Volvo China Coast Regatta 2024 - Overall
by Vivian Ngan 14 Oct 2024 01:30 AEDT
11-13 October 2024
The Volvo China Coast Regatta once again lived up to its reputation for delivering the best of Hong Kong's sailing conditions: excellent breezes, blue skies, warm friendly waters, and great parties.
The Race Management team recorded an average of 15kts of north-easterly breeze (gusting up to 20kts) in the racing area south-east of Lamma Island.
All IRC racer divisions and the PHS division were sent on one windward/leeward course to start the day, followed by an island course of 9nm to 11.5nm taking them around Po Toi and Sung Kong or Beaufort before finishing off Stanley to conclude the regatta.
At the end of three days of racing and having completed their scheduled seven races, all IRC divisions enjoyed one discard. Although Nie Hua's Happy Go took two bullets today, Noel Chan's Rampage 88 secured 1st place overall, three points ahead. William Liu's Seawolf finished in 3rd place.
In the IRC Cape 31 division, Denis Martinet and Drew Taylor's Capitano came back strong, winning two races today. However, it was Denis Ma's Rampage38 that lifted the trophy, with David Kong's Out of Africa in 2nd place.
In IRC Racer 2, Nick Burn's Witchcraft won all seven races, giving him a convincing overall victory in the division, with James Verner's Nightshift in second place, followed by Dennis Chien's Arcturus+.
For the IRC Racer 3 division, Nick Southward's Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack and Andrew Pidden's Juice both took one bullet each, with Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack topping the table three points ahead of Juice.
In the PHS division, Thomas Wong's DBX2 tied with Bradley Wilkins' Blowers Daughter on 5 points, but it was DBX2 that took the overall win on countback.
The IRC Premier were sent to sail two island courses today. Fenice, owned by Franco Cutrupia, won both races today, with Peter Churchouse's Moonblue 2 in second place.
Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen commented, "Today we had good wind with the same steadiness, and we only had to do two races to finish the event. So, we made a decision to have a shorter island race, provided that it had been tough yesterday with three races in 17 to 20kts. We had a great race management team with a lot of knowledge; there was nothing that needed explaining, and it was really good. We've had a lot of fun, and I hope the sailors enjoyed it too. A good Race Officer is a lucky Race Officer; I think we were lucky with the weather, and this was overall a very good event."
We hope everyone enjoyed the three days of racing and the social events - we're looking forward to seeing you all next year!
Keep up with the latest news on the Volvo China Coast Race Week visit: chinacoastraceweek.com/news
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