Philippines Hobie Challenge

For those of you who may be interested...my crew, Laura Sullivan, and I have just been invited to compete in a 250-mile endurance race over 7 days in the Philippines -- the Philippines Hobie Challenge -- this coming Feb. 16-23. It will be sailed on Hobie 16s. We believe we are the first American team to be invited to this event which is a test of speed, strategy, and endurance for the 20 teams.

Not sure if we will have internet access during the week, but we will do our best to post updates. We will be tent camping on remote islands. Wed. night we will be at a 'resort' (whatever that is!) and they may have internet. Also at the beginning and finish I expect internet.

I am in touch with one of the past organizers and a competitor, and he says it is about 60% downwind, 30% reaching, and 10% upwind. That's probably a good thing as I didn't want to get stuck out on the wire for hours at a time. As it is, on the reaches we will probably single-trap and rotate who is out.

The main competition will be Bob Engvida from Australia. He sails with Aaron Worrall and Brad "Worstie" Wilson. The latter 2 finished 13th at the Worlds in Fiji and won the North Americans in easy fashion after sitting out the last race. There will be others to watch as well -- particularly some of the veterans of the race. But because the course changes every year, at least they won't have an advantage knowing the course.

The race is 7 days long. There is an inshore series, consisting of 5 buoy races, and an offshore series, consisting of the 5 days of long-distance racing. On Sat., Feb. 15th, we take a plane ride from Manila to Legaspi City, then a 2-hour bus ride to Gubat. We will spend the rest of the day getting settled and 'scrutineer" (as they call it) the boats.

On Sunday, Feb. 16th, we race one practice race in the morning, have lunch, then race two buoy races in the afternoon. The next day we are off! The first leg is the longest -- 70 nm.

When we finish in Siargao, we are not finished. The next day we race 3 more buoy races. Then the awards party! It should be quite fun -- camping with 39 other competitors for a week. I imagine we should be pretty good friends by the end!

I am working on some sponsorship and hope to have some positive things to report on that next week. Stay tuned.

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Peter Nelson

Congrats Peter,
For those who are unfamiliar, check out the link . . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZ9Q9gOP1Q

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Happy Sailing,

David

Website is up. www.philhobie.com

They switched it over to a new server and a bunch of info hasn't made the move yet. But all the basic and important stuff is there. Check out the NOR for the safety equipment required. Good write-ups on past challenges. This is no small feat, guys and gals.

Thanks to Fleet 95, Layline, Harken, Gill, Murray's, Barz Optics, Larabar, Hobie Cats NW, Zhik & Fisheries Supply for supporting us.

3 weeks and counting! I'll be posting a write-up when I get back. May even have something for Hotline, Matt. We are getting quite a bit of interest from the media, so should be fun to expose this regatta for what it is -- a LOT of fun!!

Also, one more USA team got invited -- Grady & Laura Lynn. Laura Lynn was the one who got me pumped to do this. I never got the chance to do a Worrell. And while this is only a quarter of Worrell, it may be the only long-distance catamaran race I get a chance to do. The lure of remote, tropical islands in a foreign country may have also had something to do with it!!

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Peter Nelson

I've been meaning to tell you - by doing this, you're obligated to do an article for the HOTLINE.

Take several waterproof cameras and get me the stuff as soon as you can!

OK. Here is an update...

We are still negotiating with one company to be title sponsor. We had interest from a couple of other companies, but we were so late coming to the party that one said 'No thanks' and the other said "Talk to me afterwards about sponsoring." So we have one company left and we should know something by the end of the week.

Sponsors to date include: Murray's, Zhik, Barz Optics, Harken, Larabar, Layline, Hobie Cats NW, Sperry, and our own Hobie Fleet 95. BIG thanks to all of them for stepping up and helping us out.

We have our gear pretty well organized & packed. Mine is in 2 dry bags -- one dry bag will go on the support boat to the next spot. It contains sleeping bag, tent, clothes and stuff. The other, smaller dry bag will go on the boat with us. When we get to Gubat I plan to unpack and repack everything.

On the trampoline we are planning to take along one smaller dry bag (to carry non-essentials like the 2 liters of extra water required for emergencies, paddle, etc.), 2 tramp bags to carry quick-access items (like shackles, Larabars, etc.), and a TackTick compass. I will mount the compass directly aft of the mast with the dry bag aft of that. Having all this extra gear on the tramp will make for some interesting boat maneuvers! I hope we don't have to carry all that crap on the buoy races!!

Waypoints have been entered into our GPS as well as Google Earth. I will attempt to attach the Google Earth file so you can view the route.

Additional information is available on the website that is (finally) up. (They swapped servers and it was down for a few critical weeks.) But all is good now. 9th Philippines Hobie Challenge

Been doing some mid-winter training (which is unusual for me this time of year!). Finally, Sailing World has indicated an interest in running the story.

We are looking forward to bringing this 'Survivor'-type event to the US sailors.

