Hong Kong Dragon Class Championship overall
by Rupert Street on 6 Feb 2015
2015 Hong Kong Dragon Class Championship Bill Cox
For this year’s Hong Kong Dragon Championship, 14 boats lined up for a thrilling two-weekend regatta at Middle Island. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club kindly providing an awesome race committee; so a big thanks to Inge Strompf-Jepsen, Sofia Mascia and and Elberti Uiterwaal-Postmafor handling blustery conditions and a constantly moving anchorage.
You can guess from the opening lines that Lamma delivered on the weather with gusts of over 30 knots on the first day. From the get go; the racing was demanding on both helms and crews. There were decent rollers and plenty of surfing and although the overall event was to be dominated by two boats, plenty of people saw action and no one went home without feeling some sense of accomplishment, including. Phyllis Chang gaining line honours for the first race, after taking advantage of a spectacular and disorderedly leeward mark rounding by some people who should really know better! From race two onwards, D55 Zephyr / Tam Nguyen and Graham Bailey and lead the field with D1 Celines / Marc Castagnet snapping at her heels.
The first Saturday wasn’t all about just two boats though. As many of you those of you know, Lamma is a demanding location,; and with a constant breeze of over 20 knots (gusting 35) with often confused and a confusing sea state, boats and crew need to stay alert and prepared. Some seriously professional crewing was delivered across the whole fleet with a special mention to D47 Wudi / Frederic Azemard / Guillame Douin, who started racing Dragons two seasons ago, and proving that hard work and determination does deliver good results. No mention of heavy weather can be made without including the baritone that is Jozef Roels, can ever be allowed… Well-done to Jozef for explaining to everyone their rights and wrongs!
Saturday also delivered breakages; with D12 Eaux Vives / Joseph Chu suffering a broken mast and D51 Mei Fei / Karl Grebstad suffering a broken Australian. Well done Joseph for repairing the mast and well done Karl and Nick for repairing Greg (sorry you couldn’t repair the jib car).Sunday was a more muted affair, with two boats down and crews aching from the first day’s action. Nothing could be more different on the water, with a warm 10kn NE breeze delivering an even course. Phyllis and Lowell Chang produced a family; 1, 2 and the leading boats D55 and D1 extended their regatta points advantage, wrapping up the first weekend.
As morning dawned on the second Saturday of racing, Wind-guru was showing what looked like a re-run of the first weekend. Helms and crews braced for the worst, pairing their boats down to essentials so as to avoid the inevitable slop that occurs with kit in this situation. Racing was similar to the first Saturday, all boats were repaired and pared down and despite some unavoidable sail damage to D31 Nattigheid and poor Bram Van Olphen, most boats made it through the day with little damage. If we ignore the leaders who continued to fight it out, the mid-fleet racing was tight and aggressive despite the conditions. No quarter offered or given in these tricky conditions, and although the results show consistent positions for Phyllis Chang, Lowell Chang, Joseph Chu and Simon Chan, the racing was close and spirited to the line.
Going into the again much quieter last day; D55 showed a narrow points margin with her discards. D1’s only chance for victory was to create some tactical advantage from the line and keep D55 in tow for the race. This however was to be D55’s regatta, Tam delivered consistent and workmanlike helming ably supported tactically by Graham Bailey from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes. Mid fleet racing again was aggressive and with Phyllis Chang and Lowell Chang delivering strong results.
Prize giving was held at Middle Island, with D55’s team taking the Silverware home amid some wonderful prizes from our sponsors and Phyllis and Lowell Chang. Congratulations to the crew of Zephyr for a well won regatta, well done Marc Castagnet for a deserved second place and well done all competitors for making the event so memorable. A very special thank you to Virgile Bertrand and the crew of D41 Shiva, who continue to assist the incredible sailing charity Sailability and whose crew Mr. Foo Yuen Wai proved both resilient and professional in the face of such adverse situations (even straight after a 3km road race).
A major thank you to Ah Wah without whom we could not continue, especially in heavy weather; and a final warm thank you to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, its staff at Middle Island and the brilliant race committee, to our sponsors and finally to our Class Captain Andreas Brechbuhl for producing yet another brilliant event.
No Dragon class event goes without something for luck, continuity and lets face it our age! Thank you to Phyllis and Lowell Chang for providing the excellent Dom Perignon1999, to toast the class, its members, our boats and Tin Hau.
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Results 2015:
Overall:
1st D55 Zephyr / Tam Nguyen
2nd D1 Celines / Marc Castagnet
3rd D50 Phyloong II / Phyllis Chang
Corinthian:
1st D55 Zephyr / Tam Nguyen
2nd D1 Celines / Marc Castagnet
3rd D46 Davinloong / Lowell Chang
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