Ahoy! September 2015 by Koko Mueller

Contents

18 22

The Bridge

Features

4 Calendar 6 Commodore’s Message 6 2015 Honours List 8 General Manager’s Message 10 Chinese Page 12 Kellett Island Development 14 RHKYC Charity Foundation

16 420 Worlds 2015 18 RYS Bicentenary 22 Brisbane to Noumea Race 24 Kieler Woche 25 Hong Kong Sailors line up at the Pre-Olympic World Championships 26 RHKYC wins the Etchells Invitational Regatta

420 Worlds 2015

Rowing 34 Dragon Boat Festival 37 Shing Mun 3 and Shing Mun 4 39 Lamma Sprints 41 Zino wins July edition of monthly race 41 Rowing Mid- Summer Dinner 42 Going Coastal in Carteret

Marine Sailing JUN HIRAI / BULKHEAD magazine JAPAN

27 Sixteen Hong Kong entries in forthcoming Etchells Worlds 28 Starter’s Box 30 RHKYC Standard Sailing Instructions (SSIs) 31 2015 Macau International Dinghy Regatta 32 Sailing Development | Training

43 Marine | Boatyard 44 Ship Shop 45 Classified Page 46 Marine Directory

Events | Promotions 48 On the Horizon 49 F&B Food Promotions 51 Wine Page 52 Wine Form

Club LINES 53 Club Directory 53 Members, Staff and Other News and Announcements 54 New Members Cocktail Party

www.rhkyc.org.hk

Vice Patrons Jimmy Farquhar, Li Fook Hing, Bob Wilson; Commodore Mark Whitehead; Vice Commodore Robert Stoneley; Rear Commodore Sailing Anthony Day; Rear Commodore Club John Woo; Honorary Secretary Charlie Manzoni; Honorary Treasurer George Li; Rowing Captain Ng Kong Wan. For other Club contact details please refer to the Club Directory on page 53. Advertising or Editorial Enquiries contact RHKYC PR Department at ahoy@rhkyc.org.hk or 2239 0307 or 2239 0312 Ahoy! Design Michelle Shek, MYND Design. Articles for Ahoy! can be emailed to ahoy@rhkyc.org.hk or left in the Ahoy! pigeon hole at Kellett Island. The Club reserves the right to edit articles. All opinions expressed in this publication are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of the General Committee of the RHKYC. Copies of the magazine are available at Reception and to view the e-version of the magazine (and back copies) go to the RHKYC website.

MON

TUE

WED

THU

Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta

FRI

SAT

SUN

Wines and Beer of the Month

19 and 20 September

The Bridge

Doña Paula Estate Chardonnay 2013 – Mendoza, Argentina Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenére 2012 – Apalta Valley, Chile Heineken

Oktoberfest

SEPTEMBER

at Middle Island and Shelter Cove Special German dishes and beer will be served

Oyster Feast in the Compass Room 1 September to 31 October Oriental Delights in the Bistro with selected items served at Middle Island and Shelter Cove 1 September to 31 October

Kellett Island Wine Fair

First Aid Course

3 Castello Banfi Wine Dinner in the Compass Room

9 The Grace Notes in the Compass Room

Adult Beginners Sailing Course First Aid Course

Adult Beginners Sailing Course

22 First Aid Course

23 First Aid Course

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Prizegiving featuring Dixie Katz Movie - Paddington in Chart Room RYA Powerboat Level 2 Course Optimist Silver Squad Youth Sailing Club

Class Racing Oktoberfest at Middle Island and Shelter Cove. Special German dishes and beer will be served. 26 September to 4 October Chinese Lantern-Making, Main Lawn Supervised Sailing Session Intro to Small Keelboat J/80 Crew Course RYA Safety Boat Course Optimist Practice Optimist Silver Squad

Supervised Sailing Session Intro to Small Keelboat J/80 Crew Course RYA Powerboat Level 2 Assessment Course RYA Safety Boat Course Optimist Silver Squad Youth Sailing Club

Oyster Feast

Oriental Delights

1 September to 31 October

Compass Room

Adult Beginners Sailing Course

12 Adult Beginners Sailing Course Supervised Sailing Session RYA Powerboat Level 2 Course Optimist Practice Optimist Silver Squad

Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta

Adult Beginners Sailing Course

Adult Beginners Sailing Course J/80 Crew Course Optimist Silver Squad Youth Sailing Club

5 Class Racing

Adult Beginners Sailing Course

70th Anniversary of Clubhouse Re-opening Adult Beginners Sailing Course First Aid Course

HMS Tamar – Speaker’s Corner with Stephen Davies

Class Racing Garage Sale at Middle Island Adult Beginners Sailing Course Supervised Sailing Session Optimist Practice Optimist Silver Squad

26 September to 4 October

Shelter Cove Wine Fair

Bistro with selected items at Middle Island and shelter Cove

EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD GROUP PROUD TO BE THE OFFICIAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT PARTNER OF THE ROYAL HONG KONG YACHT CLUB The Rothschild family has a remarkable history that dates back over 250 years and their association with competitive sailing, which began in 1876, is truly unique. For almost 140 years, « Gitana » has conjured up images of a line of boats, which tell of a family passion that has constantly been driven by the pursuit of excellence. The Rothschild’s are continuing a tradition based on expertise and innovation, performance and beauty, a history where each generation has left its own remarkable imprint. Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, Chairman of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, has inherited his family’s keen passion for the sport. Creating the Gitana Team in 2000, he transformed a family passion into a school of excellence and has been actively involved in their success ever since.

Sebastien Josse, skipper of the Multi70 Edmond de Rothschild Gitana XV, the latest in the Edmond de Rothschild Group’s dynasty of offshore trimaran racers and winner of the 2013 Transat Jacques Vabre competition, secured an impressive 3rd place in the 2014 Route du Rhum. The victory was widely hailed by his peers, given the boldness of his feat: striking out alone on the Atlantic against 30-metre and bigger trimaran maxis while skippering an offshore multihull equipped for the first time with T-foil rudders. Aided by this spirit of innovation and cutting-edge technology, the Gitana Team has now set a new challenge for itself: taking part in the next Vendée Globe competition, starting on 6 November, with a new Imoca-class boat.

Edmond de Rothschild Group is proud to be the Official Wealth Management Partner of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Edmond de Rothschild Group has been named the title sponsor of both the Spring and Autumn Regattas as a new Regatta Series. EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD (SUISSE) S.A., HONG KONG BRANCH Suite 5001, 50th Floor, One Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong T. +852 3765 0600 – F. + 852 2877 2185 www.edmond-de-rothschild.hk

Commodore’s Message Welcome to the start of what promises to be a very busy sailing season!

The Bridge

The Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta, to be held on 19 and 20 September, is the second event of the inaugural Edmond de Rothschild Regatta Series, with the cumulative results of the Spring and Autumn Regattas to be used to determine the overall class winners. The winners will be presented with trophies created by Van Eyck Fine Jewelers during a special Awards Dinner on 29 October. As usual sign-on for this regatta will be on the day, but don’t forget to get your entries in for the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race (deadline 7 September), and the Audi China Coast Regatta (deadline 25 September). Please note that the Standard Sailing Instructions have been revised – see the article on page 30.

Commodore Mark Whitehead

會長韋浩德

Many congratulations to Calum Gregor and Hugo Christensson for finishing 3rd place at the 420 Worlds – the first-ever 420 medal for Hong Kong! – and also to Duncan Gregor who came 3rd in the Junior Gold Fleet at the British Optimist Nationals. Welcome to all new members of the Sharks squad, and congratulations also to all Sharks – and adult – sailors who took part in overseas events during the summer months, and of course to everyone who raced in the Bændit Sunset Series. We are pleased to be hosting a North U Racing Tactics and Boatspeed Seminar at Kellett Island from 26 to 28 September. All places have already been taken, but if you are interested please do visit the website and put your name on the waiting list. There is also a North U Racing Seminar for Youth Sailing Squad members on 25 September which is not yet full. July saw the culmination of the dragon boat racing season with the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races – a season which brought unprecedented success to our ‘Royal X’ Dragon Boat Team. The squad was the most competitive it has been in recent history and on top of winning the Stanley Cup for the third year in a row, the crews won a number of races over the entire season. Special thanks must go to Gianni Aprea and Melissa Davis for their tireless efforts as Team Captains. In fine rowing, strong results throughout the HKCRA local regattas have seen the Club placed second on the overall points tally with only one race remaining.

2015 Honours List

On 1 July Chief Executive CY Leung awarded 298 people in this year’s Honours List and amongst them were the following Club members. 4 are our members:

2015 年授勳名單

2015年7月1日，行政長官梁振英向298人頒授勳銜，其中四人為本會會員。

Gold Bauhinia Star (G.B.S.)

金紫荊星章

Mr Chow Chung-Kong, JP The Honourable Chow Chung-Kong, JP is awarded the GBS for his long and dedicated public and community service, particularly his outstanding contribution to the business development of Hong Kong.

周議員熱心參與公共及社會服務，尤其對本港的商業發展，貢獻良多。

Bronze Bauhinia Star (B.B.S)

銅紫荊星章

Mr Mak Yip-Shing, Andrew, JP Mr Mak is awarded the BBS for his long and meritorious public service and significant contribution to various appeal boards, particularly the Licensing Appeals Board and Fishermen Claims Appeal Boards.

麥先生長期參與公共服務及多個上訴委員會的工作，表現傑出，尤其對牌照上訴委員會，及漁民特惠津貼上訴委員會貢獻良多。

Medal of Honour (M.H.)

榮譽勳章

Mr Rolf Peter van Zuiden is awarded the Medal of Honour for his valuable contribution to helping the underprivileged.

萬瑞庭先生 (Mr Rolf Peter van Zuiden) 萬瑞庭先生致力幫助弱勢社羣，貢獻良多。

Mr Michael Tanner is awarded the Medal of Honour for his long and valuable contribution to the promotion and development of rowing in Hong Kong.

鄧勵先生 (Mr Michael Tanner) 鄧勵先生致力推動及發展香港的賽艇運動，貢獻良多。

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周松崗議員，JP

麥業成先生，JP

General Manager’s Message I hope you all had a good summer, either here in Hong Kong or overseas, and are now ready for the start of the sailing and rowing seasons. Our first big sailing event, the Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta, will be held over the weekend of 19 and 20 September. Following the prizegiving we will be entertained on the Main Lawn by Dixie Katz, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the opening of Kellett Island Clubhouse, so even if you are not sailing in the regatta, please come down and join in the fun as all members are welcome.

The Bridge

17 September also marks the 70 th anniversary of the Club’s re-opening by HMS Vengeance at the end of the second world war, and the Vice Commodore will be cutting a ceremonial ribbon in the doorway of the Main Bar at 1945hrs. We hope any members in the bar at the time will honour the occasion by leaving, and re-entering after the ribbon has been cut. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there will be a 70-minute period during which all standard drinks will be charged at 1945 prices!

General Manager Mark Bovaird

總經理布馬克

In addition to these events, the month is a very busy one socially with the regular wine fairs, a wine dinner, Oktoberfest, a Garage Sale at MI, live music in the Compass Room, a historical talk from Stephen Davies, a movie, and Chinese lantern-making. Full details on all these can be found on pages 49 and 48. Congratulations to the four members of the Club who were included in this year’s Honours List, amongst them receiving the Gold Bauhinia Star, the Bronze Bauhinia Star, and two Medals of Honour. Full details appear on page 6. My congratulations also to the Club’s dragon boat team for once again winning the Sun Life Gold Cup for the Men’s Division A and bringing the trophy home to the Main Bar for the third year running. The third annual Charity Sailing and Paddling Day was held at Middle Island on Sunday 2 August with 45 students and teachers participating from a number of different schools. The students enjoyed dragon boating in the morning followed by a race around Round Island in 10 J/80s. Full details can be found on page 14 and I would just like to add my personal thanks to all the members and staff who volunteered and helped to make this such a wonderful experience for the students involved. If you’re having trouble getting a taxi home from the Club, do remember that the Receptionists now have an App for calling them, which is proving to work very well. Please do wait for your taxi once it has been ordered though, as otherwise taxi drivers will stop responding to our requests. By the time you read this, the power upgrade works at Middle Island will be well underway. New cables are being provided that will in time increase the power available to both our own facilities and those of ABC. Meanwhile construction work is going on apace all around Kellett Island, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please do remember to check the website for the latest information on the construction programme. The heavy rains experienced in July caused some disruption to the programme but the contractor is working extremely hard to mitigate the impact. Foundations of the new building next to the Boatyard have been completed and the new building in the old Bistro courtyard is progressing well. Please see the update on page 12. You may have noticed that the Police Officers Club has now closed, and work on this site for the Shatin to Central link will commence in October. From then until probably July 2016, foot access from the Noonday Gun to the Club will be via a detour around the western side of the existing POC. Unfortunately this is approximately twice the distance of the current walk, but on the bright side it will be during the cooler months! You can view the plan of the detour on the website. There have also recently been a number of changes in the staffing of our Sailing Office and Marine Department. Last year, when Roger Eastham left the Club and was replaced by Joe Goddard, Simon Pickering took on more control of day-to-day marine operations in addition to his role as Boatyard Manager. When Richard Knight left Middle Island he was replaced by Ailsa Angus in a new and expanded role that encompassed both marine and sailing management of the entire Middle Island location. Since then, Sailing Manager Alex Johnston has left the Club to become the Marine Services Manager at Aberdeen Boat Club, and we wished him every success in his new career at a party in the Chart Room at the end of June. Following Alex’s departure, the Club took the opportunity to review the structure for the management of sailing and how it fits within the Club’s overall marine operation. Joe Goddard, as the new Marine & Sailing Manager, will take specific responsibility for the offshore and safety aspects of the Club’s sailing. As part of this reorganisation there were also promotions for our existing team of Iris Yang, Lindsay Lyons and Nikki Claringbold, and the creation of a new part-time position looking after Race Management, and we welcome Brenda Davies to fill this vacancy within the Sailing Office team.

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會長通訊

歡迎回來，一個非常豐富的帆船賽季即將開始！首屆 Edmond de Rothschild 帆船聯賽第二場賽事 ─ Edmond de Rothschild 秋季帆船賽將於9月19至20日舉行。每個級別的船隻須累計春秋兩季賽事成績，以決定總冠軍誰屬，勝出者將於10月29日舉行的頒獎晚宴獲頒由 Van Eyck 高級珠寶打造的獎盃。一如以往，船隻須於比賽當日報名參賽。另外，別忘了報名參加 Audi 香港至越南帆船賽和 Audi 中國海岸帆船大賽，前者的截止日期為9月7日，後者為9月25日。請留意基本航行守則已修改，詳情可到第30頁查閱。

The Bridge

非常恭喜 Calum Gregor 和 Hugo Christensson 於420世界帆船錦標賽得第三，勇奪香港有史以來第一個420 獎牌！也要恭喜 Duncan Gregor，於英國國際樂天帆船賽少年金組同樣得第三。另外，還要恭喜暑假外出比賽的 Sharks 隊員和成年會員，以及 Bændit 黃昏系列帆船賽的參賽者。最後，歡迎少年帆船隊 Sharks 的新成員。我們將於9月26至28日在銅鑼灣會所舉辦 North U 比賽策略與船速講座，雖然名額已滿，但仍可到本會網頁登記作候補。9月25日還有一個供少年帆船手參加的 North U 賽事講座，尚有名額。我們的 Royal X 龍舟隊在今年龍舟賽季取得空前成功，他們近年狀態大勇，除了連續三年捧走赤柱龍舟賽獎盃，還在整個賽季勝出不少比賽。特別鳴謝隊長 Gianni Aprea 和 Melissa Davis，努力不懈為龍舟隊付出。賽艇方面，我們的隊員在HKCRA本地賽艇比賽表現出色，暫時總分排第二，只餘下一場比賽未進行。

總經理通訊

希望各位會員，不論有否外出，都有個愉快暑假。新一個帆船划艇賽季即將展開，第一場大賽是9月19至20日的 Edmond de Rothschild 秋季帆船賽。頒獎禮結束後，我們邀請了樂隊 Dixie Katz 作表演嘉賓，慶祝吉列島會所落成75周年，歡迎所有會員到 Main Bar 一同慶賀。今年是香港重光70周年，第二次世界大戰結束後，英國航空母艦復仇者號於1945年9月17日正式解放本會。副會長將於9月17日晚上7時45分在 Main Bar 門口剪綵，屆時希望在酒吧內的會員可稍離片刻，待剪綵後才回去，以示尊重。剪綵儀式結束後，所有基本酒水會以1945年的價錢發售，限時70分鐘。除了上述活動，本月還有不少社交活動，包括每月品酒晚會、品酒晚宴、德國啤酒節、中途島二手買賣日、Compass Room 現場音樂表演、Stephen Davies 歷史講座、電影放映和中秋燈籠製作，詳情請參閱第49及48頁。恭喜四位榮登授勳名單的會員，分別獲頒金紫荊星章、銅紫荊星章和榮譽勳章，詳情請見第6頁。另恭喜本會龍舟隊，連續第三年勇奪男子A組永明金盃，再將它捧回 Main Bar。一年一度的慈善帆船划艇日於8月2日(星期日)在中途島順利舉行，來到第三年，今年共有45名師生參加。在義工帶領下，學生在早上划龍舟，下午分組登上10艘J/80型帆船，在銀洲比賽，詳情刊登於第14頁。本人在此感謝所有會員和員工的義務幫忙，使學生有難忘的一天。接待處現有一個手機應用程式召喚的士，十分可靠。若你在本會等不到車，可找接待員幫忙。當程式確定你的訂單後，請不要棄單或離開，要不然的士司機不會再接受我們預約。當你閱讀此文時，中途島電力提升工程已展開，為中途島會所和香港仔遊艇會舖設新線路，增加電力。另一方面，吉列島現有多項工程同時進行，不便之處，敬請原諒。七月連場暴雨，拖延了部份工程，承建商現已努力追回進度。船廠旁的新大樓已打好地基，在舊 Bistro 庭園興建的新大樓亦進展順利，詳情請見第12頁，別忘了可到本會網站查閱工程最新資訊。或許你們都知道警官俱樂部已關閉，讓路予十月開始的沙中線工程。其後直至2016年7月，由怡和午炮步行到本會，須繞道經警官俱樂部西面，路程大慨比現時長一倍，幸好那時的天氣會比較涼快！有關路線圖可到本會網站查閱。本會近月的人事變動主要涉及賽事和海事部門，去年，Roger Eastham 離職，由 Joe Goddard 接替為海事服務經理，船務經理 Simon Pickering 則負責了更多日常海事運作。中途島方面，Ailsa Angus 接替離任的 Richard Knight，擔任中途島海事及賽事經理，全權負責中途島的海事和帆船管理。然後，賽事經理 Alex Johnston 離職，轉任香港仔遊艇會海事經理，我們於6月底在 Chart Room 為他舉行歡送會，祝他前程錦繡。 Alex 離任後，我們重新審視管理架構，以配合本會海事運作。Joe Goddard 現為海事及賽事經理，主力負責本會帆船安全和離岸事宜。賽事部門的楊慧芳（Iris）、Lindsay Lyons 和 Nikki Claringbold 均獲擢升，另歡迎新同事 Brenda Davies 擔任一個新的兼職職位，負責賽事管理。

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Kellett Island Development Update The Bridge

Since the last issue of Ahoy!, the shell of the new Central Block has been largely completed. Next steps here are to fit out the interiors (the ground floor into a kitchen and the floor above into changing rooms). The Protest and Pat Loseby Rooms are currently being reconfigured and work has started on the East Wing Extension (at the site of the old Waterside). Progress on the Annex New Wing is going well and you should soon be able to start seeing it rise above the hoarding.

Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race

ISAF Category 1 Offshore Race 656nm from Hong Kong to Nha Trang

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photo: Guy Nowell

starts Thursday 15 October Entry Deadline Monday 7 September

The Bridge

Sailing and Paddling Fun Day 2015 W ords: B onita L eun g and Belinda N g

To coincide with the Hong Kong Government’s ‘Sport for All Day’ on 2 August, the Club’s own RHKYC Charity Foundation organised (for the third year) a Sailing and Paddling Fun Day at Middle Island for 37 underprivileged local students and their teachers. The day comprised dragon boating in the morning, an environmental talk after lunch, and then in the afternoon, a race around Round Island in ten J/80s. The day kicked off with a big welcome as they were shuttled across in the Middle Island sampans. The Dragon Boat team members Eric Choi and Vicky Chung were chosen this year to deliver a speech in Cantonese about the history and myth of dragon boating, the dragon boats and paddles, racing and the Club’s involvement in the dragon boat community. Some students were even brave enough to share what they knew about the traditions tied to this sport, why there is a Hong Kong public holiday (Tuen Ng) and how dragon boating became a modern day sport all over the world. When asked who had paddled before, only two of the 37 students had paddled – so the challenge was ahead of the volunteers. The students eagerly listened and watched as a brief technique demonstration was given by Coach Woo, and then Captains Gianni Aprea and Melissa Davis did what they do best – motivate and drum up excitement. The group was then divided into three boats – our two yellow and blue standard boats (20 paddlers)

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and our one small red boat (10 paddlers). Several volunteers were divided up based on ther ability to speak Cantonese, to steer, to drum and motivate. Member Ivan Yeung led the group in a proper warm-up of star jumps and shoulder stretches. After a very quick lifejacket fitting and safety briefing from Coach Lister Woo, it was hands-on to launch the boats. The morning was a good time as the waters were still and wind was light. Moving around Deep Water Bay, our boat captains – Eric Choi, Vicky Chung and Adie Leung – went through paddle technique, race starts, and reminded the crews to work together – which is the true spirit of the sport. It’s a sport where many people need to come together, share a goal and move at the same rhythm. We had two scrimmage races down the channel in front of the Club. It was a very close battle, with some feeling the joy of winning and some feeling the sting of losing, but everyone had a good laugh at the end, especially with the small boat’s first victory being led by our blond Amazonian volunteers Stephanie Tivoli and Lisette Schouen. Members Willis Lee, Jennie Chao, Joelle Wu, and Stephen Chan steered and kept the boats stable, much to the students’ relief, and our safety boats trailed behind and offered water, encouragement and opportunities for great photos. Before going sailing in the afternoon, the students gathered for a talk presented by Plastic Free Seas. After the talk, 10 privately

owned and co-owned J/80s and their owners and sailing volunteers were on hand to give the teenagers a taste of the sport. A brief introduction was given by the Club’s Centre Manager Patrick Lam before the students were eager to go out on the water again. A suggestion of a race between the boats got everyone excited, and after 20 minutes of ‘practice’, all ten boats crossed the start line near Ocean Park and set off on a course around ‘Shoe’ (Round) Island by starboard in a decent south-easterly breeze. The friendly yet competitive race was fun to watch as different boats took turns leading the fleet, and the youngsters were seen taking the helms on some of the boats like professionals. The race took just over an hour with FG3 crossing the finishing line first. Back on the pontoon, volunteers showed the students how to de-rig the boats and everyone was in good spirits and agreed how much fun the experience was. The session was wrapped up with a quiz on the basics of sailing and also a certificate presentation by Ambrose Lo, Chairman of the RHKYC Charity Foundation. It was a wonderful, sun-drenched day that was enjoyed by the students and volunteers alike, and we even got a glimpse of a rainbow circle surrounding the sun! Many students described their overall impression of the day as an ‘eye-opener’! Many thanks to all staff and volunteer members of the Club for making the 2015 Charity Sailing and Paddling Fun Day a great success!

420 Worlds 2015 W ords: C alum Greg or | Photos: JUN HIR AI / BUL KHE A D mag a zine JA PA N

Feature | 420 Worlds 2015

e started our training in the lead up to the 420 Worlds with Kiel Week in Germany. The Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Performance Coach, Rob Partridge, coached us in the 420 fleet and fellow Club sailors Ferdinand Heldman and Leonardo Giustiniani in the 29er class. Our aim during this event was to improve our starts in big fleets. With 12 races completed in the regatta we got lots of starting practice and managed to improve throughout the event. This was reflected in our results which improved as the regatta went on, finishing with our coming 9th overall in a fleet of 168. We then enjoyed a few rest days prior to heading off to Japan to the 420 Worlds with HKSF Coach Chris Owen and two other Hong Kong crews. When we arrived in Japan we had to unpack our container as we had shipped our boats from Hong Kong. This enabled us to go out training quicker as the boats were already set

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Feature | 420 Worlds 2015

up and we all had a better boat for the event. We then took part in the Pre-Worlds Regatta with the Japanese, Singaporeans and New Zealanders. There was, however, a very large typhoon on the east coast of China which cut off the wind for the first day. The second day was the complete opposite. Going out to the racecourse we experienced 18 to 25kts from the south (off the land) giving a very shifty race area. We had some great racing, leading both races going onto the final downwind but capsizing in the first race and finishing the day with a 5 and a 1. Racing was abandoned after the second race with the typhoon coming closer and 36kts gust recorded at the top mark. After the Pre-Worlds, we did a lot of starting practice with the Japanese team who had 20 boats and the Germans who had 12. After our 10 days of training were over we had measurement to go through before the regatta could start. Measurement was done during the second typhoon to come through our area, making things very difficult. Day 1 of the regatta saw winds ranging from 0 to 7kts coming from all directions. The Race Committee managed to get one race off for the Yellow Boys’ Fleet and Red Girls’ Fleet but nobody else, meaning that we would be in the same flights for the next day to even the races out between flights. Day 2 had a worse forecast than Day 1 but we ended up with a 5 to 7kts northerly. We struggled in the light and shifty winds even though we had good starts. Day 3 began with 15 to 20kts from the south. We were very excited for Day 3 as we hadn’t raced the European countries in heavy winds yet and thought we might have had a speed advantage. In the first race, we had a bad first tack meaning we were spat out to the back of the fleet but brought it back to 11th which we were happy with as our aim was to keep our results in the top 15 for the whole regatta. With the wind building we were very confident in our speed. This showed in the second race of the day as we got our first-ever race win at a world championships! Coming into the last race of the day we were very happy with our boat speed. We got a very nice start leading out to the favoured left side of the course and were leading at the top mark. We dropped one place on the second upwind but were happy to consolidate another top three result. Sadly on the last downwind leg towards the finish our rig snapped and we got a DNF instead of a 2nd. After a long (and expensive) night at the boat park we launched on Day 4 knowing that we could not take any risks as we had already used our only discard. We did however

have a brand new rig and mainsail – after having to replace both after the previous day’s calamities. It was forecast to be another windy day and the Race Officer had decided to run the last race of the qualifying series and then take us ashore to swap us into Gold and Silver Fleets then send us out again for the first two races of Gold Fleet series. We finished off the qualifying series on a high note with another bullet. Moving into the Gold Fleet series we were feeling confident and finished the day with a 2nd and a 3rd which moved us from 20 th to 4th overall! The penultimate day of racing started with similar conditions to the day before. We were yellow flagged for sculling off the start but managed to get a clear lane on the right, which worked for the first time in the regatta, and ended up second at the top mark. We caught up with the leader and overtook them with 50m to the top mark on the last upwind. On the second race of the day we didn’t have quite such a good race, getting bounced around the middle of the course, but managed to pull it back to eleven. We then went into the last day with a two-point lead.

The last day was forecast to have 0 gusting 3kts, however when we got to the sailing area it was 10 to 15kts but dropping throughout the day. On the first race we had the worst start of the regatta and never caught up much from there ending up with a nineteenth and the worst result of the regatta. To win the regatta we needed to get a top three in the last race and needed the top Japanese boat to finish eighteenth or worse. We won the start and were leading out to the favoured left side of the course. Sadly we tacked 30 seconds early out of the left and the Portuguese, who were to leeward of us and tacked 30 seconds later, won the race but we ended up in 16th. The Israeli boat that was one place behind us going into the last race got rolled on the last reach meaning we beat them on count back and finished the regatta in 3rd place. We would like to give a huge thank you to both the Club and the Hong Kong Sailing Federation who have supported us throughout the year and made it possible for us to train overseas at major regattas. Without this support we would not have been able to achieve this result. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Feature | RYS Bicentenary

RYS Bicentenary Photos: Paul W eiss

Level Rating Class

W ords: Nick Burns

The Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes was established 200 years ago and to celebrate their 200th birthday the club held a huge regatta with everything from 12-foot clinker-built X Boats to majestic 120 gaff schooners from the 1920s sailing. There was a smattering of brand new 72s and the ultra-modern Rambler 88 also entered.

he Club was invited to participate and we chose to compete in the Level Rating Class, whilst Nick Southward and John Scott chose the IRC Class in a chartered J/122.

Ten crew were allowed with one female member mandatory and for us that person was Lauren Mead, and one crew member had to be under 25; a role Peter Austin filled for us.

The Level Rating Class ended up as 10 boats; identical Beneteau First 40s, with new sails and with the rigging locked off. No adjustments whatsoever were allowed, so we could not blame the boat. This was almost identical to the New York Yacht Club Challenge event that the Club has competed in several times.

After four weeks of marvellous summer weather, the Friday of arrival was torrential rain and gales. Everyone managed to arrive safely in Cowes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mark Thornburrow helm, Laurence Mead tactics and helming starts, me on main, Drew Taylor and Ben Williams on jib, Denis Martinet pit, Joachim Isler mast, Ant

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Day on spinnaker trim, Peter Austin on bow, Lauren Mead navigating and Maureen Mueller managing on the shore . Saturday afternoon the weather cleared again and the boats were made available. A quick sail up and down the Solent showed the boats, chartered from Sunsail, to be in very good condition, but with relatively small sail area of heavy cloth, and shallow keels. Each boat had one jib, one main and one spinnaker.

a gybe, resulting in a massive broach with the mast almost horizontal in the water and the spinnaker flying beautifully 50 to 60m away from the boat. Eventually we righted the boat only to find there were four other boats flattened by the same gust, and we had recovered quicker than them to salvage a 5th! With a bullet and a lucky recovery we were lying second, equal with the Spanish, and New York Yacht Club held first place.

The first serious racing then was on Tuesday with the wind having moderated to 25, gusting 35kts. All the boats had reefed mainsails except for ours which gave us extra speed and we found we could just about control the mainsail by aggressively playing the mainsheet and keeping just the leech area working in the biggest gusts.

The party that night was a dinner in the magnificent Squadron clubhouse, surrounded by paintings and memorabilia of the last two centuries.

Laurence made the best start I’ve ever seen, starting at the pin at 9kts, milliseconds after the gun, and the Club led the race the whole way, sailing very conservatively with main and spinnaker strapped in on the runs to avoid a broach. Very good speed upwind and reasonable downwind, and, unlike half the fleet, we didn’t broach. The second race started well and with lots of, perhaps too much, confidence. We led back from the left but a somewhat dubious call of protest when we were crossing on port resulted in our doing a 360. We only lost about 70m but that put us well back into the fleet. An unfortunate misjudgement of the tide caused us to hit the top mark, so another 360, by which time we were getting a bit dizzy, with most of the fleet in front of us. On the final run, laying second last, we had a problem tripping the spinnaker sheet after

A round the island race was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but due to missing one day of racing the Race Officer wisely chose to have two windward / leewards and a long round the Solent course, instead of round the island. With only minimal hangovers we got to the start line to find a reasonable breeze of 15 gusting 20kts. We started conservatively in the middle of the line tacking off the direction we thought was correct for the tide which by now was a major factor. Unfortunately the tide did not do what it was meant to do and we were in the bottom half of the fleet at the top mark. We slowly managed to work our way back through the fleet to land a 4th beaten by New York Yacht Club, Real Club Nautico of Gran Canaria and St. Francis Yacht Club. The next windward / leeward we got it all right with a good start and we went the right way. It was nip and tuck and we took two places on the last run to gain a 2nd to the Spanish, beating New York by three places, putting us at joint first with New York and the Spanish in 3rd overall. Nail-biting stuff.

On Sunday, the formal practice day and race, we all managed to weigh in under the required 850k, and after a healthy breakfast in the local greasy spoon (Peter went for the mega breakfast!) we went out to practice. Unfortunately the remaining Atlantic fronts started to come through bringing rain with 30kts plus of wind. All went well until we executed one of the best Chinese jibes that I’ve ever seen while trying to gybe the chute, which dumped me (now very suddenly on the leeward side rather than the windward side!!!) fully in the water. My thanks for organising the crew!?! The race was cancelled on safety grounds and we returned to shore, luckily without damage to our boat or sails. After cleaning and drying up there was a very impressive and formal opening reception held at the Royal Yacht Squadron’s gardens, watching the white caps and rain. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Feature | RYS Bicentenary

Monday started brighter, but the wind was up to 30 to 40kts, and after waiting on the mooring for a few hours the racing was again abandoned for safety. Full of confidence we thought that rather than waste a day we would try and practice, but as soon as we were out of the harbour, we were greeted by 3m waves and spume flying across the top of them. We were the first out, and the first to turn around and go back!

the Club equal third with RYS. A game of snakes and ladders - I never did like snakes.

Feature | RYS Bicentenary

The party that night more than made up for the disappointment however. 1,200 guests at Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s favourite home, a magnificent neo classical building surrounded by 200-year-old trees. A classic aircraft flypast and colonial marching bands graced our presence, and we sat down to a very good dinner, joined by our sponsors EFG. On Friday there was no wind and we stayed in the harbour until 1100hrs hoping for a sea breeze on the eastern Solent. At the race course the wind varied from 6 to 10kts and the tide was far more important than the wind, running at around 2.5kts. A reasonable start, but we tacked off the fleet into the shore where we came back around 7th at the top mark. Those who stayed in the tide had a stronger wind. We picked up a couple of places on the run but when we were laying 6th, we decided to take a flyer, as we needed better than 5th for the race to be worth counting. This time the flyer was a disaster and we ended up 9th with all our competition in front of us except RYS, putting us into 4th or 5th overall. Not a happy boat having predicted that we were going to win this race and climb up the ladder!!!

