Friday, September 05, 2008
THE Pearl, Pacific Harbour: It's not often a fleet of hobies is seen in the middle of Suva Harbour, but yesterday's start of the fourth leg of the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge did just that.
Three more teams joined the fourth and fifth legs of the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge, wanting to give the inaugural course a test run.
Race controller Bruce Southwick said several sailors who were sick during the first three legs of the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge decided to test the course yesterday.
The fourth leg of the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge started from Suva Harbour at 10.30am, with sailors taking about two-and-a-half-hours to reach the Royal Davui resort just off Beqa.
Southwick said the fourth leg started out with 10 knot winds as sailors left Suva Harbour and built to about 12 knots by the time they reached the southern end of Beqa.
After an hour's break at Royal Davui resort, the fifth leg of the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge began with a run through to The Pearl Resort at Pacific Harbour, which took about 90 minutes."
It was pretty good. The weather started off at about 10 knots and built to 12 knots by the time they got to the island then went to 15 knots, then by the time they got to Pacific Harbour it was blowing 18 knots," he said.
Southwick confirmed the race committee was heading into a meeting late yesterday to discuss several issues that arose after the fifth leg of the race.
He said these included weight restrictions and issues to do with crewing procedure.
He said an update and a summary of the winners of yesterday's legs would be provided as soon as the meeting in the evening.
The Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge is spread over five days taking in waters outside and inside the reef from Suva to Leleuvia to Ovalau back to Suva then to Beqa and back to Suva again.
On average sailors are expected to be pitting their skills against the elements for about five or six hours every day in what is seen as a marathon-type event from one point to another.
This will take in about 50 miles of racing a day with some days going up to as much as 70 to 100 miles a day.
Southwick said earlier that a key focus during the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge was safety.
"We have good contingencies with safety boats, Vodafone have given us 36 mobile phones so the skippers and the safety boats will be in contact and for emergency use, so all crews will have mobile phones.
"We will have safety boats in front of the fleet, following the fleet and moving markers and identifying any problems along the way."
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