Commodore’s Message

Commodore Denis Martinet

會長孟憲庭 To paraphrase Baron Pierre de Coubertin, what is important is to participate. And participate she will! During last month’s Mussanah Open Champs in Oman, Stephanie Norton finished third in the Laser Radial Class and in doing so secured a spot for Hong Kong in the Tokyo Olympics!

This is an incredible achievement for Stephanie. Through her dedication and hard work, Stephanie has become an incredible ambassador and role model for sailing, for Hong Kong and for youth sailors generally! Her qualification also helps secure sailing’s status as an elite sport in Hong Kong which is crucial to the development of elite sailors. I would be remiss in failing to acknowledge the other members of the Hong Kong sailing team who were extremely close to also qualifying – 49er sailors Akira Sakai and Russell Aylsworth (silver), Nancy Highfield in the Radials finished 7th overall and her sister Molly Highfield with Sandy Choi as crew finished 2nd also winning silver in the 49er FX class. Nicholas Bezy also put in a really strong performance in the most competitive Laser Standard class. These achievements are also a significant feather in the cap of the Hong Kong Sports Institute and their Director for Performance, Jamie Boag.

Let’s us not forget proud parents David and Ivy Norton, who must be thrilled to bits. I know for a fact that the Cuvee du Commodore was flowing hard in the Sailing office!

Understandably the Club is equally proud – and so we should be. It does raise however the question of what, if anything, can we do more as a Club to nurture, encourage and develop competitive sailing. There has been a number of recent initiatives, most notably our foray with RHKYC Team Agiplast, initially for the Youth America’s cup, which morphed into a new event the Liberty Bitcoin Cup! These opening efforts will need to be reviewed to ensure we develop a vision and structure adapted to support this and other endeavours going forward. Moreover whilst youth sailing is important on a number of levels, we should not forget, as was recently pointed out, that excellence should be pursued at every level. The quality of any Club is foremost recognised by the eminence of all its sailors, rowers and paddlers.

And as May coincides with the end of our sailing calendar, it should leave us some time to ponder and plan.

May is also our HSBC Expat Spring Regatta on 22 and 23 May, followed shortly thereafter by the much welcome and popular St. James’s Place Sunset Series which runs for 12 consecutive Friday’s throughout the summer starting on 4 June. We expect the record of 60 odd boats on the water to be broken!

On the rowing front, congratulations to all those who competed in the 5th Harbour Regatta back on Sunday 11 April. The event was an incredible success and I would like to offer my thanks to all those sailing, rowing and paddle sport members who volunteered and made this event possible. There were even some great recordings made of boats rowing at night in the harbour!

On to more prosaic matters, a final reminder that the Club’s 2021 Electoral General Meeting will take place on Thursday, 10 June at 1830hrs in the Compass Room. There are eight posts on General Committee for which elections are necessary –Rear Commodore (Club), Rear Commodore (Sailing), Honorary Treasurer and Rowing Captain and four General Committee positions. You will have received from the Nominating Committee a list of candidates it is putting forward. Making abstraction of the Officers, who by and large are well known to you, as chairman of the Nominating Committee (NomCom), I would like to draw your attention to the two candidates for General Committee. Our main objective this year has been to search for youthfulness, diversity and personal contribution. Youthfulness to present a more dynamic and progressive outlook in keeping with our changing environment and membership trends; diversity to achieve wider representation in our elected bodies and personal contribution as a mark of active and selfless participation in the Club’s core sporting activities. These are qualities that NomCom have found in abundance in both Stephanie Tovoli and Anthony Ngai.

Accordingly the Nominating Committee is pleased to put them forward for your kind support.

On a final note, we have been informed that restrictions placed on our facilities could be eased concurrently with an increase in both staff and members’ vaccination. Although this remains very much a personal decision, we are having an internal drive to encourage our staff to get vaccinated, wat the same time most if not all of your General Committee has now gone or is going through the process!

As with Henri IV who is believed to have said “Paris is worth a mass” then a return to normalcy might be worth a little prick!

Meanwhile have fun on and off the water!

