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Hobie Tiger Worlds 2008
On Saturday March 8, Australia and South Africa won the 2008 Hobie Tiger & Hobie Dragoon Worlds. It was a nerve breaking morning for the leaders in both fleets, as the lack of wind kept them waiting. The first attempt on the Dragoon course was cancelled after the wind died completely. At about 1 pm, the race committee dropped the postponement flag and all teams left the beach. When the Tigers finally managed to start clean, Mark Laruffa and Daniel Sims (AUS) lost initially their golden position, but they fought back and won the title. Today’s scheduled final race for the Dragoons could not be sailed anymore, due to the long postponement. That means that at the time limit of 3 pm, Matt Whitehead and Megan Du Plessis (RSA) were declared the new Hobie Dragoon World Champions.
As the clock ticked this morning, sailors sat inside the party tent and played cards or socialized. Beach volleyball seemed to be popular amongst the youth. Meanwhile, Laruffa and Sims were close to their first World Title ever. Mitch Booth and Tiffany Baring-Gould, representing the Netherlands, were only one point behind, so they were very keen to go. They got their chance in the afternoon, but patience was still needed. The wind was not stable enough, so the 62 Tigers floated for another hour. This was followed by two general recalls. Laruffa: “That was nerve-racking, because I knew we were running out of time. They hoisted the black flag and it was pin-end favoured, so that was tricky. It could be all over at the start. Mitch was right at the pin and was leading at that moment.” Booth and Baring-Gould came first at the top mark, but had a problem with the spinnaker hoist. Laruffa and Sims rounded in tenth position, so at that stage the Dutch team was winning the regatta. Booth: “Unfortunately, the spinnaker halyard got stuck behind the spreader, so we lost three boats. Near the bottom mark, we dropped the spinnaker sheet, so that cost us another three boats. We went from first to seventh and it was all over after this downwind.” Duncan Ross and Rick Nankin (RSA) took the lead and the last bullet.
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