Hong Kong’s largest and most inclusive sailing event got underway early on Sunday morning, spiced up with six visiting Extreme 40’s, a record 14 Outrigger Canoes and four Offshore Rowing Boats.
The 216 strong sailboat fleet featured all types of sailing boats, with the largest classes being the 35 IRC Cruisers, 54 HKPN Cruisers and 22 Hobie 16’s. The first start was at 0830hrs on both inner and outer start lines, and the start sequences continued at 5 minute intervals until the final start of the Extreme 40’s at 0940hrs.
Around The Island Sailing Action (Pic: RHKYC/Richard Knight)
The sight of over 200 sailboats heading East to Lei Yue Mun was nothing short of magnificent, however staggered starts from RHKYC Middle Island allowed the Hong Kong Outrigger Canoe Club (HKOCC) women’s crew to lead the paddlers into the harbour from the West just as the boats were disappearing to the East.
HKOCC led from start to finish, taking line honours and also the Women’s OC6 division paddling. The men’s trophy was lifted by HKIPC after completing the course in 03:40:34, in the face of stiff competition from overseas teams from Japan, Singapore, Saipan and, of course, Hawaii.
Meanwhile, back on the race track, RO (Race Officer) Jimmy Farquhar was making a considered decision to shorten the course at Green Island , to spare boats the pain of landing in several holes in the area of Western. This proved to be an astute decision, as the northerly breeze fluctuated between 0 – 12 knots all afternoon along the South of Hong Kong Island.
A “fish-eye” view of the Around The Island Race (Pic: RHKYC/Richard Knight)
While the Extreme 40’s were allowed a chance to finish at Kellett Island and smash the existing multihull record (they failed), the Isler/Taylor owned Mills 41 ‘Ambush’ took monohull line honours at Green Island in and elapsed time of 3:50:06. Of the 163 other boats finished there, it was Gideon Mowser on SB3 ‘Sky’s The Limit’ who took the Monhull title on ATI handicap, with Mark Thornburrow on Hobie Tiger ‘Dream’ carrying off the Multihull prize.
