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Somerset West Pilates teacher, Michelle le Sueur and sailing partner Shaun Ferry (skipper), are the 2005 Hobie Cat World Champions after their consistent good form in difficult conditions experienced during the event held in Port Elizabeth's Mandela Bay recently.

Speaking to the DistrictMail shortly after the event, Michelle said she and skipper Shaun were thrilled with their win. This is her second World Cup win and Shaun's third.

Michelle, who for many years was a member of the Hottentots Holland Beach Sailing Club in the Strand, explained that this win did not come easy and both Shaun and herself put a lot of hard work and effort into winning the title and the pressure to do so was immense.

She said that her and Shaun, a member of the Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club, started training specifically for the World Championships about a year ago and trained right through winter, mostly in the notorious shark infested waters off Fishhoek.

Michelle said she has been sailing on and off since about 18-years-old and has known Shaun from when she first started sailing. "It was easy and also fantastic to sail with someone as experienced as Shaun and we also really compliment each other well.

"Besides sailing together as often as we could, in the lead-up to the championships, we also went on special diets because we wanted to get our total weight (hers and Shaun's) down to 140 kg.

"Apart from the Pilates, I also did some extra upper body and thigh and stomach exercises while Shaun ran, cycled and did weight training."

There were 112 teams competing in the semifinal rounds, for which 42 teams had pre-qualified. South Africa, with 30 teams in the semi-final, had the most entrants followed by France with 12 teams. Only the top 56 teams advanced to the final rounds. ?There were four races on day one of the semi-finals, which we had qualified for by finishing third in the SA Champs, which were also sailed in Port Elizabeth.

"We started, well winning the first race and then got a second, third and fifth places in the other race. The next day we sailed three races and were placed 16th in the first (which we were able to discard) fourth in the second and 10th in the third. On Friday we were supposed to sail two races. We finished 16th in the first and then the wind died and the race was called off.

"By then we knew we had done enough to win. There were three points between us and the second placed crew, another South African team, (father and daughter) who finished with 21 points.

Changing winds

Michelle said it was an incredibly intense competition plus winds which constantly changed from 8 knots to 60 knots very quickly.

She said she was thrilled that all their hard work had paid off and this, together with good communications with her skipper, constantly informing him what was happening and keeping calm under heavy pressure, all combined to take them to victory. "I'm also convinced my Pilates training and extra gym work helped me become a stronger, more agile and better crew member."

Brazilian competitor, Mario Dubeux, said of the seven World Championships he has competed in, this year's was the most difficult with its constantly changing winds from gale-force to hardly a breeze.

Michelle said next on her sailing agenda was the ISAF (World Sailing Games) in May in Austria and then to compete in the Worlds again next year, which would be in either Brazil or Fiji.

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