Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Le French May/ Societe General Spring Regatta - Day 1 Report

CAUSEWAY BAY, Hong Kong - May 10, 2014 - PRLog -- In spite of the forecast, 80 boats were undaunted by the prospect of a wet Saturday afternoon and after Race Officer Claire Morgan had scoured the harbour for breeze, the first race got underway at Hung Hom as scheduled, in 7 to 10kts of south easterly.

It was a challenging afternoon for the fleet, with the breeze swinging constantly and a much stronger tide than expected stranding several Etchells and Sportbsboats under the Eastern Corridor at their leeward mark.

By late afternoon, the breeze was up and down between 2 and 7 kts and swinging to the north east to boot. Most classes had selected fairly conservative courses and finished before the wind died – except for the J/80 fleet, which set themselves three trips to Tai Koo Shing and only just made it to the finish inside the three hour time limit.

With no protests to be heard, it was time for a hot shower and a beer, then home to prepare for tomorrow’s racing which gets underway at 1110hrs.

First Places - Race 1

Dragon - Celines - Marc Castagnet
Etchells - 1364 - van Kempen / Kearns
Flying Fifteen - Tchaikoffsky - Howard Williams
Impala - Taxi - Florence Kan
J/80 - Footloose - Henry Wong
Pandora - Windfall - Tom Ho
Ruffian - Buster - Nicholas Bryan
Sportsboat - Merlin - Steve Bourne
Big Boat Division 1 - Signal 8 - McWilliam, Jacobs, Hanning, Pender, Kendall
Big Boat Division 2 - Vixen - Oliver Scott-Mackie

Provisional results online athttp://www.rhkyc.org.hk/SpringRegatta.aspx