News

Hobie European Championships 2018

Wildwind were very proud to be the sponsors of the Hobie European Championships.

This year the Hobie Multi Europeans were held in the beautiful Danish seaside town of Hornbæk.  The local Hobie Dealer from Hornbæk Flemming worked with the Hobie Class Association to lay on this spectacular event.

Day 1 of the event
https://vrsport.tv/vr-media/2018-hobie-multi-europeans-denmark-day-one/

The local sailing club laid on excellent support for the event with over 300 volunteers being drafted in to manage the large number of entrants.  We were lucky enough to catch the start of the first day and offered our help doing flag duty on the committee boat where we were able to watch the first few races including the Hobie 16 Spinnaker race, the Grand Masters and the Ladies Team event.
The best thing about the Hobie Europeans was the atmosphere, the sailors that attended were from all over Europe and varied in age from 12-70.  Evening events in the large Hobie Marquee on the beach were great fun.

Day 3 of the event kicked off 2 days of intense Hobie 16 class racing, where the competitors fought to qualify for the Gold Fleet.  The last few days of the regatta saw the fleet divided into two. The 56 Gold Fleet boats all raced with brand new sails supplied by Hobie Cat Europe whilst The Silver Fleet sailors used their own sails.

The regatta saw a real mix of conditions across the next 4 days with the last day being cut short by thunderstorms.
The final day
https://vrsport.tv/vr-media/2018-hobie-multi-europeans-denmark-final-day
The winners’ podiums were dominated by the Danish sailors, followed by the German, Austrian and Italian Sailors.

Many congratulations to the winners

GOLD FLEET HOBIE CAT 16:
And the winner is:
1. Denmark: Skipper Nicolaj BJØRNHOLT with crew Naja BJØRNHOLT
2. Italy: Skipper Leonardo MORELLI with crew Viktoria GIANNETTI
3. Germany: Skipper Jens GORITZ with crew Katrin WIESE-DOHSE

SILVER FLEET HOBIE CAT 16:
And the winner is:
1. Italy: Skipper Arto HIRSCH with crew Ludovica VANNINI
2. Nederland: Skipper Adriaan LAGAAY with crew Wim LAGAAY
3. Italy: Skipper Gianluigi GAZERRO with crew Sara Anita BRUGNACCA

Women
1st Kerstin Wichardt / Sarah Schütte. GER
2nd Sara/ Arianna Menichetti. ITA
3rd Michala Brincker / Yoanna Choleva.DEN

Master / GM / GGM:
1st Jens Goritz / Julie Goritz. GER
2nd Knud Jansen / Inis Jansen.GER
3rd Christian Diederich / Christina Schober GER

Hobie 16 Spi Cup
1st Nicolaj Bjørnholt / Naja Bjørnholt DEN
2nd Klemens Kitzmueller / Gundi Kitzmueller AUT
3rd Frederik Måhr /Emma Chandler DEN

Hobie Dragoon

1st Christoph Wech/Rudolph Gruber
AUT
2nd
Gianmaria Tuma
Riccardo D’amico
ITA
3rd
Sophie Schmidt
Yannik Hoeger AUT

Hobie 14

1st Robert Michel
FRA
2nd Nicholas Ryall
RSA
3rd Thorin ZeilmakerNED

Hobie 16 Youth Spi

1st Leonardo Morelli / Victoria GiannettiITA
2nd Lorenzo Rossi / Ludovica Festino
3rd Riccardo Del Prete / Alice Cialfi

Next year’s event promises to be every bit as good as this year.  With the event planned for La Rochelle on the 7-17th July the European Class association are hoping to get some competitors from the UK.  There is a planned relaunch of the UK Hobie Cat Class Association to be sponsored by Wildwind, with the potential for a UK Nationals to be held at a south coast sailing club before the event in La Rochelle.  If you are interested in getting involved in the Hobie UK class association or the UK Nationals championships get in touch with hazel@hobiecatcentre.co.uk.