WWF’s ‘A Day for Dolphins’ dawned dark and foreboding, much as the doomsayers had been predicting all week. The task of getting 30 boats to stations all around Lantau Island had always been a daunting one. Dr Lindsay Porter of the World Wildlife Fund led a huge effort in preparation, organising volunteers and coordinating boats with help from Discovery Bay Yacht Club and Gold Coast Marina. The event was sponsored by Sino Group, hosts also to that evening’s dinner, with over 150 people raining down on the Gold Coast marina Club at the end of the day.
And raining down for the previous four days it had been, so Saturday morning looked to be more of the same. Undaunted, the skippers accepted the challenge and their allocated census positions at the 0900 briefing in DB Marina Club and then set off into the mist and rumbling thunder.
With all 17 DBYC boats making their stations successfully by noon, it was time to get out the sandwiches and wait for Pinky & Perky to come calling. Sadly, most were disappointed and had to be content with a rollicking sail back to the Gold Coast as the sun came out at 1300. Those rounding Lantau West-about by Tai O enjoyed a beautiful spinnaker run, while the others had some great reaching to and beyond the Tsing Ma bridge. All boats arrived safely at Gold Coast Marina, happy with their work and their sail, but with only 2 boats having achieved sightings of about 10 dolphins on their transit to the Gold Coast. No dolphins were sighted at all during the one hour census period.
Quote for the day, from one of the WWF volunteer observers, placed on each boat: "Go to the Gold Coast now - my life is more important than this!". The poor girl’s head never left a bucket, even whilst on the phone to her Mum! The WWF will probably have one less member next year…
A welcoming dock-side beer call and an excellent Dolphin Day dinner at the Gold Coast Marina Club sponsored by Sino Group completed a fine day - albeit a sobering one, given the lack of dolphin sightings.
Sunday - Pursuit Race
The DBYC’s Tsing Ma Regatta usually includes a Pursuit Race return from the Gold Coast, so that format was retained for the next day. A dozen yachts entered but defectors (or casualties from the previous night) left boats such as Wizard and Drumstick short-handed which played to the advantage, perhaps, of the smaller boats.
The day dawned sunny with a lovely Westerly blowing a few wispy clouds down the channel. Arconia, under new ownership, was the first to start at 1000, followed soon after by Epic and the tiny Hunter F22, Shockwave. As in the previous TMR, many failed to take a strong ebb into account when crossing the channel to the first mark, CP2, forcing some boats to tack back up channel to make the mark. At least this time there was sufficient breeze to allow it!
Once around CP2 it was all about finding the fastest tide to launch them down channel toward the Tsing Ma bridge. The earlier boats kept to the centre of the channel enjoying more than 2 kts of tide and ground speeds of well over 8 kts - a strange feeling when ghosting downwind. Authority found a sneaky stream on the Southern side and, with up to 3 kts of tide at times, managed to glide past Thea and Sabi Star battling away mid-channel. Before long, she was also able to overhaul Epic and then the tiny battler Shockwave who, alone in setting a kite, was hitting ground speeds of over 9 kts - not bad for a 22’ pocket keeler.
Once through the bridge a totally different race started in earnest. Gone was the picnic atmosphere with winds suddenly up to 28 kts across the deck, hard on the nose into wind-against-tide driven 4-5 ft waves from several different directions.Arconia made surprisingly good going into the rough stuff and held up high toward Kau Yi Chau while Sabi Star, with Thea in hot pursuit, took a runner low down in mid-channel getting a huge push from the tide which was now racing out at a full 2½ - 3 knots.
Wind speeds were by now seriously strong, often over 30 kts, and with a building short chop, boats had to shorten sail and hand out the life jackets. Shockwave, now took a hammering from waves a quarter of her length, allowing later starters Soko and Wizard to pass. After rounding Kau Yi Chau, the drag race to Hei Ling Chau was a nail-biter, with Thea and Sabi Star battling all the way up the, hot the heels of Authority.
Approaching the finish, Hei Ling Chau brought calmer water but the breeze held sufficiently to allow a very broad reach to the finish off Nim Shue Wan. Newcomer Authority managed to gull-wing and sail deep to the finish, holding off the challenge from Sabi Star and Thea with Soko and Wizard closing in not long after.
The course had been shortened on the day by removing the Cheung Chau Rock mark - a mistake in hindsight. The conditions proved very fast, with the first boat finishing at 1340 rather than the planned 1500 - an insurmountable handicap for the faster boats, such as Drumstick, starting as late as 1205.
For Authority a great debut win, but also the ignominy of convincingly winning the toilet seat for a comedy of errors after finishing the race, with an overheated engine, then broken pedestal steering, an anchor wrapped around the keel, culminating in an embarrassing rescue from Peng Chau rocks by Andy Kung’s committee boat Forplay which held up the prize-giving on the marina headland for almost an hour. In all, though, a great race, and a great weekend.
Thanks must go to sponsors, Sino Group, and the Management of both Gold Coast and Discovery Bay Marina Clubs who supported this event with their usual efficiency and generosity. Special mention for Race Chairman, David Wilson, Andy & Nita Kung on the Committee Boat, Ken Witshire on stats, and Erica Cartledge who sold a record amount of merchandise over the weekend. Finally thanks to all those who made the effort to join the event and make it a success. KW.
|
Photos courtesy of Kim / Wiltshire and Wilson. Please send additional photos to pics@dbyc.net
Dolphin Weekend Pursuit Race Results (shortened course)
|
Anyone interested in the next Tsing Ma Regatta, planned for the Autumn, or other DBYC regattas, should contact us at info@dbyc.net for further details.