The final long race was a short beat to windward with some windward / leeward loops down to Portsmouth and back. We were lying 4th at the top mark and took San Francisco on the short beat in the middle of the race. By now the wind had picked up to over 20kts and we were in our element again with great speed and height upwind. New York were well in the lead and we took the Spanish at the start of the long beat home before match racing them (including a ‘protect the right’ slam tack in front of them as they went to duck us on port!) and finally rolled over them 100m from the finish line for second place. This put us equal second overall with the Spanish, and only one point behind New York in first. It was getting so close that we thought the decider might be at the New York Challenge in September! A long day but a conservative barbecue that evening at the crew house ensured we were saving our energy for the last day, which we combined with a bit of praying to the gods for luck in the rest of the regatta. Thursday was scheduled for three windward / leewards and they were short, beats just a

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mile long for ten identical one-designs in a light wind of 9 to 12kts and a building tide. A reasonable start and correct tactics on the first race found us just behind the leader on the port lay line for the top mark, but facing a wall of starboard boats we took the safe option and ducked all but one boat, rounding 9th. Some gains on the run and the next beat, but yet another questionable protest call by the same boat as earlier in the regatta, left us in some disarray. The only saving grace is we picked up a place from New York, achieving 9th to their 10 th. With the lighter wind and the short course it made it very hard to catch up if one made a mistake. The next two races we started well but the leaders at the top mark were second row starters who had bailed and tacked in what we thought was the wrong direction – our mistake tactically. Results were an average 5th and 4th respectively. With the lighter wind we had lost our magic upwind speed and found it difficult to recover. New York did almost as badly on the day overall however and the leaders that day were RYS and the Spanish, putting the Spanish in the lead overall with New York second, and

In the final race we managed to get it all together again and after a decent start headed to the beach in 3rd to get out of the tide. We lost a place at the bottom mark, but a complete shut-off of the wind followed by a 90 degree shift allowed us to reach into a 4th place. Again we had lost our magic upwind speed and were unable to climb back through the fleet. RYS were first in the race which put them into third overall with us lying fourth. Disappointing, but it could have been much worse, and could also have been much better. We did not get too many breaks and still need to focus harder on the overall regatta position rather than each individual race. The final results in the fleet were extremely close, with New York (who had done well on the last day) in first overall on 20 points, the Spanish second on 25, RYS third on 26 and us at fourth on 27 points. We beat the Italians on a tie break. Very (very!) close racing over 11 races. At the final prizegiving the Army Red Devils parachute team gave a magnificent display followed by the long prizegiving and freeflowing champagne. Overall, an excellent and well run regatta in which we could easily have done better with a bit more luck, and most enjoyable with a great crew. The next one is New York in September sailing Swan 42s on the same basis, matched sails and boats and no doubt every point will count again.

IRC Class

W ords: Nick S outhward | Photo : Rick Tomlinson www.rick-tomlinson.com

he trouble with charter boats is that they are exactly that, so it took us most of the first practice day to equip the boat with all the gear we had pinched off other boats in Hong Kong (thanks to Andy Lam and Nigel Reeves for lending us such essential items and to Barry Hayes on his ‘Busman’s Holiday’) and by the time we got out for our first practice sail it was gusting 30kts, which was to be the case for the next two days. Consequently the racing on Day 1 of the regatta was cancelled before the start. Day 2 arrived with more of the same strong winds, but this time a race went ahead with a downwind start off the Outer Squadron line. Cameron opted for a mid-line clear air start, popping the kite as we crossed the line and the boat launched off at 12kts leaving us somewhat surprised when we found ourselves in the lead! It was our first time sailing a J/122 and we soon realised that the boat is very quick downwind. Despite the excessive gusts we managed to keep the keel under the boat and the spinnaker in one piece, but it was rather a baptism of fire for us light air Asian sailors… The return legs to the finish involved beating into a wind against tide Solent chop, which was also a new experience for the foredeck team and we were glad to get back in without having wrecked our J2 which clearly had seen better days. Day 3 was an Around the Island Race, but going clockwise, in the opposite direction from the famous annual event. Another downwind start which the tactician Cameron nailed until the kite jammed in the hoist and the top batten in the main popped out. The joys of charter boats...once fixed we set off like a robber’s dog and worked our way back up the fleet. We got round Bembridge Ledge in a respectable position and then battled upwind round the south of the island in a difficult wind against sea state, the highlight of which was having to duck the J-Class Lionheart – an awesome war horse. Round the Needles and up the western Solent against the tide so Cameron took us rock hopping up the North shore, making sure someone was always blocking the skipper’s

view of the depth gauge. This was a fantastic downwind leg where we overhauled our main competition, a brand new J/122 called Juno and stormed home with smiles on our faces. Day 4 arrived with lighter airs and at last we had a conventional upwind start, but with a foul 3kt tide we soon learnt that these are

rather difficult. We pushed the envelope at the start but went a bit too far and found ourselves OCS. Consequently by the time we had rewound we were buried at the back of the fleet but a nifty code zero leg followed by some awesome tidal work from the navigator meant we overhauled the majority of the fleet and soon found ourselves in contention with SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Feature | RYS Bicentenary

The IRC team consisted of RHKYC members Nick Southward skipper, Cameron Ferguson tactician and navigator, Barry Hayes main, Gary Jessop pit, John Scott upwind trim, Andrew Strachan downwind trim, Alec Tracy mid-deck, Jackson Hall mast, Huw Riley bow and 13 year old James Ferguson squirrel. The team chartered the J/122 Jacobs Ladder and were racing in the 21 strong Division 2 against the cream of the Solent IRC fleet, including such well known boats as Quokka, Le Response, Alice, Salvo, Cracklin’ Rosie etc. It was therefore with some trepidation that we arrived in Cowes for the Regatta and some of the crew was heard to mutter at the Opening Reception that the strategy was just to ensure that we did not end up last.

Feature | RYS Bicentenary | Brisbane to Noumea Race

the leaders of the IRC 2 fleet. The foredeck team got it together and the mark roundings ran like clockwork and coming across the line we found ourselves 5th on corrected. The crew celebrated the results with a round bought by the navigator as an apology for the OCS and later that evening we all went to the RYS Osborne House Grand party, an extravagant affair that included circus acts, aerial demonstrations and ‘dark and stormies’. All had a wonderful evening though the crew were a bit the worse for wear the next morning. Having now raced for three days and obtained better results each day there was a cautious optimism amongst the hangovers that the even lighter winds on Day 5 would be kind to us. Lighter winds and strong tides bring their own special set of problems, but Cameron was on the ball, getting us on the right side of the

first mark whilst we watched half of the fleet miss the mark and get swept downstream. We rounded the mark with smiles on our faces and picked our way through the other boats that had kedged (waiting for some more breeze to sail against the tide back to the mark). We then had to cross the Solent to the north shore of the island, all the time getting swept downstream away from the next mark. Finally we made it to the other side and out of the current we slowly made our way up the north shore to the next mark opposite Gurnard. This is where Cameron pulled the masterstroke, taking us inside the Gurnard Ledge out of the foul tide, into a back eddy and, as the only boat that did this, we sailed past most of the remaining boats in the race. Again, someone was tactically placed in the way of the skipper’s view of the depth gauge and in the photos of the boat’s track you can see how

close we got to the bricks. By this time the sea breeze had arrived and we had a spectacular beat down to the next mark which, at which the course was shortened, giving us 3rd across the line and 3rd on corrected. With our results of 16-12-5-3 we ended the regatta in 6th place overall with our and the Club’s honour intact and smiles on our faces. In our under equipped charter boat with dodgy sails we had some good and successful “onedesign” racing with the other J/122 and held our own with some of the best IRC racing boats in the world. It was a fantastically successful regatta and we would like to thank the RYS for the organisation, the RHKYC for giving us the honour of being there and for all their support. We would also like to say thanks to the many friends we made at the RYS and we look forward to seeing you at the RHKYC soon.

Brisbane to Noumea Race current. The sea state was shocking with breaking waves on the beam. We decided to reach off and look after the boat and crew. The two big boats behind us held their course but both encountered structure issues forcing them to retire and return to Brisbane during the first night. The race was very fast with winds from 15 to 30kts at 90 degree true wind angles. It was not a most comfortable sail and by the following day we knew we would win and were about to set a new race record if the weather held. Beau Geste finished the race in 2d 43m 6s with 17kts average boat speed. In addition to setting a new race record, we also took Line Honours as well as first in IRC and PHS. W ords: Gavin Brady | Photo : M arg aret Chan

he 823-mile Brisbane to Noumea Race which started on 20 June was hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron and Cercle Nautique Caledonian at Noumea. The weather was going to give the fleet the opportunity to break the 1997 record of 3d 23h 40m 26s set by an Italian team on the 98ft Orsa Maggiore. The first 30 miles of the race was all about navigating the shallows of Moreton Bay, entrance into Brisbane. Beau Geste’s keel is 5.5m deep. That did not give us much room

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to move out to the main shipping channels fast and kept everyone on their feet. A strong southerly had been blowing for five days before the start, creating large swells pushing up the coast. We exited the bay in the dark knowing we would be sailing into a building southerly of up to 30kts. Hence, giving up some speed with reefing and small jib was called for. This proved to be a good decision during the next ten hours as we had to go over the sea mounts and the strong east Australian

This was the second Line Honours win in a row for Beau Geste, the previous being secured at the 34th Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race (226 miles along the New South Wales coastline) hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Coffs Harbour Yacht Club in January this year. Crew List Karl Kwok*

William Mackenzie

Margaret Chan*

Mark D’Emilio

Matthew Cheung

Ben Costello

Gavin Brady*

Mitch White

Cameron Ward

Tony Mutter

Matthew Kelway

Cowen Chiu*

Ben Ashby

Gordon Liu*

Craig Shelley

William Lo*

David Petersen

*RHKYC member

Proud sponsors of EFG Mandrake Also proud to support: EFG Nations’ Cup, Hong Kong EFG Sailing Team, Switzerland BACARDI Sailing Weeks, Miami & Newport The EFG Pan-American Viper 640 Championships The EFG Star Winter Series, Florida Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta Panerai British Classic Week EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour EFG Sailing Academy, Monaco Yacht Club Optimist Sailing School, Société Nautique de Genève www.efgsailing.com

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Photo: Paul Wyeth

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Practitioners of the craft of private banking 瑞士盈豐銀行瑞士盈豐銀行 EFG is the marketing name for EFG International and its subsidiaries. Hong Kong: 18th Floor, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong, T + 852 2298 3000. In Asia, also present in Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Jakarta. EFG Bank is part of EFG International, which operates in over 30 locations. www.efginternational.com

Kieler Woche (Kiel Week), often advertised as the biggest sailing event in the world, is famous for both its scale and diversity in sailing classes. Ferdinand Heldman and Leonardo Giustiniani sailing the 29er, and Calum Gregor and Hugo Christensson sailing the 420, took part in the weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international classes competition held in Kiel, Germany.

Feature | Kieler Woche

Kieler Woche W ords: L eo Giustiniani

rriving a couple of days early we had several training opportunities with Club Performance Coach, Rob Partridge. The conditions varied significantly allowing for practice in both extremely light and heavy conditions. The Olympic classes were competing during this time. With strong winds predicted for the Olympic class medal races, Rob aimed to maximise the day. With an early start, we were out on the water by 1000hrs and had a wonderful session in the breeze. Next we were quickly in for lunch and then back out again in the RIB to watch the 470, Nacra and 49er medal races. Accustomed to the Hong Kong climate, we braved the bitterly cold and windy conditions to see some worldclass racing. This was extremely enjoyable and more importantly, a great learning experience. On the first day of racing the 29er Fleet was split into three flights racing a windward / leeward course. Despite the light 4 to 8kt winds on Day 1, the RO managed to complete four races. Ferdinand and Leonardo sailed consistently with a 16, 9, 7, 10. Calum and Hugo pushed the line hard and unfortunately picked up a black flag in the second race of the day.

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Qualifying continued in light conditions on Day 2, where consistency was key on the oscillating and unstable racecourse. The patchy wind filled in during the day, finally shifting right to a sea breeze direction. The breeze maxed at 12kts but died as the last 29er finished just before 2000hrs. Ferdinand and Leonardo managed an 8 th in the second of the four races sailed. Only one race was completed on the 420 race course where Calum and Hugo managed a 13th. If a further race had been sailed the 420 qualifying series would have been completed without a discard. The 29er Fleet split into Gold, Silver and Bronze Fleets for Day 3 and raced on the TV course. The wind was once again shifty and patchy, especially near the shore, but resulted in exciting, tactical racing in winds ranging from 8 to 18kts. Ferdinand and Leonardo sailed both their discards in Silver after missing the Gold Fleet qualification by two points. After regrouping for lunch things turned around and the Hong Kong boat came second in the last race of the day. Fortunately for Calum and Hugo a third day of qualifying was sailed. The boys sailed their best day

yet with a wonderful 3, 4, 3. Discarding their black flag the Hong Kong 420 climbed almost seventy positions. The final day dawned sunny with 8 to 12kts building to 15kts. Ferdinand and Leonardo sailed two great races in the breeze finishing 7th and 4th. This put them 4th overall in the Silver Fleet. Calum and Hugo came 3rd in the first race, then sailed their second discard in the second race of the day. The boys finished 9th from 154 entrants, an extremely positive result. We would like to thank Rob Partridge for, firstly, putting up with our banter, and secondly, for sharing his extensive sailing knowledge with us. We would also like to thank Kieler Woche for hosting a fantastic event.

Hong Kong Sailors line up at the Pre-Olympic World Championships Feature | Hong Kong Sailors line up at the Pre-Olympic World Championships

W ords: Y u Tin g Chan | Photo : M o gens H ansen

t was quite a week for the two Hong Kong teams competing for the first time at the Nacra 17 Catamaran World Championships held in Denmark this past July. There were big winds of 22 to 30kts at least 85% of the time, never dipping under 17kts, making for challenging racing for all of the fleets, and at times so strong that racing was cancelled. For small and light sailors like us, it was a real challenge to our skills and determination but no matter what the conditions threw at us we finished every race alongside some of the other heavier sailing teams. For the first time in our campaign we just managed to find enough funds to have a support coach (Brian Phipps) who is an old friend of many Hong Kong catamaran sailors, having visited Hong Kong many times in the past to deliver Club coaching sessions and support. Coach support is invaluable at this level of sailing and when the going gets tough Brian brings an outside perspective to our sailing which we have been unable to afford in the past. This is something which we would really value again if at all possible in the run-up to the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Qingdao this September â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an Olympic Games qualifying event. So how did we do? Well, we did not win (we placed 20 out of a 32-strong Silver Fleet); but we did well compared to the other Asian entries. Full results are here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/438966762/ Nacra17%20-%20Results.htm th

Sailing a Nacra 17 is tough and the world sailors are the best but this has been our best result so far at a world championship event. Given the wind and sea conditions we know we can do much better in the future whatever the weather! All the current Asian teams are in striking distance of each other so we have a great battle on our hands and if the wind is lighter in Qingdao it could work in our favour. So now we plan and train for the next and most important event for us in Qingdao, this is the Olympic qualifier for all the Asian countries and whoever is the first Asian placed team will get the opportunity to race at the Olympics in Rio in 2016. Our boat is currently en route from Europe to China, we are back in Hong Kong anxiously awaiting its arrival and hoping to get as much training time as possible now on whatever similar catamaran we can get our hands on. Wish us luck, you can be assured we will give it everything we have. Results of Asian sailing teams in Silver fleet 15th

Japan

Singapore

Hong Kong

Tat Choi Fung and Yu Ting Chan

Hong Kong

Yui Shing Tong (Club member) and Kit Fong Tong SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Feature | RHKYC wins the Etchells Invitational Regatta

RHKYC wins the Etchells Invitational Regatta W ords: L aurence Mead | Photo : Paul W yeth

rawing on the one design club-on-club format from NYYC, the Solent Etchells fleet under the energetic leadership of David Franks for a second year hosted the Gertrude Cup in Cowes in early August. Mark Thornburrow led the Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team against 17 other boats with the top-end being extremely competitive including four past Etchells World Champions, the current North American and Australasian Mid Winter Champions along with a host of other semi pro-teams and youth squads. The Hong Kong team had some issues weighing in which meant a change to a smaller 4th person pre-regatta. This then became dramatically more complicated when Marksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; regular tactician, Double Olympic Gold Medalist Malcolm Page was only able to sail the first race day. To address the weight issues, Lauren Mead joined her father Laurence, who was pulling on the main, together with local sailor Libby Watkins for the last three days, which meant a complete change of crew at the front.

