We had 40 boats – we had representation from all round the country.
19 boats from Jhb
6 boats from WP
3 boats from Durban
2 boats from East London
6 boats from PE
4 boats from Plett/Knysna
All in all the 2012 Boardwalk Hobie 16’s Nationals was a fantastic event, we had wind from all points of the compass and everything from 3 knots to 38 knots so it was a bit of everything. We were fortunate to get SEBAGO on board together with Hobie SA as sponsors of the TV production for SuperSport – as soon as we have these dates we will let you have them.
The racing went down to the wire, we had one race on Friday which started in 20-25 knots and on the final lap the breeze filled in at 30 knots gusting more at times, Saturday we had an early start with boats battling to get across the start line after 10min race was abandoned and all sent back to shore – a light NW filled in around 14:00 and two races were sailed in very switchy/tricky conditions – at this stage the Dodds team had put their mark on the regatta with 3 wins.
Sunday morning dawned a fantastic day but the forecast was not great, all were patient until the fleet was called out at around 14:30 after a light S had filled in – one race was sailed , finally on Monday, the forecast was for good breeze out of the NW 20-25 knots – this meant an early start – first race was sailed in very light dying breeze with only 13 boats making the time limit – the rest were stranded on the course – once again the fleet was sent to shore and after about an hour a more promising breeze filled – 2 further races were sailed in 12-18 knots with quite a choppy sea. What turned out to be the last race after the breeze started dying away again saw the Dodds & Ward team out in front with the Lawrence’s in 3rd with a comfortable lead over the rest of the fleet, with the results in that sequence and no further racing the Dodds team would regain the title, the Lawrence team rounded the bottom mark and opted to tack inshore – without covering them they jumped from a distant 3rd to a very comfortable lead and with that secured the double with a back to back title following their success in Mossel Bay last year.
The great news that was announced during this event is that we have secured sponsorship and the event and the Hobie 16 Nationals will be held in PE for the next 3 years with thanks to The Boardwalk Casino & Entertainment Complex and Sebago for coming on board – this is fantastic news for Hobie Cat and sailing in general and we really hope to build on this and grow this event over the next three years !!!!
Andrew Ward
1st Place: Allan and Daniel Lawrence
2nd Place: Blaine and Roxanne Dodds
3rd Place: William and Lucinda Edwards
4th Place: Andrew and Angela Ward
5th Place: Peter and Dyland Swales
We had 40 boats – we had representation from all round the country. 
The racing went down to the wire, we had one race on Friday which started in 20-25 knots and on the final lap the breeze filled in at 30 knots gusting more at times, Saturday we had an early start with boats battling to get across the start line after 10min race was abandoned and all sent back to shore – a light NW filled in around 14:00 and two races were sailed in very switchy/tricky conditions – at this stage the Dodds team had put their mark on the regatta with 3 wins.