RHKYC Timberland Spring Regatta 2006

by Lindsay Lyons, RHKYC on 21 May 2006 The RHKYC Timberland Spring Regatta 2006 got off to a flying start with the three winning Impalas from the 2005 Regatta squaring up for a charity fundraising race in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Kellett Island clubhouse.

Impala 1 was assisted by Timberland’s General Manager for Greater China, Mr Tony Kwan together with RHKYC’s General Manager, Mr Rene Verhulst. Ling Yuan introduced soccer players Ricky Chen and Tam Wai Kwok to the joys of sailing, while Taxi hosted celebrities Bowie Lam and Chung Ka Yan for the race. After a fiercely contested short course, Impala 1 was the winner, followed closely by Ling Yuan and with Taxi bringing the race to a close

Worries about the number of Hong Kong sailors involved in Koh Samui Regatta were misplaced as 78 boats turned out for the first day of the Timberland Spring Regatta.

There was plenty of wind in the 10-15 knot Easterly as well, encouraging Race Officer Jimmy Farquhar to select a Club Line start, and the wind held throughout to give a great (and quick) afternoon’s racing.

Biggest fleet on the water was the Etchells with 16 boats, all eager to get going. A bit of pushing and shoving at the line resulted in an individual recall for last year’s champion, Wanchai Belle, but

the other classes were all clear. Impala were the next strongest fleet with 12 boats, followed by the Flying Fifteens with 11.

With commercial shipping and cruise ships quite active in the harbour, it was quite an exciting afternoon. Pandora 668 found herself caught in a local fishing net and several

boats had to take avoiding action when a fuel tanker tried to drop anchor in the middle of the finish line. Given 15 knots of breeze, there was surprisingly little boat-to-boat action, although Ambush blew a spinnaker and Rampage might have been entitled to protest Merlin after the latter squeezed her outside the finish line, costing valuable minutes.

With more of the same forecast to tomorrow’s racing, it looks as if races 2 and 3 of this three-race Regatta will be just as entertaining!


Results for Race 1
Cruiser : 1 Cave Canem (Simon Boyde); 2 GA (Arthur Ho); Rampage (Denis Ma)
Dragon : 1 Kamloong (Simon Chan); 2 Davinloong (Lowell Chang); 3 Fei Chi (Karl Grebstad)
Etchells : 1 Easy Tiger (Marty Kaye); 2 Marianne II (Clement Brunet-Moret); 3 Wanchai Belle (Jamie McWilliam)
Flying Fifteen : 1 Ffatal Attraction (Rupert Sydenham); 2 Puff’n’Stuff (David Chow); 3 Ffirecracker (Andrew Malone)
Impala : 1 Impala 1 (Mike Burrell); 2 Ling Yuan (Herman Wong); 3 Rainbow Chaser (Wilcox Tam)
Pandora : 1 Panache (Raymond Ng); 2 Windfall (Tom Ho); 3 Pasisana (Joseph Wong)
Ruffian : 1 Victory 9 (Li Fook Hing); 2 Miss Piggy (Peter Leung); 3 Brigand (Ken Borthwick)
Sonata : 1 Chopstix (George Strome); 2 Jil Jik (C L Yu); 3 Goodie (Vincent Kwan)
Sportsboats : 1 Merlin (Steve Bourne); 2 Ambush (Burgurlu/Isler/Taylor); 3 Tornado (Y K Szeto)