Venue & Dates
The 1997 Club Maritimo Sotogrande Hobie Cat 16 World Championships will be held, Thursday 19 June - Saturday 28 June 1997 and sailed in Sotogrande, Spain in four disciplines: Women's, Masters, Youth and Open.

Organising Authority
The Organising Authority is Club Maritimo Sotogrande (Organizer) through Consorcio Mundo Vela Cadiz in conjunction with the International Hobie Class Association (IHCA) and the Royal Spanish and Andalucian Sailing Federation.

Rules
The Club Maritimo Sotogrande 1997 Hobie Cat 16 World Championships will be governed by the 1997-2000 International Sailing Federation Racing Rules, the Hobie Cat 16 Class Rules, this Notice of Race except as any of these are altered by the Sailing Instructions, and by the Sailing Instructions. Alternative penalties according to ISAF RR 41.1 and 41.2 will apply, except that the 720-degree Turns Penalty is replaced by the IHCA 360-degree Class Rule. The English text of this Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions will prevail.

Eligibility
The ISAF Competitors' Eligibility Code applies (ISAF RR Appendix K). One crew member must be a paid-up member of a National Hobie Class Association or Hobie Fleet in good standing with the IHCA..

Advertising Category
The 1997 Club Maritimo Sotogrande Hobie Cat 16 World Championships shall rank as a Category C event in accordance with ISAF Appendix G 5 The boats shall display advertising of the event sponsor(s) as required by the Organising Committee. Individual sponsorship conflicting with the event sponsor's business category shall not be allowed. For more information, please contact the IHCA.

Entries
Entries shall be made on the Official Entry Form only and returned together with the non refundalbe registration fees to:

Club Maritimo Sotogrande
Attn: Mr Borja Melgarejo
Puerto Sotogrande
Sotogrande 11310 Cadiz SPAIN
Tel + 34 56 790286
Fax- + 34 56 790042
e-mail: cmarsoto@arrakis.es

Pre Registration
Entries and non refundable registration fees shall be received by 20th May 1997. Late entries may be accepted at the discretion of the Organisers, but shall shall pay a full non refundable entry fee of USD 300.

Quotas
There will be three rounds in the Open Worlds:
Round 1 (previously called "Qualifier"), Semi-Finals and Finals.Women entries are open to all women. Quotas for the seeded teams for the Semi-Finals of the Open Worlds will be provided to each IHCA Region Chairman.

Host region     2
IHCA Wild cards     4
Current World Champion     1
1997 Women's Champion    1
Remaining guaranteed places (From Round 1) 25

Entries will be accepted on a first come first serve basis and seeded teams must be notified to the Organiser and confirmed by their IHCA Region prior to the 20th May deadline.

Round 1
Entries will be accepted on a first come, first serve bases for Round 1. There will be a maximum of 3:1 ratio of teams to boats accepted in Round 1.

Fees
Registration fees are non refundable and will be USD 200. per team for the Open Championship; USD 125 for Women; USD 125 for Master; and USD 100 for Youth. The registration fees are payable to the Club Maritimo Sotogrande only by: travellers cheque, cash, or by VISA or Mastercard providing the following credit card details: name of cardholder, number, date of issue and expiration date. These fees shall be included with the entry form and sent to Club Maritimo Sotogrande. The method of payment shall be shown on the entry form. Payments shall be received by 20th May (close of entries) and shall include the details of entry. Late entries, if accepted, shall pay a non refundable fee of USD 300.

Boats
Club Maritimo Sotogrande will supply boats free of charge to all teams. No other boats, sails or battens may be used. A refundable boat deposit of USD 500. will be required on site. Boat deposits must be paid in cash or travellers cheques. This deposit covers the deductible per occurrence and must be paid up daily. Competitors are required to assist in assembling and disassembling the boats. The only allowable equipment additions to the boats shall be: protest flag; additional tell tails; wind indicators and class legal tiller extension.

On Site Registration
The registration Office will be open as follows:
Women's Masters and Youth    17th, 18th June
Open: Round 1    19th, 20th June
Teams seeded for Semi-finals    22nd 23rd June

Teams must register on site during the times indicated. Failure to do so may result in the entry being awarded to another team.

