Chevrolet Hobie 16 Worlds- German win Third Semi

by Diana Bogaards on 2 Nov 2005 On Tuesday November 1st 2005, Ingo Delius and Katrin Wiese-Dohse from Germany won the third race of the semi-finals for the 17th Hobie 16 Worlds in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

They were first at the upwind mark and never lost their leading position in the battle with the US team of Bob Merrick and Mike Huang. Apparently, the Americans had bad luck with an OCS (early start). The South-Africans William and Lucinda Edwards took over the second place, followed by Paul Lagesse and Tyran Kerford (RSA). The fourth race, today's second, had to be cancelled again, due to a lack of wind.

Golden tack

According to the local weather forecast, the wind would set in at 2pm and it did. The race committee put in a short course of 3/4 of a mile, since they had to catch up on the racing schedule. Four teams were early over the line. Ingo Delius, Belgian and German Hobie 16 Champion 2005: ‘Today's strategy was to have a good start and we did. We had clean air, went outside and tacked at the right time, not too far out.’ They rounded the weather mark in first position, followed by the Americans and the Brasilian team of Ricardo Navarro and Mequias Queiroz. Delius said, ‘It was very tough to defend our place, because the Americans are very good sailors. The wind dropped already on the first beat. We went from double trapeze to floating. It picked up a little bit on the way down to the finish. That is why we gibed twice, because we wanted to go to the other boats that were further out on the ocean. They had more pressure.’ Enrique Figueroa and Carla Malatrasi from Puerto Rico, yesterday's winners, came back from a nineth to a fourth place.

European competition

When Delius and Wiese-Dohse left Germany for the Hobie 16 Worlds in South-Africa, their goal was a top ten position. Delius commented, ‘We had a bad race yesterday, so it will be hard. But the score between us and the French boys Cédric and Yann is tied. We beat them in France and they won the Europeans in Germany. We read on the internet that they are aiming for a top five result here, so we actually have to do the same.’

A 30 knot wind has been reported from Cape Town, about 650 kilometers to the south. It is heading down to Port Elizabeth and will probably arrive tomorrow morning. The windy city will once again live up her name.

Today's result from race three:
1. GER - Delius / Wiese-Dohse
2. RSA - Edwards / Edwards
3. RSA - Lagesse / Kerford
4. PUR - Figueroa / Malatrasi
5. RSA - Fine / Wichardt