Hobie 16 Worlds in suva Fiji

Jim and I had a great time in Fiji even though we missed the first Open cut by only 6 boats. We were 55 out of about 104 Open contenders after 4 races, and ultimately the top 49 went on the the Semi's. Crap! We were sceduled to race on the 3rd day, but all races were called due to unpredictable winds which had flipped a few boats on the beach in the late morning. About one minute after calling it, 4 consecutive hours of perfect conditions followed (about 15kts) and knowing the current overall standing would stick made me feel like barfing all over the race comittee. In hindsight it was a terrible decision of them to do this, as the wind died the next day delaying the start of the Semis. When there's wind, send them out man...especially if they traveled thousands of miles for the challenge!

Pine Point Regatta

Here's a cool photo from a local flyer present the day of the CRANNE distance Race at Pine Point Beach. There were two races that day and this pic is after the second race around an offshore Island. The Nacras were flying spinakers and went a further distance...a few Hobies packed up after the first race which was 2-3 hours of sailing. What a great day...I learned that cutting it close around the islands had the consequence of navigating lobster trap fields...with the current running fast by the shore the ropes were at an angle so you couldn't just avoid the buoy, you had to avoid the rope too! Twice I had to come off the wire to pop my one of my rudders back down!