Bart’s Bash at Lantau Boat Club - don't underestimate the tide!

by Stephen Devlin, Lantau Boat Club on 19 Sep 2016 The run out to the start looked promising under blue skies. About 10 knots of puff was coming from the north, and so Race Officer Sidney Leung elected for course 4 which was a 22 nautical mile clockwise run to Kau Yi Chau with a sausage between Datum Rock and Sui Kau Yi Chau thrown in. This would have been a great course in a steady 10 kts, but unfortunately the breeze disappeared just before the start, and the current from a fast-running tide took its place, forcing the entire fleet to scratch over the line.

David Hopgood caught a puff and thought he had everyone's measure, until he found Simon Ludlow's Rock and parted company with the last two inches of his dagger board. Peter Davies, David Clacher and Tom Nunan led the fast cats’ pursuit of the 'not so fast cats' - Gilles, Tristan and Al Doherty. Quite a few underestimated the speed of the tide and ended up between Kau Yi Chau and her smaller sister, moving south with the tide only to claw their way north and back on course, and then south again as the wind died!

Steve Devlin and Pete Williams used a bit of cunning and fine spinnaker work to pass Tom Nunan and Gabriel Kicks and be first around Kau Yi Chau. Tristan Stewart mistook the wave measuring buoys for Datum Rock (hint: it's a rock!) and then remarkably a large portion of the fleet behind followed him. Who said lemmings can't swim?

After an average 3 hrs of beating sun and much cussing, the fleet retired to the beach for cold beers, Sammy's great tucker and a spot of prize giving. Tall tales sailing heroics followed, and we were joined by our friends from the Discovery Bay Yacht Club on the beach under a clear and moonlit sky.

In closing: another great Bart's Bash event, and my thanks go to our Club Admin Officer Cindy Chung, Chief Knucklehead Marc Holm, Richard Carey, Simon Ludlow and Sidney Leung for a magnificent day.

Congratulations to the winners of the three divisions that were racing:
Div A: Kei Lun, Richard van den Berg
Fast Cats: F16, Tom Nunan
Other cats: Hobie 16, Clara Ng

For more information visit www.lantauboatclub.com

Overall Results:

Overall Rank	Division	Boat Name	Boat Type	Helm	Sail No	HKPN/PY	SCHRS	Start	Finish	Elasped	Corrected	Pos	HKPN	Overall (using HKPN/DBPN/PY)
14	Div A	Boadecia	Hanse 400	Chris Gordon	HKG2381	959		11:10:00	15:24:55	04:14:55	04:25:49	2	959	04:25:49
1	Div A	Kei Lun	Beneteau First 45FS	Richard van den Berg	HKG1691	898		11:10:00	14:10:36	03:00:36	03:21:07	1	898	03:21:07
16	Div A	Legs 11	Adams 11.9	Nick von der Luhue	HKG2336	922		11:10:00	15:21:21	04:11:21	04:32:37	3	922	04:32:37
RET	Div A	Sapphire	Beneteau First 40.7	Richard Carrey	HKG2304	1009		11:10:00	RET
RET	Div A	Zhulu	Bavaria 46	Andy Pickles	HKG2281	1014		11:10:00	RET
RET	Div B	Speedy Gonzales	Beneteau First 7.5	Stephan Kottek	0	1139		11:05:00	RET
RET	Div B	Shockwave	Formula One OD	Matt Swedenklef	HKG1288	1177		11:05:00	RET
RET	Div B	Square Bear	Seawind 40	Ben Wilson	HKG2338	1253		11:05:00	RET
RET	Div B	Overtime	0	0	HKG1828	1086		11:05:00	RET
RET	Div B	Tsuru	0	0	C757	1200		11:05:00	RET
4	Fast Cat		F18	David Clacher	1600	784	1	11:30:00	14:15:50	02:45:50	03:31:31	3	784	03:31:31
6	Fast Cat		F18	Peter Davies	2358	784	1	11:30:00	14:20:33	02:50:33	03:37:32	4	784	03:37:32
3	Fast Cat		F18	Steve Devlin	1487	784	1	11:30:00	14:09:59	02:39:59	03:24:04	2	784	03:24:04
15	Fast Cat		F18	David Hopgood	1854	784	1	11:30:00	14:59:43	03:29:43	04:27:30	8	784	04:27:30
12	Fast Cat		F18	Aaron Metz	1443	784	1	11:30:00	14:32:38	03:02:38	03:52:57	7	784	03:52:57
DNC	Fast Cat		F18	F18	453	784	1		DNC
8	Fast Cat		F16	Andy Keith	44	829.472	158	11:30:00	14:33:20	03:03:20	03:41:01	5	829	03:41:01
11	Fast Cat		F16	Cindy Cheung	43	811.44	135	11:30:00	14:36:41	03:06:41	03:50:04	6	811	03:50:04
2	Fast Cat		F16	Tom Nunan	344	811.44	135	11:30:00	14:14:10	02:44:10	03:22:19	1	811	03:22:19
DNF	Others Cat/Boat		Dart 18	KY Lai	7618	961	1.226	11:25:00	DNF
DNC	Others Cat/Boat		Dart 18	Stefan Estlinbaum	3148	951	1.213		DNC
DNF	Others Cat/Boat		Dart 18	Joesph Shieh	7620	961	1.226	11:25:00	DNF
DNF	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Phil Balmer	111439	934	1.191	11:25:00	DNF
7	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Al Doherty	111832	934	1.191	11:25:00	14:50:15	03:25:15	03:39:45	2	934	03:39:45
DNF	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Tristan Fischer	112211	934	1.191	11:25:00	DNF
9	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Gilles Francony	109636	934	1.191	11:25:00	14:52:36	03:27:36	03:42:16	3	934	03:42:16
DNC	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Juan Mas	111488	934	1.191		DNC
5	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Clara Ng	112137	934	1.191	11:25:00	14:48:03	03:23:03	03:37:24	1	934	03:37:24
DNC	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	Johnnie Yuen	112888	934	1.191		DNC
DNF	Others Cat/Boat		Hobie 16	0	6	934	1.191	11:25:00	DNF
13	Others Cat/Boat		Nacra 500	Mark McKim	4355	915	1.167	11:25:00	15:13:13	03:48:13	04:09:25	5	915	04:09:25
DNC	Others Cat/Boat		Shadow	Cathy Lam	77	875	1.117		DNC
10	Others Cat/Boat		RS500	Clement Francony	HKG516	973	0	11:25:00	14:54:02	03:39:29	03:45:35	4	973	03:45:35