Volvo China Coast Regatta 2023 – Wrap up
by Vivian Ngan 17 Oct 2023 07:12 BST
13-15 October 2023
The Volvo China Coast Regatta was held over the weekend of 13 to 15 October where both weather conditions & courses tested the ability of all skippers and crew. 2023 marked the 31st edition of the China Coast Regatta and 36 boats lined up for three days of great racing, showcasing Hong Kong yachting at its best.
The first and last day of racing were run in perfect sailing conditions with a relatively calm sea state. Both days started out with a northeasterly breeze of 8 to 10 kts, which later shifted easterly and increased to 13 kts. On Day 1, 28 boats from ICR Racer and Premier class took to the racetrack, located southeast of Hong Kong's Lamma Island. The IRC Premier Class was sent off on two Island courses while the other IRC racer divisions completed three exhilarating windward/leeward races. The day was filled with intense, close racing that put tactics and boat handling skills to the test. Tight mark roundings and thrilling finishes were the highlight of the day.
Day 2 saw softening conditions and the addition of eight boats from the PHS division joining the racing. In IRC Premier, gear failure saw the withdrawal of yacht Parnassus, with the second entry in the division also opting out of racing.
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 Islands before heading back downwind towards the finish line off Stanley Peninsula. The course for IRC 2, 3 and PHS divisions was shortened to 9 miles; beating up through the 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 over a span of two to four hours, before heading to the regatta dinner held at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Kellett Island clubhouse.
Day 3 and the final day of racing, saw all IRC racer divisions sent on two windward/leeward courses and one island course, while the PHS division were given one windward/leeward followed by an island course of 16.5nm taking them around Waglan and Sung Kong islands before finishing off Stanley. Throughout the second race, the breeze continued to build with an average of 12 to 13kts, gusting up to 15kts; a perfect way to conclude the regatta.
The IRC Racer 0 division included an impressive line-up of five TP52s including four local Hong Kong teams - Sam Chan's FreeFire, Noel Chan's Rampage88, Robert Wiest / Victor Kuk / David Ho's Phoenix together with the new entry for this year - Hua Nie's Happy Go and the Philippines entry Standard Insurance Centennial 3 helmed by Emerson Villena, who put his crew through their paces ahead of the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race on 25 October.
Rampage 88 took five bullets holding on strong to their 1st place overall in the division. Happy Go took the win in the final race of the series earning them 2nd place while Standard Insurance Centennial 3, came back strong to take 3rd place overall after some mixed results.
IRC Racer 1 comprised of a mix of Fast 40s, including Bo Wu/ Kiki XinQi Lu's Ker 46+ Unicorn, competing against their rival Marcel Liedts' Ker 46 Zannekin, while Stanley Tse's Carkeek 40 Kikukei's Dream II debuted in her first China Coast Regatta. They were joined by two Neo boats: Stefan Fillip's Neo 400+ Neo One and Eddy Lee's Neo Roma 430 Next, along with the returning 2019 divisional winner - William Liu's Ker 42 Custom Seawolf.
Zannekin had a stronghold on the top of the scoreboard for the first two days of racing, however it came down to the wire with Seawolf winning all three of their races on the last day to grab 1st place overall from Zannekin with only 0.5 points separating the two boats. Unicorn took 3rd place overall.
IRC Racer 2 featured close competition amongst three Cape 31s, including Andrew Taylor / Denis Martinet's Capitano who last year took the divisional 2nd place, lining up against David Kong's Out of Africa and Randy Yeung's Tai Chi by Simplicity. The competition was spiced up with the inclusion of Nick Burns' King 40 Witchcraft together with other strong local contestants; Glenn Smith's Grand Soleil 44 Wild Card, Dennis Chien's Mat 1245 Arcturus+, James Verner's Nightshift, Albert Cheung's Bad Idea Bears on Full Tilt and Herman Wong's FT10 Kiasu.
The standings for IRC Racer 2 remained consistent throughout the event with Witchcraft taking the win in all seven races, handing Nick Burn's the overall divisional win - his legacy firmly stamped on the regatta having claimed divisional wins for four consecutive years. The Cape 31's Capitano and Out of Africa fought neck to neck throughout the regatta, both tied at 16 points before countback, with Capitano taking second overall from Out of Africa.
IRC Racer 3 included six strong teams in Nick Southward's Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack, Lowell Chang's Dexter II, Andrew Pidden's Juice, Hugues de Saint Germain's Ocean's Five, Lewis Cerne's Wicked and Henning Mueller's Zesst. Juice performed very well from day one, although Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack edged closer after a win in the final race, but it was to be Andrew Pidden's Juice who remained five points clear, giving them the overall win, with Zesst in third place.
This year's IRC Premier Class comprised of two boats: Peter Churchouse's Moonblue 2 and Tom Attenborough's Parnassus. Parnassus took two bullets to lift the silverware ahead of Moonblue 2.
PHS class (formally HKPN) included many recognisable names from recent editions of the regatta including Niccolo Manno 's trimaran Carbon 3, Ming Lou 's Coral Harbour, Patrick Kwan's DBX2, Sunny Leung 's Jibulai, Carl Wilkinson 's Lisa Elaine, Stephen Hart 's Sea Eagle, Carl Law 's Victoria and Johnson Yuen 's Zoe. Zoe took the trophy with two bullets ahead of Lisa Elaine in second place, followed by DBX2 having competed in two Island courses and one windward/leeward course, over two days of racing.
With another great three days of classic Hong Kong racing and regatta socials wrapped up, the China Coast Regatta looks forward to seeing you all next year!
Keep up with the latest news on the Volvo China Coast Race Week visit: www.chinacoastraceweek.com/news
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