The Buffalo Sprints on South Lantau

WORDS: DAVID BEST | IMAGES: JOANNA BAKER

he final race in what has been a memorable year for the RHKYC outrigger section was the Buffalo Sprints. This race, taking place in the South Lantau Village of Pui O was aimed at rookies (at least four of the sixperson team had to have started in the past year). In large part due to a great development program this year (thanks Melissa!), RHKYC has been able to rely on a solid crew of newbies and was able to send two teams down to fly the flag – the imaginatively named ‘Team Yellow’ and ‘Team Blue’.

As we arrived at PuI O on a wonderful Saturday morning, the backdrop reminded us all why we love Hong Kong – a perfect sunny day on a crisp beach and pristine background. However, this was no time to relax as we had a race to get on with. The season so far for RHKYC elite teams had been fantastic – dominating most races – and we didn’t want to let the team down on this final race. For the first of two races Team Yellow flew the flag, facing our traditional rivals VRC, Stormy’s and Lamma. Despite it being the first time the team had paddled together in the same boat the Yellow team put up a valiant effort, coming in third place, ahead of Lamma.

For race two all the pressure was on Team Blue. Given the dominating performance of RHKYC over the season we felt the hand of history on our shoulders and we knew we had to pull something special to register the best time over two races. After observing what worked for the first race (there was a ‘Le Mans’ style start), we positioned our canoe in the water, and waited for the starting hoot.

Despite having never practiced a start this way, all went to plan. After the first few hundred meters we had built a small lead and were settling into a rhythm. For the next half of the race we focussed on pulling away from the other boats and cementing our lead. During the last third of the course – partially driven by the thought of beer and nachos awaiting us at the end – we pushed on hard and won the race with three and a half minutes to spare but also beating all the unlimited OC6s in both races! Go RHKYC!

Special thanks to South Lantau Paddle Club and to all the volunteers who made it such a wonderful day out. Bring on 2022!

CONTACTS

Rowing Manager rowingmanager@rhkyc.org.hk Coastal Rowing coastalrowing@rhkyc.org.hk Shatin Men’s Racing shatinrowingmen@rhkyc.org. hk Shatin Women’s Racing shatinrowingladies@rhkyc.org.hk