Thank you for a wonderful and very picturesque Hobie Multiworld Championships at Lake Garda, Gargnano in Italy. We have had an absolutely fantastic trip and we are looking forward to seeing all our Hobie friends again in Austria next year or maybe sooner.
We have learned a lot and we are humbled to say that we still have very far to go, as we are up against the very best sailors in the world. We feel very lucky that we are part of the Hobie family, part of a sport where sailors take care of each other and give a helping hand whenever needed.
Sailing at Lake Garda was like sailing in one big swimming pool surrounded by mountains, beautiful landscapes and old cities, so far it is one of the most beautiful places that we have visited with the Hobie Fleet. The wind was tricky though and we even had a current. In the morning the wind came from North and in the afternoon it turned and came from the South. At mid day the wind died completely. The maximum depth of the lake is about 350 meters and because of that, the marks drift, which makes it very difficult for the race committee to place all the marks so we had a lot of waiting at the starting line. After racing the leashes were all cut off and the concrete blocks were left behind to sink to the bottom.
During one of the races there was an unfortunate accident, where a young Danish Hobie sailor got severely hurt and he is still recovering in hospital in Italy. Our thoughts are with him and his family. The Hobie Organization handled the situation very professionally and had a meeting in the morning to inform the sailors about safety on the water, and to remind everyone that this is just a race and that we all have to go back to our lives and that our lives are precious and that we have to take care and look out for each other out on the water. It was a very emotional meeting, and all sailors were informed in 4 languages and tears were running down our cheeks. A very BIG thanks to Dan and Michel from Hobie for the way they handled this situation.
Results:
European WOMEN Hobie 16 finals:
Yoanna came 2nd in the European WOMEN Hobie 16 finals, she sailed as a crew with the Australien skipper Michelle Bursa, and there were 9 boats in the field. Michala was unfortunately not able to sail in the women’s.
European Hobie 16 OPEN Qualifier:
After that the Hobiegirls (Yoanna and Michala) sailed together in the European Hobie 16 OPEN Qualifier and they came 19 in total out of 64 boats, their best scores were a 9th, a 11th and a 20th.
European Hobie 16 Gold Fleet:
Only 28 boats from the Open Qualifier were allowed to enter in the European Hobie 16 GOLD Fleet, all other boats in the Gold fleet were prequalified. The boats, including the Hobiegirls, got new sails for the Gold Fleet Championship. In the Gold Fleet there were 64 boats, the best scores the girls had were a 13th and a 20th but 3 times they were among the top 6 at the first top mark. They have improved a lot and their starts were fantastic; they normally choose the right end of the starting line and have free wind. In the Gold fleet the girls had one DNF (did not finish) and two DNS (did not start). The Hobiegirls had rented at club boat from their Danish friends from Fyn, thank you to Daniel, Nicolai, Nicklas and Martin.
Also a big thanks to Dorthe, Lars and kids for being our support team and for helping us.
Good News!
We have bought a new Hobie from Chris, so that we can advance and sail/train with the other Hobie sailors on a more equal level. Our old Hobie back in Denmark is from 86’. Our new Hobie is from 2012’ and came 3rd in the European Hobie 16 Gold Fleet and it is also equipped with a spinnaker. We are very excited and Chris is delivering it in Copenhagen on the 16th of August.
Thank you for following us!
Many Hobie summer greetings from HobieGirls.com
Yoanna & Michala
(and Kirsten)
hobiegirls.com 
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