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The first three races were sailed in a solid 18 to 24kts and with Page calling tactics the RHKYC team scored a bullet and two seconds to lead handily at the end of Day 1. Page was quiet, assured and about four moves ahead making sailing look easy. North American champions Tom Carruthers with Chris Busch and Andrew Palfrey had two good races and a 12th, while the Royal Sydney team of Jean Claude Strong and her crew lay second overall with a 5,4,3. Both these boats had pro sailors in the middle as did nearly half a fleet. It was clear that everybody was gunning to win. On Day 2 the newly restructured Hong Kong team immediately made their lives much more difficult by pushing the start line too hard in Race 4, and on hearing a recall gun immediately returned to behind the start line. They were joined by Carruthers North American team but after the race it became clear that only the Americans were in fact over. Somehow they got back to 4th in the race

but the Hong Kong team could only manage 12th. From there the day improved however with a well thought out 7th (cautious middle of the road tactics as another 12 th would have been terminal!). In the last race of the day the Hong Kong team repeated the first day bullet with a tighter rounding at the last leeward mark enabling them to beat the UAE boat of Jan Mysken, David Bedford and Mark Lees to the finish. A satisfying result having lost the double Olympic gold medalist from the middle and one which enabled Hong Kong to retain the leaders red spinnaker for another day. It was a race which showed how easy sailing is again when it all goes to plan: start clean, sail fast to the right place and lead at the first mark. Easy! The forecast for Day 3 was in the mid to high 20kts however and the Hong Kong team turned-in hoping the forecast was the minimum wind reading and the racing would be cancelled if it was higher, which it was! As much as an Etchells is a sleek boat, it is very hard work for the bow-person in 25kts of breeze and with two relatively small front people, we were happy to have the day off. It also meant we remained in the lead leaving one day of very tight racing ahead with a much more reasonable 10 -15 knot forecast. So the last day dawned with the RHKYC team with a three-point lead. Race 1 of the day was a disaster. We were 11th with the chasing boats in 2nd and 3rd. We started averagely and just never got into it. Half way up the first beat we were in the pack but a slow patch and a

Sixteen Hong Kong entries in forthcoming Etchells Worlds

Sailing

little righty put us straight into the worst of the traffic and from there we never got going. Sailing can be so hard when it’s not easy! Time to re-group. The next race we sailed much better, not everything went to plan but that was the lesson of the week. It doesn’t all go right, get over it and get what you can. A 5th, in this fleet is a counter for sure. Overlapped with San Diego at the finish we didn’t beat them but Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron were back in 12th so it was coming down to a two boat race with two races to go!

W ords: Greg Farrell | S cotia Ryer | Photo : Jenny C ooper

The next race (Race 9 for the regatta) we got a 7th just beating the Americans (San Diego) by a good metre, but Royal Sydney won! All back on! From there the RHKYC team didn’t really think about winning. One race to go, the last race, get a counter and see if we could get 2nd overall. Not defeatist, just realistic. But then we had a race where the wind kept dropping and shifting like it was Victoria Harbour! We sailed the shifts not the fleet and on the last beat we went left looking for the better breeze on the shore only to quickly realise it was all change and the right was better. More pressure and a building right hand shift meant you had to be right on the beat. Royal Sydney were over there, in the last few of the fleet but still over there and they needed to be covered. So we ducked and crossed some boats and it took us a few goes to get to them, but we did and planted a lee bow on them as we headed for the finish line. We hadn’t thought about winning but with the American team slowly dying on the left and seemingly not able or willing to take the pain of getting right, we assumed we had to beat Sydney for the title. We didn’t though. They beat us but only by about two metres across the line and they high fived like they had taken the series. We sailed back to the dock assuming we were second. But do you know how much nicer it is to find you have won when you thought you hadn’t rather than the other way round? We found out as the race officer came over to congratulate us. In the end it had come down to a three way tie for first, which we won having had two 1st places to Sydney’s one race win. Despite their consistency near the front of the fleet, the American’s hadn’t taken a race so it was ours! It was an amazingly close regatta, sailed with different crew in hugely variable conditions. The RHKYC team led by Mark Thornburrow won the series! We had retained the red leaders spinnaker from Race 1 right through Race 10 with long hard battles against some world-class Etchells teams. The 141-year-old Gertrude Trophy belongs to RHKYC, at least until next summer!

Winning crew from Jezebel Ant Day, Peter Backe and Nick Faulks accepting their keeper-prize with Scotia Ryer and Ronan Collins

he past Etchells season saw a total of 28 Etchells with an average of 18 boats racing each week through all our regular series which, combined, culminated as our qualification for this year’s Etchells Worlds here in Hong Kong. At the beginning of the season the Worlds allocation allowed for a total of 12 boats from our fleet so the racing was tight and intense for the entire season, with the boats vying for the right to sail in a home World Championship.

Boat Boat Name

Crews

884 903 938 1047 1180 1193 1235 1243 1269 1333 1339 1344 1345 1358 1364 1406

Watson / Kaye / Norton Jukes / Coates / Gorman Manzoni / Van Walt Meier Fleming / Wood / Nieto Hahnel / Downes Yeadon Martinet / Parker / Austin Burns / MacMahon Farrell / Badenach Backe / Day Mead / Breary Whitehead / Macaulay McWilliam / Pender / Roberts Cheung Van Kempen / Kearns Thornburrow / Page / Cooke / Huang

Easy Tiger The Battler The Answer Is Incoming Fuzzy Duck Diva Deux Likety Split Gunga Din Dream On Jezebel Freelance Mind the Bumps Wanchai Belle Are we there yet? No Name Racer X 2

With the International Governors opening up the allowable allocation for this year’s Worlds to encourage greater participation from the local fleet, as well as the international competitors, the number increased to 16 crews and we are really pleased that all who did qualify will be competing in the Worlds. Listed on the right are the top Etchells sailors in Hong Kong who are entering the 2015 Etchells World Championships in November. Big congratulations to Jezebel 1333 for winning the Etchells Class overall for the 2014-15 season.

Volunteers for the Etchells Worlds

We are seeking enthusiastic volunteers for the Etchells Asia Pacific Championships (23 Oct to 26 Oct) and the World Championships (29 Oct to 7 Nov) and we would very much appreciate your help! The involvement of the Club’s experienced sailors and volunteers will be invaluable in ensuring that these events go according to plan. We are looking for members of the sailing community to manage some key on and off the water roles, including registration, transportation, dock master, measurement, information desk, and assisting with the official social events. If you are interested in volunteering, please email me directly (scotiar@yahoo.com) and let me know which areas you are interested in and when you are available, or you can complete the volunteer registration form, which can be found at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/etchellsworlds2015. aspx. With your help, we will be able to provide the competitors with both exciting racing and a great time in one of the most dynamic cities Asia has to offer.

Etchells Class AGM

Class members, please be reminded that the Etchells Class Annual General Meeting will be held on 5 September from 1700hrs to 1800hrs in the Chart Room, directly after our first race day of the season. We look forward to seeing you there! SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

September 2015

From the Sailing Office Sailing

The 2015-2016 season gets underway this month and is jam-packed with events for all ages and classes. Information about all races and events will be posted on the RHKYC website, however if you are looking for something specific and cannot find it, please let us know by e-mailing sailingoffice@rhkyc.org.hk so that we can point you in the right direction and improve the navigation.

Sailing Calendar The 2015-2016 calendar has been published on the RHKYC website at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/classsailingcalendar.aspx and includes the season’s one design racing and major events, together with other events in the region in which members may be interested. The hard copy of the calendar will be available for members to collect from the Sailing Centre from 1 September

Standard Sailing Instructions The SSIs have been rewritten to bring them into line with ISAF best practice and to reflect recent changes in Club policy and Race Management practice. In addition, courses have been reviewed and revamped. Each class has been allocated a specific Appendix to reflect their class rules and any quirks in their events so please take the time to read through the new document and the Appendices to catch up with the key changes! Turn to page 30 of this issue for Race Management Group’s comprehensive summary of the changes. Each one-design boat may collect two hard copies of the reprinted SSIs from the Sailing Centre from 1 September – the SSIs can also be downloaded from the website at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/ssi.aspx

Upcoming Events Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta / Edmond de Rothschild Regatta Series The ‘official’ start of the season takes place on 19 and 20 September, with Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta. This constitutes the second event of the Edmond de Rothschild Regatta Series and while the usual prizegiving will take place after racing on the Sunday of the regatta, there will also be a Gala Prizegiving Dinner for overall class winners for the series.

Photo: RHKYC / Guy Nowell

The Notice of race and online pre-entry for one-design classes and Big Boats are available on the website at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/AutumnRegatta2015.aspx – guest moorings may be requested through the Club’s Assistant Marine Manager, Joanne Ho (joanne.ho@rhkyc.org.hk) and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis, subject to availability, to those Big Boats which have pre-entered the Regatta.

Key Autumn Dates Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta

19 and 20 September

www.rhkyc.org.hk/AutumnRegatta2015.aspx

Audi China Coast Regatta

9, 10 and 11 October

www.chinacoastregatta.com

Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race

Starts Thursday 15 October

www.hkvietnamrace.com

Etchells Asia Pacific Championships

24 to 26 October (racing)

2015.etchellsworlds.org

Etchells World Championships

1 to 7 November (racing)

2015.etchellsworlds.org

Around The Island Race

Sunday 15 November

Old Mutual Lipton Trophy

Saturday 21 November

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Sailing

Audi China Coast Regatta The Notice of Race and entry form for this year’s Audi China Coast Regatta are posted at www.chinacoastregatta.com . Entries have already been received for the Club’s major Big Boat event, which will take place from 9 to 11 October. The Race Committee has listened to comments from last and previous years and has reconfigured the race schedule to allow the Race Officer to run racing pretty much ANYWHERE in Hong Kong waters, depending on the prevailing winds. New courses are in the mix as well, so if you think you know China Coast Regatta inside out …. think again! Hong Kong Kettle is incorporated in the Regatta, with teams to consist of one boat from IRC Racer 1 and one from IRC Racer 2 – if you would like to participate in the Kettle, but don’t have a partner boat to team up with, let us know at sailingoffice@rhkyc.org.hk and we’ll try to play cupid!

Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race At the time of writing, six entries have already been received for this 656nm biennial challenge from Hong Kong to Nha Trang in Vietnam, with up to 20 entries expected from Hong Kong and overseas. Supported by Audi and renowned for its testing downwind course in 20 to 30kt winds, the race is an ISAF Category 1 offshore race which requires submission of supporting documentation as outlined in the timetable below. If you are intending to enter, please note the entry deadline of Monday 7 September and submit the required documentation as early as possible to assist with the scrutineering schedule, which is executed by Club volunteers. All information, including the provisional entry list, is posted on the event website at www.hkvietnamrace.com Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race – Timetable Date and time

Item

Monday 7 September 1800hrs

Entries, Race Special Regulations Checklist & Safety Declaration, Crew Exp & PLB Forms

Monday 14 September 1800hrs

Late entries accepted

Wednesday 7 October 1900hrs to 2100hrs

Audi China Coast Race Week Welcome Party at RHKYC

Thursday 8 October 1800hrs

Crew Immigration/NoK Forms, radio and equipment certificates, IRC Certificates, HKPN PIPS

Wednesday 14 October 1600hrs to 1900hrs 1830hrs to 1900hrs

Immigration (Departure) Formalities at RHKYC Skippers’ Briefing

Photos: RHKYC / Guy Nowell

Thursday 15 October 1310hrs

Warning Signal Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour

Sunday 18 October

Location prize giving in Nha Trang, Vietnam

Wednesday 28 October 1900hrs to 2100hrs

Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race Prizegiving Audi China Coast Race Week Overall Prizeigving SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

RHKYC Standard Sailing Instructions (SSIs) – a brief description of the changes for 2015/16 Sailing

The SSIs cover class racing in Victoria Harbour, geometric course racing in Shelter Cove, Clearwater Bay, Middle Island and east of Lamma, and dinghy racing out of Middle Island. The SSIs have been updated to incorporate revised courses, the RHKYC safety policies on VHFs, PFDs and Crossing the East Lamma Traffic Separation Scheme, and also changes to the Club’s race management practices. The Club is aiming to standardise race management across all its venues and to be in line with international best practice. This should benefit all our sailors when racing in Hong Kong and internationally. Class-specific appendices have been added to set out any additional sailing instructions or modifications to the SSIs that are specific to a class and/or the individual races being sailed. The bulk of the document remains unchanged from the 2013 version but there are some important changes in this new version, and this note highlights those changes.

Part 1 – Harbour SSIs Schedule of Races (section 5) The start time of the first race of each class will no longer be published in the NOR. Instead only the start time of the first race for the first class will be published. The start sequences will be the usual five minutes with at least a minute between starting one race and going into the start sequence for the next race. This gap is to allow the Race Officer (RO) to deal with a general recall in a race before starting the subsequent race. The Courses (section 8) Courses will be selected by the ROs following consultation with the fleet captains or class secretaries. If there is going to be a Club line start, then the courses will be posted on the board outside the Sailing Office. If the start is a committee boat start, then the course will be displayed on the committee boat no later than the warning signal. This allows the RO to check the wind conditions on the race track before committing to any courses. Time Limits (section 13) A 60 minutes for the first race day has been included. The the day (whether sailing one remains 1730hrs.

target time of of a two-race time limit for or two races)

Safety (section 16) All boats will have to comply with the RHKYC PFD Policy (see below). Appendix A – Courses There has been a complete redrafting of the race courses in the harbour. The new courses, designed with the assistance and co-operation of the classes that race in the harbour, have been created to group together courses with the following characteristics: • to have courses of differing lengths for each wind direction; and • to have common leeward rounding marks for courses in each group. These changes are primarily for the benefit of the ROs, in recognition of the fact that it has become increasingly challenging for ROs to run racing in the harbour. It is hoped that these

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changes will make it easier for them to select and run races – whatever the boat speed of the classes racing and whether one or more classes are sailing two races in the day.

Time Limits (section 14) The time limit for each race is 20 minutes after the first boat to finish. The RO’s ability to decide to amend this has been removed.

Part 2 – Geometric Course SSIs

Safety (section 17) All boats will have to comply with the RHKYC PFD Policy (see below).

Schedule of Races (section 5) If there is more than one class racing on the same course, then the start time of the first race of each class will no longer be published in the NOR. Instead only the start time of the first race for the first class will be published. The start sequences will be the usual five minutes with at least a minute between starting one race and going into the start sequence for the next race. This gap is to allow the Race Officer (RO) to deal with a general recall in a race before starting the subsequent race. Marks (section 9) If a finish mark is laid then it will be an inflatable buoy with either a white or a blue cover depending on the course selected. If a course is selected where the finish line is laid between the committee boat and a mark of the course, then the mark will be the usual orange inflatable buoy. Safety (section 17) All boats will have to comply with the RHKYC safety policies (see below). Appendix B – Courses Additional windward / leeward courses have been included where the start and finish are laid in the middle of the course. This is at the request of one of the classes.

Part 3 – Dinghy SSIs Schedule of Races (section 5) If there is more than one class racing on the same course, then the start time of the first race of each class will no longer be published in the NOR. Instead only the start time of the first race for the first class will be published. The start sequences will be the usual five minutes with at least a minute between starting one race and going into the start sequence for the next race. This gap is to allow the Race Officer (RO) to deal with a general recall in a race before starting the subsequent race.

Safety Appendices The RHKYC PFD policy, which was published in January 2015, has been included in the document, together with two additional safety policies – the RHKYC VHF Policy and the RHKYC Crossing the East Lamma Traffic Separation Scheme Policy. You are encouraged to read these policies but in broad summary they are: When sailing within Zone A (the harbour, Shelter Cove, Repulse Bay and Deep Water Bay) All yachts are encouraged to carry a working VHF marine radio. The decision on whether or not to wear PFDs on a yacht remains with the crew. All dinghy sailors and any children must wear PFDs. When racing outside zone A All yachts must carry a working VHF radio and any crew of a boat without lifelines must wear a PFD. Class Appendices The class appendices which were introduced in January 2015 are formally incorporated into the SSIs. These appendices deal with class specific rules such as changes to the penalty system, signing on or special courses. The appendices can be found on the RHKYC website and are not included in the printed version of the SSIs as they may be updated regularly. Please take time to read through and become familiar with the updated SSIs. We will be holding a seminar in early September to run through the changes in detail and all Club racers and Race Officers are encouraged to attend. As the 2015/16 racing season unfolds, all feedback on the updated SSIs is most welcome. Please contact Brenda Davies, Assistant Manager – Race Management (brenda.davies@rhkyc.org.hk).

