Numbers were also down a little this year for the South African Hobie Tiger Nationals, so we did not want Duncan to lose another of his entrants. A self-inflicted problem kept us on the beach for the first two races, so we were forced to sail ALL the rest of the races regardless of the wind strength ! David St Clair made it possible for a number of new Hobie Tiger sailors to participate. It was good to have Bryan Carstens and Theo Scheder-Bieschin out on their recently purchased Tiger. Paul Wood drove all the way from Midmar after only starting to sail a Tiger 6 months ago with very brave Jacqui James as crew. Peter Hall was also down from KZN with Matthew crewing for him and OAP Alan Lawrence was persuaded to sail a Tiger once more with son Daniel as crew. Garth Louden borrowed his old Tiger back from Dave St Clair and Kobus Holthausen was back with the green mamba – first round the weather mark in race one ! Three races on day one in N/NW breezes, with the last one ending in the rain, saw defending Champion Duncan Ross and Hein de Jamaer in their revamped Tiger with new sails and sponsorship from ‘Metropole’ leading from, surprise, surprise, Alan and Daniel who won race three. It was a free beer and dinner at Pearly’s.
It was supposed to rain a bit in the morning on Friday and then clear up but the rain persisted all day and after many postponements racing was finally cancelled. It did however allow Mark Kopel to get a replacement mainsail and crew – Stevie Rumpf – and he was back for race 5 on Saturday.
Wind was light NW on Saturday although we had to wait for it to fill in. Blaine and Andrew Ward gave notice of their intentions winning 3 races with a 3rd in Race 6 that race being won by Josh Selig and A Class sailor but newcomer to the Cape Hobie Class Bruce Corder. Pete Marsh and Sonja Stock split their main in race 5, missing the rest of the days sailing, but managed to get a replacement to sail on Sunday. Dave Hudson was called upon to sort out 2756 (Garth Louden) tacking on to port just after the start in the path of 2813 (Duncan Ross). Fortunately, the NOR allowed for Appendix T (Arbitration), and sensible lad that he is, Garth opted for that rather than risk a possible disqualification if it had gone to a protest. Four great races followed by an excellent sea food buffet at Friday Island.
Sunday dawned for some of us but Josh may have celebrated his win on Saturday a wee bit too much and was missing in action – he needed you Jess. In stronger winds for races 8 & 9 with two first places and then a second Duncan closed the gap to Blaine and Andrew to one point after 10 races at which point the wind disappeared completely but we had to all wait around until the 3pm time limit to ensure fairness – there is merit in the Olympic system of only potential winners taking part in a double points last race. So two close regattas with one point between the winners in both cases – Blaine nearly made it a double.
The big news off the water was the announcement that Peter Hall (or is it Lynda Hall ?) from KZN has taken over the Hobie Cat agency from Mike and Louise Goodyre. Thanks, Mike and Lousie, for all your hard work promoting the class. Good luck, Peter and Lynda.
Duncan is to be congratulated on producing another slick, sponsored Tiger Nationals.
John Ryall
If you want a detailed day-by-day pictorial account, go to the excellent Instagram account by Chiara Ross.
