2017 Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race - they're off!

by RHKYC Media on 18 Oct 2017 A beautiful day in Hong Kong harbour with blue skies and a north easterly breeze of 10kts for the start of IRC Racer 0 and 1 in the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race. 10 boats were on the start line - IRC Racer 2 division started yesterday, 25 hours earlier.

The horn sounded at 1320hrs - a few minutes late due to a boat hooking the pin end of the line before the start. All boats had a great start and got away cleanly. It was a bit of a tacking battle after the line as many boats stuck to the right side of the harbour to avoid marine traffic and exclusion zones.

As the fleet progressed up the harbour it was a game of staying in pressure with Matteo Savelli’s Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino leading the fleet until Lei Yue Mun gap where she got stuck in a hole and Phillip Turner’s RP 66 Alive pulled ahead and was the first boat through the gap and to stretch out on the horizon.

Alive, the 2015 Hong Kong to Vietnam IRC 0 winner is expected to take Line Honours ahead of the largest boat in the fleet, Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes. On board Antipodes is five-time Volvo Ocean Race Sailor, Matt Humphries as well as the only sailor to have competed in every Hong Kong to Vietnam Race, Alan Tillyer. Also in the IRC Racer 0 division is the first China entry to take part in the Race, Wang Bin’s Cookson 50 Ubox. Ubox finished third overall in the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

Leading the IRC Racer 1 division out of the harbour were arch rivals Joachim Isler and Drew Taylor’s Mills 41 Ambush and Fred Kinmonth and Nick Burns’ Sydney GTS 43 Otonomos Mandrake. Ambush took second place in the 2015 Hong Kong to Vietnam Race, with Mandrake taking the IRC Racer 1 win in the Volvo China Coast Regatta last week in Hong Kong. It will be interesting to watch the Yellow Brick tracker online to see who pulls ahead tonight.

Once out of the harbour the fleet will fetch towards the Soko Islands then pop their kites for the 673nm downwind thrash towards Nha Trang, Vietnam. To keep up with daily updates and race reports as the race progress follow the Volvo China Coast Race Week Facebook page.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rhkycCCRW/

Event website: https://www.chinacoastraceweek.com/

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