Hobie 16 Open Europeans at ‘s Gravenzande - Day 3

CLOSE BATTLE FOR OPEN HOBIE 16 EUROPEAN TITLE 2007

On Friday August 3, the battle for the Open Hobie 16 European title 2007 was very close off the coast of ‘s Gravenzande, Netherlands. The leaders Christophe Renaud de Malet and Alban Rossollin (FRA) scored two black flags, so they saw their lead dropping to three points. The runners up Cédéric Bader and Nathalie Souquet knew how to use the strong current to their advantage. That resulted in only top four positions, including a bullet in today’s last race. Jerome Le Gall and Enrick Obert from New Caledonia also sailed consistently and remained third overall. The aggressive starting techniques in the gold fleet caused 23 black flags in total, as the race committee decided to change her strategy. No general recalls for today, but immediately black flags. The 127 crews faced Mediterranean like circumstances, in which they finished four races.

“Today was perfect”, said Bader. “We have had all kind of conditions.” It started with a west wind of about force four and ended in the last race with a southwest breeze of maybe force two. “That makes it a fair competition.” The Open and Youth European Champion of 2005 and his new crew Nathalie Souquet did well and scored a series of 2-3-4-1. Bader: “We have a good boat speed downwind and I played with the current. That is the reason why we did better than the others.” Bader lives in the south of France, so he had to learn these tactics somewhere-else. Bader: “I gave youth trainings in Belgium, so I need to thank Simon and his friends.” While Bader had a look at the provisional results, Alban Rossollin joined him. The two possible champs counted the points and concluded that the pressure was on. Bader about the battle for gold: “On the starting line I am not paying attention to my closest competitors. I sail my own race.” Renaud de Malet and Rossollin and many other teams protested against the BFD’s, but without success. The international worked again overtime on Friday evening.

Bullets and BFDs

The Italian duo Matteo Nicolucci and Filippo Zumbo moved in fifth position overall after taking the first bullet of the day. “Yeah, we did well with a 1-7-5-5”, said Nicolucci on the beach. Their seventh place turned out to be a BFD. The gap to the Germans Delius/Wiese-Dohse is five points, but Nicolucci does not want to think in terms of goals: “If you talk about goals in Italy, it causes bad luck.” The second bullet was for the Dutchmen Zeilmaker/Eisenburger, who were fourth over the line. Zeilmaker: “The first three finishers had a BFD, so that is not the nicest way to win.” The Germans Hahn/Jarling took the third bullet. According to Katrin Wiese-Dohse, this year’s participants are much more aggressive at the start: “This is not usual. Every time there are about twenty boats early over the line.” That is why the race committee decided to use the black flag, instead of the general recall.

After a lunch break in the Dutch sun, the fleet completed two more races. The last one ended in calm weather, which resulted in 33 DNF’s, due to the time limit.

Saturday will be the final day with three scheduled races. The top five is not decided yet, so it will be an exciting conclusion.

Results after Day 3: (top five, 9 races, 2 discards)

1st FRA – Renaud de Malet/Rossollin, 17 points
2nd FRA – Bader/Souquet, 20 points
3rd FRA – Le Gall/Obert, 26 points
4th GER – Delius/Wiese-Dohse, 53 points
5th ITA – Nicolucci/Zumbo, 58 points

Quakernack and Ruppel from Germany are still leading the silver fleet.

The Hobie 16 & Hobie Dragoon Europeans 2007 are sponsored by: I-Drukker.nl, Carrier Airconditioning, the Greenery, Autobedrijf Schoenmeijer, Vakantiepark Vlugtenburg aan zee, Tomselect, Ernst Olieman BV, Hogenboom vakantieparken, AfvalisHipenSexy.nl, Wealco Systemen BV, Westland Energie Services, ProfMedia BV, Rabobank, Boekestijn Transport Service, De Parel, Center Line, Hoeve de Viersprong, Colour XL, IkSloopGoedkoop.nl, Kwekerij Rozenhof, Ariën Hofman MD, Combifleur, Hobie Cat Holland BV, Westland Workwear, Woodfever, Veenman, Gemeente Westland, Arditio fotografie, Valere ICT Strategies, Vrijwillige Reddingsbrigade 's Gravenzande, Jessica emotions& flowers, Venvo Zonwering and van Spronsen b.v.