We thought that anything in the top five is good, so don't push any harder, said Shaun Ferry in the Hobie Village after the
racing. Ferry won the last Hobie Worlds held in South Africa. That was back in 2005 on his familiar Hobie 16. About
three months ago he decided to try his luck on the 18-foot Hobie Tiger. He teamed up with John Van Der Vyfer: We
practised three weeks during our holiday, so I have only hoisted the spinnaker since January. I watched Darren Bundock
flying the kite on internet many times. So downwind, we just sail the boat safely. As most of the times in the Langebaan
Lagoon, it paid to go to the left as far as possible. That is how Mischa Heemskerk and Bastiaan Tentij (NED) lost their
second position, by going to the other side in the second beat. William Edwards and Graeme Willcox (RSA) took
advantage of them and crossed the finish line in second position, followed by the Australians Lovig/Gibson.

During the second heat, the wind picked up to 18-22 knots. That made it a tough first day for some teams, especially the
Europeans coming from the winter season. As a result, nose dives, swimming crew members and difficulties in boat
handling were part of the game. But the 2008 Australian Hobie Tiger Champions Robbie Lovig and Lachland Gibson did
not have any issues. They were first at the windward mark and leaded the fleet up to the finish. Gibson: "Like in the first
race, we started at the boat and went further left than anybody else." According to helmsman Lovig, their speed is good
in this breeze: "It is just like home in Melbourne, only a little bit warmer." Ferry and Van Der Vyfer finished second,
followed by Mark Laruffa and Daniel Sims (AUS). Robbie Lovig is not new to the Hobie sailing, as he won the Hobie 16
Youth Worlds in 2002 and he finished third at the ISAF Youth Worlds of 2001. He switched to the Tornado, but could not
beat Darren Bundock. After a short break, he has returned to the multihulls.

Hobie Dragoon training pays
The opportunity of competing in the Hobie Dragoon Worlds in their own country, enthused and motivated many South
African talents. They participated in the special youth programs that were set up for them. Now, they have the chance to
race against teams from the UK, Netherlands and Spain. But the locals put up a show today. In the first heat, the
favourites Matt Whitehead and Megan Du Plessis took the bullet. Whitehead: "It was awesome racing. We battled with
Ewald up to the first mark. He stayed close behind until the gate, from where we extended our lead." In the second race,
Gary and Colin Norton were in a comfortable lead as the miscounted the laps. Erich Rickens (RSA, 13 years) explained
what happened: "They went through the last gate and continued for another beat. The second boat did the same and that
is how I became first."

From Tornado to Hobie Worlds
It was already night as six times Tornado World Champion Darren Bundock (AUS) and last year's medallists Carolijn
Brouwer (BEL) and Mitch Booth (NED) arrived from New Zealand. They missed the spectacular opening ceremony with
an air show at Langebaan Yacht Club and the parade of nation flags onboard of yachts. After their last day of the Tornado
Worlds, the Olympic sailors flew directly to South Africa. This morning, they were just too late for the first starting gun
and had to fight their way through the fleet. In the following race, they were heated up and back up front. Brouwer /
Bundock finished 8th and Booth with occasional crew Tiffany Baring-Gould 4th . Brouwer: "After today, Darren has even
more respect for the hard working crews. We had a reasonable start at the pin and finished 8th . A lot of things still went
wrong, the rudders came up a couple of times and I am used to more kilograms at the front. Darren and I just made the
minimum crew weight of 140 kg, so we miss some speed upwind. But we had a lot of fun out there." Besides from having
a chance to learn from the current World Champion, Brouwer likes to promote women sailing on catamarans. Brouwer is
heavily involved in supporting multihull sailing. On February 27, she was voted as the new president of the International
Tornado Association.

Tiger - Overall Results after 2 races
1 RSA - S.Ferry/J.Van Der Vyfer, Total pts: 3 (1,2)
2 AUS - R.Lovig/L.Nankin, Total pts: 4 (3,1)
3 AUS - M.Laruffa/D.Sims, Total pts: 13 (10,3)
4 RSA - D.Ross/R.Gibson, Total pts: 13 (6,7)
5 NED - M.Heemskerk/B.Tentij, Total pts: 15 (4,11)
5 NED - M.Booth/T.Baring-Gould, Total pts: 15 (11,4)
7 RSA - C.Whitehead/J.Selic, Total pts: 17 (5,12)
8 FRA - L.Fequet/D.Boc'ho, Total pts: 18 (8,10)
9 RSA - H.Hale/S.Botes, Total pts: 20 (7,13)
10 RSA - A.Lawrence/I.Schabort, Total pts: 21 (16,5)
Dragoon - Overall Results top five after one race
1 RSA - M.Whitehead/M.Du Plessis, Total pts: 1 (1)
1 RSA - E.Rickens/R.Mostert, Total pts: 1 (1)
3 RSA - E.Erasmus/R.Suttner-Scalco, Total pts: 2 (2)
3 RSA - D.McLean/S.Du Plessis, Total pts: 2 (2)
5 RSA - P.Hall/S.Louw, Total pts: 3 (3)
5 GBR - L.Carter/D.Carter, Total pts: 3 (3)

The Hobie Tiger & Hobie Dragoon Worlds 2008 are sponsored by Southey, Airport City, Seiko and Coca Cola with Langebaan Yacht Club as the event host.
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For more information about the Hobie Tiger & Hobie Dragoon Worlds 2008, please contact the following persons:

Our photographer Pierrick Contin from France captures the action and beach life. A selection of his work will be offered
for free publication. The included pictures may be published for free, by mentioning Pierrick Contin.

Rat Race Media is filming the Hobie Worlds. In case you are interested in footage, please contact Liesel Kok directly at number +27 82 8876449 or liesel@ratracemedia.com .