Hobie 16 Continentals Updates

PRESS RELEASE
Date: September 29 2003
For Immediate Release

After the first day of racing at the Hobie 16 North American Continental Championship Wally and Tyler Myers, 2001 Continental Champions from Marmora NJ, are in the lead with seven points after four races and one throw-out. Armando Noriega, a Pan Am Games silver medallist from Mexico City, is in second sailing with Rodrigo Achach. In third are Paul and Mary Ann Hess, US Pan Am Games team members from Napa CA.

Rehoboth Bay delivered five to fifteen knots out of the North with large wind shifts and extreme variations in velocity to challenge the seventy-boat fleet of Hobie 16s. Of the seventy boats, six countries are represented: America, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and Canada. Racing will continue through Friday October 3rd.

Results:
1) Wally Myers and Tyler Myers (NJ) - 7pts.
2) Armando Noriega Jr. and Rodrigo Achach (MEX) - 12pts.
3) Paul Hess and Mary Ann Hess (CA) - 12pts.
4) Dan Kulkoski and Mary Beth Villa (NJ) - 16pts.
5) Enrique Figueroa and Gabriel Vazquez (PUR) 25pts.

September 29, 2003 - Bob's Report

Day 1

What a class! At the Hobie 16 Continentals there are sixty-nine one-design catamarans on one starting line. Once again the Hobie 16 class demonstrates that it is the worlds most popular racing multihull. Of the sixty-nine boats, six countries are represented: America, Puerto Rico, Mexico,Germany, Brazil, and Canada.

The conditions today were crazy, what a way to start.

The wind was out of the North, which meant that it was coming over the land making for some big shifts. We regularly saw shifts up to 30 degrees but that was the easy part. The hard part, at least for us, was the big changes in velocity. One side of the course could be double trapping, even de-powering, while the other side was sitting on the tramp. Like most teams Liza and I had our share of good luck and bad luck. As one example, in the first race we won the pin, got headed about twenty degrees and tacked to be well ahead of the fleet. Unfortunately that put us in the middle of the course while the wind was on both sides. After going the wrong way on the second beat we had worked ourselves into the 50's. On the final run to the finish most of the fleet held the starboard jibe around the weather mark. We decided to jibe immediately and got a huge puff that almost no one else got to salvage an 18th. Almost everyone it seems has at least one story like that after today.

Nevertheless, class champions like Wally and Tyler Myers seem to be able to stay away from extreme bad races. How do they do it?

After the first day of racing at the Hobie 16 North American Continental Championship Wally and Tyler Myers, 2001 Continental Champions fromMarmora NJ, are in the lead with seven points after four races. Armando Noriega, a Pan Am Games silver medallist from Mexico City, is in second sailing with Rodrigo Achach. In third are Paul and Mary Ann Hess, US Pan Am Games team members from Napa CA.

Day Two:
PRESS RELEASE
Date: September 30 2003
For Immediate Release

No Racing at the Hobie 16 North American Continental Championship today. Heading out to the racecourse there was five to ten knots,and with dramatic wind shifts starting was difficult. After setting a squareline the race committee found that one side or the other would be drastically favored by the start. After three general recalls race one got under way. The wind decreased as the race progressed causing the race to be abandoned by the third leg. The fleet was sent back to shore for a few hours under postponement but the breeze failed to materialize, and racing was eventually abandoned for the day.

The father son team of Wally and Tyler Myers retain the lead, with many other family teams behind them. Twenty-six of the seventy Hobie16's are being sailed by a team of immediate family members. Plenty of additional family members were also sailing on different boats -- the Hobie 16is truly a family racing class.

Racing will continues at the Hobie 16 North AmericanContinental Championship through Friday.

Full results are posted at ( http://www.hobie16cc.com/ ).

Pictures are at ( http://www.aquacanvas.com/ )