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Peter Nelson

As for the route, we expect the first distance leg to be downwind. Tuesday should be mostly a reach with a little downwind. The 3rd day (Wed.) we will be going downwind in between 2 islands in what is essentially a salt water river. That evening, Wed. evening we will camp at a resort at the "mouth of the river". Can you say "warm shower"? Sure ya can!

The 4th day (Thurs.) should be another reach. And the last day will be the most difficult and the most fun -- surfing downwind on huge Pacific swells for 57 nm!!

The winds are predominantly northeasterly, although southeasterlies could change some of the legs to upwind! Current will be a tactical factor. The islands will change the wind direction, so we are expecting lifts and headers.

Competition includes mostly Aussies -- Aaron Worrall ran away with the 16 NACs in Alameda last summer and was, like, 19th at Worlds. Expect him to dominate. Bob Engwirda has won this event several times (sailing with Aaron and Worstie) and will be a huge factor. Bruce Tardrew will also be tough. I just noticed 2 teams, including Andrew Locke, are a scratch. We are down to 18 teams and we haven't even started yet!

Mark Haswell (PHP) has won the event before. Never sailed against him before, so don't know him. Tony Stearns (NMI) is a veteran of this event. But we have beaten them at 2 Worlds, so I am hoping we can three-peat. The others I don't know about. So all-in-all, I see about 6 of the teams being tough, with the others being unknown.

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Peter Nelson

We arrived on Sat. and met a tropical depression! Conditions as reported were: 35-45k, 18' seas, 10 sec. intervals -- not the stuff you want to launch a beach cat into! After 2 days we moved the boats 2 hrs. south (to Mongot) and re-rigged. We started the first leg on Tuesday in 20k and a 12' confused sea leftover from the storm and the 3k current.

But after about an hour of reaching in that, things settled down quite a bit. Too much actually. We had 4 days of light wind and rain after that. The weather simply did not cooperate. But it was still worth it!

Registration was limited to 20 teams. But 8 cancelled before the big show. Then the Dutch team retired after only 20 min. of sailing due to a combination of issues related to boat rigging. That left only 11 teams.

The Aussies dominated the event. Bob "Squirta" Engwirda won with Brad "Worstie" Wilson crewing. Bruce "Tards" Tardrew was 2nd and Aaron Worrall was 3rd. A local Philippine team, Naki, came in 4th followed by us 5th.

We flipped after the start on Tuesday. That put us 5th and well back after the 1st gate, where the course was shortened. The next day was the only leg fully completed -- a 35-miler down a river and across an open stretch of water. The wind was light (again) and the rich got richer. We watched the top 4 teams sail away while our sails slapped. At one point, we were totally becalmed for 20 min. We gave up 25 min. to the 4th place team (Naki) and that was our undoing.

We won the 3rd leg. There was controversy on this one as Worrall and I each filed redress. In the end, my request prevailed and the race was shortened at the first gate. That gate was crazy. The gate was "Rock Gap" -- a gap between 2 rocks we were told was big enough to fit 2 Hobies. Sure enough, we arrived right in front of Squirta double trapped on a beam reach. After a quick douche, we were on the tramp pushing the boat along one of the rocks as we encountered a 180 wind shift in the gap and were getting pushed onto one of the rocks. My crew, Laura Sullivan, reached out to push off and almost squished a rock crab that scurried off!! When we cleared the rock enough, the double-trap wind hit us again and we nearly flipped! It was crazy!

Later that day we were reaching along in light breeze in 3rd, about a mile and half behind Squirta and Tards and a mile in front of Worrall. All of a sudden a squall hit us. We reached off for about 20 min. and when it passed and we could see again we could not see land, any of our competitors, nothing! We weren't familiar enough with the GPS to trust its information. After about 20 tense min. we got it all figured out and continued racing. But there was a period there where we were totally lost in "the big pond" with no sight of anything or anyone!

Later in the afternoon we got picked up and towed the other 20 miles or so to Suluan Is. This island has a dangerous reef entrance and they wanted to get us in before dark. It didn't happen. To make matters worse, the RIB that was towing us had given up its GPS to someone else. At about 7 p.m. local time, in the night, the RIB stopped near the island. We were smack dab in the middle of the reef broadside to the waves. I looked up to see a 7' wave breaking over our trampoline!! To make matters worse, we were still tied up 2nd in line on the tow. We survived the 1st wave and I told Laura to get the knife out and be ready to cut us free. Our screams to the RIB were not being heard. Finally, before a 2nd wave could crash on us, he got the RIB going and towed us out of there -- right onto a 2nd reef! This one wasn't as big as the 1st and a few more screams and we were off that one without any damage. Talk about seeing your life pass in front of you!!

On the final day they towed us out into open water for about 20 miles, set up a start line, and had us race to the finish. This finish also had a reef. There was a lighted buoy marking the entrance, then a 1-mile beat up a lagoon to the resort where the finish was. This was an exciting finish. Worrall led at the buoy, followed by Tards, us, and Squirta.

