World Maritime Merchants Forum YMC Alma Mater Race 2025
by RHKYC Media 17 Nov 21:36 AEDT
16 November2025
World Maritime Merchants Forum Alma Mater Race 2025 © RHKYC / Luke van der Kamp
The World Maritime Merchants Forum Alma Mater Race, organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Young Members Committee, took place on 16 November in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour under a stunning blue sky and a steady easterly breeze of 10 to 12kts. A total of 46 boats joined this annual event, creating a vibrant and spirited atmosphere on the water.
This fun-filled race celebrates school pride, with teams formed based on their academic affiliations —whether from local universities, international schools, or secondary schools. As long as at least half the crew has ties to a particular institution, they can race under that school’s name!
As in previous years, The University of Hong Kong was the largest participating academic association, fielding eight boats, including teams from the Faculty of Dentistry and Hornell Hall. The event also welcomed alumni from prestigious institutions around the world, including Cambridge University, Imperial College, University of Manchester, University of Newcastle, Australia, and University of Chicago, Adding to the international flavour, sailors from two Chinese Mainland universities — Dalian Maritime University and Wuhan University — flew in to join this annual celebration of alumni spirit on the water.
The Club’s Sail To Change community outreach programme proudly entered two teams, representing Hong Kong Sea School and Aberdeen Technical School, showcasing the programme’s commitment to youth sailing development.
This event also brought together sailors across generations. On DBX2, Wah Yan College alumnus Thomas Wong, who graduated 60 years ago, sailed alongside Sean Law, a Primary 3 student. Another inspiring story came from Terence Cheng, skipper of Stingray and also a Wah Yan College alumnus. Terence first discovered sailing through the 2022 edition of Alma Mater while helping on the Wah Yan spectator boat — despite not knowing how to swim or sail at the time. Today, he owns several racing yachts and is an active member of the sailing community.
Boats were divided into five starts based on their RHKATI/PHS ratings, with the slower boats setting off first. The final start featured the Etchells and larger yachts, including Arcturus+, Full Tilt, MNOG Alpha, and Ocean’s Five. Race Officer Mark Dowding set a course starting from Hung Hom, through Lei Yue Mun Gap, rounding TCS 4 in the eastern approaches, and returning under spinnaker to the Club finish line after passing several harbour marks.
Under RHKATI, Ruffian Victory 9 (skippered by Alex Kong/Mike Lam), representing Diocesan Boys’ School, took the win, followed by another Ruffian, Kat/Kenneth’s Skellum, representing Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2nd place, and Flying Fifteen Full Power (skippered by Sam Chan), representing the University of Manchester, in third place. Oceans Five (Cambridge University) recorded the fastest elapsed time for the course, finishing in a slippery1h 33m. In the PHS division, Big Boat Lion Rock (skippered by Simon Lo / Alfred Lau), representing HKU Dentistry, took the win, with Impala Saturday Again from Aberdeen Technical School (skippered by Ben Lam) in 2nd place, and Kiasu (skippered by Chris Li) from St Paul’s Co-educational College in 3rd place.