2006 Hobie 18 National Championship

Sue and I started sailing and racing Hobies over 20 years ago and were very active until we started our annual cruises on Windancer and then Tropic Daze.  Cruising kept us away during the prime part of the racing scene in the south central US.  Now we only get to race once or twice a year.

In the fall of 2006 and the Hobie 18 National Championship were held in our back yard, Lake Texoma just north of Dallas Texas.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to compete.   Due to our lack of practice, our advancing years (65), and competing against sailors half our age who were competing regularly; we were concerned that we would drag in last in every race, how embarrassing would that be.   Here we are with our boat Ol' Yeller, on the beach getting ready for a race.  Continued below.

Here are some shots of us on the water during the five days of competition.  Double click for a better look.

Running down wind with our weight forward.	Downwind working on strategy and tactics.	Comming upwind into A mark.	After A mark, we setting up for another downwind.	The downwind run begins and we head to the finish line.

After five days of racing we finished in the top half of the fleet, even winning one race against many top sailors.  Not bad for a couple of old, out of practice sailors.  Hobies are still great fun and we hope we can keep going for many more years.