4th China Club Challenge Match kicks off

by Al Skinner on 1 Oct 2008 Three years ago the inaugural China Club Challenge Match was just that - a challenge between Iron Rock Sailing Club and Zhu Hai Sailing Club. This year 12 teams (11 challengers and the holders Hansheng Yachts) assembled for the 4th running of the event making this, we believe, the widest yet gathering of Corinthian sailors in China. Over 100 participants from all over China, mostly Chinese but with a sprinkling of foreign sailing talent, arrived to do battle in the Flying Tiger 10s lent by trusting local owners for the event. In fact, such is the rapid growth in the event that this year the elimination trials will have to be run in 2 flights.

There was some talk of holding some of the elimination heats in Rizhao, but a combination of lack of suitable boats and the unwillingness of team to sail there meant that Xiamen was the venue for the whole event. The programme is similar to the America’s Cup, with the first Act being fleet racing and the finals match racing, so that by the end of the week the 11 contenders for the right to sail against the defenders will be whittled down to just 3 who will return in early November for a round robin tournament followed by the final match to decide the 2008 champion.

One of the favourites is the expatriate team from Shanghai Boat & Yacht Club who were narrowly beaten on countback in a closely fought 2007 final, and perhaps consider this year’s competition as unfinished business - the team from the largely dinghy-oriented Club even flew down to Xiamen a few weeks ago for a weekend of practice on the FT10s. However, they will not have it all their own way as many of the crews have some very keen and competent sailors on board.

Each match in the final will consist of three races. Each team will race the other two teams. Scores will be 1 for a win, 0 for a loss. In the event of two scores being equal, the team which won the match against the other equal team will be deemed the winner.

Day one consisted of briefings, a couple of practice races and the usual welcoming dinner. Such is the growth in the event the early races have to be in two flights as teams outnumber boats. In P1 SBYC sailed a cool race to win, in spite of a rather slow gennaker hoist. Not happy with their performance, they promptly went out to practice some more and as the teams lined up for the start of P2 they were seen sailing off downwind hoisting, dropping, hoisting, gybing, gybing, dropping – they really mean business!

The start of P2 brought the first trade for the on-the-water umpires with Guangzhou Long Tai chancing their arm with a bit of gentle barging (can barging be gentle?). Quick tiller work by those around them prevented a collision and thankfully they missed the rather solid committee boat. Give them their due, the 720 didn’t make them dizzy and they set off up the track to eventually finish 2nd. No one could touch hosts Iron Rock who sailed off into the distance to record a convincing win.

So in flight one SBYC seems to be the form boat and in flight two Iron Rock look to be the class act. Either of these will provide a healthy challenge to the holders Hansheng, and we can hardly wait to see them come together towards the end of the regatta.