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Enrique Figueroa an Olympic Tornado sailor from Puerto Rico sailing with his wife Carla is still in the lead. Figueroa is working towards his fifth North American Championship in the Hobie 16 this week. Family teams and couples teams are the norm in the Hobie 16 class and it’s very common to see one of them on the top of the score sheet.
The provided boat format of this year’s event has brought some top-level international competition to the North Americans this year with competitors hailing from seven countries.
Defending champions from Mexico Armando Noriega and Roderigo Achach are off to a good start and lead the series. Americans Kieth Christensen, a three time past champion, and Kristen King are in second.
The favored team from Puerto Rico, Enrique and Carla Figueroa jumped the gun at the first start but managed to salvage a 15 after re-starting. They were second in their second race.
There are lots of young teams at the top of the field this year. Juani Maegli and Christina Guirola from Guatemala came to California directly from the ISAF Youth Worlds and are presently in seventh place.
Although the racing in the Youth fleet was tight at times the Guatemalans always came out on top. Jason and Alexander Hess ended the series with a perfect score of all first place finishes. Last years champions, Michael Siau and Trey James finished second. Canadians Andrew Robins and Trent Freeman were third.
In the Women’s fleet the win went to former World Champion Annie Nelson and Kathy Kulkowski. Worrell 1000 veteran Sandra Tartaglino and Eileen Haubl came on strong in the end to finish the series in second. Mary Lindsay and Barbara Roettger were third.
Racing for the Open Championship starts on Monday. The winds over the weekend have been unseasonably light making it hard to get through the surf. When the wind does come up it tends to be late in the day and could make for some late afternoons on the water.