Schedule of 1997 Championship races

Thursday 19 June Women's, Masters, Youth
Friday 20 June Women's, Masters, Youth

Saturday 21 June Open Round 1
Sunday 22 June Open Round 1
Monday 23 June Open Round 1

Tuesday 24 June Semi-finals, 112 teams.
Wednesday 25 June Semi-finals
Thursday 26 June Semi-finals

Friday 27 June Finals, 56 teams
Saturday 28 June Finals

On all racing days the first start of the day will be 10.00 hours (Wind permitting)

Scoring System: The low point scoring system will apply. ISRR Appendix A and IHCA Class Rule 14.2, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6.

Women's Championship: Skipper and crew shall be female.

Masters Championship: To qualify for the Masters Championship, the skipper shall be 50 years or over at the start of the first race of the event, subject to a minimum participation of 10 boats.

Youth Championship: To qualify for the Youth Championship all members of the crew shall be under 21 years of age at the start of the first race of the event. Subject to a minimum participation of 10 boats.

International Jury: An International Jury shall be appointed for the Open event, and may be appointed for the Women's, Masters and Youth events.

Sailing Instructions: The Sailing instructions will be made available at Registration.

Prizes: All finalists will receive awards. The first 3 teams in each event will receive trophies, the first 15 teams in the Open event will receive special awards.
The overall winner in the Open event will be declared the 1997 Hobie 16 World Champion.

Competitors' Insurance
All competitors entering the race shall have third party liability insurance with a minimum coverage of USD 400,000. The Organiser will make extra arrangements at additional cost to the competitors in cases where insurance cannot be arranged by the competitors themselves.

Weather information
Average maximum air temperature 28º C. (82 F)
Average minimum air temperature: 18º C. (64 F)
Average water temperature: 17º C. (63 F)
Average wind: 16 knots.

Accommodation
Special arrangements have been made for those entering in accordance with this Notice of Race only. These arrangements apply to friends, family and guests of the competitors. Special rates for hotel rooms and apartments have been negotiated by the Organisers. All apartments and hotels are adjacent to the race site. Apartments can be rented between USD 18 and USD 33 per day per person and includes TV, air conditioning, sheets and towels (changed every 5 days during house cleaning). Hotels (double rooms-2 persons.) are between USD 45 and USD 118 per day. Suites at the Maritimo Hotel can be offered for USD 150 per day (all hotel prices are per room). Camping and motor home arrangements are also available. For booking and further information competitors should contact:

Mr. Enrique Berazadi
SOTOESTATES
Puerto de Sotogrande
11310 Sotogrande SPAIN
Tell + 34 56 615351/615352
Fax. + 34 56 615721
e-mail: estates@lix.intercom.es

Transportation
Competitors travelling by plane are advised to fly to MALAGA SPAIN (1 hour drive from Sotogrande). This airport can be reached from most of the world. A rental car arrangement has been made at the airport as follows: 1 car for 10 days is between USD 230 and USD 325 depending on size. There are also bus connections from the airport. Competitors travelling through Gibraltar will require taxi or rental cars for transportation. Rental car bookings are made through SOTOESTATES (see Accommodation above)

Social Life
Club Maritimo Sotogrande will be offering a number of parties and other social events during the Championship and information will be available at registration.

For further information contact:

Club Maritimo Sotogrande / Mundo Vela
Mr. Borja Melgarejo
Puerto Deportivo de Sotogrande.
11310 - Sotogrande.
Cádiz SPAIN
Tel + 34 56 790286 (In Spain: (9) 56 790286)
Fax- + 34 56 790042 (In Spain: (9) 56 780042)
email: cmarsoto@arrakis.es
Event website: http://www.pgb.es/hobiesoto97

or

Thomas Poulsen
IHCA
Elvindsvej 19
2920 Chartottenlund DENMARK
Tel. + 45 39 63 73 07
Fax. + 45 39 64 38 91
email: thopo@post2.tele.dk

or

Ron Palmer
IHCA
4935 N Calle Esquina
Tucson AZ 85718-6311 USA
Tel. + 1 520 299 0609
Fax. + 1 520 577 8486
email: ihca@aol.com
IHCA Website: http://www.sailing.org/hobie