Ocean Purpose in Portugal Dragon Class Championship

Dragon Class Championship

WORDS: ANDY PIDDEN | IMAGES: TAKUMI IMAGES PANDA MAN

f the past year hasn’t been crazy weird enough here is a recap of the second Dragon Class Champs of 2020, held from 20 to 22 November. (The first one was actually 2019’s which delayed to January 2020.)

Based out of Middle Island, the Dragon fleet was about to experience the best of NE monsoon sailing with a very light day, a heavy wind day and a perfect breeze day. The night before saw a weigh in (lots of heels on the ground and tip toes going on in the corner) and a briefing from Inge Strompf-Jepsen, our legendary Race Officer, “Lamma channel, L2, don’t be late!)

Day 1 saw a decent fleet setting out from the dock. 15 boats; most with their regular and battle hardened crews.

Straight off in Race 1, D1 scored a win and was sending a message to second place D55 that they were going to have to fight for it with D47 in third place – a combination that would change position but, as a three, remaining very consistent for the next couple of days.

Race 2 and 3 however saw D55 assert themselves with two firsts. D1 and D3 kept up the challenge and so there was a very French atmosphere about the leaderboard. Elfie, helmed by the irascible Joe Roels, otherwise known as ‘Scrooge’ for never giving any space at the start, was the more consistent though, settling into third place after Day 1. There was more action down the fleet with some ‘coming togethers’ and even a rafting up of three boats after the leeward gate as skippers compared tactics before realising there was still another circuit to do in the race.

End of Day 1 was Middle Island at its best with a peaceful beer on the dock… at least that was

untill a grumpy D41 arrived and started telling every one for miles around about his (now mashed) genoa. The naughty children huddled round the beer box on the pontoon trying not to notice the ‘polite’ reminder about floatation aids and life jackets left by the headmistress.

Day 2 arrived with cloud, rain and some better wind and it was foul weather gear and lots and lots of floatation aids for all.

Sailing out was exciting and the races were quickly underway in choppy seas and some surfing under spinnaker. D33 and D25 bravely appeared having been unable to sail on the Friday whilst a couple of others returned to base early. There are Dragon sailors who aren’t believers in helming from the rail, after all if God had meant for that to happen then Johan Anker wouldn’t have put a seat in the back!!

Up at the front there was no stopping D55 who put the series to bed with three bullets. At one point in Race 4 they were rounding marks that were being moved by the Cheoy Lee and ended up doing circles and 360s until they were dizzy. They were so dominant, they still won and went on to win the next two races as as well.

Individually, D47 with two seconds and D46 with one, kept some pressure. D12 was getting better and better with two third places and was going well until a snagged kite resulted in a MOB and a retirement. Other action was D51 who lost a spinnaker pole and D25 that had made such an effort to get to Middle Island for the champs. Taking on water in biblical amounts, both the pumps failed and the boat was getting lower by the minute. The buckets cracked but, given they are part of the cultured European Dragon Armada who are never knowingly caught at sea without Champagne, and fortunately had finished the bottle, they press ganged the Champagne bucket into action and saved the boat and the day.

In the stormy action, D50 and our beloved D8 showed masterful consistency in reeling off some great finishes whilst D37 was up four places, obviously enjoying the breeze.

It was a bedraggled, some-what bent, battered but unbowed fleet that retuned to Middle Island with many stories to be shared over the dock beer. Dragons are tough boats and their sailors are tough too. Note D50 happily raced with a mast sheered below deck.

The final day dawned gloriously with Hong Kong monsoon conditions at their finest. Blue skies, blue seas and a light to medium breeze. In fact it turned out to be a perfect day for larvae to hatch into Dragonflies as D59 starting reeling off podium finishes. In fact D58 and D1 joined in pushing D55 to an unusual 4th in Race 7. Some of the prior days’ casualties reappeared and D33 and D38 and D26 all making very welcome reappearances and enjoying some Champagne sailing. Whereas poor D37, having survived the strong winds previously, broke the mainsail halyard and had to retire and return mid way through the first race of the day.

