2017 Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race - Mascalzone Latino takes victory

by RHKYC Media on 21 Oct 2017 Vincenzo Onorato’s Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino sailed into Nha Trang last night at 18h 46m 31s to take the win in IRC Racer 0 and IRC Racer Overall. The Italian boat was a cool 2h 49m 55s ahead of Joachim Isler and Drew Taylor’s Ambush who are presently second place in IRC Racer Overall.

Mascalzone Latino owner Vincenzo Onorato commented on the Race on arrival, “It's the very first time we have joined the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race. It was amazing because we made the trip to Nha Trang in 53h 26m 31s and we did around 770nm actual distance sailed - unbelievable! The only 'low' of the race was drinking water all the time - there was no beer on board! The biggest high - we had a top speed of 30kts; amazing.”

Mills 41 Ambush takes the win in the IRC Racer 1 division after an epic run which saw Ambush punching above her weight keeping her up with the 50 footers for most of the Race, and clocking an impressive elapsed time of 61h 27m 59s.

3rd in IRC Racer Overall and second in IRC Racer 0 is Hong Kong’s FreeFire a TP52 owned Sam Chan with a corrected time of 78h 27m 30s.

The IRC Racer 2 fleet - which started 25 hours before the IRC Racer 0 and 1 divisions – began to arrive in Nha Trang last night. Russian entry, Alexander Vodovatov’s First 40 CR No Applause, sailed in at 20h 04m 46s - shortly before Nick Southward’s J/109 Whiskey Jack at 21h 27m 33s, with Whiskey Jack taking the win with an elapsed time of 83h 19m 14s. Nick Southward said “It was a great race, it was really fantastic; especially the last day where we had a 'bucking bronco' ride down the coast of Vietnam, where we really were going very fast. We had a top speed of 18kts which is actually Whiskey Jack’s top speed ever. The introduction of staggered starts was a great move, because it meant that we arrived at the same time as the big boats. The only low point of the race was when we wrapped our A4 around the forestay in the worst possible wrap you could imagine; hourglass top and bottom. We were really low for about an hour while we figured out how to unwrap it, but we eventually we did and it was great that it was still in one piece.”

The remaining boats are expected to arrive within the next 24 hours.