Tomes Cup goes to Flying Phantom

by RHKYC Media on 29 Apr 2017 After almost a week of rain, sailors were relieived to see blue skies for the final race in the Top Dog Trophy Series. Race Officer Gareth Williams was first on the race course finding a moderate easterly breeze affecting Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, however by the time the first warning signal was sounded at 1355hrs, the breeze of 10 to 12 knots had filled in.

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, and the Magic’s with the six Big Boats bringing up the rear. Sailors were sent on a Port Rounding Course 10 which took them up to Shau Kei Wan, down to Dock Buoy and then onto PWD with the fleet completing five laps and finishing at Gate Buoy.

An excellent effort was made by Solstice which saw her hold on to her lead for the first lap and half of the course, albeit the Dragons and Flying Fifteens swiftly taking ground out of her as they approached. Multihull Flying Phantom, skippered by Mark Thornburrow, started one hour and 12 minutes after the first start and finished first at 1630hrs at Gate Buoy.

Race Officer Gareth Williams was very pleased with the day’s proceedings; “The Tomes Cup was held in perfect conditions; lovely blue skies and good wind. There were 59 boats taking part and the course was set to have two large triangles, two smaller triangles and then finishing off with the usual sausage. The boat that won was Flying Phantom. Otherwise the Dragons did well. The Etchells and the Flying Fifteens didn’t do so well and the Magic 25s were a bit behind as were the larger cruisers. It was a good day and the race finished within 30 seconds of the recommended finish time.”

The Tomes Cup was also the fourth 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 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. After today’s event, Florence Kan / Dennis Chien’s Impala, Taxi, has emerged as Top Dog.
The prizegiving kicked off at 1830hrs with competitors congregating on the Main Lawn, Peroni in hand, while the winners were awarded Dragon Vodka and event glassware.