再意譯一次「Baron Pierre de Coubertin」，最重要的是「參與」。說到參與二字，她一定會呢！上月在阿曼舉行 的「Mussanah Open Champs」，洛雅怡在「Lasar Radial 組別」以第三名完成賽事，為香港取得東京奧運的 入場資格。

洛可真是了不起！透過她的付出及努力，Stephanie 已成為香港及青年帆船運動員中，一位不可多得的帆船運動 大使及傍樣。她取得東京奧運資格，亦意味著帆船運動在香港仍可保持著「精英運動」的地位，對於香港的精英 帆船運動員未來的發展猶為重要。另外，港隊其他帆船運動員在上述比賽中亦交出亮麗的成績表，大家亦要 對他們的付出與努力予以肯定。49er 帆船運動員 Akira Sakai 及 Russell Aylsworth 取得銀牌，Nancy Highfield 在「Radials」組別以第七名完成賽事。Molly Highfield 及蔡穎姿在「49er FX」組別排名第二。Nicholas Bezy 亦在「Laser Standard」組別表現超卓。上述卓越的成就絕對是香港體育學院帆船精英培訓計劃顧問總監 總教練）Jamie Boag 可以引以為傲的成就。

大家亦不要忘記洛的父母，David 及 Ivy Norton，他們定必喜上眉梢。我更知道在獲得喜訊當天，他們更在賽事 部舉杯祝捷呢！

本會同樣為上述美好的事引以為傲。作為一個私人水上運動會所，我們是否可以多做一步，以孕育及培訓更多 青少年帆船運動員出戰具競爭力的比賽呢？其實我們已有數項計劃，當中包括「RHKYC Team Agiplast」，隊伍 的成立初為出戰「青年美洲盃帆船賽」，後來劍指「Liberty Bitcoin Cup」。我們將會審視這些計劃，以配合我 們將來的發展，願景與抱負。青少年帆船運動發展非常重要，但我們不可忽視不同層面的帆船運動員；因為 不同年代的帆船運動員亦有其卓越的地方。一個體育會所需由其帆船、賽艇及划槳運動員的傑出表現而獲 大眾認同的。

五月正標誌著帆船賽季的尾聲，或者是時候讓大家沉思及為來年計畫一下。

五月二十二及二十三日是「HSBC Expat 秋季帆船賽」，及後「St. James’s Place 日落帆船賽系列」隨即於六月 四日起，一連十二個周五展開。我們期望打破以往六十艘帆船揚帆出海的紀錄。

在賽艇方面，恭喜所有於四月十一日舉行的「第五屆維港賽艇賽」得獎者。活動取得空前成功，在此，我更要 感謝一班帆船、賽艇及划槳運動義工，活動得以成功舉辦實有乃他們的付出。

最後溫馨提示大家，香港遊艇會的週年會員大會將於六月十日(星期四)傍晚六時三十分於 Compass Room 舉 行。屆時將會選出八名委員，包括副會長（會務科）、副會長（帆船科）、名譽司庫、賽艇首長及另外四名理事會的 委員。你應該已經收到提名委員會發出的提名名單。作為提名委員會的主席，我希望大家留意一下兩位新的理事 會候選人 ─ Stephanie Tovoi 及 Anthony Ngai。今年，我們把焦點放在發掘年青人的朝氣，多樣性及個人貢獻 方面。在發掘年青人的朝氣方面，我們希望能夠變得更多元化及與時代進步，以配合我們多變的環境及年輕一代 的會員。多樣性則指當選人能夠達到更全面的會方代表，而個人貢獻方面，即表示候選人須要活躍及全心地參 與本會的核心運動。提名委員會委員在 Stephanie Tovoi 及 Anthony Ngai 身上均發現上述特質。

因此，提名委員會很高興提名他們，希望大家鼎力支持。

最後，我們得悉有關本會設施的使用限制，將在職員及會員均接種疫苗下可以獲得更多大幅度的放寬。雖然接 種疫苗與否是很個人決定，但我們積極鼓勵本會職員接種疫苗；而理事委員會委員亦已在安排接種疫苗。

Henri IV 曾經說過「Paris is worth a mass」，即有些事情即使你不同意但亦值得做，或許為了讓大家的生活重回 正軌，這一針仍值得打的。

希望大家不論是否在海上仍然能夠盡興呢！