After only 3 days in the planning, Sunday 17 September’s impromptu pursuit race to Stanley turned out to be a great day. We ended up with 15 boats (10 racing) and 50+ for lunch at Wildfire in Stanley, followed by a visit to the HK Maritime Museum (recommended) and the usual Stanley market shopping.
Starting on individual times through the DB marina mouth, the route was simple: best course, straight to Stanley Bay, where Bevin Brakespeare’s Outsider and William Wright’s Whaler had laid a testing finish line, tight under Murray House. Fresh Northerlies held for the first hour or so, but the breeze started to die just as the fleet were negotiating the lee of Hong Kong Island, riding the ebb down the Lamma Channel. Quite a sight: a line of sails, with spinnakers popping and jibing as the crews tried desperately to close the gap on the (supposedly) slower boats ahead.
The start times were planned for a 3-hour race for the first boat but, given the vagaries of the winds, the Sailing Instructions still allowed for correction of elapsed times. As it turned out, little correction was necessary and only changed the final placing for 4th and 5th places.
Unfortunately, a couple of boats chose to start abeam the mouth of the marina, rather than through it (easier and faster), which presented a dilemma as this was supposed to be a ‘friendly’ race. What to do: ignore the transgression and open the door for other course-capers on future cruising races, or slap them with a DNS?
In the best traditions of the sea, we ended up doing both. And neither. Xakanaxa (first) and Kolwezi (third) lost their placings, but received prizes acknowledging those places as if they hadn’t. Clear? This allowed Shockwave, Skellum and Epic their rightful places on the podium, having sailed the full and correct course. Well done to them all for sailing a cracking race.
Our grateful thanks to the staff at Wildfire, Stanley for coping so well with our short-notice mega-party, and to owner, Chris Lenz for presenting the liquid prizes. Also to the HK Maritime Museum for the prize tickets for the winning crew of Shockwave, and to Fragrant Harbour for the range of FH merchandise. The toilet seat was not awarded; Sue & Jug have become rather attached to it, and it remains secreted aboard Sabi Star, presently undergoing strange and lengthy improvements at Clearwater Bay.
Here are the results:
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Photo’s courtesy of William Wright. Please send additional pics to info@dbyc.net for inclusion in this report.
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