2015 Macau International Dinghy Regatta Photos: Clement L am W ords: A bbey H ammond – O ptimist F leet

Sailing

n 20 and 21 June, Macau hosted the 6th annual International Dinghy Regatta which attracted entries from all over Hong Kong including of course the Club’s own Sharks sailors. Saturday morning saw light winds, delaying the launching of the boats off Hac Sa beach by an hour. Anticipation mounted as we were eager to get out as quickly as possible to test our knowledge against the locals and other international sailors. With gusts averaging up to 6kts, the lighter-weight sailors had a large advantage, with Thibault Minne obtaining a very creditable three bullets in the first three races. Thibault was closely followed by other fellow Sharks squad members Abbey Hammond and Douglas Leung and an impressive result from an up-and-coming gold squad sailor Eloi Defline. After an on-the-water lunch, the wind picked up. Abbey redeemed herself with a first in the final race. In general, sailing conditions were heavily impacted by the fast flowing tide, therefore the occasional display of the U flag left a few boats with an OCS during some races. Despite this, the Race Committee managed to fit in four races by the day’s end with only one more required for a discard. By the end of the first day of racing, 1st place was all to play for between Thibault and Abbey. Sailors arrived back to the beach area at around 1500hrs and then headed for rest and recovery at the hotel pool. As in previous years the local restaurant, a short walk away from the hotel, hosted the Saturday evening barbecue. All sailors and family attending ate great local cuisine and with equally great company, the sailors thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We woke up to a freshening breeze on Sunday morning, which seemed to be more promising than the previous day. We were later informed that tropical storm Kujira was the probable cause of the 15kt gusts in the planned racing area. The sailors strolled down the beach once again after a short team briefing by coach Clement Lam. After the competitor briefing we launched on time. Although Emily Wong previously had an OCS, in the first race she nailed the start and achieved her first bullet ever. Abbey got a first place in the final race, which would be the decider to determine the overall final winner. Due to the approaching depression and dark black clouds, the RO decided to do only two short races, therefore all boats were back on shore by lunchtime. Since the prizegiving was scheduled for 1530hrs, sailors de-rigged and packed up as quickly as possible. The prizegiving took place by the pool

of the Grand Coloane, where the Macau Minister of Sport congratulated the winners and awarded them with prizes. Overall 4th place went to Douglas Leung, RHKYC; 3rd was Nathan Turner of HHYC; 2nd was Thibault Minne of RHKYC and in 1st place Abbey Hammond, RHKYC. Finally, we would like to thank ABC for taking the lead to help organise this regatta to support the local sailing association and issuing the sailing instructions. We would also like to thank the Club for their support and of course thanks to coach Clement. In addition, we would like to thank the local Macau Race Committee for their hosting and smooth organisation, and all volunteers for their time and hard work. We are certain all sailors who attended are already looking forward to next year’s regatta. W ords: M atthew Clark and James F erguson – Pico F leet

James and Matthew were nervous but excited to get the Macau Regatta underway. We received a helpful briefing from Coach Clement, advising us that the tide would be very strong and, if we were smart, we could use it to our advantage. On Day 1 the Picos managed to get four races in. We had great starts and working with the tide we walked away with three 1st places and a 2nd! Oriane Voets and Ines Gillard were close behind us, having beaten us in the previous race, so the pressure was on us, but the Sharks were leading the way! On Day 2 we struggled to match our form of Day 1 and the girls won another race, bringing it very close. By the end of the regatta, we had just managed to hold on to our 1st place with the girls 2nd. Overall it was a great regatta, with good results for us and the rest of the Sharks.

Summer Youth Sailing Fun

Sailing Development And Training Contacts

Sailing

General Enquiries Gloria Yeung 2812 7063 MI Sailing and Marine Manager Ailsa Angus 2812 0172 MI Centre Manager Patrick Lam 2812 7303 Senior Sailing Instructor Phoebe Tang 2812 7303 Sailing Instructor Kelvin Lau 2812 7303 Performance Coach Rob Partridge 2812 6255 Performance Coach Alex Dyet 2812 6255 http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/SailTraining.aspx sailtrain@rhkyc.org.hk www.facebook.com/RHKYCsharks

Once again the Youth Summer Sail Training Programme attracted over 400 sailors. It was hot throughout the summer but included the usual occasional downpours, which were generally welcomed to cool things down! Our thanks to our great team of instructors and assistants! Now that you have some more hours under your belt we would welcome sailors to keep up their practice by joining our weekend practice sessions. If you are interested in racing then come and see what the Sharks Squads are up to. If you would prefer a more relaxed sail then we have the Optimist Practice on Saturdays or the Youth Sailing Club on Sundays.

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The next round of courses will be run during the October and Christmas holidays. You can find more details online or email sailtrain@rhkyc.org.hk for the schedule.

Sharks Update Sailing

Congratulations to all of our Sharks sailors who took part in overseas events over the summer months, notably Calum Gregor and Hugo Christensson who received bronze at the 420 Open Worlds in Japan – their report is featured in this month’s Ahoy!. Detailed reports of the remaining Sharks’ overseas trips will be featured in the October Ahoy!. Squad trials took place from the end of August and we would like to welcome our new Sharks members to the team; we are all very excited about the year ahead.

Top right: Lasers at Radial Youth European Championships; above and right: Optimist Nationals

Old Mutual International Sail Training in partnership with Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

Application forms and more details www.rhkyc.org.hk click on ‘Sail Training’ or email sailtrain@rhkyc.org.hk October Holiday Courses (Step 1 to Level 4) 19 to 23 October

Adult Beginners

Option 3 5, 6, 12, 13 and 19 Sept (Weekends) Option 8 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 Sept (Weekdays) Option 4 3, 4, 17, 18 and 24 (Weekends)

Adult Supervised Sailing 5 Sept 19 Sept 26 Sept 27 Sept 3 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct

Boat Handling Spinnakers Level 3 Preparation Distance Sail Boat Handling Distance Sail Singlehanded Laser

Saturday Saturday Saturday Sunday Saturday Saturday Sunday

Adult Keelboat Courses

Intro to Keelboats Course 5 26 and 27 Sept Course 6 1 and 4 Oct J/80 Crew Course Course C4 6, 26 and 27 Sept Course C5 4, 17 and 18 Oct Normal Squad Training Every Week Wednesday – Wednesday Night Races Thursday – Optimist Squad Friday – Laser, 420, 29er Saturday – Optimist Sunday – Laser and 29er

RYA Powerboat Training

These practical powerboat handling courses are available now. You must already hold the PVOCC. RYA Powerboat Level 2 Courses Option PBL2/3 19 and 20 Sept Option PBL2/4 12 and 13 Dec Sail Training Schedule The new schedule has recently been published online. Please remember that members do get priority on booking until one month before the course starts. In general we require a minimum of four students to be able to confirm a course.

RYA Powerboat Level 2 Half Day Assessment Option PBA2 27 Sept 0930hrs to 1230hrs Option PBA3 5 Dec 0930hrs to 1230hrs RYA Safety Boat Course (applicants must hold RYA Level 2 first)) Option SB2 26 and 27 Sept 0930hrs to 1630hrs Option SB3 17 and 18 Oct 0930hrs to 1630hrs

Shorebased Courses

Standard First Aid, CPR & AED Course Full Course Option A 8, 10, 16 and 17 Sept (1830hrs to 2130hrs) Full Course Option B 29, 30 Sept and 6 and 8 Oct (1830hrs to 2130hrs) HK Pleasure Vessel Operators Certificate This course prepares students for the HK Marine Department Examinations Part A – Master 12, 13 and 15 Oct (1900hrs to 2215hrs) Part B – Engineer 28, 29 and 30 Oct (1900hrs to 2215hrs) For further information please contact sailtrain@rhkyc.org.hk

SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Eastern District Dragon Boat Race

DRAGON BOAT CONTACT dragonboat@rhkyc.org.hk

W O RD S: Gianni A prea

Rowing

xpectations were high coming into the event held on 14 June as the Club had two mixed teams registered for it and both had done well all season long. However, the day got off to a shaky start. The Mixed Yellow team, though narrowly victorious, had a very difficult first heat. The Mixed Blue crew followed that with a 4th place in their first heat. Thankfully the second heats for both crews were notably improved with the Yellow crew winning outright and securing a spot in the Gold Cup final. The Blue crew had a similarly

strong second heat with a 2nd place finish. This should have been enough to put team Blue into the Silver Cup final. However, it wouldn’t end that way. With final race placements decided by points at Chai Wan, and the Blue crew ending the heats in a three-way tie for points, they had to participate in the lucky draw with two other teams. Unfortunately for the Club it was an unlucky draw with mixed Blue getting pushed down to the plate final. Despite the draw and shaky first heats, both crews went into the finals with high

Sun Life Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships W ords: Chuck N g and Gianni A prea | Photos: Vicky Chun g

here is something about Stanley. Perhaps because of the large and tightly assembled crowd or the Hong Kong Sevenslike atmosphere with teams decked out in hilarious gear. It could simply be because it is the most well-known battleground for many of Hong Kong’s dragon boat clubs – the Princely Navy, Stormy Dragons, Seagods, Smugz, AWA,

and many others including of course the Club’s own team, the Royal X. The journey to Stanley builds race experience. It unites old paddling hands with those of our new recruits. Every year sees the seamless transfer of skills. Every year the team is reinvigorated. Yet, some things remain the same – an unyielding will to win that big,

expectations. Again, it was not going to be the Club’s day. Though a huge improvement on last year’s overall results, Mixed Yellow got nosed by a surging Buzz crew, and came away with a 2nd place in the gold cup final. Similarly, the Mixed Yellow crew had a very difficult final and managed to come home in 4th place in the plate. Everyone ended the day a little disappointed and we are looking forward to next year’s event to improve our luck.

unwieldy Sun Life Gold Cup for Men’s Division A. And this year, for the third year in a row, we have brought that trophy back home to the Main Bar at Kellett Island. 20 June was the last of many hot days before a forecast for rain. The torrid sun brought about a 34.1 degree temperature at the peak of the heat. Our paddlers kept cool in the shelter of Hong Kong Sea School’s gymnasium. This most-welcomed oasis, away from the madding crowd and searing heat, allowed our teams to be well rested between heats. Pizzas from our sponsor Piccolo Pizza came in time for hungry paddlers just before lunch, whilst Blue Girl beers sat chilled in ice, in anticipation of thirsty mouths at the end of race day. And so the day wore on... final results? Another outstanding year! Both Mixed Yellow and Mixed Blue clawed past many teams to make it to the Stanley Plaza Mixed Silver Cup A final finishing 4th and 5th respectively. Well-placed and improved upon last year’s standings, we can be proud to mark the team progress. Our women’s crew, having won many races leading up to Stanley, was the odds-on favourite to win the Ladies’ Cup coming into the day. With an indomitable spirit, a family-like bond stronger than any recent years and much more cohesive on-water performance, the women fought hard through every nail-biting heat. Sadly, when the day ended they had been beaten to first place by a small fraction of a second by the AWA crew. Although we all left the beach that day disappointed with the results, we couldn’t have been (and still couldn’t be) more proud of the effort from our women’s team.

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Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races W O RD S: Gianni A prea | PH OTO S: Eric Choi

Rowing

The men’s team started the day with an unnerving uncertainty in the first heat. When it ended, we were unsure if we had won or been pipped by KWP. Since the championship is ultimately decided by total points over three heats, every race counts at Stanley! Finally the announcement was made that we had narrowly won the heat and we knew the next race was going to have to be much better! There are moments in a dragon boat, when everyone is working together, that the boat feels like it is flying rather than pushing through water. Call it the zone or the sweet spot; there are many phrases that describe this in multiple sports. Well, this was definitely missing in that first heat. Feeling relieved from our victory, the magic definitely came back in the second heat! A lightness of a team that came together, the lifting of the boat, a feeling of a surge forward with every chug, resulted in a commanding victory in the second race. This was following by a notable win in the third race to seal the overall victory. But truly, the victory was not won by this crew alone. Victory was sealed in by hard work and the combined effort of the Club’s paddling section. Ultimately this is a team sport. We do this because of the paddler next to us, the ones in front and back, from drummer till steersman. We do this because of respect for one another, because we know how hard it is to cut that erg time, we do this because of love… Speaking of love, following the post-race celebration, Club member Chuck Ng stole the spotlight by proposing to long-time girlfriend Eileen Lau on the beach at Stanley! Much to everyone’s excitement, she accepted. Thus, Chuck finished the day as the biggest winner by a large margin. We all wish Chuck and Eileen well in their new life together and will forever remember not only the race win, but also the dramatic proposal.

f Stanley is comparable to the Hong Kong Sevens, then the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races is akin to the World Cup with some of the best teams from all over Hong Kong and the world gathering to compete over three days. The event is very competitive, well organised and highly publicised. This was the second year running that the Club has competed (though the Club has been running the race management / safety since the inaugural event in xxx). Needless to say, our expectations after Stanley were sky high for our men’s, women’s and mixed crews. The first day of racing called for Hong Kongbased teams racing against one another in ‘small’ boats with 10 paddlers racing 250m. The men, despite their success at Stanley,

started what would be a difficult weekend by getting knocked out of the first day in the semi-final. The women similarly struggled but finished with a respectable bronze medal. Our mixed crew, however, took control of the day and came away with the Club’s first gold medal at the Internationals with a convincing win. The second day of racing called for Hong Kong-based crews to race against one another in ‘standard’ boats with 18 paddlers racing 500m. This is by far our favourite type of event as it suits our style of racing the best. The men showed notable improvement from the previous day by making it to the final. Though we battled long and hard, the competition was too strong and the best we could do was a 7th place finish. The stories for both

As far as the race win is concerned …well, we will pick up the paddles again every frigid Saturday morning come January, working towards the next victory. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

so great that it threw water over the heads of the paddlers in the front row, put our drummer temporarily under water and nearly pulled the dragon head from the boat. Never mind finishing the race, it was a miracle that we didn’t sink! Ultimately we at least came away with a silver medal and a good story to tell.

Rowing the mixed and women’s teams were much more interesting. The women seemed to be destined for another bronze medal after a poor first heat in which they finished 3rd. With the winner decided by points in this event, the women needed to finish 1st in the final and the Buzz team, that had dominated the first heat, needed to finish 3rd. The final started with all teams close. Then as they pushed further down the race course, our women picked up steam and won the heat by a notable margin. Best of all, the Buzz women who had been strong in the first heat fell to 3rd place in the final. This meant that the Club’s women would win the gold medal overall by a tiebreaker!

previous day’s result with yet another gold medal. As the race started it seemed that we had done just that, but then fate intervened. A rogue wave smashed into the bow mere metres from the finish line. The impact was

The final day of this competition calls for the best local teams from the previous day’s racing to be pitted against the best international teams in 500m standard boat format. Both our women’s and mixed crews participated in fine fashion. The women, going up against the likes of the China national team, finished with another very respectable bronze medal. The mixed crew, similarly going up against the Taiwan national team, battled hard and came away with a silver medal just a nose shy of an overall victory. It was a great long weekend of racing for the Club’s team coming away with two bronze, two silver and two gold medals.

Our mixed crew kicked off the day with seemingly easy victories in both the preliminary and semi-final races. As the final started, we were very optimistic about repeating the

Wrapping up the season! W O RD S: Gianni A prea

he Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races marked the end of our on-water racing season and we ended the season with an awards night and a charity fund-raising event at Kellett Island on 8 July. The awards of course included a display of the many trophies the team was fortunate to achieve over the course of the season and everyone present greatly enjoyed reminiscing about this year’s success and planning for the season to come. A few days later on 11 July, a charity fundraising celebration was held. In a change from previous years, the party took place on the beach at Middle Island and was a

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huge success. All involved greatly enjoyed the experience and raised a lot of money for local charities in the process. This would have marked the end of our team activities for the year. However, just a few weeks later, members of the squad led by Lister Woo took part in the 5th Indoor Dragon Boat Championship on 19 July. The team came away with the top three men’s finalists and the mixed team championship. Well done to all of them! Now that the season is done, it is time to reflect a bit and then start looking forward.

Over the course of the year the Club’s Royal X team has raised over $50,000 for local charities, achieved over 20 podium finishes in competition, and had a boat load (pun intended) of memorable experiences in the process. Thank you to all of those who participated and volunteered time, effort and money to make this happen. We couldn’t have done this without a truly exceptional team effort. More to come in 2016! Dragon Boat Team Sponsors

Shing Mun 3 and Shing Mun 4 W O RD S: GU Y PA RS O N AGE | PH OTO S: WA N N G

Rowing

or those of you who are not rowers, let me paint a picture of the ‘beautiful’ Shing Mun river, situated not too conveniently in Sha Tin, running alongside the sewage works, the race track and amongst other things a floating restaurant. Most rowers during the racing season would spend between two and four sessions a week on the pungent outflows bashing out up to 12km a session. The Shing Mun regattas are our chance to challenge ourselves against a range of clubs including university crews, other rowing clubs and the Hong Kong squad of full-time rowers. Under the watchful eye of Pete Wells, the Club’s lead rowing coach, our crews fulfill a training regimen inspired by the GB rowing team with the addition of Bistro breakfasts, Wednesday curry buffets and a few carbohydrate-replacing beers. The creatively named Shing Mun 3 regatta was held on Sunday 7 June and saw a number of new women’s crews including rowers coming through the Development Course and the Stingrays who raced alongside more established members. First up were Santushni Gunetilleke and Maddie Woods racing together over 1,000m in the Women’s Novice Double Scull – coming in third behind two well-drilled Lok Tsui Rowing Club crews. In the Women’s Masters’ Double Scull, Amy Tung and Amy Chan broke the tradition of ‘training is cheating’, having managed a number of practices together to sharpen their technique. In what was predicted to be a close race with the New Star crew, the two Amys managed a speedy start. But alas, the equipment was not up to the strength of Amy Tung, whose power overwhelmed an oar collar. The Amys were forced to give up the fight and will return to row another day. Four brave Stingrays stepped up to the challenge of racing 2,000m in the Women’s Coxless Four event. In coxless events, one crew member (who is rowing) has responsibility for the steering – but still has to work with the other three crew members to keep the boat straight, all whilst

rowing at race pace, and facing the wrong way. Think of it like reversing backwards in a car, where you only have control over one of the four wheels. Lauren Chillington, Amelia Lee, Elizabeth Knight and Katie De Vos managed the challenge together and we look forward to seeing their progress in future races. Alex Bidlake, Lizzie Cottrell, Jo Thomson and Fleur Iannazzo joined together to race the quad scull and the coxless four – dominating both events and giving Jo a successful send off for her last rowing regatta in Hong Kong. Since joining in 2012 Jo has been an integral member of the rowing section, and we will miss her strength on the water and her cheeky grin in the bar. The day for the men started off as we meant to carry on with Alfred Lindman and Kaven Wijeyekoon collecting gold in the Novice Men’s Double Scull. This was backed up by an all-Club podium finish for the Masters’ Single Sculls with a gold for the ‘not-so-master’ Andy McCabe, silver for the Grand Master Mark ‘Wello’ Welles and a bronze for Bill ‘Wingman’ Woods. The race of the day was undoubtedly the Masters’ Quad Sculls with four of the Club’s finest – Mark Welles, Phil Adkins, Guy Parsonage and Aleksey Mironenko beating an all-star pack to bring home gold. There was one last race for the day, the Men’s Coxed Eight – Henry Gill, James Cooper, Pete Wells, Phil Crinion, Wan Ng, James Mead, John Skinner, Oliver Stubbs and Calvin Ng (cox). The boys brought home the bacon yet again to win gold for the third time in this category with special mention to Oliver Stubbs, a junior, who did an awesome job stepping up with the big boys. The day finished off with the trophy cabinet looking more like Alibaba’s cave thanks to the great effort of the team and coaches.

