Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste is currently causing a stir in North America as she prepares to race on fresh water for the first time.
The Hong Kong-based boat, named after the 1939 movie about French Foreign Legionnaires in the Sahara Desert, is presently at the Eldean Shipyard on the south edge of Lake Macatawa, being prepared to compete in the 99th Chicago to Mackinac race on 16 July.
The white boat, featuring a thin red stripe around its upper hull and a red Chinese dragon, is competing in the fast-growing Transpac52 racing division and is coming off a class victory in the 1,200-mile race from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Cameron Ward and Beau Geste arrived by truck at the boatyard on 17 June. Ward, a native of Sydney, Australia, who travels with the boat about 10 months a year, adds to the international flavor.
‘Our whole focus is on the boat’, says Ward. ‘We will be fine-tuning it and getting it race-ready. If we have a couple days off, we might have a game of golf and relax a bit before the race.
After the race the procedure is much the same, in reverse. ‘The whole boat gets broken down and put on a truck, and the 40-foot container with a workshop travels with it, as well. It's pretty much like Formula One racing.’
Since arriving, Ward and one crew member have been busy installing the keel, putting the rig together and raising the mast after pulling the boat out of the water. It will be back in the water 8 July.
This is Kwok's first entry in the Chicago to Mackinac race, and is thought to be the first Hong Kong entry in the history of the event. Last year, they intended to compete, but the mast was snapped during transport.
Says Kwok,’I want to race all the ‘Ocean Classics’. I’ve done the Fastnet and the Sydney-Hobart Races, and the Kenwood Cup, Block Island, and Key West Regattas. This Beau Geste has been in the Transpac Race, Round NZ North Island, Puerto Vallarta Race. I still want to do the Newport-Bermuda Race, and of course this one!’.
Kwok is very modest, and fails to mention that in association with his first-class professional crew skippered by Gavin Brady, the various Beau Gestes have gone home with a great deal of silverware over the years, including winning the Sydney-Hobart Race in 1997.
‘It was great to put Hong Kong (China) on the boating map in the year that Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty.’
The Chicago to Mackinac is what Ward called a ‘two-day sprint’ compared to many of the races he competes in. ‘If we get downwind conditions, we should be right up there in the top four or five,’ he predicted.
by Steve Fox, Grand Rapids Press / Sail World Asia
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