Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Ladies Helm 2023
by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club 6 Mar 2023 17:31 AEDT
5 March 2023
In celebration of International Women's Day, RHKYC hosted the annual Ladies Helm on Sunday 5 March on the waters of Victoria Harbour with perfect sailing conditions. With the regular skippers taking a back seat for the day, the ladies onboard the 46 fleet of boats across nine classes including ATI (incorporating IRC Big Boats, J/80 and Sportsboats), Dragons, Etchells, Flying Fifteens, Impalas, Ruffians, Pandoras joined to celebrate and recognise women's achievements worldwide.
Ladies Helm aims to encourage more female participation in sailing and taking charge of the helm. This event also encourages female sailors of all experience levels to take part, with no restrictions on the rest of the crew's gender or in fact gender ratio - the only requirement being that the skipper must be female.
Each class of boat was set two races. The first race of the day started in 12 to 14kts of easterly breeze under a beautiful blue sky. All fleets were sent to sail between Hung Hom and Tai Koo Shing or Shau Kei Wan with similar courses for the second starts. Everyone enjoyed the Champagne racing conditions. Race Officer Barry Truhol said of the racing "What a cracking day! Wind was a consistent 11 to 12kts, gusting up to 15, from a pretty constant wind axis. Super weather, good wind racing."
Congratulations to all the female helms taking part in the racing with particular mention of the winning helms - Kandice Lee/Footloose taking ATI class, Myra Kwok/Movement in the Dragon fleet, Elise Kelly/Gunga Din for the Etchells, Lucy Sutro/Kerfuffle for the Flying Fifteens, Chin Hai Hon/Manbude on IRC Big Boats, Mona Lai/Taurus on the Impalas, Wendy Cheung/Windfall for the Pandoras, Doris Hung/Phoenix on Sportsboats and Johanna Fung/Bandolero for the Ruffians.