With Severe Tropical Storm Nuri battering our shores on Friday, a family picnic didn’t seem to be such a good idea, but she blew over quickly leaving clear skies and surprisingly calm seas. An ominous cloud over Hong Kong caused some consternation and we had a sensible change of venue to Sunshine Island.

Well, if you didn’t make it out on the water for this year’s DB Regatta, you should be kicking yourselves! Excuses akin to “the dog ate my homework” were coming thick and fast in the rain-filled days preceding the event, and about a third of the expected entries dropped out. Girls blouses, the lot of ‘em.

Sunday morning the 25th of May: The Day began with heavy rain showers however by 9.00 AM when the first yacht started the worst was over and a nice breeze had set up.

After weeks of bad news in which it seemed like the Gods were against us and we would not have a Tsing Ma Regatta this year - but against all odds, and with the stubbornness of your Commodore, we managed to pull it off very well. TMR11 was as exciting as ever, but with a modified route due to Mar Dep restrictions around the recovery of a sunken tug-boat near the Brothers.

The Disney Islands Regatta on 11th November started with a bit of excitement at the windward mark on Race 1, as Rosemary‘s mast went over the side! Nobody hurt, though, and not a lot of damage to the boat. Andy Kung’s support boat was standing by in seconds, but wasn’t really required as Rosemary motored back to the marina under her own steam.

Fourteen boats started off Discovery Bay, including visitors from the ABC, HHYC and RHKYC – with one of these visiting boats destined to win the DBYC Middle Island Regatta convincingly!

The return leg of the Regatta took sailors on a pursuit race from Middle Island to Chesterman Rock, south of Lamma to Cheung Chau Rock, Hei Ling Chau to starboard and to the finish near the entrance of the DB Marina Club.

The DB Regatta, sometimes referred to as “The Booze Cruise” due to the copious and alcoholic nature of the various prizes, is arranged as a one-day, two-race series over cans, then islands courses.

Apologies for lack of breeze. However I believe that light wind sailing skills are very much worth learning and practising...