Blaine Dodds wins Hobie 14 Nationals
The local team did well, with six of its members finishing in the top 10.
WORLD champion, Blaine Dodds, took the honours in this year’s edition of the Hobie 14 Nationals, hosted by Point Yacht Club, adding one more to his tally of 37 other national Hobie titles.
Dodds ended his four days with a total of 10 points after ten races, with two race discards. The Plettenburg sailor ended in a podium position in every single race, notching up six first spots – three seconds and a third.
Pushing him all the way was Mount Edgecombe’s Garth Loudon, who, after a challenging start to the regatta, dug deep and sailed fantastically. In the first race, Loudon was the only boat to have false-started and scored a dreaded OCS, which was later scratched from his record with the two race discards. His regatta improved considerably and he entered the last day only one point behind the world champ and finished in second place in the final four races.
Another local entry who sailed phenomenally was Westville’s Peter Hall, who ended his regatta in third place. “It was a seriously awesome regatta. The weather dished up a bit of everything, from light switchy winds to some generous swell and breeze, where we had to knuckle down hard and hang on. The local team did well, with six of our guys finishing in the top 10. All in all, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.”
On the junior front, two up-and-coming lads, both from Durban, impressed. Dylan Albert and Jethro Brophy-Tintinger were right up there throughout the regatta.
