We finally arrived in Jervis Bay, Huskisson, what a beautiful place.  It’s renowned for the whitest of sands and it does not disappoint.   Huskisson is a very little seaside town and it’s as if time has been standing still for a very long time, which only adds to its charm.   The view from our apartment is absolutely stunning we are very lucky, not only for the view, but for the warm welcome we have received.

David, our landlord, has helped by lending us some bikes, our new mode of transport for the next 10 days (apart from our hobie cat of course).  Did I mention that David is a police officer and the girls are having trouble driving on the left side of the road…they are an accident waiting to happen.

The Hobie World Championships have been very well organized, even to go as far as having disco music out on the water whilst they are sailing…hmmm note to myself, maybe I should ask if that scares the sharks away? Actually forget sharks, still worried about the bike ride…

Sailing commenced yesterday and the girls participated in the first of the woman’s races, how did it go? Well, where do I start !

Did I mention that this is only the girls third championships? Probably not, but since they are super talented, we expected only the top results.  However…….

First the local conditions: how is the wind? Is there a current? How to sail using Aussie clouds and not forgetting, these Australian Hobie Cats are super fast, a bit of a change from a 26 year old beach hobie 16 they are used to sailing.  Beginning to understand why the rest of the participants have been here training for the last 3 weeks!!  There are also a lot of international rules to learn and  less than 7 racing courses to learn, but the girls are finding their rythmn and it helps to have music out on the sea.

The morning started by attempting to run the cat out from the beach in between the surf, which continues to pound the boat.  It was very difficult, and a bit scary but absolutely not helped by the fact that they had an audience on the beach, finding the whole thing amusing…no sooner had they got themselves together, when Michala lost her left contact lense during a wave wash.  Yoanna had to take over being her eyes, but by this stage Yoanna had lost her voice, so now we had a blind, mute team on the water – what great team!

So you ask yourself, how did they do on the first day of training? Apart from homing in on their dance moves while the music played across the water, the first race was abandoned, second race they had a good start, out in the trapezes all ready to cross the start line when BAM, it felt like they had hit a wall.  The waves here are very different from what they are used to.  Third race still having some difficulties steering as the rudder (due to the waves) keeps lifting out of the water leaving them literally rudderless and so not able to steer.  But you know these hobie girls, they never give up and there is only one way and thats forward!

They finished 22 out of 27 but tomorrow is another day, hopefully they recover their sight and voice.  But a huge positive is the team spirit here, meeting so many wonderful hobie people from around the world.   They are  getting help and advice from Tong the Hobie Champion from Hong Kong who is also a good friend, Graham from Fiji is also helping with rigging the boat correctly; he is also one of the old champions.  Have I mentioned how much they LOVe the Hobie way of life…?

Blog writer: Kirsten Larsen – Photos by: Kirsten Larsen & Michala Brincker – Web & Design: Michala Brincker.