RHKYC Hong Kong International Match Racing Regatta 2015
by Lindsay Lyons, RHKYC 19 Apr 2015 22:19 BST
18-19 April 2015
With four international teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China pitted against four of Hong Kong's best match racing skippers, this weekend's Hong Kong International Match Racing Regatta promised two days of fierce competition in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
The weekend proved to be challenging for both sailors and race management, as a fickle southerly refused to stay steady. First thing on day 1, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen elected to set up in Kowloon Bay to make the most of a 5-7kt breeze and managed to fit three flights in before having to AP at mid-day when the wind died.
Two hours later, staying on Kowloon side, Strompf-Jepsen found a little breeze at Kwun Tong and managed to take the schedule through to the end of flight 7 before calling it a day, leaving three flights to go in the round robin element of the competition. Maxi Soh was looking good with four wins out of four matches, with Jeremy Koo at 6/5, and Peter Backe at 5/4 also at the top of the table.
Today's racing followed a similar pattern, with Kowloon Bay looking like a good place to start, but in spite of AP-ing the start, the breeze didn't fill in as forecast, and after flight 8, the RO opted to move to Junk Bay, to the east of Victoria Harbour, where advance RIB's had found 10 to 15kts of solid south westerly.
RO and Umpires agreed that there was sufficient breeze to complete the round robin section, and flights 9 and 10 were dispatched without delay, with the final match being the decider for round robin first and second between Maxi Soh and Jeremy Koo. This provided spectators with a very close match, resulting in a win for Soh.
As first placed competitor, Soh was offered the choice of opponent for the semi finals, selecting Guy Brearey and leaving Koo to take on Peter Backe. First team to two wins would advance to the final. After drawing lots for boats, the first flight of the semis saw Koo beat Backe and Soh beat Brearey in a fiercely contested race while the second flight was more open, with clear wins for Koo and Soh.
After another boat draw, the Petit Final and Final flights started in 6-8kts of breeze. The petit final produced close competition, with the lead changing hands from mark to mark, but it was Guy Breary who held on to win two in a row and claim third place overall.
Two wins was the magic target, and Soh found himself and easy one up after Koo tacked late around the bottom mark and snagged their spinnaker on the jib furler. Soh led the second race all the way in dying breeze and although the boats were close on the water, Koo had picked up a penalty which had to be cleared before he crossed the finish line, so it was a clear win for both the race and the Regatta for Soh.
Overall Results:
Hong Kong Nationals
1st – Sime Darby Foundation / Jeremy Koo
2nd – Guy Brearey
3rd – Peter Backe
4th - Sam Sakai
Hong Kong International Match Racing Regatta
1st – CMG / Maxi Soh
2nd – Sime Darby Foundation / Jeremy Koo
3rd – Guy Brearey
4th – Peter Backe