Pedro Blanco presented by TESLA
by RHKYC Media 25 Mar 2014 05:14 PDT
22-23 March 2014
The 'Pedro Blanco' warm-up for the Category 1 Rolex China Sea Race © RHKYC / Alex Johnston
Ambush takes Line Honours and IRC Overall
Presented by Tesla, the benefits of the 'Pedro Blanco' as a warm up for the Category 1 Rolex China Sea Race were easy to see, as the 100nm Category 3 overnight offshore offers boats, particularly those competing offshore for the first time, a chance to practice their night sailing, crew rotations and drills in preparation for Easter's 565nm blue water classic.
With a simple 'out-and-back' course, a 13-strong fleet started from Steep Island, to the east of Hong Kong, before sailing into China waters, rounding Pedro Blanco Rock and returning to Hong Kong via TCS1.
After just under 13 hours of sailing, Mills 41 Ambush crossed the virtual finish line of the 2014 Pedro Blanco Race, taking both Line Honours and IRC Overall titles for this year's edition of the race.
After the race, Ambush co-owner and skipper Andrew Taylor described the race as "sailing in breeze of 10 to 25kts, in big bouncy seas with not a lot of pattern to them. We got 18.2kts out of the old girl and a number of rides into the 17's on the way back - we did have a 'Chinese gybe' but got her back on her feet without any damage!"
Asked what put Ambush so far ahead of the competition, Taylor added "Good pace and height upwind got us to Pedro Blanco first and then we kept it together in an ugly wave angle for the first 40mins after the rock. After that it was good fast running - if only we were in a light boat!"
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Skipper | IRC / HKPN | Elapsed | Corrected |
|---|
| IRC Racer 1 |
|---|
| 1 | HKG2208 | Ambush | Andrew Taylor | 1.158 | 12:53:43 | 14:55:58 |
| 2 | HKG2159 | Krampus | Niccolo Manno | 198 | 15:27:25 | 16:58:18 |
| 3 | HKG2213 | Ramrod | Bruno Villemaire / Olivier Decamps | 1.178 | 14:36:30 | 17:12:31 |
| IRC Racer 2 |
|---|
| 1 | HKG 2047 | Avant Garde | Chin Yeu Seah | 193 | 18:23:00 | 20:05:35 |
| DNF | HKG2298 | Sell Side Dream | Simon Powell | 195 | DNF | DNF |
| IRC Premier |
|---|
| 1 | HKG2250 | Tipsy Easy | K F Yong | 1.123 | 15:36:40 | 17:31:53 |
| 2 | HKG2333 | Lighthorse | Shawn Kang | 1.141 | 15:36:56 | 17:49:02 |
| 3 | HKG2289 | Explorer | Anthony Day | 189 | 16:22:41 | 17:50:09 |
| 4 | HKG1691 | Kei Lun | Richard Van Den Berg | 153 | 17:02:30 | 17:56:42 |
| 5 | HKG2360 | Sea Monkey | Emmanuel Pitsilis | 1.107 | 17:05:00 | 18:54:40 |
| HKPN |
|---|
| 1 | HKG2117 | AYA | Philippe Cotillon | 917 | 17:49:43 | 19:26:32 |
| 2 | HKG1401 | Wonderwall | David Harari / Alex Cribbin | 930 | 18:23:14 | 19:46:16 |
| DNF | HKG2370 | Generations | Eddy Lee | 1016 | DNF | DNF |