RHKYC Tomes Cup - Action coming soon...

by RHKYC on 25 Apr 2017 On Saturday 29 April, RHKYC sailors will be competing for one of the Club’s most beautiful pieces of silverware and the ‘Top Dog’ title.

First awarded (as the Sugar Refiner’s Cup) on 1 April 1880 to the yacht Naomi owned by William Howell Forbes, the trophy was gifted back to the Club by the Tomes family in the 1960s in memory of Dora Delano Forbes (William’s wife and, interestingly, the maternal aunt of 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt).

The Tomes Cup is a pursuit race, which is different to normal yacht racing in that competitors are given staggered start times under RHKATI handicap, ie. the slowest boats start first and then the faster boats set off in pursuit, with the time delay between classes of boats being determined from their handicaps. If all boats are sailed equally well, they should (in theory) all finish at the same time.

The race is held in the eastern area of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, taking in Shau Kei Wan, Tai Koo Shing, Kowloon Bay and Hung Hom and is expected to attract around 60 competitors from Hong Kong’s one-design fleets and Big Boat classes.

The regatta is the fourth and final constituent event of the Top Dog Trophy Series which is designed to identify the most successful boat over a variety of pursuit race courses and conditions. The current series includes the results for the Around the Island Race (27 November 2016), the Lipton Trophy (3 December 2016), the HKRNVR Memorial Vase (14 January 2017) and of course the Tomes Cup.

Full details of the Top Dog Trophy Series can be found on the RHKYC website.

Currently, the top 10 in the Top Dog Series are:

Place	Boat Name	SailNo.	Class	Helm	Pts
1	Taxi	1047	Impala	Kan / Chien	20.512
2	Merlin	64	Sportsboat	Steve Bourne	20.688
3	Ambush	2388	Big Boat	Isler / Taylor	28.655
4	Meihem	696	Etchells	Cheung Mei Han	34.346
5	Havoc	2243	Sportsboat	Yurdum / Stone	34.453
6	Rainbow Chaser	731	Impala	K K Lee	43.113
7	Impala 1	9546	Impala	Burrell / Chan	51.723
8	King of the Pin	1364	Etchells	Frank van Kempen	54.659
9	Solstice	668	Pandora	K W Chair	58.806
10	Gunga Din	1243	Etchells	Nick Burns	60.619
11	Tchaikoffsky	3981	Flying Fifteen	Howard Williams	64.734