ESTIMATING SERVICES – CAT DASH & SURF RACES, 5th & 6th JULY
St Ouen’s Bay will be a blaze of colour this coming weekend with bright Hobie Cat sails on the beach and water. The RCIYC Hobie Fleet are running the Estimating Services relay surf races, bay races and a ‘Cat Dash’ distance race
This is the 40th Anniversary of the event which wasfirst staged in 1985 as the legendary Riva Cup surf races.
Hobie Cats were introduced into St Ouen’s Bay in the early ‘80’s by former British and EuropeanSurfing Champion Gordon Burgis and another topIsland surfer Barry Jenkins who together had seen the potential of these powerful cats on their surfingtravels in Southern California. They were keen to participate in other water based activities when the waves were flat or blown out and Hobies fitted the bill perfectly. Along with other surfing friends theyinitially imported 5 Hobie Cats which started the Fleet sailing and racing them in the bay as a shared activity. These iconic cats, due to the patented hull design based on Hawaiian Outrigger Canoes fromCalifornian Hobie Alter of surfboard building fame and World Champion Surfer Phil Edwards, performwell in swells. They also became the biggest small cat racing Fleets worldwide with the local Fleet having grown to around 50 boats from those early days.
The event hasn’t been raced for several years. The logistics of running this type of racing and movingthe boats from their base in St.Aubin’s bay are restrictive. St Aubin’s Bay offers better weatherprotection for the Fleet with over 50 races held each season.
But there has been growing enthusiasm to reintroduce the racing in St Ouen’s Bay. That it’s happening this year is due to the passion and drive ofFleet stalwart and leading sailor Adrian Jesson whose company Estimating Services is also sponsoring the event.
The Island’s Hobie Fleet is returning to its roots for a weekend, with 20+ Hobie 16’s entered, it will be action packed, including surf relay racing, hull flying competition and races around the bay. The racinggets underway on Saturday at 11:30am, with the ‘Cat Dash ‘ race back to St. Aubin’s bay on Sunday starting at 12 noon. The surf racing area kindly set by the Beach Guards will be north of Le Braye slip towards El Tico. All the action can be viewed from the beach or sea wall.
This spectacular ‘Sail meets Surf’ event is going to be super exciting for the teams participating and onlookers alike, especially for those crews who haven’t experienced this type of Hobie racing before,it’s going to be very much about the fun element of sailing which Hobie Cats can deliver in spades.