When the spray settled D55 had waltzed the competition but D1 and D47 had traded places until the very end. D12, D59 and D58 were all in touching distance of each other. We were so grateful to Inge and the race team, the safety RIB crews for making us feel that we were not alone in the Southern ocean on Saturday and the Dragon class officials for organising everything. Plus the amazing sponsorship from CIGP (D40) , STC Pacific (D25) Aztron (D33) , Chiliconcept (D40) and personally from Nick Bilcliffe.

So there was a danger that the 2019 Class Champ would have a much-shortened year in the Champions jersey but it didn’t turn out to be much of a risk. Tam Nguyen and his crew have the Class Champs stitched up at the moment. Nevertheless motivation is very high to provide more competition at the front of the fleet and there are rumours that the third Class Champs is scheduled for 25 and 26 of December.

Sail Training at Middle Island: Our Updated Adult Dinghy Programme

WORDS AND PHOTO: LUKE VAN DER KAMP

Whether you want to learn the basics, fine tune your skills or jump in to our club dinghy racing scene, the Sail Training Team at Middle Island has you covered. Recently we have updated and improved our pathways and courses to better reflect the needs and aspirations of sailors here at Middle Island. This month, we will be introducing our adult dinghy training scheme and explaining some of the key changes.

What course is right for me?

Beginner Sailing:

This course is perfect for complete beginners to sailing. By the end of the course, students will have gained a basic competency in dinghy sailing and will qualify for the HKSF Level 2 certificate. Sailors will also then be able to hire dinghies at Middle Island and sail independently whenever they wish. Previously a five day course, we have now changed it to a six day offering. This change allows students to take a more relaxed approach to learning to sail without having to rush through the syllabus. The RHKYC Sail Training Team’s approach to learning to sail is that all students should have the time to discover the joy of being on the water without being rushed.

We are also happy to announce that following a trial period in 2020, this course will now be offered in Cantonese as well as English on a regular basis.

Further Sailing:

Further Sailing is a course designed to help sailors consolidate or re-discover their dinghy sailing skills. Perfect for those who have completed the Beginner Sailing course and looking to get more time on the water. This course is also perfect for those who have previously sailed dinghies many years ago and are look to refresh their love of capsizing. Students taking further sailing will benefit from three days with the same instructor allowing them to tailor the course content to the skills and goals of the group.

One Day Supervised Sailing:

For those who don’t have the time to do a full course but want to get on the water sailing dinghies. Supervised Sailing takes two forms, Skill Refresher days and Distance Sail days. Distance sails normally involve a trip to either Stanley or Po Toi for lunch.

Intermediate Skills:

For those wishing to transition from novice dinghy sailors to advanced dinghy sailors. Formerly known as the HKSF Level 3 course, we have renamed it and extended it to six days to make it available to more sailors. Open to all sailors with at least 40+ logged dinghy sailing hours (since completing their beginner course). This course will fine tune your sailing skills and prepare you to deal with difficult situations that may arise when sailing dinghies independently. For students who already posses a HKSF Level 2 certificate, this course will qualify you for a HKSF Level 3 certificate.

High Performance:

Spinnakers and Trapeze, excitement and exhilaration, faster and more advanced dinghies! Want to take the first step towards joining or emulating our Sharks sailors whizzing around the race course on their 29ers or 420s? This is the course for you. Similar to the 29er but more forgiving, the Laser Vago is our platform for the High Performance course. Completion of this course will put you on the approved helms list for the club’s advanced dinghies.

Laser Clinic:

Ben Ainslie, Xu Li Ja, Robert Scheidt, Tom Slingsby… and you! Want to sail and race an Olympic class boat sailed by some of the most famous names in the sport? The Laser clinic is a two-day introduction to the boat and will get you where you need to be to take one out and join the dinghy racing at MI.

If you have any questions about joining the adult dinghy courses at RHKYC, email sailtrain@rhkyc.org.hk or call 2812 7303

How do I sign up for courses?

Go to our new online booking website to see all courses and dates available: https://rhkyc.cinolla.com/rhkyc

Members will have course costs billed to their club accounts and non-members will be able to pay via credit card when they enroll.

When can I sign up for courses?

Once the course schedule is released, Members will have a two week priority window to enroll in courses. After this, enrollments will be opened to the general public. If you wish to be notified of course schedules being released, please sign up for our mailing list here: