Tommy Bahama Around The Island Race 2013
by Lindsay Lyons, RHKYC Media on 2 Nov 2013
Tommy Bahama RHKYC Around the Island Race 2012 Guy Nowell/Tommy Bahama
Anyone looking out of their window in Hung Hom or Chai Wan on the morning of Sunday 10 November will see around 240 boats converging on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for Hong Kong’s biggest annual celebration of sail and paddle.
The Tommy Bahama Around The Island Race is organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and on Race Day, from 0830hrs, there will be two start lines and a total of 20 separate starts for sailboats at RHKYC’s Kellett Island clubhouse, while outrigger canoes and coastal rowing boats will start and finish in the calmer surroundings of RHKYC’s Middle Island sailing and rowing centre.
The Around the Island Race became an annual event in 1983, however its origins go back to 1864 when six boats raced around Hong Kong Island to Starboard (clockwise) and Hong Kong’s sailors have since regarded this route as a tricky challenge with unpredictable wind shifts.
The race course features a 26nm circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island to starboard, which has been sanctioned by Hong Kong Marine Department since 2003. If the breeze is sufficient, boats will finish back where they started, at RHKYC’s Kellett Island clubhouse, however if winds are light, the Race Officer, Ms Inge Strompf-Jepsen, may decide to finish the fleet at Green Island, Cyberport or Stanley.
Entries are likely to range from one-person dinghies to 50-foot-plus cruising yachts and the outright winner of the race will be the fastest boat around, once ATI handicaps are applied. The winner will lift the La Cigale Trophy at a poolside prize giving on Monday 11 November.
The Online Entry Form, Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions can be found at the event website http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/AroundtheIslandRace.aspx. Entries close 1800hrs on Monday 4 November.
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