St. Regis China Coast Regatta - Day 2 report

Oct. 13, 2013 - PRLog -- It’s only rock’n’roll but we like it! Day 2 of the St. Regis China Coast Regatta was scheduled to offer two windward/leeward races and an islands course for the IRC Racers, and one race around the cans followed by an islands course for Premier, Cruiser and HKPN. With a steady 15 knot north easterly from early in the day, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen decided to set three laps for Racer 0 and two laps for the other divisions, with Racer 1 and Premier also going to the outer windward mark, 1.3nm from the start.

With the wind gusting to 20kts and a strong tide running, the fleet was circumspect about their starts, with not one X-flag raised all day. The stonger breeze took its toll, with Ragamuffin 90, Hua An and Avant Garde retiring and Cave Canem heading back in to Middle Island with a broken forestay. The sailmakers will be busy tonight, with several very large shredded spinnakers in evidence in Racer 0, and boatyards will be working an all-nighter with broken steering, damaged hulls and rigging problems.

With IRC Racer 0, 1 and 2 finished, Strompf-Jepsen elected to give them a quick start for their second race while DRO Sofia Mascia continued finishing the Cruiser and HKPN fleets – a little tough on OneSails Racing, which had taken a fishing expedition around the leeward mark and finished 20 minutes behind FreeFire! Once the remaining fleets had finished, they were re-started on their islands course, with Premier embarking on a 19nm trip to TCS2 and Beaufort, with Cruiser and HKPN fleets set an 11nm course around Beaufort and Castle Rock, leading into a downwind finish at Round Island.

By the time those three starts were done, IRC Racer were coming in for their second finish of the day, with Seawolf taking the gun for IRC Racer 2, just ahead of Mojito, and Red Kite II correcting out to yet another win on IRC corrected.

The third race of the Racers’ day was started as soon as possible, with the RO conscious that the other fleets would soon be rounding Beaufort and approaching Round Island for a finish. Racer 0 was sent on a 19nm jaunt to Waglan and TCS2, while Racer 1 took in Fury Rocks and Racer 2 had an 11nm course around Beaufort and Castle Rock.

At the end of today’s racing Ray Roberts’ OneSails Racing was heading up the table for IRC Racer 1, with Signal 8 doing the same in Racer 2. Red Kite II is sitting pretty with a picket fence in Racer 3. Lighthorse is leading with a clean sheet in IRC Premier, while Red Eye and Pepper & Salt are doing the same in IRC Cruising and HKPN.

Two races on offer tomorrow, featuring a windward / leeward and an Islands course, before the overall prizegiving takes place back at RHKYC Kellett Island.