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DBYC Results: Salona Cup Drag Race February 08

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With a week to go the Race officer was looking down the icy barrel of apathy in the face of DBYC sailors who had gone into hibernation for Hong Kong's coldest and most miserable winter in 60 years or more. With many boats laid up out of the water and other skippers and crew away in warmer climes he was faced with a race that might only have 3 boats on the line. But nay a valiant call from the Wizard (aka Bruce Perkins) at ABC to say they were hungry for blood and were looking for start line practice and top mark fodder awoke the competitive zeal that had been sleeping in DBYC's finest.

So to the line to save the honour of the club came the 4 brave boats all with crews who gave their all in the icy and blustery conditions. With 28 knots awaiting around the Peng Chau corner those who went out with full mains and genoas came back for the second race with 2 reefs and a No.3 except for Authority who just wanted to show off her slippery clean bottom so lovingly scrubbed by a frost-bitten skipper the day prior!

The Wizard crew braved miserable conditions on the trip over on Saturday night only to find the showers in the Marina Club under repair. The sooner the hotel opens at DB the better. But they put a great smile on it all and had a great time down at the Water Margin with some of the hardy DBYC folks that night.

First start was as sloppy as could be expected with yachts hitting the line nearly a minute late and others getting caught in stays trying for a quick tack onto the favoured port tack. The first two races were deliberately port biased but with the wind bend around Peng Chau corner did not give enough windward beat so the start was relocated to the West off Mui Wo point to give a better track and the racing became extremely close fought.

Harlequin found real speed sailing loose and taking the wider tacks, leaving Authority and Wizard to battle for the centre windward track. Xakanaxa finally showed her true colours and shed her sheep's clothing to become the real wolf of the pack with astonishing speed out of the blocks on the start line and fast and clean tacks all the way to the finish on most occasions.

The highlight of the race series was the fantastic start of the fifth and final race with all five boats hitting the line together about five seconds after the gun - damn good improvement! The finish was as good with Wizard crossing about 10 seconds in front of Xakanaxa, Authority and Harlequin who were within 5 seconds of each other. Shindig was no slouch and battled hard with a short-handed crew but found the 25knots+ tough going to catch the bigger boats.

Special thanks must go to the absolutely Herculian effort of John Phillips and Jan Neuhausser in the finish line boat which braved breaking waves over the bow and bone-chilling conditions to stay on station for 3 hours of squalls and rainshowers. As too for Edward Coebergh and Paolo Alvera in the Asia Yacht Services RIB kindly made available by the sponsors of the Salona Cup.

Many thanks to Torben Christensen for the loan of T2 as committee boat and the seamanship of Andy Kung in getting us on station and keeping us there and getting the flags all sorted out. A big thank you also to Bart Kimman and Asia Yacht Services for their sponsorship and donation of the Salona Cup which we hope will be contested in two more of these events this season - hopefully with a new Salona in attendance.

It may have been a small event in terms of numbers but we suspect it will be one of the big memories for most of the sailors who it seems had a "real blast" out there this time. Results posted on the website but congratulations to all participants - you were all deserving winners in just getting out there for a great day's sailing.

1. Xakanaxa

2. Authority

3. Harlequin

4. Wizard

5. Shindig

Well Done All!
Ken Wiltshire
Race Officer

Result Tables

Boat DBPN Race 1 Start Time: 11:00:00 Finish Elapsed Correct Place Points 1 Authority 870 11:15:16 0:15:16 0:17:33 2 2 2 Harlequin 850 11:16:01 0:16:01 0:18:51 4 4 3 Shindig 970 11:21:26 0:21:26 0:22:06 5 5 4 Wizard 810 11:14:30 0:14:30 0:17:54 3 3 5 Xakanaxa 950 11:15:21 0:15:21 0:16:09 1 0.75 Boat DBPN Race 2 Start Time: 11:46:00 Finish Elapsed Correct Place Points 1 Authority 870 12:00:24 0:14:24 0:16:33 4 4 2 Harlequin 850 11:59:32 0:13:32 0:15:55 2 2 3 Shindig 970 12:05:59 0:19:59 0:20:36 5 5 4 Wizard 810 11:59:00 0:13:00 0:16:03 3 3 5 Xakanaxa 950 11:58:55 0:12:55 0:13:36 1 0.75 Boat DBPN Race 3 Start Time: 12:35:00 Finish Elapsed Correct Place Points 1 Authority 870 12:51:44 0:16:44 0:19:14 1 0.75 2 Harlequin 850 12:51:22 0:16:22 0:19:15 2 2 3 Shindig 970 12:59:46 0:24:46 0:25:32 5 5 4 Wizard 810 12:51:13 0:16:13 0:20:01 4 4 5 Xakanaxa 950 12:53:43 0:18:43 0:19:42 3 3 Boat DBPN Race 4 Start Time: 13:20:00 Finish Elapsed Correct Place Points 1 Authority 870 13:37:04 0:17:04 0:19:37 3 3 2 Harlequin 850 13:35:40 0:15:40 0:18:26 2 2 3 Shindig 970 13:40:33 0:20:33 0:21:11 5 5 4 Wizard 810 13:35:56 0:15:56 0:19:40 4 4 5 Xakanaxa 950 13:37:28 0:17:28 0:18:23 1 0.75 Boat DBPN Race 5 Start Time: 14:05:00 Race Total Points Overall Discard Boat Finish Elapsed Correct Place Points 1 2 3 4 5 (4 of 5 races) Result 1 Authority 870 14:21:47 0:16:47 0:19:17 2 2 2 4 1 3 2 11.75 2 Authority 2 Harlequin 850 14:21:54 0:16:54 0:19:53 4 4 4 2 2 2 4 14 3 Harlequin 3 Shindig 970 14:26:29 0:21:29 0:22:09 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 25 5 Shindig 4 Wizard 810 14:20:42 0:15:42 0:19:23 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 17 4 Wizard 5 Xakanaxa 950 14:21:45 0:16:45 0:17:38 1 0.75 0.75 1 3 1 1 6 1 Xakanaxa

Picture Gallery
Shindig in close pursuit.	Harlequin Race 5	Harlequin Race 5	Harlequin Race 5
Harlequin Race 5

We need more photos of this event. We know many of you have taken pictures - please send them to webmaster@dbyc.net!

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