RHKYC Autumn Regatta 2020
by Guy Nowell, SW Asia Editor 19 Sep 2020 07:32 BST
12-13 September 2020
RHKYC Autumn Reagtta 2020 © RHKYC / Guy Nowell
With restrictions on social distancing eased in Hong Kong, it was with great delight that the RHKYC was able to run its Autumn Regatta over the weekend 12-13 September. 102 boats entered, including 20 Big Boats and 17 Etchells, so it was looking set to be a bumper weekend, but we all know that thing about mice, men, and their plans.
The view from the boatyard at 13.30 on Saturday was not attractive: Kowloon Bay was completely invisible behind a massive downpour, and that was exactly where the RO was, setting a start line – so that’s where we went. Three minutes later, and ‘soaked’ was a polite English understatement. It was when the rain actually started to hurt that the Committee Boat presented a better option than an open RIB. Besides, although my cameras were perfectly happy inside a waterproof Pelican case, there’s just one problem with waterproof cases: when you open the lid, they are no longer waterproof. RO Barry Truhol decided to ‘hold’ until he could see the pin at the other end of the line – a very good idea. But when the downpour stopped, so did the wind – completely. And shortly after that it was going to be impossible to complete a race without bumping up against the prescribed cutoff, so up went N over A and we all went home to dry out. No complaints were heard!
Contrast Sunday morning, and sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat was the order of the day. “I’ve just got to get one race in” muttered the RO, but it was much easier than that. With pressure from the south east, two races in good sailing breeze were no problem. The biggest boats were sent right out of the harbour, through Lei Yue Mun to TCS3, and the smaller boats did their thing on smaller courses. Naturally.
There was a pronounced lull in the middle of proceedings which looked like spoiling the show, but it was just a social pause, not a lockdown. By 16.00 nearly all boats were back at the Club for some well-distanced refreshment.
We can’t report the usual enthusiastic and noisy prizegiving as there wasn’t one. Here, however, are your champions:
Big Boat 1 – Ambush – Taylor/Isler
Big Boat 2 – Jinn – Nico Cohen-Addad
Big Boat 3 – XT – Gary Leung
Dragon – Zephyr – Tam Nguyen
Etchells – Gunga Din - Nick Burns
Flying 15 – Tchaikoffsky – Howard Williams
Impala – Gnu – Randy Yeung
J/80 – May 13 – Stanley/Chan/Chen
Pandora – Windfall – Tom Ho
Ruffian – Buster – Nick Bryan
Sportsboats – Ironman – Sean Lam
For full results, go to
https://www.rhkyc.org.hk/sailingresults.aspx#AUTUMN%20REGATTA%20-%20RESULTS