Presented by iconic yacht brand, Jeanneau, this year’s Class Regatta at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Port Shelter attracted 44 boats from seven one-design classes, including 14 J/80’s. Not for the faint hearted, this Regatta is renowned for making the most of Hong Kong’s cold, wet, Lunar New Year conditions, however the weather gods were smiling on Race officer Simon Boyde and his team, inflicting nothing worse than a slight chill in the air.
The format could not be simpler. Two fleets – long course and short course – competing over two days and five races, with one discard. Boyde used all his experience to fit in two races on Saturday, with only the Ruffian class struggling to finish within the stipulated time limit for the first race. Sunday offered a variable swinging easterly, causing a number of boats to miscalculate their starts and earn an OCS score, but ultimately enabled the fleets to enjoy three two-lap sprints to compete regatta.
At a lively prizegiving, unhindered by protest hearings, Class prizes and overall Divisional prizes were presented by Mr Don Chow, Director of China Pacific Marine Limited.
In a good weekend for the Etchells, Peter Backe on Swedish Blue missed a Long Course picket fence by one race to finish six points ahead of Coates/ Jukes on The Battler, with Greg Farrell on Dream On only three points further back. In the Short Course fleet, Dennis Chien cleaned up with Impala Taxi, four points ahead of Akira Takada’s Flying Fifteen French Fries, with Phyllis Chang on Dragon Phyloong III six point further adrift.