Aberdeen Asset Management Hong Kong Inter-School Sailing Festival
by RHKYC Media 16 Mar 2014 20:57 GMT
15-16 March 2014
115 races were completed over two days of team racing in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Middle Island clubhouse to decide the 2014 champions of the Aberdeen Asset Management Inter-school Sailing Festival.
It was a weekend of close racing and tricky race conditions as the wind frequently shifted around on the race course. A total of 60 races were completed on day one with Hong Kong Sea School and King George V School overnight leaders in the Feva Division whilst Hong Kong Sea School also led in the Q'ba/Pico Division.
The conditions on day two improved and the sun even came out as racing got underway at 1000hrs. Racing continued until 1530hrs with only one interruption early afternoon as the ebbing tide required the course to be adjusted.
The Q'ba/Pico Division was decided with a single round-robin for the 11 teams and by early afternoon, Hong Kong Sea School were clear favourites with an unbeaten record. The remaining podium positions could only be decided after race 108 and it was South Island School who defeated Island School to claim 2nd.
The Feva Division of 12 teams was split into two pools to reduce the number of races to an achievable amount and it also meant for very close racing on day two as the top three teams from each pool sailed a round-robin. The first race of day two saw Hong Kong Sea School take on King George V School and it turned out to be a great opening race for the day. Racing was close all the way around the course and it wasn't until the very last few metres of the race that Hong Kong Sea School was able to secure the win. A few races later, Macau Anglican College gave Hong Kong Sea School another scare as they had a winning combination against them right up until the final beat to finish, but Hong Kong Sea School kept a clean sheet and went onto win the division with five out of five wins.
Peter Davies from Neil Pryde awarded the teams their souvenir Neil Pryde bags whilst Alex Boggis, Managing Director, Hong Kong, Aberdeen Asset Management was on hand to award the prizes to the champions with Hong Kong Sea School taking 1st place in both divisions.
In making this event happen, Royal Hong Kong Yacht would like to thank Aberdeen Asset Management, Ericsson and Neil Pryde for their sponsorship and the Aberdeen Boat Club for their support with the logistics for the event. Last but by no means least, the team of volunteers who took on the roles of race management, umpires and change over's on the pontoon.
Provisional Results:
Division A (Feva)
1st Hong Kong Sea School
2nd King George V School
3rd Kellett School
4th French International School
Division B (Q'ba/Pico)
1st Hong Kong Sea School
2nd South Island School
3rd Island School
4th Hong Kong Schools Sailing Association