Gill ABC Tri-Club Dinghy Regatta - blowing dogs off chains

by Kevin Lewis, ABC Dinghy Sailing Manager on 27 Apr 2010 Aberdeen Boat Club, Hebe Haven and the Royal HK Yacht Club have been running a number of Tri-Club Dinghy Regattas over the past two years, with the aim of providing more inter-club competition and also further bringing the dinghy sailing community together. April was the first time that ABC hosted the regatta, and we approached the weekend with 47 entries in three divisions - and a forecast of winds gusting up to force 6!

On Saturday RO Paul Woodward set a trapezoid course in outer Repulse Bay, and with winds gusting over 15 knots at times, a number of competitors found it hard going and retired. Several RS Fevas seemed to spend most of the day upside down, and when approached by the Safety Team replied they were fine and just taking a rest! So, a very challenging first day!

It was Cosmas Grelon from Hebe Haven YC who dominated in the Optimist fleet, clearly enjoying the conditions, and coming away with three first places. But the young ABC sailors showed real determination and it was Peter Simpson and Brandon Tang who dominated the RS Feva fleet with three bullets in a fleet obviously struggling to manage the conditions. Their key to an amazing three first places was simply keeping the boat upright and sailing - Hebe's Yann Cudennec and Lewis Cheung sailed well but repeatedly went swimming. Exciting day 1 results in the Laser 4.7s with Hebe's James Johnston tied at first place with Gigi Sakai, while ABC Sailor Will Stephens ended the day in fourth.

Come Sunday morning and there was even MORE breeze! Competitors were greeted with winds exceeding 20 knots at Middle Island. ABC decided to be cautious, and after a short postponement decided to let the Laser 4.7 fleet out in to Repulse Bay just to see if they could handle the increasing winds. A small contingent of Hong Kong’s best youth Laser sailors ventured out and started the first of two exciting windward-leeward courses. As winds further increased, safety cover almost reached one safety boat for each competitor, and it was ABC's Will Stevens who won the first race, with Lars Schkade (RHKYC) taking the second race. James Johnson (HHYC) proved consistency was the name of the game, with two second places giving him overall first in the Laser 4.7 Division.

After a fair amount of consideration, ABC decided to let the RS Fevas take to the water, but with reefed training sails and mast head floats as required safety measures. Six dinghies made it out, and faced winds gusting to 30 knots (as recorded on the Committee Boat), the strongest winds the Fevas are likely to encounter before gear failure becomes a significant risk. Once again it was ABC's Peter Simpson and Brandon Tang who showed the best ability to cope with the conditions, winning the first race from HHYC's Akira Sakai and Jack Smith in second. In the second race, Peter and Brandon misjudged the top mark and headed downwind requiring a 720 penalty. Capsizing on the 720, they decided they had done enough and retired, leaving Akira to win over second place Yann Cudennec. With four wins out of five, it was Peter Simpson and Brandon Tang (ABC) who convincingly won the Feva Division.

Erring on the side of caution, ABC kept the Optimist fleet ashore, and after a while it was the Hebe Haven team who ventured out for some high wind 'training'. But even the experienced HHYC team struggled, and around 1300 hrs the Race Officer confirmed that there would be no further Optimist races, leaving the overall result decided from Saturday's three races. So HHYC took the top three spots, with Nathan Bradley in third, Gerald Williams in second, and Cosmas Grelon winning overall with three wins out of three.

Back at ABC Middle Island, an early afternoon buffet greeted the sailors on their return, and the prizegiving got underway at 1545 hrs. The Tri-Club Trophy was presented once again to Hebe Haven, whose 'best three' sailors per race in each class were counted to win as overall top Club. A huge thanks to Storm Force Marine who sponsored the weekend regatta, and to Louise Connolly who presented the excellent GILL prizes. A team of 14 volunteers, as well as Instructors, Marine and F&B staff all made it happen – thanks to everyone!

Full results are available on our website www.abclub.com