Friday Sunset Dinghy Racing at Middle Island

WORDS AND IMAGES BY LUKE VAN DER KAMP

We’ve often sat at the bar during a beautiful sunset at Middle Island on Friday nights and pondered a couple questions; 1. Why are there not more people here enjoying this slice of heaven? And 2. How do we encourage more members to take up dinghy racing? The answer was the Friday Sunset Dinghy racing series at Middle Island.

Drawing inspiration from the successful Sunset Series in the harbour, the dinghy version aimed to provide something for all sailors of all ages and abilities from beginner to advanced. Whilst regular club dinghy racing may seem daunting to newcomers, the Friday racing gave a more relaxed introduction to the competitive side of the sport. Simple flags and starting procedures followed by one race took away much of the stress and saw over 14 first time racers take part over the five weeks. Social racing was the name of the game and more experienced sailors took the concept in to their stride, often offering advice and encouragement to new sailors during the races.

An average of 13 boats per week took part with a high of 18 entries in one race. This year, the start time was moved forward to 1645hrs and it paid off with more consistent wind for the duration of the races – which also meant everyone was upstairs at the bar earlier!

Almost as good as the racing was the atmosphere upstairs afterwards, with new dinghy sailors getting the opportunity to mingle and meet the stalwarts of the dinghy class over drinks and barbeques. One week even saw a Halloween pizza party amongst the youth sailors following racing.

Sunset Dinghy Racing will return either in the spring or autumn of 2023. For more information or to learn more about dinghy racing at RHKYC, please join the Dinghy Class mailing list by contacting dinghies@rhkyc.org.hk