Commodore’s Message

The year 2021 ended with a bang, a sailing and rowing one that is!

The Sun Hung Kai & Co Around the Island Race took place on 14 November and turned into the sailing event of 2021 - one that should and could not be missed. But first a spot of history.

This iconic sailing race has been around (sic) since the late 1800s, suffered some ups and downs and was reinstated in its current format in 2003. This was no easy feat and required some living legends of our Club to use their talent and chance encounters to convince the relevant authorities that a circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island did not pose any threat to commercial and ferry traffic. Thanks to Lowell Chang, Jimmy Farquhar and our very own Sailing Manager Ailsa Angus, we enjoy a unique regatta, one which is looked on with envy by many a sailing institution.

Over 1,500 sailors in 228 boats took part in the 26nm circumnavigation of our beautiful island to starboard, with the usual pitfalls of getting out of the harbour first and avoiding the hole that traditionally appears at Cyberport.

But this year was special. The breeze filled in, the sun was shining and the sea, well, was perfect! One of these magical moments when whatever your vessel, whatever your skill, one and all had a cracking good time. Whilst no record was broken, times were indeed pretty fast across the gamut of boats, resulting in a buzzing Clubhouse well into the evening.

And to crown it all off, a lady helm, Janet Lau on Dexter II, and her crew, took a well-deserved first place! Rather poetic that this is also one of Lowell Chang’s boats.

And what of the Commodore? Well, he cruised in style, and with pace, thanks to Pieter Cremers’ generous invitation to join his crew on Shahtoosh. Inertia is indeed a weapon of choice to power through the lulls and shoot the marks!

Great sailing did not stop there with the first of our pursuit races, the One Global Lipton Trophy, one where your Commodore again had a vested interest. Well sadly no more, as Serendipity in the hands of Patrick, Dion and Andy raced their VXOne to victory in convincing fashion.

Unfortunately that great streak of fantastic sailing had to come to an end. That pesky persistent little virus had to spoil, yet again, our plans for 2022.

Indeed, our blue ribbon international event the Rolex China Sea Race had to be postponed yet again. Current quarantine requirements combined with the uncertainty that characterises this pandemic means that we cannot reasonably proceed as planned. A great pity as we were looking forward to the 60th anniversary edition to be a cracker! I am convinced of it that when it does indeed take place. After all we will have been waiting for this classic for a rather long time! And thank you to our partner Rolex for their patience in these trying times.

In January we will be looking forward to the One Global HKRNVR.

This 116-year-old Georgian silver vase was donated to the Club to organise a competition to perpetuate the memory of HKRNVR members who gave their lives during World War II.

Initially the intention was that the racecourse would replicate the routes that the HKRNVR would patrol. Over time sadly, elements out of our control have forced us to fall back on our tried and tested courses. Still a very fun and competitive race. But we hope to renew with tradition and history. The grandson of Lieutenant Commander Grenham, the Commander of the HKRNVR at the time, Nick Grenham is a member and we hope he will be able to handover the trophy once prize giving resumes!

February should have also seen the largest Asian youth regatta take place – Hong Kong Race Week. Well yet again we had to shelve this youthful event to better times. However, despair not. Our Sailing Committee in its infinite wisdom decided to introduce a national based and invited classes regatta, the Sun Hung Kai & Co. Sail Hong Kong 2022. It is hoped this new event will be a cornerstone event to further support and nurture the ongoing development of Hong Kong based performance racing.

We certainly hope that 2022 will augur more clement weather on all fronts, I take this opportunity on behalf of the Club, its Officers, committee members and staff, to wish you the very best in the forthcoming year.