Garth finishes second at nationals

MT EDGECOMBE sailor, Garth Loudon, finished second at this year’s Hobie 14 Nationals hosted by the Point Yacht Club. He finished behind Blaine Dodds, who added one more to his tally of 37 other national Hobie titles. The Plett sailor ended in a podium position in every single race, notching up six first spots, three seconds and a third.

Loudon, who after a challenging start to the regatta, dug deep and sailed fantastically. In the very first race, Loudon was the only boat to have false-started and scored a dreaded on course side OCS, which was later scratched from his record with the two race discards.

“I was very pleased with the result. I am very competitive and I did want to win but having the opportunity to sail against the world champion was phenomenal. I think Blaine is just an amazing athlete, we have very similar personalities when it comes to sailing and how we go about preparing for the race. I have set myself a few goals I want to achieve in the Hobie 14 and 16 classes this year and I’ve got the Hobie 16 Nationals coming up,” Loudon said.

The 54-year-old is a previous winner of the Nationals, winning it in 1989. Last year, he was among two sailors to make history in the Tanzacat-All Africa Hobie Championships by becoming the first Durban sailors to win the prestigious event.