Practice Race & Welcome Party

Mimi Appel, Santa Barbara, USA, March 27, 2005

Sunday 9:00 pm
9:00AM sunny - 65degrees - no wind
Registration crew are on the job by 9am and 41 more teams come through in a flurry of activity. The Race Committee meeting fine tunes chase boat assignments.

1:00pm
Registration reopened and the remaining 12 teams were entered to bring the total to 87 boats. Armando Noriega (Mexico) is the last team to register while Enrique Figueroa is in the British Virgin lslands waiting for a flight out. Will he make it? One never knows with a Puerto Rican Hobie sailor.

On the water
A practice start race scheduled for 1pm although most competitors don’t realize that the practice race is for the Race Committee not the competitors. The water is completely flat and the wind is light, light, light. Roughly 3pm, the wind picked up for a good shakedown race without anyone breaking anything. First start: course #1(ACA downwind finish) first over was Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier.

Second Race
There was only supposed to be one practice race, but after finishing, all the competitors stayed around the committee boat, so the Race Committee duly reset the line, started everyone, and immediately pulled up anchor and went to shore, as the chase boats had already lifted all the marks. After the start sequence, everyone going to weather realized there was no weather mark. Many people used the channel marker as a mark, the chutes go up, but heading downwind they realize there is no leeward gate and no committee boat. So back to the beach for some, and a little more practice for others, the wind backed off but was still enough to shake out some cobwebs. The Race Committee had practiced enough!

7:00 PM - Welcome Party at the very picturesque Elings Park
The park is located at the top of a mountain overlooking Santa Barbara - what a view! Dinner was a great BBQ, the night weather was cool but the food was hot. Tri-tips beef and chicken were served buffet style which ended with a welcome by Steve Leo (Event Coordinator), Lori Mohney (IHCA Event Chairperson), David Brookes (Executive Director IHCA), Matt Miller (Hobie Cat Company, USA) and the first part of the raffle in the amphitheater. A great welcome party was has by all.

For more information, contact hobie_worlds@hotmail.com