HHYC Typhoon 1 – “a total blast”

by Guy Nowell, Sail World Asia on 5 Jun 2006 It’s a sure sign that the Hong Kong summer has started when 49 boats shape up for a start in Port Shelter. The Hebe Haven Yacht Club’s Typhoon Series has begun, the biggest set of mixed-fleet races in the sailing calendar. This is a nine race series, including four windward-leewards, four ‘round the bushes’ and the famous passage race to Mirs Bay (and not forgetting the equally infamous party afterwards). And there’s the pursuit race back from Mirs Bay – often referred to as the Hangover Race – which doesn’t count for the series.

This year’s opening event was nothing short of a blast. Race Officer Tets Sakai picked a good length course (65) from the book, and at 1100 hrs the IRC A fleet was away, followed a 5-minute intervals by the Sportsboats, IRC B then C, HKPN and Benoit Lesaffre bringing up the rear (but not for long, for sure!) in the multihull Atmosphere.

The grey skies didn’t look so pretty, but 10-11 knots of breeze from 180° was plenty to get everyone moving on the upwind leg towards Silverstrand, and then away out of the mouth of Port Shelter to the PS mark and across to Bluff and Basalt Islands.

By now the breeze was starting to build, and eventually it topped out at a steady 20 knots from 200° - plenty enough to keep absolutely everyone happy, from Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi (Farr 52) right down to the venerable Fuzzy Duck in the HKPN division.

Across to Steep Island was a long and highly tactical haul upwind against a strong current – too far ‘out’ and you got knocked away – before returning to the PS mark and then Steep again in a set of almost true windward-leeward legs.

Returning into Port Shelter via Trio and Table Islands to the Little Palm Beach finish was not without incident for some. Steve Bourne (Merlin) and Ryan Peart (Phoenix) both managed to hit the bricks at Trio when an unexpected eddy in the breeze close in to the island turned what was expected to be a lull (“drop the kite now”) into lots of puff right on the nose (“drop the kite NOW!”).

The Magic 25 fleet in particular had a tight race all the way round the course, with only a couple of boat lengths separating R2B2 and It’s My Pleasure on the finish line. But a cautionary note here – no result for It’s My Pleasure as their SBR certificate was out of date. They weren’t the only culprits, and several boats were denied a result on the basis of missing paperwork. The Race Committee is considering re-instating some of them depending on exactly when re-validation was applied for. That makes the results (www.hhyc.org.hk) strictly Provisional.

The next Typhoon Series race(s) will be on 18 June, two windward-leewards inside Port Shelter.