Rowing Contacts

Rowing Manager rowingmanager@rhkyc.org.hk Middle Island Co-ordinator mirowing@rhkyc.org.hk Shatin Men’s Racing shatinrowingmen@rhkyc.org.hk Shatin Women’s Racing shatinrowingladies@rhkyc.org.hk SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Rowing hing Mun 4 was held on Sunday 5 June. A day that felt as hot and steamy as the devil’s armpit. The day started off well in the Masters’ Men’s Double Sculls with a gold for Bill Woods and Jonathan Cantwell and silver for Mark Welles and Nobu Ishizuka. The Men’s Open Doubles were not quite up to scratch but commendably, considering the heat in the middle of the day, the boys had a good showing but sadly only managed 4th for Guy Parsonage and Philip Crinion, 5th for Toby Cheng and Ming Hang Cheung and 6th for Brandon Velarde and Kagen Woods against a strong field of Hong Kong Squad crews.

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The Men’s Open Coxed Four put in a valiant effort coming in 5th with John Vott, Guy Parsonage, Dan Sham, Allan Lai and Calvin Ng (cox) against a strong field and the Men’s Open Coxless Fours also tried hard coming in 5th with Henry Gill, Mark Welles, Stephen Monick and Nobu Ishizuka and 6th with John Skinner, Andrew Mccabe, Wan Ng and Oliver Stubbs. Finally the day finished triumphantly with the Men’s Eight coming home with a gold for the fourth time with Henry Gill, John Vott, Pete Wells, Guzman, Wan Ng, Andrew Mccabe, John Skinner, Oliver Stubbs and Calvin Ng (cox). A great day had by all with the Club finishing up for the season in second place, let’s see if they can put in the effort at the next race to become club of the year.

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The winning women’s four and their coach

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!

Rowing

Lamma Sprints W O RD S and PH OTO S: Jennie Chao

day racing at Lamma Island brings to mind a few things – South China Sea waters, summer heat, and several wins! On 1 July, the Club’s Outrigger team endured the 30+C temperature but managed to achieve several podium finishes in all events at the Lamma Sprints. Boat categories included standard OC6 (outrigger canoe for six paddlers) and OC1s (one-man canoe) in distances of 500m, 3km and 6km. The Club team had a mix of seasoned paddlers leading the way with new team members being initiated into outrigger racing. Other teams competing at Lamma Sprints included Victoria Recreation Club (VRC), Hong Kong Outrigger Canoe Club (HKOCC),South Lantau Paddle Club (SLPC), and Lantau Outrigger Canoe Club (LOCC). The 500m Sprint Races consisted of technical turns around two buoys in a series of three elimination rounds. The unique course layout had up to four boats starting off in opposite directions, heading either right or left parallel to the beach, and ending up approaching the finish line facing each other in a final sprint off. The force of changing boat direction along with sprint strokes adds to the challenge and is a test of teamwork. Leading up to this day were several practices focused on full 180-degree turns around buoys in Repulse Bay. A full 180-degree turn requires the co-ordinated efforts of the whole crew in an OC6. Going into the turn, paddlers need to be positioned on the correct side, the ‘Uni’ call (the Hawaiian word meaning ‘to lever’) is heard when the boat is in position to start the swing around the buoy. The steersperson must think strategically to minimise the loss of momentum and guide paddlers back into the sprint pace. Experienced paddler Lyesin Wong steered the ladies and was even able to use a

few oncoming waves after a course correction to the wrong buoy whose flag was trapped in the water. After three rounds, our women defended their 1st place title. Nick Crabb and John McLennan executed near perfect turns in the men’s category but VRC took first in the end with RHKYC Yellow and Blue Men’s in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The Club’s Mixed crew, led by Duncan Smith, had a blend of experienced and new paddlers in the boat and placed 2nd overall. After a break, the day continued into middistance events for OC6 and OC1s with the early afternoon sun directly above us. For the 6km races, Captains Francesca Zino and Ryan Whelan and Coach Rod Ho created one Men’s crew and two Mixed crews. The start was Le Mans style where four of six crew members run down the beach and jump into an outrigger boat while two other teammates are holding the boat. Six teams took the field at a time so the other 24 paddlers were aligned on the beach ready to run upon the “Ready” and “Go”. Experienced paddler Melissa Davis advised and reminded us to have control

Clockwise from top: OC1 race start; Francesca Zino takes 2nd place in OC1 3km race; Jeremy Young takes 3rd place in OC1 3km race; Club takes 1st place; Melissa Davis, Lesley Hobbs, Ryan Whelan, John McLennan, Francesca Zino, Zach Tuckwell (not pictured); Captain Whelan makes sure everyone is well hydrated SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Rowing

and be calm running down the beach so one can prepare for a strong paddle start. Coach Rod Ho also warned of past accidents where capsizes (‘Huli’ in Hawaiian) happen at the start due to excitement, confusion and small mistakes. Fortunately, it was a smooth start for all our crews and a good refresher as other forthcoming races will start in similar style. The 6km races took the crews furthest out, going directly from the beach into the horizon until reaching the first set of buoys at the border of the commercial lanes for a complete 180 turn, and direct line back to the beach. However, the race is not finished on the water. The race finish requires one paddler of each boat to sprint back up the beach and cross the finish line. The Club’s Men’s crew took 2nd with David Bulbeck calling the boat from seat 4. Our Mixed teams took 1st and 2nd place for this category with Melissa Davis and Jonathan Roberts respectively calling their boats. In the 3km OC6 race, our Mixed crew and Rookie crew both took 1st place in their race! This course took paddlers to the southeast corner of Hung Shing Yeh Bay and around a buoy where currents were stronger, and debris in the waters caused issue. The Mixed team was up against two Lamma boats, two VRC boats, and one HKOCC boat, while the

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Rookie boat took first over Lamma and HKOCC rookie boats. Lamma had several OC1s available for other clubs to use which was very helpful in getting more paddlers to participate in this category which is truly challenging after several races and being in the heat all day. Four of our paddlers entered the 6km OC1 category, Alasdair Grant placed 3rd, JF Tremblay placed 6th, while Nick Crabb came in 9th and Brian Bigos came in 12th overall. In the 3km OC1 race, Francesca Zino took 2nd place despite dried palm tree leaves interfering with the rudder, and Jeremy Young took 3rd place in the overall Men’s category by taking advantage of wind chop when possible to gain speed. Gina Miller, Chairperson for Lamma Outrigger Canoe Club, informs us that the event had roughly 80 paddlers and more participants are expected in coming years as this year the race clashed with a very late dragon boat season. The event is organised during a quiet time of the OC season and aimed at keeping paddlers hungry for competition. In addition to the appetite for racing, the lure of the Lamma post-race party and BBQ, which is entirely organised and cooked by members of the Lamma team, is what keeps the competitors coming back.

LAMMA 500m Sprints Women (1st): Francesca Zino, Erin Juhl, Natalie Kwan, Melissa Davis, Jennie Chao, Lyesin Wong steering Men Blue (3rd): Ryan Whelan, Zach Tuckwell, David Bulbeck, Rod Ho, Alasdair Grant, John McLennan steering Men Yellow (2nd): Simon Zhang, Jeremy Young, Brian Bigos, JF Tremblay, Jonathan Roberta, Nick Crabb steering Mixed (2nd): Bonita Leung, Lesley Hobbs, Bill Marr, Ivan Yeung, Charlie Lam, Duncan Smith steering LAMMA 6km Races OC6 and OC1 Mixed (1st): Simon Zeng, Jennie Chao, Ivan, Melissa, Stuart Leckie, Francesca Zino Mixed (2nd): Erin Juhl, Lesley, Bill Marr, Jonathon Roberts, Charlie Lam, Rod Ho Men (2nd): Ryan Whelan, Zach Tuckwell, Brian Bigos, David Bulbeck, Jeremy Young, John McLennan Men’s OC1: Alasdair Grant (3rd), JF Tremblay (6th), Nick Crabb (9th), Brian Bigos (12th) LAMMA 3km Races OC6 and OC1 Mixed OC6 (1st ): John McLenan, Zach Tuckwell, Ryan Whelan, Melissa Davis, Lesley, Cesca Rookie OC6 (1st ): Erin Juhl, Jennie Chao, Stuart Leckie, Ivan Leung, Charlie Lam, Jonathan Roberts Men’s OC1: Jeremy Young (3rd), Rod Ho (4th), Alasdair Grant (6th), David Bulbeck (7th ), JF Tremblay (8th), Ryan Whelan (11th) Women’s OC1: Francesca Zino (2nd)

Zino wins July edition of monthly race W O RD S: Jean - F rancois T remblay | Photo : K atie Townsend

Francesca’s winning time was 47m 3s – almost 1m 30s faster than the Women’s runner-up Jess King from Lamma Outrigger Canoe Club. The Club wasn’t as strong in the Men’s Single canoe class where David Bulbeck finished fourth with a time of 44m 58s. VRC monthly race from earlier on in the year

ur friendly rivals at the Victoria Recreation Club organise a monthly time trial, an exciting outrigger canoe race at Deep Water Bay on the first Saturday of every month. A highlight of Race 7 on 4 July 4 was that Francesca Zino, captain of the Club’s outrigger

canoe team (and former rowing Olympian), comfortably won the event in the Women’s Single Canoe category. The race took place on a morning so hot that the iPad used by race organisers malfunctioned and the results had to be re-entered manually.

Race 7 had a reduced field of entries. That was partly due to people being away for the summer, partly because the International Hong Kong Dragon Boat race was held the same weekend, and partly because many people had already raced at the Lamma Classics on Wednesday of the same week. But expect a large number of boats to line up at the start this autumn when the monthly meets take place.

Rowing Mid- Summer Dinner W ords: Wan N g , M artin Reynolds | Photos: Wan N g

he 2015 Rowing Mid- Summer Dinner – to celebrate mid-summer!! was held on 7 June. A strong attendance of 36 rowers, partners and infants filled the Gun Room and with more stripy blazers on show than is healthy, the venue resembled a wasps’ gathering. It gave the opportunity for everyone to thank outgoing Rowing Captain Alice Page by presenting her with a lovely collage of photos as a memento of her excellent two years at the helm of the Rowing Section dealing with a number of challenges and putting the Section on a stable footing for the incoming Captain. Thanks to Henry Gill for organising a marvellous evening. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Rowing

The usual course (and the course that was used for Race 7) was a 7.5km loop that took competitors to the back of Round Island and back to the starting point at VRC. But several times per year, the course is longer, sometimes by a lot. For instance, one particularly challenging race early this summer involved going to Shek O via a circuitous route (see page 38 of the July / August Ahoy!).

Going Coastal in Carteret Words: Cally Williams | Photos: Carteret Rowing Club

Rowing

arteret is a small but beautiful gem on the coast of Normandy, opposite the island of Jersey. On the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, it has a salty, Atlantic coast feeling. A nationally protected seven mile long seashore, it’s a wild and nameless coastline, backed by miles of dunes and clouds of terns. Each year Club d’Aviron de Mer de Barneville-Carteret arranges an international regatta between the island of Jersey and Carteret. The race is 28km long and for this year 32nd edition, the event attracted over 50 coastal boat entries. Despite disappointment that the promised race across the Channel was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions, the club at Carteret rebounded to lay on a 12.5km race from the entrance channel of Carteret to Portbail and back. Two doubles and one quad entered from the Club to provide our first overseas trophies in the coastal rowing section. Guillermo de las Casas teamed up with Bruno Lewuillon from Union Nautique de Bruxelles to enter the Men’s Doubles race. Despite

Left: Guillermo and the President of Carteret Rowing Club (wearing a snazzy tour polo shirt); Above: Guillermo de las Casas and Belgian Man in Double (need the name!); Julie Ho and Man Ng in the Mixed Double Quad, with Philippe Gresinski (cox), Stephen Pang (stroke), Stella Xu, Wee Khoon Chong, Cally Williams

being a scratch team, in a scratch boat with a 5m handicap (because 63-year-old Bruno is a Belgian champion 21x, crossed the Atlantic in 49 days and also rowed the Sea of Bengal), the team delivered a solid performance in 1hr 25m to come 3rd in the race. They finished 90s behind Simon Dennis MBE (British Rower and Olympic Gold Medallist) and brother Robert Dennis. The mixed double of Man Ng and Julie Ho put in a strong performance to also finish third in their race. The weather, which had caused the cancellation of the race across the channel, was still throwing big waves and large surf in the bay and up the coastline to provide exciting conditions. The quad were lucky enough to have ex-Club member Phillipe Grezinski to cox. He kindly came from Paris to bring the quad, made up of Stephen Pang (stroke), Stella Xu, Wee Khoon Chong and Cally Williams, home in 6th position. Carteret Rowing Club and the President Vincent Arnaud made the teams from Hong Kong feel especially welcome. The President presented the Club with a Commune de Carteret Trophy for the team coming the longest distance overseas with an invitation to return to Carteret for next year’s race. In return Guillermo de las Casas presented our Club banner to the club of Carteret as a thank you for their hospitality. As snow boarding is to skiing, coastal rowing is to ordinary rowing. In coastal rowing you see a lot of activity with wave and weather conditions that make it that much more difficult, sexy and challenging. Coastal rowing has for the last several years been part of the FISA’s world rowing programmes. If you are interested in trying out a coastal boat at Middle Island contact Kade Greenland, email kade.greenland@rhkyc.org.hk

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September 2015

t i d e s tue

0427 0.8 1107 2.3 1702 0.7 2352 2.0

0436 1.0 1117 2.0 1658 1.0 2313 2.0

0516 0.8 1200 2.1 1737 0.8

17 thu

0515 1.0 1156 1.9 1725 1.1 2342 2.1

0037 2.1 0607 0.8 1258 1.9 1812 1.0

0556 1.0 1239 1.8 1751 1.2

0129 2.1 0706 0.9 1410 1.7 1848 1.1

0012 2.1 0641 1.0 1332 1.7 1817 1.3

0230 2.1 0828 1.0 1534 1.5 1926 1.3

0048 2.1 0736 1.1 1447 1.5 1843 1.4

0334 2.1 1008 1.0 1708 1.5 2010 1.4

0133 2.1 0854 1.1 1623 1.5 1918 1.5

0439 2.1 1138 0.9 1930 1.5 2119 1.5

0241 2.1 1027 1.0 1848 1.5 2030 1.5

Tue

0541 2.1 1244 0.9 2018 1.6 2313 1.5

0400 2.1 1146 0.9 1930 1.6 2229 1.5

0637 2.2 1329 0.8 2046 1.6

24 thu

0507 2.2 1242 0.8 1959 1.7 2353 1.4

0028 1.4 0725 2.2 1406 0.7 2107 1.7

0612 2.3 1324 0.8 2023 1.8

0121 1.3 0808 2.2 1441 0.7 2125 1.7

0056 1.3 0716 2.3 1402 0.7 2049 1.9

0206 1.2 0847 2.2 1512 0.8 2141 1.8

0151 1.1 0817 2.4 1440 0.7 2119 2.1

0246 1.1 0925 2.2 1540 0.8 2157 1.9

0242 0.9 0914 2.4 1517 0.8 2153 2.2

0323 1.1 1002 2.1 1606 0.9 2219 1.9

0331 0.8 1009 2.3 1553 0.8 2230 2.3

0359 1.0 1039 2.1 1631 0.9 2245 2.0

0418 0.7 1102 2.2 1628 1.0 2309 2.4

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W ords: Simon Pickerin g

t has been a ‘rocking’ year here in the Boatyard and it feels as if more boats have ‘rocked’ in the past twelve months than I can count on two hands. Last month I reincarnated an article Roger Eastham previously wrote for the December 2006 Ahoy – ‘Roger’s Top 30 Spots to Rock’. If you did not read it may I humbly suggest that you do and perhaps even mark them on a chart as an exercise to help remember! Since the article was published, one of our members has scored ten out of ten for structural damage to his yacht after hitting Rock No. 1 which is between Ma Tsai Pai and Tiu Chung Chau. There is also another rock somewhere off Discovery Bay that just claimed its third victim. You know who you are. Perhaps all four of us should get together and try to work out a Latitude Longitude to share with the other members. I have to admit that I hit the rock between Ma Tsai Pai and Tiu Chung Chau in 1989 whilst delivering Neil Pryde’s Sunstreaker up to Mirs Bay for the final race of the Typhoon Series. In those days the race that counted was held in Mirs Bay and the pursuit race was the trip up. Sunstreaker needed to win the race to win the series. Neil was arriving back from Europe late and had made a cunning plan arrangement through Club Marina Cove’s Manager Richard Hargreaves to charter a power boat for the trip up to Double Haven. I was new to Hong Kong and the crew member I had just met was a Government Land Surveyor and thus I assumed he knew a bit about the geography of Hong Kong. Yes you know who you are too, don’t you! So we landed on top of the rock and stuck. We rolled gunnel to gunnel three times and then fell off the rock. I dived over to check for damage. Oh me oh my. First month working for Neil Pryde. Oh me oh my. We ring Ho Sai Lo the yard manager at Club Marina Cove on the Motorola Mobile Phone. Boat out of the water. Four hours of panel beating and grinding. Back into the water and off to Mirs Bay. Arrived well after dark. Drunks are very boring when you are sober. We went to sleep. Next day a large power boat pulls along side. “Where are the people to go back to Hong Kong?”. “No you are bringing them from Hong Kong to us!!!!” Race started in very light air. Drifter up. Sailed thru the lee of Foo and Jelik. First into the building breeze. Dip pole gybing with running backstays and 5 crew in 15 knots on the way back from Gau Tau to Double Haven. That was hairy. Beat the competition by 45 minutes on the water. That night back in Double Haven no one was boring. Mark Dagge goes for a swim. “Didn’t Sunstreaker have a bulb?” “Did she?” As we motored back to Sai Kung and finally got a phone signal we nervously call Neil Pryde. “We hit the bottom on the way up.” “Did you win?” “Yes we did” “Excellent”. When it comes to ‘rocking’ I have done it spectacularly… more than once …not proud of it …

SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

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Crewsaver Crewift 165N Sport Harness Auto Lifejacket The Crewfit 165N Sport uses the latest 3D technology, ensuring maximum comfort levels. Entry level to the 3D range, the Crewfit 165N Sport has the essential features to ensure the recreational user remains safe when out on the water.

