Round Hainan Regatta 2014 - Line honours at Sanya Coastal Race

by go4image on 23 Mar 2014

J. Kaufmann / Round Hainan Regatta

Aloha Cup Round Hainan Regatta 2014 - Wang Lei helmed the Ubox Swan 82S to line honours at the short coastal race. Malcolm Page made the right tactical call when rounding Dongmaozhou Island, extending Vatti's overall lead in the IRC-B2 division of the Aloha Cup Round Hainan Regatta. The IRC-A and Beneteau Oceanis 40 fleets embarked on 280nm race to Haikou while the Soto 27's and Fareast 26's concluded with three close races.

Sanya once again delivered remarkable conditions with a breeze between 15 and 20 knots, short waves and nice sunshine. The 45-strong fleet shared the same starting line but three different races were in store. The IRC-A and Beneteau Oceanis 40 fleets headed west for the first half of their proper offshore race. The IRC-B1 and IRC-B2 divisions completed a short coastal race that saw them round the Dongmaozhou Island while the one designs held their last three races.

John Thorn and Brian Thompson, skippers of Dongfeng 1 and 2 respectively, learned today that when one races against Vatti, a star-studded yacht where two-time Olympic gold medalist Malcom Page is calling tactics, there is no room for error and even the smallest one in a short coastal race will come with a heavy price.

The two Jeanneau 32 boats need approximately a three-minute margin in one hour in order to win a race in corrected time. Their decision to sail as close as possible to the southern shore of Dongmaozhou Island cost them a minute and a half, according to Brian Thompson. The northeasterly breeze was blocked by the small hill on the island and Vatti got the best of it, sailing a few hundred meters further offshore. Vatti finished 36 seconds ahead of Dongfeng 2 in corrected time and extended its lead by another point.

Line honours at the coastal race went to Ubox, the Swan 82S from Shenzen, skippered by Wang Lei and entirely crewed by Chinese sailors. This is the third time Ubox is taking part in the Aloha Cup Round Hainan Regatta and Wang considers it as a unique opportunity for professional Chinese sailors to gain valuable experience racing against some of the world's top international sailors. They want to learn as much as they can from foreign crews.
The one-design Soto 27 and Fareast 26 concluded today their participation at the fifth edition of the Round Hainan Regatta with the last three windward-leeward race off Sanya Serenity Marina.

In the Soto 27's, CMGE - Koo Racing blasted through the competition, scoring eight bullets out of a total of nine races. The yacht crewed by Malaysian siblings Jeremy and Tiffany Koo, Singapore's Maximilan Soh and Chinese female sailor Si Liang, didn't encounter any problems and claimed the top spot with eight points, followed by Beijing Lantu with 22 points and Sanya Marina Sailing with 25.

In the Fareast 26 division special mention should be made to the Hainan Airlines Dream Team, crewed entirely by amateur sailors, all of them employees of Hainan Airlines. Based in Sanya and skippered by Chinese 49er sailor Wan Xiang Jun, the team clearly dominated their adversaries, scored six victories in the first two days but then couldn't compete in Sunday's three races as they were unable to hoist their mainsail. When their job obligations allow it, they train as often as they can and with Sanya being a tropical holiday destination, one can sail practically every day of the year, barring a major storm or hurricane.