But Squirta hardened up to cut the corner. We all followed suit. Worrall got the worst of it as he ended up running aground on a small reef/island in the middle of the lagoon. We got rolled by Squirta, we rolled Tards, who then rolled us. We ended up 3rd that night by 1 boat length to Tards and Squirta. It was an exciting finish!!

There are a ton more stories, but I won't take the time here to go into them all. If/when you see me, ask me and I'll unleash!! Great, great time! Really incredible! Hope to do it next year.

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Peter Nelson

Welcome Home!

I'd say you better start writing all of this down for your article in Hotline.

Or it'll be like the paperboy wanting his two dollars...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2C07yRC ... re=related

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2003 Tiger - Don Atchley

Peter,

There are probably 10,000 people who read this forum that may never have a chance to sit down with you and hear more of the story.

Please...you're not boring us! Very intriguing stuff that most of us will at best only dream of doing. Hope you'll share more of the experience here in the future

Thanks,
John

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Then they can join the class, get the HOTLINE and read the whole article, right Peter?

BTW, nice teaser for the next issue - now where's my story & photos?

Here are a couple more stories that probably won't make it in the Hotline. Those last 2 days were the most exciting...for us at least.

The leg on Wed. featured a 25-mile ride down a salt water river (that separates 2 islands) known as San Juanico Straits. It empties out at Tacloban, where there was a gate, then a 10-mile reach to the finish at Caluwayan resort.

We port-tacked the start -- not a big deal with only 11 boats -- cuz we wanted to stay out of sync with the fleet and to get out to the open water and hopefully some breeze. We then tacked back to starboard to play the shore. It worked and we took off on a big lead. But it didn't last.

We gave it away so fast. In fact, we went from first to worst in a matter of about an hour or so. But then it filled in from behind just enough to help us get back with the leaders. It strange how quickly things change out there.

In any case, we were within a mile of Naki and Tards and maybe 6-8 boat lengths behind Squirta and Worrall. Every time we caught up, though, they would catch something and move out. Then we would catch up to them. This went on about 3 times. Finally, it worked one more time. Only this time, by the time we got into the breeze, they were gone and there was no catching up. The wind died behind them and we were left poking along giving up a lot of time. As we passed under the San Juanico bridge -- a beautiful structure if ever there was one -- Filipino kids were yelling down to us in native tongue. We yelled back and it was a lot of fun to connect with them and hear their giggles. I am sure they had never seen anything like that before!

The "river" ends at Tacloban and we were fighting like mad to get across the river before we got swept past the gate. There was absolutely no wind. We made it through the gate, though, and went on to the finish in a dying breeze. We were the last to finish that leg. Everyone else got DNF'd. But we gave up 25 min. to Naki (4th) and a ton more to the leaders. Since all the other legs were partial legs, there was no way to make up that kind of time. We were doomed!

When we got to the resort, we all wanted a shower, dry clothes, and a drink. We all met at the bar. Worstie asked for a rum and coke. But they couldn't figure it out. So he ended up buying the whole pint of rum for 40 pesos (one dollar!). The coke was more than the rum! My rum and orange juice was 250 pesos!

Worrall ordered a fruit smoothie. I think he is still at the bar waiting for it! Flash (aka Laura Lynn Rabb-Jancola -- the other American team from Santa Cruz) ordered a kahlua and milk. They would go in the back behind a curtain and come out 10 min. later with kahlua, crushed ice and milk. She tried to buy the whole bottle of kahlua but they got all messed up figuring out how much it would be. It was crazy.

At Suluan Island the next evening (after the reef episode), the villagers put on a show for us. They had young girls sing to us after dinner. Then the teenage boys and girls did traditional dances. Worstie and I found a bamboo pole and got out there for some limbo! That loosened things up a bit. But everyone was so tired from the long day and long tow that most of us bagged it early.

The towing was the worst -- even worse than the rain. Hobie Cats are not designed to be towed. It is tough on the back and hips. On Friday we were being towed in open water and seeing a 14-15' following sea. But the water was so rough we had to hang onto the tramp straps to keep from getting thrown. Standing up helped some.

Sailing in that open, big-swell water was the most fun! I was pumping the main traveler (only once per wave!) and having a ball. Squirta and Worrall took off leaving Tards and us to duke it out. We pulled ahead of Tards, but eventually he got around us on a wind shift in a squall. But then it filled in from behind and we were catching up to them. Payback time!

The 3 Aussies were in close to the island. I figured I had nothing to lose (5th was a ways back), so I went about a 1/4 mile outside of them and started rotating nicely on them. It worked enough that by the time we went by the red-lighted buoy marking the entrance, we were in 3rd. I would say 8 boat lengths separated the top 4 boats going into the reef.

As we entered the reef, the wind was light and it was sunset. The whole sky turned pink. And since there wasn't much breeze, it reflected off the water. For about 5 min. our entire world was pink! It was incredible!!

OK, gotta write that Hotline article.

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Peter Nelson

Thanks Peter! Looking forward to the Hotline article, and your next trip

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

That's the paperboy I was talking about...

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2003 Tiger - Don Atchley