A big THANK YOU to Fiji Hobie's sponsors Air Pacific, Suzuki Marine, Total, ANZ, Vodafone, Pure Fiji, Perfect Choice Water, Tourism Fiji and Vonu Beer, for their immense support and making the 2010 Air Pacific Oceania Championships and the Suzuki Fiji Hobie Challenge the most successful to date!
Thanks also to Steve Fields of Hobie Cat Australia for the spare parts and to Ronstan for providing the youth teams with new gloves!
Many thanks also to this year's competitors who all left gear behind for use by the local youth teams. Very generous of you all!
As a non-profit sports organization, we couldn’t possibly hold the events without sponsorship and we are very lucky to have major sponsors such as Total providing us with the fuel to follow the fleet halfway around Fiji, and Suzuki Marine, who have provided us with outboard motors that can withstand the mileage and sea conditions we expose them to throughout the sailing season.
Safety is essential during sailing competitions and Fiji Hobie has 4-5 safety boats following the fleet at all times in case anything goes wrong with any of the Hobies. The volunteers who travel along with the fleet, generously giving us a week of their lives for free are the heroes of the events. This year, David Philp of Tradewinds Marine kindly provided a safety boat, Fiji Fish provided two boats and a fourth was provided by Adam Watkins. All of the boat drivers kindly volunteer their time to be out on the water looking out for the welfare of the sailors for the duration of the regattas for which we are extremely grateful, especially as there were three rescues necessary this year.
If it hadn't been for Vodafone, Fiji Hobie could not have coordinated those rescue operations as all safety boats and competitors were provided with Vodafone cellphones to contact each other in emergencies.
Furthermore, all sailors need to carry water bottles on the boats and MH’s generously provided Perfect Choice water for the entire Challenge and Pure Fiji provided us sun protective products and trampoline bags in which to carry our supplies and GPS equipment. All of the sailors were very grateful to have the support of local sponsors to enable a safe event and the development of sailing in Fiji, as they all want to return next year to sail here again.
ANZ is funding the training of the future sailors of Fiji by sponsoring the Youth Challenge and we are fortunate to have their support to buy new equipment for more local youth sailors to enter the sport. Thanks to Air Pacific, which provides Fiji Hobie with discounted tickets, our sailors can travel to international regattas and that provides them with invaluable exposure to high level competition. Several local youths have already travelled to Thailand, San Francisco, China and Australia to compete in international regattas.
This year, all of the competitors had a fabulous time. They loved the resorts we stayed at, The Pearl, The Fijian and Treasure Island; the winners got to take home local mother-of-pearl shell prizes exquisitely hand carved with turtles and frangipanis by local artisans Peter Frey and son, Andreas; Vonu Beer generously supplied our prize-giving party with their locally handcrafted lager; even Airports Fiji Limited kindly supported us by hanging our welcome banner in the arrivals area, so that the Hobie sailors felt welcomed as soon as they arrived.
VINAKA VAKA LEVU to you all!