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Sundicators UV Wristbands 6pcs Sundicators UV Monitoring Wristbands are UVA and UVB gauges that remind you when to re-apply sunscreen or when to seek shade. Our skin wellness technology is the latest advancement in sunburn, sun damage and anti-aging innovation. They are attractive, child friendly, unisex and easily fit into the most active outdoor lifestyle! Once the wristband has been wrapped around the wearer’s wrist, the user then applies sunscreen to their body – as well as their Sundicators Wristband– before going about their outdoor activity. Sundicators will then change colour to let the wearer know it’s time to re-apply sunscreen – or to get out of the sun. Enjoy fun in the sun without the worry of when to re-apply !

A robust handset, unrivalled battery life, excellent voice quality and the reliability you expect from the world’s leading provider of mobile satellite communications – IsatPhone 2 delivers it all.

$8,400

Whale Supersub Bilge Pump The narrow low profile automatic compact bilge pump range. Supersub Family – narrow, low profile bilge pump fits deep down in small/awkward bilge spaces where other pumps won’t fit.

$1,373

HUTCHWILCO Lifebelt Pouch 150N A bumbag style inflatable lifejacket. Ideal for boating & (SUP) Boarding.

$1,200

$58

Semco Teak Sealer Quart Natural-looking protection that lasts through the season Seals and protects teak. A two-coat (weton-wet) initial application will generally last through the season. Can be renewed without deep cleaning or stripping.

$420 44

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!

Call David in the Ship Shop on

2239 0336 or email: shipshop@rhkyc.org.hk

Boat builders

Boats

SAILMA K E RS

Marine

REGATTA YACHTS LTD Builder and repairers of pleasure boats, fibreglass and woodwork specialists, riggers, fitters, metal workers, painters and all kinds of marine work. Slipway available. Contact: EVA WONG Tel: 2719 8875 Fax: 2358 0621 Lot 491 DD 210

Tel: Fax:

E-mail:

Hebe Haven, Sai Kung

sales@leesails.com www.leesails.com

Web site:

Heung Wah Industrial Building 19/F, 12 Wong Chuk Hang Road Aberdeen, Hong Kong

New Territories

BOAT c h a r t e r

2870 0289 2870 0217

I n s u r a n ce

Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited is now part of JARDINE LLOYD THOMPSON LIMITED Some things never change Our priority is still providing the best for you 5/F, Cityplaza Four, 12 Taikoo Wan Road Taikoo Shing, Island East, Hong Kong Contact: Tom Chan T: 2864 8918 F: 2161 0135 Tom_Chan@jltasia.com

www.jltasia.com We specialise in Insurance Yachts • Hull, Cargo and Commercial Marine • Employee Benefits • Professional Risks • Commercial Insurance • Construction Insurance SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

SAILMA K E RS

Wills

Princess Yachts Greater China

T: +852 2497 7228

Marine

Get the latest information from the official website Sales / Services / Repair Contact us for a quotation or visit us at: UK SAILMAKERS (HK) LTD 2/F, 5 Lung Yiu Street, Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun, NT, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2775 7711 Fax: (852) 2775 7722 Email: sales@ukhongkong.com Web: www.uksailmakers.com

SIMPSON MARINE ltd

Boats 022 NORTH LTD T : 2358 2113 F: 2396 5572 M: 9457 3573 Contact: Russ Parker russ@22northhk.com www.22northhk.com X-YACHTS / Summit yachts

CHINA PACIFIC MARINE LTD

Training

Shop B11 Marina Cove, Shopping Arcade Sai Kung, Hong Kong T: 2358 0023 F: 2358 0006 Contact: Don Chow cpmarine@netvigator.com Fountaine-Pajot / JEANNEAU / Zodiac

Aberdeen Marina Tower, 8 Shum Wan Road Aberdeen, Hong Kong T: +852 2555 8377 hongkong@simpsonmarine.com www.simpsonmarine.com Yachting Freedom Since 1984

SUNSEEKER ASIA LTD No. 19 Po Chong Wan Shum Wan Road Aberdeen Hong Kong T: 3105 9693 F: 2545 8035 office@sunseeker.com.hk www.sunseeker.com SUNSEEKER

BOAT ACCESSORIES ronsil Development ltd KINGSWAY MARINE 25/F One Capital Place, 18 Luard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong T: 2900 2222 F: 2116 9729 M: 9039 1717 enquiry@kingswaymarine.com www.kingswaymarine.com

PIERCEY MARINE LIMITED 93 Che Keng Tuk Road Sai Kung, Hong Kong T: 2791 4106 F: 2791 4124 Contact: Steve Piercey E: info@pierceymarine.com W: www.pierceymarine.com AMEL / CATALINA / GUN BOAT / Saturn yachts

Unit 1704 17/F Kodak House II 39 Healthy Street East Hong Kong T: 2834 1633 F: 2834 0201 ronsil@netvigator.com Maxell anchoring systems

Boat Ge ar storage STORED! for yacht Gear

Unit 13, 13th Floor Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen, Hong Kong T: 3165 1039 info@stored.com.hk Self Storage Units Air-conditioned. 24 hour access 5-117 SQ FT FROM $273/MONTH Call to arrange a viewing

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!

Brokerage Northrop and Johnson Asia LTD

www.njyachtsasia.com

Room 703 Henan Building 90 Jaffe Road Wanchai, Hong Kong Contact: Gideon Mowser T: 2827 5876 F: 2827 7120 sales@sky-international.com www.sky-international.com For all your Marine Leisure Needs, from Dinghies to Grand Prix Racing Yachts

Yacht insurance Aon Hong Kong Limited 28/F Tower 1 Times Square 1 Matheson Street Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Contact: Tommy Ho, Yacht Insurance Specialist Yacht Department T: 2862 4241 F: 2243 8861 tommy.ho@aon.com www.aon.com.hk

T: +852 2815 7712

Graphics

Storm Force Marine Ltd

RONSIL DEVELOPMENT LTD Unit 1704, 17/F Kodak House II 39 Healthy Street East Hong Kong T: 2834 1633 F: 2834 0201 ronsil@netvigator.com BOAT NAMES / LOGOS / NUMBERS

marine fabrics

1901 Dominion Centre 43-59 Queens Road East Wanchai, Hong Kong Contact: Simon Boyde T: 2866 0114 sales@stormforcemarine.com www.stormforcemarine.com Marine Products Distributer and Chandlery

Jardine LLOYD Thompson Limited 5th Floor Cityplaza Four 12 Taikoo Wan Road Taikoo Shing Island East, Hong Kong Contact: Tom Chan T: 2864 8918 F: 2161 0135 Tom_Chan@jltasia.com

Yacht Services Princess Yachts Greater China

B.Van Zuiden (Asia) Ltd Flat B 1/F Fast Industrial Building 658 Castle Peak Road Cheung Sha Wan Kowloon, Hong Kong T: 2148 3423 F: 2368 7455 M: 9668 8833 info@bvz.com www.bvz.com www.sunbrella.com Sunbrella Fabrics

Sailmakers DOYLE SAILS Contact: Warwick Downes M: 9151 6767 doylesailsea@gmail.com www.doylesails.com Doyle Sails Southeast Asia

T: +852 2497 7228 www.princessyachtsgc.com.hk Free Inspection & Professional Yacht Consultation by a Newly Established International Team Sales / Services / Repair

Racing Yacht Services Ltd

Training Marine Products

Yachting Ventures Ltd Contact: info@yachtingventures.com www.yachtingventures.com

Neich Tower, 2 Floor, 128 Gloucester Road, Wanchai Hong Kong T: 25118337 M: 91993860 E: monstermarineinasia@gmail.com www.monstermarine.com.hk Exclusive Distributor: Aer Marine Tenders / Outboard Covers / Ribeye RIBs and Tenders / Rooster Sailing Gear / Scorpion RIBs / Sharx shoes nd

PIERCEY MARINE LIMITED 93 Che Keng Tuk Road Sai Kung, Hong Kong T: 2791 4106 F: 2791 4124 E: info@pierceymarine.com www.pierceymarine.com 30 years in Hong Kong Suppliers of Top of the Range Marine products

LEARN TO SAIL ON A 45â&#x20AC;&#x2122; YACHT! HKSF Competent Crew & Day Skipper Courses. Corporate charters. Flexible bookings. Gift Certificates

water sports Smooth Marine Equipment Ltd No 29C Shum Wan Road Po Chong Wan Aberdeen, Hong Kong T: 2580 8248 F: 2870 0263 Contact: May Chan sales@smooth-marine.com www.smooth-marine.com

Contact: Nigel Reeves M: 9768 6437 nigel@racingyachtservices.com www.racingyachtservices.com Sail Storage / Boat Preparation / Running Rigging

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN REACHING THE BOATING COMMUNITY IN HONG KONG? ...then Ahoy! should be your choice. If you are interested please email ahoy@rhkyc.org.hk or contact the RHKYC PR Department on 2239 0307 or 2239 0312

SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Marine

*Yacht Brokerage *Yacht Charter *Yacht Management

Sky International

Events | Promotions

Middle Island Garage Sale

Paddington

Sedgwick and Minnitt Rooms Saturday 5 September | 1600hrs to 1800hrs

If you’re not sailing in the Autumn Regatta, why not bring the family down to the Club and watch Paddington in the Chart Room? Open to all members and their guests.

Is your home overflowing with outgrown and unwanted sailing and rowing gear? Bring it all to the Middle Island Garage Sale! Sales restricted to sailing and rowing gear only. Open to all members and their guests. Commission of 15% will be charged on all sales.

Chart Room | Sunday 20 September | 1430hrs

Adapted from Michael’s Bonds beloved books, Paddington is the magical adventure of a polite young Peruvian bear, who travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington station, it seems that city life is not all he imagined – until he meets the Brown family, who kindly offer him a place to stay. But little do the Browns realise just how much chaos one small bear can cause – and they soon discover that their lives will never be the same again.

Celebration of 70th anniversary of Clubhouse re-opening Main Bar | Thursday 17 September | 1945hrs To mark 70 years since Kellett Island Clubhouse was re-opened by HMS Vengeance, Vice Commodore Rob Stoneley will perform a ribboncutting ceremony at the Main Bar entrance. We hope any members in the bar at the time will leave so they can then re-enter when it is officially opened! For the following 70 minutes, all standard drinks will be at 1945 prices!

The Grace Notes Compass Room | Wednesday 16 September | 2015hrs to 2130hrs

Celebration of 75th anniversary of Kellett Island Clubhouse The Grace Notes, Hong Kong’s premier all-female a cappella group, will be performing in the Compass Room from 2015hrs to 2030hrs and from 2115hrs to 2130hrs. The performance is free of charge to all members and their guests who are dining in the Compass Room that evening.

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!

Main Lawn | Saturday 20 September To celebrate 75 years since the Clubhouse was first opened, the Edmond de Rothschild Autumn Regatta prizegiving will be followed by live music on the lawn from Dixie Katz.

Events | Promotions

Speaker’s Corner with Stephen Davies – HMS Tamar Chart Room | Friday 25 September | 1930hrs

Oriental Delights Bistro | 1 September to 31 October with selected items at Middle Island and Shelter Cove** M ain C o urse s

Pan-fried Prawns, Supreme Soy Sauce 頭抽煎大蝦 In early 2015 a large, metal object was found 6m down in the soft mud of the seabed, 20m off the north tip of the old Wanchai Ferry Pier. What was it? Stephen Davies was called in as a local maritime history expert to find a probable answer. An analysis of old charts from 1866 to 2005 soon showed it could be the remains of only one vessel; the old Royal Navy nominal depot ship 1897 to 1941, HMS Tamar. A single, small artefact recovered from the remains raised a 90%+ probability to 99%+… and produced a marvellous story linking a small Somersetshire village to China, St Helena, Gallipoli, present day Australia, the American Civil War and New Bedford whaling.

Chinese Lantern-Making Chart Room | Saturday 26 September | 1030hrs to 1200hrs

Oven-baked Korean Chilli Paste-marinated French Spring Chicken, Kimchee, Steamed Rice 焗韓式辣醬醃法國春雞、泡菜、白飯 Slow-cooked Lamb Shank Curry, Pilaf Rice 慢煮羊咖喱、印度飯 Pita Bread stuffed with Roast Duck Julienne, Fresh Mango, Red Onion, Lettuce, Mint Yoghurt Dressing 鴨絲中東包 – 燒鴨絲、鮮芒果、紅洋蔥、生菜、薄荷乳酪醬、中東包 Bak Kut Teh – Singaporean Pork Rib Soup with Herb, Steamed Rice 星洲肉骨茶、白飯 Vietnamese Raw Beef and Flat Rice Noodles in Beef Broth 越式生牛肉湯河粉 De s sert

Chestnut Sago Pudding with Custard Sauce 栗子西米布甸伴吉士醬

Come and make your very own lantern in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival! Open to all members – minimum age 6. The cost will vary depending on numbers but will be around $250 per head. Booking is essential – please visit the website or email social@rhkyc.org.hk

**Please note that the Oriental Delights will be suspended at Middle Island and Shelter Cove between 26 September and 4 October while special German dishes are being served during Oktoberfest. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Oyster Feast Compass Room | 1 September to 31 October

Events | Promotions

The popular Oyster Feast is back! Oyster lovers will be pleased to see our sensational selection of jet-fresh oysters from a number of countries including France, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States which are all in season now and will be served in the Compass Room until the end of October. Prices range from only $29 each. Don’t miss it! For reservations, please call the Compass Room on 2239 0374.

Oktoberfest Middle Island and Shelter Cove | 26 September to 4 October This year we will be celebrating Oktoberfest at both Middle Island and Shelter Cove, starting with a special evening on Saturday 26 September. Come and enjoy traditional German music, eat some traditional German food, and wash it down with a cold German beer, Erdinger Weissbier. The beer and food (details below) will then be available until Sunday 4 October. Special Dishes for Oktoberfest Grilled Assorted Sausage Platter (Munich White, Frankfurter, Nürnberg) 扒雜錦腸拼盤（慕尼黑白腸、法蘭克福腸、紐倫堡腸） ❧ ❧ ❧ Roast Pork Knuckle, Sauerkraut, Potato Salad 燒豬手、酸椰菜、馬鈴薯沙律 ❧ ❧ ❧ Pan-seared Salmon Fillet, Braised Red Cabbage, Mashed Potato, Dill Cream Sauce 煎三文魚柳、燴紫椰菜、馬鈴薯蓉、刁草忌廉汁

Autumn BBQ Parties The rainy season is almost over and the cooler weather is ideal for a BBQ party for your family and friends at one of Hong Kong’s most stunning outdoor venues, at our Causeway Bay Clubhouse. Alternatively, Middle Island offers an amazing outdoor setting for private parties. For reservations or enquiries about our special party packages, please contact our Banquet experts on 2239 0385 / 2239 0327 / 2239 0339 or email banquet@rhkyc.org.hk

Christmas Parties The Club is already inundated with bookings and enquiries for this Christmas. If you’re already making plans for your own, or your company’s Christmas party, please make your reservations early and our Banquet team will be more than happy to assist you with the planning and organisation. Please contact our Banquet experts on 2239 0385 / 2239 0327 / 2239 0339 or email banquet@rhkyc.org.hk

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!

