Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Autumn Regatta - Overall
by Koko Mueller, RHKYC 17 Sep 2017 11:38 BST
16-17 September 2017
In all, 90 boats turned out for Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's season opening regatta. Considering the forecast of no breeze, a pleasant surprise awaited Race Officer Barry Truhol as he arrived at the race track for Day 2 of the competition prompting him to comment, "What do you know, we've got wind!" But would it last?
Racing kicked off at 1100hrs for the J/80s and Sportsboat divisions followed the Etchells, which took them beating up to the Central mark which was stationed close to the Hong Kong Convention Centre. Rounding the mark, they hoisted their kites and headed downwind to PWD mark and then to Dock Buoy, before turning back to finish up to finish at PWD. All other fleets were set off at 6 minute intervals on similar courses ranging in length from 3.7nm to 6.8nm. It was a sight to see the smaller class boats racing alongside Frank Pong's custom 75 Jelik.
The Impalas were set off first for Race 3 but following a complete wind shift to the east, the Impala race was abandoned on the first leg. The committee boat hoisted its L flag and competitors followed towards Hung Hom where the new easterly start line was set. Between setting up courses and going into sequence, the wind dropped to 4 knots, increased to 6 and then down to 1.5. With the fluctuating breeze the AP was hoisted but after 20 minutes, the wind had dropped to 3 knots across the race course and the difficult decision was made at 1420hrs to abandon racing for the day.
Even with the steady westerly breeze this morning, it was another day of challenging conditions that was mastered by some crews and not so much by others. In the end, it was Drew Taylor and Joachim Isler on their Mills 41 Ambush who took home the silverware in IRC Division 1, Noel Chan's Rampage II came on top of HKPN Division 1 and Richard van den Bergs Juggerknot took first for IRC Division 2 all other leaders of their divisions and classes can be found at www.rhkyc.org.hk/upload/Sailing/Race-and-Regattas/AutumnRegatta/AUR17_IRC2.htm.
After racing, sailors enjoyed a prize giving on the Main Lawn with cold craft beers served by The Artist and videos of the new ICE Yachts fleet. Prizes were presented by representatives from each of the sponsors and we thank all of the sponsors and partners for their support...St. James's Place, ICE Yachts, Foundation Global Education, The Artist and ETA Logistics.
For more information please visit www.rhkyc.org.hk/AutumnRegatta.aspx