It was truly the best of weekends. The twinkling stars, clear full moon and son et lumiere provided a dramatic background to our celebration of this special place - the Soko Islands...
The weekend break to celebrate this jewel on our doorstep proved one of DBYC’s best, with some 26 boats of all shapes and sizes and over 100 participants - the closing party under the stars was always destined to be a classic. The weekend activities were played at various levels, ranging from the pursuit race, Woodstock-style camping, a side rally of ABCers, a guddle of stink boats overnighting in considerable style, the Yellow Peril ferrying day picnickers, children fire dancing, Arran-sweatered folk singers, hard drinkers, island explorers, patient fisher folk and all the rest.
The pursuit race was fiercely fought, but plagued by fickle winds from the start, which quickly eliminated any fiercely negotiated handicap advantages. Soko disgraced herself with the usual spinnaker botch, leaving her goose-winging thereafter. Aegean initially led the fleet, sailing her usual stormer, until becoming strangely attracted to a distant Chinese island deep south – to where she headed. Short handed Kolwezi skilfully weaved her way through the fleet to challenge Harlequin to a photo finish. Soko and others tried to shake off Rosemary to no avail – she drifted up through the fleet with her usual grace, to take third. At the subsequent prize-giving, Rosemary (Paolo) took the Hare, Kolwezi (Bruce) took the Tortoise and Harlequin (Jim and Pat) despite Pat receiving an old-fashioned roasting for Spinnaker abuse, became the first proud holder of the Soko Cup.
As noted, the weekend activities played out in parallel universes, with plenty of activities running in tandem...
Wayne Robinson excelled in leading a side rally of five boats from the ABC, which augurs well for future joint events.
The Songsters, led by Ken Wiltshire, entertained through the night with an eclectic presentation, kicked off by Richard Winter plumbing new depths with a hoarse version of ‘We Gotta Get Outa this Place’ from his Geordie roots.
The kids ranged and misbehaved freely. A highlight was fire dancing and camping out, for a lucky few.
Mike Huggins provided a spectacular light show; and the BBQ site was lit in psychedelic purples and blues, to the delight of party revellers and the overnighting fleet.
Andy Kung was the usual unsung hero, providing Forplay as support, laying the course, freighting and lighting the BBQ, controlling his frustrations with the flexible timetable and generally facilitating the whole event.
Gary Smith offered and supplied support and resources. Initially allocated hunter-gatherer responsibilities, at short notice he and Cassia were elevated to high office as a course marker, which duty he conducted with typical humour.
Ian Corby, as always, was integral to the event, kindly providing Yellow Peril for those short of the time or inclination to rough it with the salty seadogs.
Jim Fernie, with RAF efficiency, organized the pursuit race, which was the backbone of the whole event. His cool hand yet again resulted in a smooth, safe event and exciting chase to the line.
Jan and Tom provided the all important IT support, writing the website material and coordinating the numerous correspondence.
Isabel Winter designed and created the huge BBQ, destined to be an important feature of future events.
Sunday dawned another perfect day (some of us were still awake), and the beach clean-up took place in the diligent manner expected of tree-hugging greenies. The Island Explorers headed out to investigate the delights of South Soko – exotic butterflies, giant spiders, hidden beach, temples, grottoes, ornamental lake, jungle walk etc.
Finally, the more or less organized side of the festivities was over, and the fleet headed north-east at around noon, delighting in champagne sailing conditions home on a close reach.
It was certainly a memorable weekend for all participants. We enjoyed many adventures, celebrating the fact that this most special jewel in Hong Kong’s crown – the Soko Islands – looks set to be protected for future generations.
Richard Winter
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