Wine of the Month

Monthly Wine Fairs

Doña Paula Estate Chardonnay 2013 – Mendoza, Argentina Citric and mineral aromas with notes of spices and tropical fruits. In the mouth, it is fresh and lively, with good acidity and balance.

Your attendance at our wine fairs does not place you under any obligation whatsoever to purchase wines. It is also basically a free wine tasting with no obligation – marvellous! The $50 ‘entry fee’ is returned to you in the form of a $50 dining voucher to spend at our F&B outlets! Many members are catching on to this and inviting groups of friends to enjoy the two-hour wine tasting and then using the F&B vouchers to offset a meal another day within two months! The wine fairs are a great opportunity for you to taste wines and learn more about them. And, if you do wish to purchase wines on the evening, you can enjoy a 5% discount on the already low prices!

Available in all F&B outlets at $280 per bottle. Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenére 2012 – Apalta Valley, Chile The bouquet is fruity with strong plum, cherry and mulberry notes. The aroma has a vegetable edge of ripe red pepper. Complex flavour with jams, spinach and chocolate. Pleasant smoky and toast notes, bringing out its spices; soft texture with rounded tannins and medium body.

Kellett Island, Wednesday 2 September, 1830hrs to 2030hrs Shelter Cove, Friday 4 September, 1930hrs to 2130hrs For reservations or enquiries, please call Janice Yip in the F&B Office on 2239 0340 or email events@rhkyc.org.hk

Available in all F&B outlets at $290 per bottle.

CHEERS! Beverage Specials Heineken (330ml) Available in all F&B outlets at only $29 per bottle

Castello Banfi Wine Dinner Compass Room | Thursday 10 September Castello Banfi is a family-owned estate in the Brunello region of Tuscany and is a rarity among Italian wine estates. The most gratifying of all the praise it has received is the one from neighbouring vintners who acknowledge Banfi’s role in pioneering a new wine in Brunello and bringing it to the attention of the world. Wine Spectator Magazine has ranked Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino and the Riserva Poggio all’ Oro Brunello di Montalcino among their top 10 wines of the year twice in the last three years.

Pre-dinner Tasting 1930hrs Dinner 2000hrs Price Only $748 per person ($698 per person for a booking of 8 persons or more per table) Speaker Mr Paolo Fassina, Area Manager Asia of Castello di Banfi Reservations Call Janice Yip in the F&B Office on 2239 0340 or email events@rhkyc.org.hk PRE-DINNER TASTING Banfi Tener Spumante Brut N.V. MENU AND WINES Pan-seared Scallops, Grilled Zucchini and Capsicum Salad, Peach Salsa Castello Banfi ‘San Angelo’ Pinot Grigio IGT 2014 ❧ ❧ ❧ Slightly-seared Tuna, Braised Orzo Pasta, Natural Jus Castello Banfi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2013 ❧ ❧ ❧ Chicken Saltimbocca, Basil Pesto Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2009 ❧ ❧ ❧ Osso Bucco, Wild Mushrooms, White Beans Castello Banfi ‘Poggio alle Mura’ Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2009 (limited quantity) ❧ ❧ ❧ Tiramisu, Chocolate Biscotti, Raspberry Sabayon Banfi ‘Brachetto d’acqui’ Rosa Regale DOCG 2013 ❧ ❧ ❧ Freshly Brewed Coffee or Gourmet Tea SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Wine Delivery Order Form – September ‘Try Before You Buy – No Obligation!’ All the wines listed below are featured at the monthly wine fairs at both Kellett Island and Shelter Cove. If you do enjoy the wines and wish to make a purchase, you can enjoy a 5% discount on these already low prices!

Events | Promotions

Kellett Island Wine Fair – Chart Room, Wednesday 2 September, 1830hrs to 2030hrs, guests welcome. Shelter Cove Wine Fair – Shelter Cove Clubhouse, Friday 4 September, 1930hrs to 2130hrs, guests welcome. Wine Fair entry is only $50 per person which includes the sampling of all the wines on the list, complimentary canapés and a $50 dining voucher which can be used in F&B outlets within two months. Another way to look at it is that you’re attending these wine fairs free of charge! See the website for further details. Book now with Janice Yip in the F&B Office on 2239 0340 or email events@rhkyc.org.hk

Sparkling Wines

per bottle

Ciù Ciù Merlettaie Spumante Brut N.V. – Marche, Italy

This wine has a white and creamy froth. The scent expresses an aroma of yeast with grassy and hawthorn blossom perfume. Its fresh almond flavour is agreeable and soft to the palate.

qty

amount

$163

White Wines Doña Paula Estate Chardonnay 2013 – Mendoza, Argentina (wine of the month)

$130

Three Miners Pinot Gris 2013 – Central Otago, New Zealand

$170

John Duval Wines Plexus Marsanne Roussane Viognier 2012 – Barossa Valley, Australia

$220

Schloss Vollrads Edition Riesling 2013 – Rheingau, Germany

$255

Clos Du Val Chardonnay 2013 – Carneros, Napa Valley, USA

$255

Citric and mineral aromas with notes of spices and tropical fruits. In the mouth, it is fresh and lively, with good acidity and balance. Bouquet of rock melon and white peach plus mineral aromatics, pear and almond frangipani with elegant texture on the palate, strong persistence and presence. Aromas of stone fruits, honeysuckle and citrus. Medium-bodied with good richness and mouth-feel. Flavours of mandarin, pear, fennel and Asian spice are balanced with minimal acidity. Full-bodied with a very rich peach and some citrus aromas. Great balance of extract, fruit and acidity. Rich flavours with tropical fruit. Aromas of baked apple and pear with ripe, expressive flavours of peach and apricot. Full and rich accented by bright citrus and a hint of oak with a long finish.

Rosé Wine Château Pesquié Terrasses Rose 2013 – Rhône Valley, France

Flavours of fresh red berries and citrus fruits. The mouth develops with a lot of freshness and lasting notes of currant, citrus and raspberry with great balance.

$155

RED Wines Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenére 2012 – Apalta Valley, Chile (wine of the month)

$135

Sherwood Estate Waipara Collection Nor'wester Pinot Noir 2011 – Waipara Valley, New Zealand

$190

Mollydooker Two Left Feet Shiraz Cabernet Merlot 2014 – McLaren Vale, South Australia

$194

Ciù Ciù Oppîdum Marche IGT Rosso 2010 – Marche, Italy

$232

The bouquet is fruity with strong plum, cherry and mulberry notes. The aroma has a vegetable edge of ripe red pepper. Complex flavour with jams, spinach and chocolate. Pleasant smoky and toast notes, bringing out its spices; soft texture with rounded tannins and medium body. Rich berry fruit and plum aromatics supported nicely by oak complexity. The palate is full and round with lovely texture and impressive length in the finish. Great balance between varietals in seamless harmony with smooth and creamy flavours. Plum, blackberry, liquorice; spice, coffee, chocolate; array of red and dark fruits with lovely warm and toasted oak which is nicely integrated. Deep vanilla perfume on the nose with smooth flavour. This is a full-bodied wine.

Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2013 – Rhône Valley, France

$293

John Duval Wines Plexus Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre 2012 – Barossa Valley, South Australia

$298

Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – Napa Valley, USA

$330

The nose is well-layered, alternating wafts of blackberries, flowers and light smoke. The palate is rich and complex with smooth tannins. Blackberries, dark cherries, anise, spice and brambly notes are detected on the palate. An array of red and black berry aromatics, wild berries and cassis. Soft texture and fine tannins on the palate. Flavours of blackberry and dark cherry with hints of Asian spice and Christmas cake. Aromas of black fruits, baking spices, dark chocolate and leather. Rich and complex palate, flavours of berry pie, mocha, cedar, black pepper and vanilla toast. Creamy and round texture with full and well-structured tannins.

• All wines are delivered to your designated address by the supplier and are subject to availability of stock. • Mixed cases accepted. Order 12 or more bottles to enjoy free delivery service. For lesser quantities, orders can be collected from the Main Bar. • The cost of the wines will be charged to members’ accounts. • Free delivery service to Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories (excluding outlying islands, Lantau Island, Tung Chung and Discovery Bay). • Delivery service is available on weekdays only except public holidays (subject to delivery schedule). Name (Please Print):

Membership No.:

Telephone No. (Home/ Office):

(mobile):

Delivery Address: Preferred Delivery Date:

TIme:

Signature: date:

FAX THIS FORM TO 2239 0341. FOR ENQUIRIES PLEASE CALL 2239 0340 • Deadline for Ordering: 30 September 2015 •

CLASS SECRETARIES

SPORTS CONVENORS

Bowling Convenor Simon Boyde bowling@rhkyc.org.hk Golf Convenor David Leung golf@rhkyc.org.hk Snooker Convenor Don Day snooker@rhkyc.org.hk Squash Convenor Francis Longuepee squash@rhkyc.org.hk

CLUB CONTACTS

General Manager Mark Bovaird 2239 0300 mark.bovaird@rhkyc.org.hk Executive Secretary Polly Lee 2239 0301 Financial Controller Tim Gallagher 2239 0315 Membership Manager Tracy Leung 2239 0371 PR & Communications Manager Koko Mueller 2239 0342 Member Relations & Communications Manager Linda Davy 2239 0312 Corporate and International Partnerships Manager Torrey Dorsey 2832 2817 Marine and Sailing Manager Joe Goddard 2239 0308 Boatyard and Marine Operations Manager Simon Pickering 2239 0311 Middle Island Sailing and Marine Manager Ailsa Angus 2812 7303 Sail Training Administrator Gloria Yeung 2239 0395 Assistant Sailing Manager Iris Yang 2239 0314 Assistant Manager | Sailing and Promotion Lindsay Lyons 2239 0391 Assistant Manager | Regattas and Events Nikki Claringbold 2239 0363 Assistant Manager | Race Management Brenda Davies 2239 0362 Rowing and Paddle Sports Manager Kade Greenland 2239 0322 Boatyard Office Manager Connie Chan 2239 0304 Food & Beverage Manager Shirley Tam 2239 0321 Technical & Projects Manager Carton Lam 2239 0303 Human Resources Manager Susanna Chung 2239 0310 Ship Shop Manager David Ho 2239 0336 Assistant Marine Manager Joanne Ho 2239 0309 House Manager Lorence Leung 2239 0352

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

Kellett Island, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, SAR Kellett Island Tel: 2832 2817 Fax: 2572 5399 Middle Island Tel: 2812 7202 Shelter Cove Tel: 2792 2744

Membership Movement ORDINARY MEMBERS Mr Eliot T Cargile Dr Chang Wai Man Ms Idy M T Cheng Ms Chu Lim Chi Miss Jessica M Y Dan Mr Christopher M Davies Mr Alasdair C Grant Mr Howard K H Lam Mr Alexander J M Marshall Ms Kamilah S Mohamed Mrs Amy Mumford Ms Ng Tai Man Ms Christina J S Park Mr Alan P L Tse Mr Jason H K Woo Mr & Mrs H Johan Leven Mr & Mrs James Ji-Kin Lumsdaine Mr & Mrs Andrew R McCabe Mr & Mrs Ross J Vickers Mr & Mrs David A Walder Mr & Mrs Zeng Hao FULL MEMBERS Miss Elizabeth J Dunn Mr Brian S Henderson Dr Claire Wilson Ms Bonnie P S Wong JUNIOR MEMBERS Mr Choi Yu Hin Miss Elizabeth C R Cottrell Mr Leung Kit Mr Jeremy H L Suen Mr Alexander L Y Tin Mr Justin C H Woo CHANGE FROM JUNIOR MEMBERS TO ORDINARY MEMBERS Mr Fraser C M Smith Mr Joost P M Vandenbroucke

CADET MEMBERS Gemma Acconci Antoine P Bach Guillaume C Bach Liz Bousser Bryant E Chan Hannah Crawford Clementine Croly-Labourdette Thomas N Ginns Emily-Ming O Harper Peter C Hartz Luc C Hogan Morten A Kock Bertam C T Lau Alexander Lawrence Morgan Lawrence Anna M Leven Axel H G Leven Malin E Leven Savannah G Overton Aaron C C So Joshua Toner Cawte Alyssa M Wong Oscar Y L Wong Tanya T N Woo Cade C Wright Tallulah T Wright CADET MEMBERS SPONSORED BY A MEMBER Rhiannon S Bird Adrian S Blumenthal Jason L Blumenthal Quentin K T Chan Justin Leung Kenneth Leung Wong Wang Chin INDIVIDUAL DEBENTURE MEMBERS Mr Zheng Li Mr Wei Jie & Mr Frederick T Laydon Mr & Mrs Leung Ka Man

July | August 2015

CORPORATE NOMINEE SUBSCRIBERS Mr Bohdan P Abrat

Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance – Executive Director and Senior Counsel

Mr Kosala S Jayaweera

Royal Bank of Scotland Asia Ltd – Head of APAC, CCP Credit & FI Credit APAC (Japan)

Mr & Mrs Francois M Bach

Richemont Asia Pacific Limited – Chief Financial Officer, Asia Pacific

Ms Chan Wan Ming & Mr Nguy Sy Ty

Palmer and Turner Ltd – Architect/Director

Mr & Mrs Bradley H Schwartz

The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Group – Managing Director

ABSENT MEMBERS Mr David Borner Mrs Suzanne B Downes Ms Claire L Garner Mr Daniel C W Lau Miss Alexandra L Witt Mr & Mrs Nigel Aiken Mr & Mrs Edward J Carmichael Mr & Mrs W J Jeffrey Evans Mr & Mrs Jonathan Gove Mr & Mrs Eugene C Gregor Mr & Mrs James A Hickman Mr & Mrs Yves D G Jacob Mr & Mrs Richard Marples Mr & Mrs Reginald J Peacock Mr & Mrs Darryl G Saw Samantha L Gove Agathe Marples Elliot Marples Seiya A Peacock Charles H Suddens-Spiers RESIGNED MEMBERS Mr Marcel A Chambers Miss Harriet A Dedman

Ms Ellen Y L Ho Ms Lam Wai Sze Mr Gregory D C Miller Miss Joanna Thomson Ms Naomi Y M Zhao Mr & Mrs Joel C S Chan Mr & Mrs Choi Chi Lun Mr & Mrs Jon S C Dalmeida Ms Christine Houston & Mr Erik H Floyd Mr & Mrs Frederic J Klein Mrs Cammy T J Li Woo & Mr Li Wing Hong Ms Tatiana Renko & Mr Gonzalo Gomez-Arrue Azpiazu Ms Yee Ai Li & Mr Rodrigues W L Teh Richard J Atkinson John A Beresford James Bolland Nicholas A C Buxton Chan Jon Man Tinny Chan Alice L L Chien Solomon C H Choi Gabriel H C Chung Patrick J Hart Kathryn Houston-Floyd Fernanda O K Lai Clement K M Law Leung Mei Yee Kerry Lo James J Mok Raef Morrison Stephen C K Poon Hannah Raymond-Cox Oliver N T Smith Ting Hiu Mei Hugo Touzard Penelope E Van De Ven Jolie Wong Nicholas Yau

Obituary

Victoria Margaret Trenaman 1949 to 2015 After a brave battle with cancer, Vicki passed away peacefully in the comfort of her own home on 21 July. She was very settled and surrounded by her close family. To remember her and celebrate her life, a service was held at Halsall Church on Wednesday 29 July at 1300hrs. This was followed by a short ceremony at Southport Crematorium and then we went on to the Saracen’s Head, a pub on the canal near the church, for some food and drink. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to Macmillan and Queenscourt Hospice in Southport, as both organisations showed huge support for Vicki, particularly throughout the last few months and weeks.

Farewell

www.rhkyc.org.hk www.facebook.com/rhkyc www.facebook.com/rhkycrowingsection www.racebook.com/rhkycevents www.facebook/rhkycsharks www.facebook.com/rhkycmatchracing www.twitter.com/rhkyc

Left: General Manager Mark Bovaird presented Hung Yuet Ping, Amah, with a retirement gift as she said goodbye to the Club in July after eighteen years; Right: Anthony Day, Rear Commodore (Sailing) presented a gift to Sailing Manager Alex Johnston at his farewell party on 26 June. Alex had been with the Club for ten years and he decided to move on to a new challenge. SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY! |

Club Lines

Sailing Secretary Lucy Sutro sailing.secretary@rhkyc.org.hk Big Boat Simon Blore cruiser@rhkyc.org.hk Dinghies Dominick Hardoon dinghies@rhkyc.org.hk Dragon Phyllis Chang dragon@rhkyc.org.hk Etchells Scotia Ryer etchells@rhkyc.org.hk Flying Fifteen Carlyon Knight-Evans flyingfifteen@rhkyc.org.hk Impala Dave Norton impala@rhkyc.org.hk J/80 Georgiann Reigle j80@rhkyc.org.hk Match Racing Seah Chin Yew matchracingsec@rhkyc.org.hk Pandora Joseph Wong pandora@rhkyc.org.hk Ruffian Guy Russell ruffian@rhkyc.org.hk Sportsboats Dion Houghton sportsboat@rhkyc.org.hk Youth Sailing Class Sofia Mascia ysc@rhkyc.org.hk

New Members Cocktail Party â&#x20AC;&#x201C; July Club Lines

| SEPTEMBER 2015 AHOY!