prequalified sailors to race for the 2019 Hobie 16 European Champion
Day 2 qualifying
No racing today. They tried to get racing underway but unfortunately there was not enough breeze. 15 teams will move to Gold Fleet. 37 teams will be in the Silver Fleet. A total of 56 Gold Fleet teams will start racing tomorrow.
Day 1 of Gold and Silver fleet racing
Today was the beginning of the Gold and Silver Open fleets of the 2019 Hobie 16 European Championship.
Despite very light wind conditions, the race committee was able to conclude two races for each fleet.
Lorenzo Rossi and Diana Rogge from Italy are leading the gold fleet with four points, followed by Camilla & Simone Cordero di Montezemolo and Ingo & Sabine Delius from Germany tied up with both 8 points.
In the Silver fleet, Nicklas Heide from Denmark is leading with 2 points in front of Ray Cox and Heather Mathews from Australia with 7 points followed by Tomasz Motowski and Marta Motowski from Poland.
Tomorrow, the local breeze is expected to pick up and the first starting signal is planned for 14:00
Day 2 of Gold and Silver fleet racing
After a short delay onshore the Gold and Silver fleet where sent tout to race. There were two races for both the Gold and Silver fleets after a few false starts. Though the wind did arrive late in the afternoon.
Lorenzo Rossi and Diana Rogge from Italy are leading the gold fleet with six points, followed by Lauritz Bockelmann and Kim Liedke on 11 points and Cam Owen and Susan Ghent from Australia on 16 points.
In the Silver fleet, Nicklas Heide from Denmark is leading with 4 points in front of Ray Cox and Heather Mathews from Australia with 9 points followed by Andrew Boyd and Kim Troll from Tanzania on 14 points.
Hobie 16 Europeans Day 3
Unfortunately there was rain and no wind today and no racing. Though the weather looks better for tomorrow so stay tuned for more racing tomorrow.
Day 4 and final day
With four races scheduled for the final day the weather behaved and all four races were run in good sailing conditions.
Cam Owen and Susan Ghent from Australia enjoyed the conditions to win the 2019 Hobie 16 European Championships with a win on the final race. Lauritz Bockelmann/Kim Liedke GER and Klemens Kitzmueller/Gundo Kitzmueller AUT tied for the with Lauritz and Kim taking silver on a tie break. Defending European Champion Nicolaj Bjornholt/Michelle Jensen finished 4th.
In the Silver fleet, with nearly a perfect scorecard Nicklas Heide/Emilie Strom Jacobsen from Denmark, won from Ray Cox and Heather Mathews from Australia with John and Andrea Ryall from South Africa in third.
