UK Sailmakers Typhoon Series – Final Fantasy, part I

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 29 Aug 2017 Pity the poor announcer. “Sorry chaps, there won’t be a prizegiving party after racing today” is a pretty miserable way to have to start the radio chit chat! - especially when there are 57 boats up and ready for it, the sun is shining, and the breeze is IN. The problem was incoming Typhoon Pakhar – the T1 signal was up while we were racing, the T3 was anticipated (it went up at 22.00hrs) and the staff at Hebe Haven were too busy tying the Club down to worry about parties – and quite right too. The T8 signal was raised next morning, and Pakhar turned out to be even blowier than Typhoon Hato (T10) just a couple of days before. Very messy.

But the Saturday, the last day’s racing of the UK Sailmakers Typhoon Series 2017 - was nothing short of fabulous. Glamour fleet, glamour conditions, Port Shelter glamourous too. If this was champagne sailing, then we were drinking Roederer Cristal out of Baccarat flutes. Do I make myself clear? It was great!

Races 9 and 10 of the series, 2 x windward-leeward races for everyone. Starting on a zephyrous 8kt easterly, RO Lesley Anderson fired all seven divisions away at five-minute intervals, quick, clean and unfussy. The offset mark at the top end of the course was a passing mark rather than a turning mark, but who cares when you’re sailing in those sorts of conditions? “Eyes out of the boat, chaps, enjoy the scenery”. Frank Pong’s Jelik was (predictably) first at the windward mark, with Lighthorse Alpha+ snapping at her heels, followed in short order by the rest of the fleet. Down at the bottom end of the course it was Piccadilly Circus and Pedder Street rolled into one – traffic, with Hong Kong characteristics – and the breeze was building. 12-14kts… what’s the crossover to the no.2 please?

Winner of IRC A was Lighthorse Alpha+, IRC B was Seawolf, IRC C was the super-veteran Moll – the latter finishing last on the water and first on paper, much to the chagrin of the all-stars on Whiskey Jack who blasted off a perfectly-timed start to lead the division the whole way round the race. “We should do this more often,” said owner Nick Southward. “Yes,” said the crew. Sportsboats winner was FAB, J-80s was Footloose, while Kiasu! and Scrumpy took HKPN A and B respectively.

Second verse, same as the first: a little bit louder and a little bit windier. Another sausage race, three for the big boats and two for everyone else, in a building breeze that crept up to a sprightly 16 kts (we saw whitecaps, so there). This time it was Otonomos Mandrake III that took the honours in IRC A, followed by Zannekin and Ambush. In IRC B, once again Seawolf excelled and in IRC C, Red Kite II prevailed ahead of Whiskey Jack who nonetheless managed to stay ahead of Dexter II, and enjoyed a particularly gritty fight down the run to the finish, hot angles vs a straight line to the finish . Just how low can you sail a J/109? Very low, is the answer. FAB made it a double in the Sports Boats, Jive won the J-80s, with No One Else and Pepper & Salt taking HKPN A and B respectively.

The Race Committee thought it best not to reveal the overall results until 1930 on Friday 01 September 2017 at the delayed prizegiving in the Garden Bar at HHYC. (However, if you can count, there are Overall Results up to race 7, and races 8/9 available on the website. http://www.hhyc.org.hk/page.php?page=page4_20.php&limit=1&fid=2300&id=2300 “Do the maths!”)

Final Fantasy part II will take place on Friday, but there probably won’t be a report on that for technical reasons.

Hebe Haven Yacht Club’s annual Typoon Series, conducted during the summer (‘typhoon’) months every year, and this time sponsored by UK Sailmakers Hong Kong, regularly attracts the biggest big boat fleets in Hong Kong with the exception of the Around the Island Race. People are in and out of Hong Kong every five minutes during the summer months – school holidays, family holidays, too hot and so on – which means that there’s always plenty of opportunity for sailors looking to crew. This is a great club regatta, and it takes place in the sort of wonderful coastal scenery that many of of us take far too much for granted. It is an event that doesn’t call itself “international,” and it doesn’t go in for three-boat divisions in which everyone wins prizes (because it doesn’t need to).

All those who have enjoyed racing around Shelter and Sharp Island this year, taking a trip through the Ninepins, or threading the strait between Bluff and Basalt, tell your friends how good it was. Tell them about racing windward-leewards in 30kts gusts (strewth, that was hard work) and tell them about the glassy drifter that took the fleet up to Gau Tau in Mirs Bay – and then sign them up for next year.

Only one more typhoon to deal with right now, and that’s the one that will happen in the Garden Bar on Friday. Tie everything down, tape up the windows, and let’s have some fun.