Nations' Cup at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
by RHKYC Media 23 Apr 2018 00:02 AEST
22 April 2018
1st Place - Scotland. Impala 1 / Mike Burrell © RHKYC / Guy Nowell
New Zealand's four year Nations' Cup winning streak has come to an end thanks to Scotland (Mike Burrell Impala I) who have now placed their flag in pride of place in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Main Bar.
56 teams signed up for the 2018 Nations' Cup; spanning 17 nations and one planet including Australia, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Uranus and the USA.
With the wind at six to 12kts, Race Officer and RHKYC Rear Commodore Sailing, Lucy Sutro sent the fleet on a course from Hung Hom out through the east end of the Harbour around Shek O Rock and TCS3 and back in finishing in Hung Hom.
The Scottish team celebrated their win; "It was really good, great fun" said Catherine Smith. "It was awesome! So glad the forecasted weakening breeze didn't come in and we had great breeze the whole way round, so it was fantastic. Great racing!" added Mark Collins.
Close on their heels was Ireland (Jamie McWilliams' Etchells Paddy's Belle), followed by first Hong Kong entry, Robert Wiest / David Ho / Victor Kuk's Mills Phoenix.
Jamie said "It was fabulous, a great track and quite honestly the best wind since the first Nations' Cup in 2011. We had people off the rail for maybe ten minutes but all the rest of the time we were on the rail, fully hiking; it was fabulous. Lots of passing lanes, lots of tactical opportunities, it was great. It was us, Frank van Kempen (Netherlands), Denis Martinet (Switzerland) and Christoph Michalski (Sweden) in the Etchells just swapping the lead, loads of times."
Costumes were aplenty with some eye-catching ensembles from the superheroes representing the USA on Maiyo Hood's Goddess and Chinese folklore characters representing Hong Kong on Thomas Wong's Ding Dong in particular.
Festivities have now moved to the Main Lawn at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club where the winning nations will be crowned.