Audi Hong Kong Kettle starts 'on the boil'

by RHKYC Media on 10 Oct 2014 The inaugural edition of the Audi Hong Kong Kettle kicked off at 1030hrs today, with a long islands race starting in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Kellett Island headquarters. With a consistent 7kt north easterly, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen sent the eight Kettle entrants on their way, followed by FreeFire and Team Beau Geste, who were having a warm up for the weekend’s Audi China Coast Regatta.

MC38 Hua An got one of the best starts at the Club end of the line, with Ramrod getting away smartly at the pin end. The north shore of the harbour paid immediately after the start, but by the time Signal 8 and Ambush reached Kai Tak cruise terminal on the south shore, the breeze had filled in. The fleet continued through Lei Yue Mun Gap and, after picking their way through a multitude of holes at Cape Collinson, Team Beau Geste was the first boat to round TCS1. The fleet stood a long way out to sea before hoisting their Code Zeros to make the Steep Island rounding and then on to the final run past Po Toi and in to the finish at Round Island.

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Signal 8 was the first boat to finish on the water, but it was the smallest boat in the fleet, J/109 Whiskey Jack, which corrected out to first place on IRC. Owner Nick Southward said afterwards, 'we don't often get to mix it up with Hong Kong's finest, so today was very satisfying. We've set ourselves a very high bar, and the next few days are going to involve a lot of hard work!'

Setting up a mouthwatering competition for the next three days, three of the four teams in the Audi Hong Kong Kettle now sit on a total 7 points. Full results are available at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/upload/Sailing/Race-and-Regattas/ChinaCoastRaceWeek/HKK-Results.htm

Individual Results
1. Whiskey Jack (1)
2. Signal 8 (2)
3. Mandrake III (3)
4. Mandrake II (4)
5. Ambush (5)
6. Ramrod (6)
7. Hua An (7)
8. Andiamo (9) (DNF)

Team Results
1=. Whiskey Jack/Ramrod (7)
1=. Signal 8/Ambush (7)
1=. Mandrake III/Mandrake II (7)
4. Hua An/Andiamo (16)