Swiss Re YMC Alma Mater Race 2021

Swiss Re YMC Alma Mater

WORDS: VIVIAN NGAN | IMAGES: GUY NOWELL

Swiss Re YMC Alma Mater Race 2021

The inaugural Swiss Re YMC Alma Mater Race, organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Young Members Committee, took place in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour on 19 December 2021.

he Alma Mater Race is a fun racing event similar to the Nations’ Cup where teams are formed based on their affiliated schools – be it a local university, international school or secondary school. So long as at least half the team have some association with a particular school, a team can be formed under that name. Sailors turned up fully decked out in team uniform and college flags, ready to do battle on the water and vie for the title this inaugural race.

45 boats turned out on the day – six of which represented St Joseph’s College, with the second largest participating academic association being Hong Kong University which sported teams representing the School of Architecture, the Faculty of Medicine, Ricci Hall and the Athletics Team.

Racing under RHKATI and HKPN handicaps, boats were given staggered starts at 15-minute intervals with HKPN division starting first and the fastest IRC boats last, in the hope that in true pursuit race style they would catch up and finish close together. The last boats to set off were the larger of the big boats including Hong Kong Sports Institute’s TP52 Phoenix, Kingsman representing St Joseph’s College and Tipsy Easy representing HKU Faculty of Medicine.

Given the northerly breeze of around 12 to 15kts, Race Officer David Norton elected to set a course which would take the fleet from a Club Line start, through Lei Yue Mun Gap and round TCS 4 in the eastern approaches. Once around, the boats would return under spinnaker, passing marks in the Harbour on their way to a Club Line finish.

The HKPN fleet rounded TCS 4 first, holding on to a lead on the water until the very end. Under RHKATI, Probably The Best Alumni (University of Exeter) helmed by Dion Houghton took the win, with Vincent Chiu’s Crystal, representing St. Joseph’s College, taking the win in HKPN.

Race Officer David Norton quoted “We had a fantastic turn out for the inaugural YMC Alma Mater Race. Tricky conditions with wind gusting to 20kts at times, yet patchy at times. Great sailing from the Alumni teams, racing together for the first time. Looking forward to the next one!”

The event was also designated a Clean Regatta by Sailors for the Sea, a non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving and protecting the ocean.

Swiss Re Alma Mater Race 2021 RHKATI

ACADEMIC INSTITUTE BOAT NAME SAIL NUM SKIPPER POSITION

University of Exeter

Probably The Best Alumi HKG346 Dion Houghton University of St. Andrews Scallywag HKG1059 Oliver Cully

HKU Footloose HKG2252 Henry Wong 1 2 3

HKPN

St. Joseph’s College

Crystal St Paul Co-educational College Boss St. Mary’s Canossian College Pepper & Salt HKG2118 Vincent Chiu 1

HKG2219 Arthur Cheng

2 HKG2092 Eric Choi/Paul Lam/Kelvin Leung 3

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Swiss Re who title sponsored the inaugural YMC Alma Mater Race. With them, not only did we have had fabulous giveaways, but also they have given us the opportunity to grow the event to become a permanent fixture of our racing calendar. We would also like to express our gratitude to Manson Ma, Chairman of the Young Member Committee (YMC), for his effort of pushing forward this inaugural race, showcasing YMC’s determination on achieving their core mission – “One Club, One Young Community”, at the same time promoting sailing to a wider community in the general public as well as bringing our sailors a new and closer bond! The Club could not have put on such a successful and safe event without our dedicated volunteers – a big shout out to Race Management team of RO David Norton, ARO Lucy Sutro, Hubert Lau, Wing Tsang and safety team of Brett Rohrsheim and Niclas Rydin.