Mourniac-Citeau into the lead

After seven races of the Hobie Tiger World Championship in Galicia

Galicia is increasingly enthusiastic about hosting major top level sailing competitions. After the Grand Prix des Multicoques for the ORMA 60s, then the start of the Volvo Ocean Race in Vigo in 2005, now it is the turn of Cangas - the harbour opposite Vigo - to host the World Hobie Tiger Championship this week. Australians, Porto Ricans, Dutch…the 'Tiger' community have ccme from all four corners of the world to compete in the world championship. 'Kinou' Mourniac and Franck Citeau, the French representatives of the Nissan Hobie Cat Pro Team, are also present. This evening they are leading the overall provisional scoreboard after seven rounds, including three wins.

Since 1999, this world championship has been 'the' Hobie class event says Michel Corigliano of Hobie Cat Europe. "Top notch competitors have come from all over the world, South Africa, Hong Kong, the United States. The level increases all the time."

For 'Kinou' Mourniac and Franck Citeau, his crew, the results of the first two days have been excellent. The pair is currently on the highest step of the podium followed by another French team, Moana Vaireaux and Romain Petit and an American team leading this evening, Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier.

"On the first day, we had light air with around 6 to 7 knots and a grey sky. Americans Thomas and Bernier sail fast in those conditions. But today the thermal winds kicked in which played into our hands. We’re half way through the worlds and the pressure is on. It’s hot out there on the starting line. It’s odd. We all have the same boat. The contract is not fulfilled. We’re trying to have fun and sail as best we can. You have to remain humble. It’s so easy to find yourself capsized or disqualified on a start," says Mourniac. The world champion comprises 15 races.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot	Net
1	Jean-Christophe Mourniac	Franck Citeau	FRA	3	5	1	4	1	11	1	26	15
2	Moana Vaireaux	Petit Romain	FRA	17	6	6	2	4	1	7	43	26
3	Greg Thomas	Jacques Bernier	USA	1	3	2	15	10	10	2	43	28
4	Christophe Renaud de Malet	Alban Rossollin	FRA	4	9	19	8	2	6	4	52	33
5	Jerome le Gal	Mickael Siret	FRA	10	30	4	6	18	7	6	81	51
6	Mitch Booth	Taylor Booth	AUS	7	22	16	17	7	2	3	74	52
7	Tom Phipps	Jonathan Cook	GBR	8	7	26	3	22	4	9	79	53
8	Brett Dryland	Rod Waterhouse	AUS	19	4	33	9	9	5	13	92	59
9	Simon Kearns	Mad dog Burns	GBR	11	10	5	26	16	9	10	87	61
10	Mark Laruffa	Brad Wilson	AUS	43	2	17	1	13	14	16	106	63
11	John Tomko	Ian Billings	USA	13	23	11	22	8	8	11	96	73
12	Andrew Tayler	Nick Tayler	GBR	21	16	60	29	5	13	5	149	89
13	Cédric Bader	Montoya Yann	FRA	23	14	8	16	6	26	32	125	93
14	Mal Gray	Daniel Sims	AUS	14	15	10	19	15	20	23	116	93
15	Sam Newton	Harry Blakey	GBR	20	41	7	10	27	18	14	137	96
16	Shane Peterson	Jerome Binder	AUS	2	20	28	25	12	12	26	125	97
17	Oscar Zeekant	Noor van Uchelen	NED	6	13	27	23	14	16	25	124	97
18	loic Fequet	François Filippi	FRA	25	34	9	33	3	28	8	140	106
19	Cooper Kevin	Justin Martin	GBR	16	19	20	14	30	15	22	136	106
20	Gerard Loos	Pieter van Ruitenburg	NED	39	1	22	7	17	33	27	146	107
21	Sandra Tartaglino	Luke Butler	USA	5	21	15	34	44	19	17	155	111
22	Normand thomas	lemaitre brice	FRA	30	26	3	12	21	31	21	144	113
23	Eric Proust	Timothe Bruneel	FRA	9	17	60	27	20	23	19	175	115
24	Julien Feraud	Alexis Doglio	FRA	18	29	60	20	32	3	20	182	122
25	Rudolph Chichemanian	Greg Bresil	FRA	12	39	12	21	41	32	15	172	131
26	Allan Lawrence	Inge Schabort	RSA	38	31	13	13	24	25	30	174	136
27	Frédérique Ffeiffer	Françoise Dettling	FRA	34	27	35	5	23	17	41	182	141
28	Bernardo Benitez Cabrera	Miguel Perez Quintana	ESP	31	24	24	18	25	41	29	192	151
29	Scott Miller	Kiki Miller	USA	29	40	23	11	35	29	28	195	155
30	Steve Leo	Jeff Fortuna	USA	42	18	18	24	34	39	37	212	170
31	Richard Ayres	Roxanne Dodds	RSA	22	43	21	36	19	30	44	215	171
32	Blaine Dodds	Peter Dodds	RSA	44	32	25	31	11	40	34	217	173
33	Ysbrand ten Houte de Lange	Roland van Joolen	NED	27	12	43	40	45	38	24	229	184
34	Ibrahim Mustafa	Gustavo Pinto	PUR	15	47	39	39	31	43	18	232	185
35	Olivier Pilon	Guillaume Paradis	CAN	24	37	31	28	42	27	38	227	185
36	Guillaume Hemery	Olivier Fernandez	FRA	41	45	14	38	40	21	35	234	189
37	Colin Whitehead	Peter Verdon	RSA	47	52	32	42	39	24	12	248	196
38	Elke Delnooz	Tim Hulsman	NED	36	28	41	47	43	22	33	250	203
39	Hylton Hale	Robert de Rooy	RSA	28	44	38	35	28	35	39	247	203
40	Nacho Botas	Pepe Etcheverria	ESP	26	46	29	37	26	45	42	251	205
41	David Stiemsma	Jerry Mohney	USA	48	8	36	44	38	44	46	264	216
42	Chris Green	David McDaniel	USA	35	48	34	30	46	37	36	266	218
43	Ran Stav	Ron Barak	ISR	49	25	37	45	36	36	40	268	219
44	Daniel DeLave	Eileen Haubl	USA	60	38	60	32	29	42	31	292	232
45	Franck Jehenson	Angeline Jehenson	NED	54	35	45	48	37	34	47	300	246
46	David Heroux	Barbara Powers	USA	53	11	47	49	47	49	49	305	252
47	Michael Goodyer	Louise Goodyer	RSA	46	42	40	50	33	48	51	310	259
48	Peter Davies	Brenda Davies	HKG	45	36	46	41	48	46	45	307	259
49	Oscar Roldan	Fernando Gallego	ESP	37	33	49	43	51	51	48	312	261
50	Vincent Levionnois	Simon Levionnois	FRA	40	50	30	53	50	47	50	320	267