Top Dog Trophy Series - Tomes Cup 2025
by Vivian Ngan 6 May 2025 16:59 BST
3 May 2025
The finale of the Top Dog Trophy Series 2024-2025 took place in Hong Kong on Saturday 3 May, completing the series of four pursuit races to determine the top-performing boat for the season.
Sixty-seven boats enjoyed fair wind in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour as they competed in the Tomes Cup.
With a forecast of light wind for the day, it was a relief for the Race Management team to find 6 to 8kts of south-easterly breeze in the harbour at the start. The wind swung between 4 to 10kts during the day; however, sailors had to contend with a strong outgoing tide.
Race Officer Gareth Williams set a start line just off Hung Hom, sending the fleet east of the harbour with four laps between Shau Kei Wan and Hung Hom before shortening the course at Kowloon Bay.
In this pursuit race, the Pandora fleet was first off, followed by Ruffians, Dragons, and Flying Fifteen classes. Chasing them down to the projected target finish time of 1630hrs were the Impala, J/80, and Etchells fleets, with Sportsboats and five Big Boats bringing up the rear.
An exceptional effort was made by Pandora Solstice, which held on to her lead for the first lap and half of the course, with Ruffian Buster swiftly closing the gap as they approached Hung Hom the second time. In the end, Serendipity (VX One) finished first at 1620hrs near E1. Ruffian Buster took the runner-up spot, with Gnu (Impala) in third place.
Following the race, the prize presentation was held at the Club, with awards given not only to the winners of the Tomes Cup but also to the overall winner of the 2024-2025 Top Dog Trophy Series. After today's event, David Kong's Out of Africa marginally beat Serendipity, claiming the Top Dog title. Patrick Pender/Dion Houghton's Serendipity finished second, only three points behind, while third place went to Marina Hoyle's Merlin (Magic 25).
David Kong was grateful for Out of Africa lifting the Top Dog Trophy " We enjoyed the series very much and it was really very close racing with the VX One Serendipity and I'm glad we came out on top. Yeah, it was really nice series and we thank all the race management. It was really well managed all the races." David shared the secret of having best performance throughout the season " Make no mistake."