Sai Kung Coastal Challenge

Let’s face it, Covid-19 has provided us all with incredible challenges over the last 18 months. One of the silver linings of the situation that we have found ourselves in, is being forced to try out new things in Hong Kong and explore new venues for adventure in lieu of being able to travel overseas. For the Rowing and Paddle Sports office at the Club, it has provided the opportunity to be creative regarding how we engage with our Member athletes and how we can keep them motivated throughout this challenging time. One idea that had been with me since I started paddling at the Club in 2012 was doing a race in Sai Kung.

WORDS: NICK CRABB | IMAGES: STANLEY LAM

Although paddling out of Middle Island is great with the setting of the Southside of Hong Kong Island being beautiful in its own right, I have always questioned why we had never organised races or outings in Sai Kung, arguably Hong Kong’s most picturesque coastal area.

Having discussed the idea and potential challenges faced with Club member and Dragon Boat Coach Lister Woo, specifically the space constraints to store boats at Shelter Cove, he suggested a race between the Club’s facility at Shelter Cove and the Victoria Recreation Club’s (VRC) facility in Emerald Bay. This plan would ease the pressure on Shelter Cove, only needing to store boats there for a couple of mid-week evenings.

The second consideration was the racecourse, and as we were finally planning a race in Sai Kung, I wanted to make sure that we had all the scenic areas included in this event! However, including Basalt Island, Bluff Island, Wang Chau and of course Tai Long Wan into the race would make the course chunky – in all about 42km.

The final consideration was, what sports would this race be for? It was easy to rule out dragon boat for now, as the logistics of transporting the boats to Sai Kung in the first place would be a challenge, not to mention the race and then logistics back to Middle Island. How about coastal

rowing? Unfortunately for this year’s event, logistics were not possible given the need for boats at Middle Island for our youth summer camps and the fact that space would still be an issue at VRC’s Emerald Bay, a Club that, at the time of this race did not support the sport of coastal rowing despite its rowing history. This made the decision an easy one, the inaugural race would be for outrigger canoeing.

Voilà, the Sai Kung Coastal Challenge was born!

The Race

The inaugural Sai Kung Coastal Challenge, co-organised by the Club and VRC took place on Saturday, 3 July 2021. Conditions couldn’t have been more perfect as the teams paddled out to the race start line which was set just SE of Trio Beach. The race format was inspired by the Na Pali Challenge, a relay OC6 outrigger canoe race on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai. Each team had a total of 12 paddlers, six men

and six women with crew changes happening from a support boats every 30 minutes. A total of eight teams entered with 96 paddlers, with two teams representing RHKYC.

As with Na Pali Challenge, the women started first which gave RHKYC A Crew a comfortable lead. Although the closest competing team did pull back in the first half of the race, RHKYC pulled away after the turn at Tai Long Wan and secured a comfortable victory in 3hrs 32m 12s. RHKYC B Crew had a very close race with their counterpart VRC B Crew but unfortunately VRC ended up taking the better race line in the Town Island Channel and eventually came over the finish line 1m 38s ahead. As the racing finished, VRC hosted well as competitors and volunteers were treated to a BBQ and a ‘few’ beers at Emerald Bay.

On behalf of the Club, I would like to thank the race organisers David Smith (RHKYC), Jess Knebel (RHKYC), Justin Murry (VRC), Martha Levin (VRC), Vlad Andrei Tanasescu (VRC) and Franck Tetard (VRC). I would also like to thank all the 20 volunteers that helped on race day including RHKYC Member, Barry Truhol who provided his expertise willingly and helped to make this race a success.

We look forward to organising a bigger event next year where without a doubt, the coastal rowers will be racing to set a new course record!