Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race in association with VinaCapital - Day 2
by RHKYC Media 18 Oct 2013 07:53 BST
18 October 2013
Walawala 2 crew abandons ship – all safe
At 0135hrs local hours on Friday 18 October, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) Sailing Manager, Alex Johnston, received a distress call via satellite phone from the skipper of Walawala 2, Steven Manning, reporting that the yacht had lost its rudder and was taking on water. Manning also advised that there were no injuries to the 10 crew.
At this time the crew activated the yacht's EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).
RHKYC immediately confirmed the yacht's position with the MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) who activated a rescue plan involving Hong Kong Government Flying Services.
By 0145hrs, Walawala's life raft was being prepared which led to MRCC activating the Hong Kong Government Flying Services who deployed both a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft.
The RHKYC also set into motion their Crisis Management Plan with the team assembling at RHKYC Kellett Island and the yacht Krampus, another competitor in the Race, was identified as being the closest to Walawala 2 and was directed to Walawala's position.
The crew of Walawala 2 were safely on board Krampus by 0405hrs and by 0440hrs the GFS helicopter was reported overhead. Given the distance of 130nm offshore and the limits on operational flying time at the scene, only 8 of the 10 crew were able to be winched aboard safely in that time.
The remaining two Walawala 2 crew remained on the yacht Krampus who subsequently made the decision to retire from the Race instead of continuing to Vietnam, and began making their way back to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the GFS helicopter returned to Hong Kong with the 8 Walawala 2 crew members and were picked up at the airport by RHKYC staff and taken to the Club's Kellett Island clubhouse.
Early reports indicate that Walawala 2 lost their rudder which in turn allowed water ingress at such a rate and volume that Manning was forced to make the decision to abandon ship.
The crew on board range in age from 21 to 59 and some are Hong Kong residents. Their nationalities are British, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
Walawala 2, a Sydney GTS 43, was one of 17 yachts competing in the RHKYC organised Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race.
The event is sailed under ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Category 1 Offshore regulations which require at least 50% of the crew to have completed a sea survival course and first aid training.
24 hours in and 13 of 17 boats still racing
24 hours into the RHKYC-organised Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race and 13 of 17 boats are still racing.
Late yesterday Avant Garde was the first casualty, retiring after three fruitless hours spent trying to fix a steering problem. Then, in the early hours of Friday, the drama surrounding Walawala 2's lost rudder unfolded, and then in another unrelated incident, EFG Bank Mandrake turned back for Hong Kong with steering problems.
Krampus, who retired after responding to Walawala 2's distress flares and picking up the crew, is also on the way back - both Krampus, an Anteros 36 and EFG Bank Mandrake, a Mills 40 Custom, are making good progress and are expected in Hong Kong tomorrow, Saturday at around 1100hrs local time.
Conditions have eased up slightly, with the Hong Kong Observatory predicting force 6 to 7 for the first 500nm to Vietnam, softening to force 5 to 6 for the final stretch into Nha Trang. Ragamuffin 90 has been the first to suffer, dropping from a VMG of 20kts to around 13kts, with just over 60% of the race completed.
The projected finish times extrapolated from the Yellowbrick tracking data fluctuate wildly along with the conditions, so it is unclear if Ragamuffin, a Dubois 9,0 still has Skandia's 2004 record time of 42h 45m 41s in her sights. It's not even a 'given' (although it's very likely) that she'll claim Line Honours, as OneSails Racing and MACH2 are not far behind her in distance terms and could enjoy a better run into the finish if the breeze fills in from the north.
The competition on IRC handicap is red hot, with Signal 8 leading the rankings for the past five hours, ahead of sister Ker 40 kukuKERchu. TP52s, OneSails Racing and Lucky sandwich Island Fling, while Bermudian Sloop, Red Kite II is currently projected to finish sixth overall.
The current projections show all boats finishing before Monday 21 October, with Sea Monkey getting in around 2300hrs on Sunday 20 October. The fleet can expect force 6 to 7 overnight tonight and, having survived the first night, will hopefully not experience any further damage.
About the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race
First conceived in 1996 when it was run at Lunar New Year, this 656nm Category 1 offshore race is now a biennial fixture in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sailing calendar. A constituent event of RHKYC's popular China Coast Race Week, the race makes the most of October's prevailing north east monsoon to give competitors a thrilling, predominantly downwind race from Hong Kong to Nha Trang on Vietnam's eastern seaboard. The 2013 edition will see a record seventeen-strong fleet chasing the current race record of 42h 45m 41s, which was set in 2004 by Grant Wharington's Skandia.
Team Ragamuffin ahead of record pace in race to Vietnam (from Di Pearson)
Syd Fischer and his crew on the super maxi Ragamuffin 90 were blessed with the record breaking conditions forecast for the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race and today are ahead of record pace after starting off Hong Kong yesterday at 13:30 hours local time.
Since the start, the 90 foot Dubois design has been in surfing mode. Since this morning it has been speeding off China at 15-22 knots, but has reached speeds in excess of 20 knots during the race.
At 9.30am local time (12.30pm Sydney time), Team Ragamuffin had covered 343 nautical miles of the 656 nautical mile course. It was just short of North Reef (Paracel Island), one of the marks of the course, having passed the Chinese province of Hainan and sailing in 20-23 knots of wind.
Team Ragamuffin has to finish the 656 nautical mile race by 7.18am this Saturday morning local time to beat the 42 hour 45min 41sec record set by fellow Australian, Grant Wharington and his 98 foot Skandia in 2004.
Fischer's yacht has led the race since the start and has put a 35 plus nautical mile gap between his yacht and its three nearest rivals.
While Fischer concentrates on breaking the race record, he will be honoured at the Australian Yachting Awards this evening. He will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his considerable achievements in yachting, from a record America's Cup campaigns, to captaining and winning the international Admiral's and Clipper/Kenwood Cups to winning the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race overall and taking line honours in the same.