RHKYC Closing Regatta 'best ever'

by RHKYC Media, ed Sail World Asia on 16 May 2007 'A ripper weekend…', 'Best Closing Regatta in 20 years…', 'Never had so much fun sailing in the harbour…'. Yes, last weekend’s RHKYC Closing Regatta 2007 was a resounding success. There was breeze all through the weekend, the sun shone and the sky was (almost) blue!

78 entrants were out on the harbour on the Saturday afternoon, with the largest Class fleet being the Flying Fifteens (13 boats). 12 to 14 knots of Easterly breeze gave quality competitive racing for all, with RO Inge Strompf-Jepsen starting everyone on the Club line.

First class away was the Cruiser class, with six boats racing on IRC and four on HKPN handicap, with Simon Boyde’s Cave Canem nailing the start at the outer end of the line. Further back in the fleet, Vic Locke’s Fuzzy Duck took her turns for making contact with Gideon Mowser on Gambit.

Most starts were clear, with the only recall being for a couple of over-eager Magic 25’s in the Sportsboat fleet. There was a bit of argy bargy from the 12 Etchells when Mark Whitehead on Mind The Bumps failed to give water to Marty Kaye’s Easy Tiger, forcing her onto the ODM, later resolved by the formers retirement from the race.

Apart from a lull in the breeze during the starts, conditions held steady all afternoon. The Cruisers and Sportsboats got a shortened course to ensure that they finished within their prescribed time limits, but all other fleets were able to complete their full course.

Initial weather reports for on the Sunday morning looked less promising – at 1000hrs, there was only 3-5 knots to be found at any of the marks, with a directional spread of 70 degrees. Undaunted, the Race Officer set short courses and a Hung Hom start, with the Cruiser Class first away at 1125hrs.

But the wind gods were kind, more than kind – generous, even! - and by the warning signal, the breeze was constantly reading 13 to 15 knots of swinging Easterly. The starts showed a definite boat-end bias, with plenty of excitement in the Impala and Sportsboat fleets as competitors jockeyed for position, with What’s The Story misjudging the extent of the committee boat anchor line and missing the race while she extricated herself from the resulting tangle.

The breeze held throughout the race, gusting up to 20 knots and giving most boats a finish time of under 90 minutes, allowing the RO the luxury of setting a longer Race 3 course for the Cruisers and Flying Fifteens. The starts for Race 3 were less than smooth, with a strong incoming tide combining with the 20 knot breeze to drag the committee boat off station, not once but twice. Ruffian Miss Piggy further complicated the starts when she became the second boat of the day to catch the anchor line. As a result, a 30 minute start sequence was stretched to 70 minutes.

A mid-afternoon lull in the breeze led to many boats stalling as they tried to round the windward marks in the strong tide, but a successful day’s racing saw everyone finished by 1643hrs. As always, when a fleet enjoys sunshine and great breeze, all the protests had evaporated over beer long before they reached the Protest Room, and a pleasantly rowdy prizegiving followed.

Results

Cruiser IRC
1 Rampage – Denis Ma
2 Dexter – Dr YK Szeto
3 Gambit – Gideon Mowser

Cruiser HKPN
1 Sex Drive - Deborah Fu
2 No One Else – Ng Wing Hung
3 GA – Arthur Ho

Flying Fifteen
1 Ffatal Attraction – Rupert Sydenham
2 Chaff – Howard Williams
3 Puff’n’Stuff – David Chow

Impala
1 Ling Yuan – Henry Wong
2 Taxi – Florence Kan
3 Impala 1 – Mike Burrell

Dragon
1 Hung Tai – David Poon
2 Kam Loong – Simon Chan
3 Phyloong – Phyllis Chang

Etchells
1 3x11 – Jimmy Farquhar
2 Mango Jam – Lawrence Mead
3 Wanchai Belle – Jamie McWilliam

Ruffian
1 Bandolero – Claire Morgan
2 Victory 9 – Li Fook Hing
3 Miss Piggy – Peter Leung

Pandora
1 Windfall – Tom Ho
2 Solstice – K W Chair
3 Pasisana – Kenny Mok

Sonata
1 Chopstix – George Strome
2 Jil Jik – C L Yu
3 Goodie - T Y Wong

Sportsboats
1 Merlin – Steve Bourne
2 Black Magic – Greg Miller
3 Sidewinder – Gareth Williams