Category: Reporting

International Rolex Regatta Promises Keen Competition,31st Annual Event to Start Today

ST. THOMAS, US Virgin Islands (March 26, 2004)-- Personalities at the 31st annual International Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, are proving to be as colorful as rainbow spinnakers against an azure blue sky. With racing at the three-day event starting today, March 26, and continuing through the weekend, hundreds of sailors registered on 91 sailboats have prepared for the regatta's traditional mix of tough competition, warm Caribbean breezes and blue-water courses. Crew rosters are sprinkled with high-profile names from the America's Cup and Olympic arenas, as well as those famous in these Caribbean parts for their own notable accomplishments.

Headlining in the Beach Cat division is Puerto Rico's designated 2004 Olympic Tornado team and defending champions Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez. The duo, known as Team Movistar/Suzuki/Red Bull, decided to sail a Hobie Tiger, an 18 footer that is popular in Europe and which Figueroa, the Hobie dealer in Puerto Rico, is trying to promote in the islands. "It is very much faster than a regular Hobie 18 and more like our Olympic Tornado." Figueroa explained that a Portsmouth Handicap system will keep them honest, however, when it comes to matching up with the other catamarans in their class.

A record number of 60 brand new Hobie 16’s, rotating between 200 entries, will be at the starting line-up of the Coca Cola Hobie 16 World Championships, May 4-14 in Cancun, Mexico.

The boats are all being supplied by Hobie Cat Company, the Oceanside, California manufacturer of the Hobie 16. Hobie Cat Company president, Doug SKIDMORE, stepped up to the plate by giving race organisers the extra boats they needed to accommodate the outstanding racer turnout. “It is our way of encouraging as many people as possible to get out on the water and enjoy Hobie sailing and racing,” commented Skidmore.

It's official, the Hobie 17se, recently declared dead by the Hobie Company, has been brought back to life. Read the announcement from Doug Scidmore, President of Hobie.

Several months ago the Hobie Cat Company made an announcement that the Hobie 17 would no longer be produced at our Oceanside, California facility anda final few boats were to be manufactured at our Australia facility and then stopped there as well. At the time the decision was made many of us were reluctant to make it knowing that the Hobie 17 racing class would be effected by it. The Hobie 17 has been like a good friend over the years and saying goodbye was difficult. For those who have sailed it they understand that it is a very nice sailboat.

High-performance beach catamarans will once again be screaming up the Eastern Seaboard, from Florida and around Cape Hatteras, in two combined races totaling 1000 long and grueling miles.

The Tybee Island Sailing Association, organizers of the successful Tybee 500 that debuted last May, has teamed up with the Outer Banks Catamaran Club to produce two back-to-back five-hundred-mile races starting next year. The contests will form a new 1000-mile annual challenge called the Atlantic 1000. According to race organizers, these two events -- the Tybee 500 and the Outer Banks 500 -- will culminate in a third award honoring the sailors and classes with the best combined times for both.

MIAMI, FLORIDA (January 30, 2004) --Breathless was the word to describe the final of four days of racing at the 2004 Rolex Miami OCR. To 503 sailors competing in the regatta's 11 Olympic and Paralympic classes, no wind on Biscayne Bay resulted in the cancellation of all racing. Yesterday's results, therefore, have determined class champions and left those who were within striking distance of the leaders disappointed. The regatta winners, most with sights set on competing in the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Athens, counted their performances here as critical, since this is one of North America's largest ISAF Grade One ranking events. The 323-boat fleet, flush with world champions, Olympic medallists and America's Cup veterans, represented 39 nations.