Edmond de Rothschild Spring Regatta at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
by Guy Nowell, RHKYC 17 May 2015 05:27 PDT
16-17 May 2015
Edmond de Rothschild Spring Regatta © RHKYC / Guy Nowell
The portents were good for the second day of the Edmond de Rothschild Spring Regatta, which dawned with sunshine and scattered showers, coupled with 10 to 14kts of south westerly breeze, however the weather radar had different ideas, showing a massive band of rain approaching from the west.
Race officer Simon Boyde wasted no time in setting up a Hung Hom start line with all the short course boats racing a long triangle to Tai Koo Shing followed by a short lap around Kowloon Bay, and the long course fleets racing two triangles to Tai Koo Shing.
The wind direction combined with a massive ebb tide made the start especially tricky and several boats were swept onto course side before their start, with Magic 25 Merlin, Pandora Pasisana, Big Boat Cutting Edge and Flying Fifteen Fflipping Muppets unable to exonerate themselves.
After a challenging race, the finished boats waited patiently for the last of the Big Boats to finish while Boyde considered where to lay the start line for the final race of the Regatta. Having rejected a course running across the harbour at 220 degrees, he led the fleets back towards Kellett Island for a Club start and a repeat of Saturday's course.
Just as the start sequence for the Impala fleet was in progress, a line squall hit from the west causing numerous broaches. As the safety teams started a sweep of the harbour, Boyde made the decision to abandon race 3 and focus on ensuring the safety of the competitors.
Two races being enough to constitute the Regatta, a packed prizegiving got underway after protests had been heard, with prizes being presented by Mr Alon Garty, founder of Van Eyck Fine Jewelry and Mr Francis Tang, Managing Director of Edmond de Rothschild Private Banking.
Overall Results:
| Class | Boat | Winner |
|---|
| Big Boat Division 1 | Ambush | Andrew Taylor / Joachim Isler |
| Big Boat Division 2 HKPN | Kiasu | Herman Wong / Yves Milot |
| Big Boat Division 2 IRC | Rampage | Denis Ma |
| Dragon | Shiva | Virgile Bertrand |
| Etchells | Easy Tiger | Watson / Kaye /Norton |
| Flying Fifteen | Tchaikoffsky | Howard / Louis |
| Impala | Rainbow Chaser | Wilcox Tam |
| J/80 | Footloose | Henry Wong |
| Pandora | Solstice | K W Chair |
| Ruffian | Buster | Nick Bryan |
| Sportsboat | Red Herring II | Jens‑Erik Olsen |