Volvo China Coast Regatta 2023 - Day 2
by Vivian Ngan 14 Oct 2023 11:12 BST
13-15 October 2023
We had sun and blue sky again for Day 2 of Volvo China Coast Regatta. There were changes to who was on the start line as to compare to yesterday; as the PHS division joined in the racing whilst the two boats in IRC Premier excused themselves from racing as one boat suffered from a technical issue while the other boat preferred to enjoy lunch in Po Toi on such a beautiful day.
The Race Management Committee selected a 16.5-mile island course for the IRC 0 and IRC 1 divisions that took the competitors upwind toward Waglan and Sung Kong before going downwind towards the finish line off Stanley Peninsula.
The route for IRC 2, 3 and PHS divisions was reduced to 9 miles; beating through Po Toi and Beaufort Gap, passing Ocean mark 2 then downwind onto the finish line off Stanley. All classes were able to complete the race in a span of two to four hours in order to attend dinner at the Kellett Island.
Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen commented that the wind was light at the start of the day so the team made a decision to run Island Courses for all divisions. "We had to adjust plans today. After trying to go into our initial position so we could do windward/leewards, there was just no wind coming down to us so we moved the committee boat into the wind. There was still barely any wind to do a start so we chose to set the shortest courses we could for each division. We were lucky that everyone finished their races and they seem to be in a good mood. "
After the second day of racing, standings in the IRC Racer 0 division remained unchanged; Noel Chan's Rampage 88 claimed another bullet in the Island race, strengthening its hold on 1st place. Although Dominic Law's Happy Go sailed really well and earned themselves a 2nd place today, they are sitting in third, tying with Philippines' entry Standard Insurance Centennial 3, owned by Emerson Villena.
In IRC Racer 1 division, Marcel Liedts' Zannekin gained another win to give him first place overall. Although Bo Wu and Kiki Xinqi Lu's Unicorn earned a second place in today's Island course, they are still two points behind William Liu's Seawolf.
The standings for IRC Racer 2 fleet also remained the same; Nick Burns' King 40 Witchcraft has won all four of their races so far keeping an iron grip on first place in the divisional. They are followed by Andrew Taylor and Denis Martinet's Cape 31 Capitano in second place and David Kong's Cape 31 Out of Africa in third place.
For IRC Racer 3 division, Andrew Pidden's Juice came away with a win today leaving them in 1st place ahead of Nick Southward's Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack and Henning Muller's Zesst who moved into third overall after a 2nd place in racing today.
In the HKPN division, Carl Law's Victoria finished in 1st place followed by Patrick Kwan's DBX2 and Johnson Yuen's Zoe.
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