Inter-School Sailing Festival at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club 1 Mar 2011 07:49 GMT
26-27 February 2011
The ninth Inter-School Sailing Festival organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club once again broke all records. A total of 148 sailors in 20 teams took part including one school team from Macau. The teams were split into two divisions, RS Feva and RS Q’Ba. A total of 98 races were sailed over two days consisting of a round-robin format before the petit and grand finals.
Conditions on day one at Middle Island were without doubt some of the windiest this event has seen. Rather than racing all four flights at the same time the Race Committee went for the conservative approach of reefing the Feva and Q’ba dinghies ashore and running only one division at a time while the other was tied up at the pontoon.
There were plenty of capsizes but sailors enjoyed the challenging conditions. With only seven races completed in two hours the target of 56 races by the end of day one wasn’t looking achievable. However, the Race Committee had faith in the forecast that it would ease off so opted for an early lunch break. Within the hour the breeze had dropped to around 12 knots and racing got underway again with all four flights racing on a rolling start and they were kept short in order to catch up with the race schedule. By 2.30pm the wind had dropped sufficiently that it was possible to shake out the reefs in the sails and conditions were near ideal for the rest of the afternoon.
Overnight leaders in the Feva Division were South Island School with 6 race wins out of 6! In the Q’ba Division it was Hong Kong Sea School leading with 5 out of 5 races. Sailors arrived on day two to contrasting light winds but signs were promising that there would still be enough wind to complete the remaining 46 races.
It was Sha Tin College who would go onto finish top of the Feva Round Robin stage after winning a protest to have their race again South Island School re-sailed and which they consequently won. In the Q’ba Division Hong Kong Sea School lost their first race against the HK Schools Sailing Association who normally sail out of Tai Mei Tuk in the New Territories.
Tie break rules had to be used to decide 16 of the 20 positions at the end of the round-robin - such was the close competition. Island School went on to beat Island School in the 3rd and 4th playoff in the Feva Division, while in the Q’ba Division West Island School got the better of Island School in to finish 3rd.
The Feva final was particularly close between Sha Tin College and South Island School but it was South Island that went on to take the Feva Division Championship with a 2 -0 win in a best of three race final. Hong Kong Sea School also won with a 2-0 result against HK Schools Sailing Association to take the Q’Ba Division Championship.
RHKYC Commodore Ambrose Lo and Peter Davies from the event Sponsor Neil Pryde awarded the prizes to the first four teams in each Division in a prize giving that took place on the RHKYC hardstanding shortly after the finals were completed. The weekend’s Race Officer, Andrew Moore awarded the Fragrant Harbour prizes that are fun prizes that support the great atmosphere at the event.
Overall Results:
Feva Division
1st - South Island School
2nd - Sha Tin College
3rd - Island School
4th- King George V School
Q'Ba Division
1st- Hong Kong Sea School
2nd - Hong Kong Schools Sailing Association
3rd - West Island School
4th - Island School
See the event website for full results.