Top Dog Trophy Series 2012-2013, HKRNVR Memorial Vase

by RHKYC on 26 Feb 2013 Organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the HKRNVR Memorial Vase is the final of four pursuit races comprising the Top Dog Trophy Series 2012-2013. The overall winner of the series will be presented with the prize of a five day Sunsail charter, courtesy of the series sponsor, Sunsail.

Over 130 boats have entered the series overall, and with just one race to go the current leader with 6.45 points is the Isler/Taylor pairing on Mills 41 Ambush who will be looking defend their hold on the top spot from Peninsula Signal 8 and Red Kite II.

The HKRNVR Memorial Vase was first awarded to Ecstacy in 1951, and was presented to the Club by the local Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve with the proviso that 'the course should take participating yachts into waters patrolled by the HKRNVR.' The HKRNVR is of course now defunct; however the trophy continues to serve as a reminder of a time when amateur sailors played a vital role in the security of Hong Kong.

Since the event’s inception, the course for the race has been adjusted to take into account Marine Department restrictions on sailing and towing boats through the congested central harbour. In keeping with the Deed of Gift, Race Officer Gareth Williams will set a course which takes the fleet out and back via the eastern approaches at Lei Yue Mun gap, his choice influenced by the prevailing wind conditions on the day.

The Top Dog Trophy Series pulls together the results from RHKYC’s quartet of pursuit races, pro-rated to a base entry of 50 boats, in order to identify Hong Kong’s top helm for the season’s series.

Going into the HKRNVR Memorial Vase, the top ten ‘Top Dog’ contenders for 2012-2013 are:

Place Boat Name Class Sail No. Skipper Pts
1 Ambush IRC 1 HKG2208 Taylor / Isler 6.45
2 Signal 8 IRC 1 HKG2300 Jamie McWilliam 9.51
3 Red Kite II IRC 2 HKG2093 Anthony Root 11.22
4 Gunga Din Etchells HKG1245 Nick Burns 17.67
5 Easy Tiger Etchells HKG884 Marty Kaye 29.19
6 Tchaikoffsky Flying 15 HKG3981 Howard Williams 29.31
7 Sell Side Dream IRC 1 HKG2298 Simon Powell 33.10
8 Salona 41 IRC 1 HKG2212 Simy Wong 34.71
9 Double Shot Etchells HKG402 Kearns/Reed 53.82
10 Krampus IRC 1 HKG2159 Niccolo Manno 57.32