China Club Challenge Match Challenger Finals 2016 - fair's fair!

by Al Skinner on 7 Nov 2016 The China Club Challenge Match Challenger Finals kicked off on Friday 04 November in Xiamen, China. The event is now in its 12th year, and is the longest running regatta in China. After an earlier 30-strong fleet racing element, this weekend saw the last eight qualifying teams invited back for the match racing finals.

Two full round robins saw the race committee getting off 28 races a day for two days in challenging light air conditions. Racing was only completed as the sun sank below the high rise buildings surrounding Wu Yuan Bay on day two. On the water things were kept in order by IU’s Wayne Boberg (NZL) and John Rountree (NZL) assisted by locals Alistair Skinner (GBR) and Ginger (CHN).

Regatta organisers went to great pains to ensure a fair and level playing field, from flying in International Umpires to having the rigs equally tuned and then taped in place with the tape signed by an umpire. Boat bottoms were all freshly cleaned, the SIs clearly prohibited any alterations of boats, and there was a blind boat draw immediately prior to the event.

Play of the first two days was when the Xiamen University team, carrying a penalty, noticed that their opponent was obstructed by the match ahead. They spun down into their turn and popped out into clear air, turning the double disadvantage of a penalty and being behind into a healthy lead, a move that brought nods of approval from the following umpire boat.

Competition was tight, with round robin 1 leaving three teams on equal points, and a potentially difficult tie-break situation where A beat B beat C beat A. The second round robin provided the split, leaving Big Boys Sailing, J-Boats Racing Team, Xiamen University and Blue Ocean clear at the top of the points table.

The semis most certainly didn’t go to form, with Big Boys being eliminated down to the Petite Final and J-Boats Racing having a tougher than expected task against Xiamen University.

And the final was an eye-opener, too, with Blue Ocean taking out J-Boats Racing 3-0 after winning each start, and then extending the whole way round - a classic case of the rich getting richer. The podium was completed by Xiamen University after winning the Petite Final and pushing former winners Big Boys Sailing down to fourth.

From a personal point of view it was nice to see Xiamen University reach to podium; the team was skippered by Eddie, now a tutor at the university, but who made his first appearance at the event as a fresh-faced undergraduate who was almost as fresh to sailing.

Also good to see an event in which, although the racing was close, hard fought, combative and sailed in chartered boats and (unlike some regattas in China) any contact between boats was so slight the ‘bump’ was barely audible on the umpire boats and none resulted in any damage whatsoever.

Little wonder this has led some commentators to describe the China Club Challenge Match as the most ‘genuine’ regatta in China.