China Sea Race summary, Omega Asian Yachting Circuit goes down to the wire

by Andrew Owen, Omega Asian Yachting Circuit on 16 Apr 2004 ‘Hi Fidelity’ from Hong Kong, skippered by New Zealand’s Neil Pryde has won the Omega Asian Yachting Circuit with a second place finish in the best China Sea Race for years. Sam Chan’s ‘Ffree Fire’ took first place in a race that saw classic off-shore racing at its best.

Thursday the 8th of April dawned blustery and overcast in Hong Kong as a fleet of the region’s elite yachts gathered in Victoria Harbour for the start of the 22nd China Sea Race, a classic off-shore race that would see the fleet travel 565 miles from Hong Kong across the South China Sea to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

The China Sea Race is the fourth and final leg of the four-stop Omega Asian Yachting Circuit. After three races (in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore) ‘Clariden Karakoa’ from the Philippines was in the driving seat – sitting three points clear of ‘Stella Minter Ellison’ and four points clear of ‘Hi Fidelity’.

Said Ray Ordoveza, skipper of ‘Clariden Karakoa’, ‘we are going into this race with some confidence. I’ve won this race two times before and though it was on a different boat, I know what it takes to win here. We’ve assembled our regular crew and we are ready. We’ll be aiming to win the race but to win the Omega Circuit we need only finish ahead of Hi Fidelity and Stella – we even have a bit of a cushion’.

Neil Pryde was a little less bullish ‘to overtake Karakoa for the Circuit is going to be a tall order. We need to make up four places on them so even if we win, we need them to finish fifth or worse. And going on recent form, this is going to be unlikely. But you never can tell with yacht racing. We will be focusing on our own race and we’ve gathered a superb crew for this race including Jules Salter from the GB America’s Cup Challenge.’

The China Sea Race has a wonderful structure – initially strong monsoon winds power the fleet south across the open expanse of the South China Sea but these winds fade as the fleet heads further south and, approaching Luzon, tactical decisions linked to local wind patterns and currents come into play.

A pre-race briefing by the Hong Kong Observatory told the assembled crews that a strong monsoon system would supply fresh winds and large seas for the first two days of the race but that these were forecast to fade. But out in the Western Pacific was a large typhoon, which was heading westward – albeit slowly. Historical data showed that since 1928, three of eight typhoons originating in that particular longitude and latitude had tracked into the South China Sea and onto the race course. These were not comforting odds, but all current computer models run on the typhoon showed the system curving northwards towards Japan…Only time would tell.

So it was an excited fleet that gathered on the startline in 15 knots of breeze. The fleet poured across, raised spinnakers and headed south. Within the first 20 minutes of the race ‘Stella Minter Ellison’ and ‘Moonblue II’ had already shredded their kites and it was clear that this would be an exceptional race.

‘Jelik’ quickly stretched her legs and pulled away from the fleet with ‘Ffree Fire’ chasing and ‘Hi Fidelity’ getting a good start. After the first six hours of racing ‘Jelik’ had already covered 76 miles and she was eight miles ahead of ‘Ffree Fire’ who in turn was six miles ahead of ‘Hi Fidelity’ and kiwi entrant ‘Maverick II’ (winner of the Melbourne – Osaka Race). The bulk of the fleet was bunched together around 15 miles further back as a strong monsoon gusting up to 30 knots powered the fleet south.

And then, 8 hours into the race there was sudden drama as news was radioed in to the Race Office of ‘Karakoa’ retiring. The leading boat on the Omega Asian Yachting Circuit was suddenly bailing water as a rudder stock had failed and the rudder was now unstable. Said Ordoveza ‘we brought the sails down and did damage control by jury rigging the rudder to make sure we didn’t lose it. There were 10-foot seas and the winds were gusting to 30 knots. It was wild, rough and wet’. Word reached the sailing office in Hong Kong that they would be safe, but that they were turning around and heading back to Hong Kong.

Said Ordoveza later ‘we had planned to stay north of the rhumb line, a tactic that won the 94 and 96 China Sea Races for me on Vida. Conditions were perfect for the boat and we were making excellent time. But it was not to be …. it’s really very disappointing – for me, my crew and our sponsors. The China Sea Race and the Omega Championship have slipped through our fingers. But perhaps next time.’

So with ‘Karakoa’ retired the Circuit was now wide open and ‘Hi Fidelity’ and ‘Stella’ would have to fight it out. And of course there was the China Sea Race result to be fought over too.

By 8am the following morning ‘Jelik’ had built up a 40-mile lead on ‘Ffree Fire’. The 20 knot winds overnight also seemed to suit Brian Petersen's 'Maverick II' and Neil Pryde's 'Hi Fidelity', both keeping up the chase 7 miles and 20 miles further back respectively. A further 20 miles back, a flotilla of 11 boats including Ant Day's 'Siren', Peter Churchouse's ' Moonblue II, Jon Wardill's 'Australian Maid', Judes Echauz's 'Standard Insurance Centennial' and Fred Kinmonth's 'Stella Minter Ellison' were all within 20 miles of each other, making the final standings on corrected time very difficult to predict.

With the winds holding up it became clear that Jelik was in a position to beat the record set four years ago by Karl Kwok in his Volvo 60 ‘Beau Geste’. And not just beat the record – but smash it. The ETA would put them 7 hours clear of the record.

By 0800 the following morning though, it appeared that the Luzon coast had robbed the fleet of its wind and ‘Jelik’ was still 22 miles away from the finish and her average speed had dropped to 9 knots over the previous 14 hours. Far from the typhoon winds that some had feared, the fleet was calm and Karl Kwok’s record time now looked safe for another year.

And the news got worse for Frank Pong. By taking a course North of the Rhumb line and closer to land, Pong had allowed rival Sam Chan to make up time on the water as 'Ffree Fire' averaged 10 knots. ‘Ffree Fire’ was now back in the hunt for the victory although with 'Maverick II' and 'Hi Fidelity' snapping at her tail on corrected time there was still much to do.

In the early afternoon of Saturday 10th April, 50.5 hours after the start, ‘Jelik’ powered over the finish line under spinnaker. Though two hours outside of Karl Kwok’s record time, this didn’t dampen the celebrations of line honours for Frank Pong ‘We had a great race and I’m proud of my crew. We were flying down for the first day and a half and it’s sad that we got slowed a little in that hole close to shore – but I guess that’s yacht racing’.

‘Ffree Fire’ was the next to finish, four hours behind ‘Jelik’ – but ahead on handicap. And a happy but tired Sam Chan remarked ‘well it’s great to be here and to beat ‘Jelik’ of course. But we want to win the race and now we just have to watch the finish line and the times that the rest of the fleet put in. We got a little stuck out there and I think the rest of the fleet will too, especially in the early hours of tomorrow. So we’ll have to just wait and see.’

Back down the fleet the smaller ‘Stella Minter Ellison’, skippered by Fred Kinmonth was setting a good pace for her handicap and on corrected time she was predicted to finish ahead of rival ‘Hi Fidelity’ – a result that would hand her the Omega Title.

‘Hi Fidelity’ crossed the line behind ‘Maverick II’ in the early hours of Sunday and then, towards dawn, the wind died and for several hours ‘Stella’ and the rest of the fleet were parked off Luzon in an agonizing wait for wind. As ‘Stella’ watched the Omega AYC Title slip away, it became clear that Sam Chan would win the race and that ‘Hi Fidelity’ would take the Championship.

Said Neil Pryde ‘Hi Fidelity had an excellent race, although the str