One of my family’s eagerly-anticipated beach event takes place on Lamma Island this weekend.

Organisers of the 5th annual Laracy & Co Lamma International Dragon Boat Festival being staged on 15th May at Tai Wan To Beach, Lamma Island, Hong Kong announced today that a big turnout of forty-seven dragon boat teams, including a record of ten women’s teams, would be competing in this year’s race series.

“It’s a fantastic turnout of both local and expatriate teams,” said Event Director Brad Tarr of Thirsty Horse Premium Wines, “the beach is going to be rocking!”

“The Lamma 500 is one of the most exciting, colourful and friendly sporting events in Hong Kong but gives away nothing in competitive spirit.” said Mr Damien Laracy, at title sponsors Laracy & Co. “With forty-seven teams competing there’s going to be another wonderful day on the beach and the water.”

First staged in 2007 the Lamma 500 is one of the newest dragon boat races on the Hong Kong race calendar, but has quickly established itself as a firm favourite among paddlers for both its highly competitive racing over a full international race distance and it’s carnival atmosphere.

“The Lamma 500 is without doubt, one of the best Dragon Boat races in Hong Kong” said Antony Michell, Captain of last years finalists the Tai Tam Tigers and Chairman of sponsors The Henley Group. “We’re really looking forward to it!”

In addition to the 500 metre races, the Lamma 500 also features a 1,000 metre race which up to forty of the teams will also compete in. The 1,000 metre race was introduced in 2009 as an experimental fun race. Now most teams participate in the gruelling 1km race which offers first-place trophies for Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed team champions.

Dragon Boat Racing for Good

Children’s charity the Make A Wish Foundation are the official charity of the Lamma 500 and activities will be held during the day to raise funds for the fantastic work in Hong Kong of the Foundation.

The 2010 Laracy & Co Lamma International Dragon Boat Festival (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Laracy & Co Lamma International Dragon Boat Festival, Schedule – May 15th 2011

9am First race

12.30pm 1,000m race

4pm Men’s, Women’s, Mixed finals

5pm Awards presentation

5.30pm Lamma 500 Beach Party

Entry for spectators is free and food and drinks are available at the beach.

Here are some images from last year’s Festival:

(Additional picture: LammaDragonBoat.com)

Rwanda’s rugby players are eagerly anticipating their second Hong Kong tour next March after a historic visit to the African country by two of Scotland’s top coaches.

The Silverbacks were put through their paces by former Scotland national coach Frank Hadden and Scottish Rugby Union referee development manager Colin Brett during a week-long series of clinics.

“In the last couple of years I’ve coached in nearly 20 countries and I’m amazed at the capacity of rugby to grow and even thrive in the most unlikely circumstances,” said Hadden.

“After its well documented problems in the Nineties, Rwanda is now one of the safest and most stable countries in Africa and it was fantastic to see all these enthusiastic and talented players coming together to enjoy the rivalry and camaraderie of the best team game in the world.”

Hadden and Brett also conducted sessions with U14s, U18s and the national women’s team in the first ever visit to Rwanda by elite-level rugby coaches.

The duo’s visit was organised by the famous Penguins Coaching Academy, which provides tuition clinics at rugby backwaters all over the world.

“Rwandan rugby has come a long way since it started about 10 years ago,” added Hadden. “I first came across the national team when the Penguins did a joint training session with them in Hong Kong last March and it’s clear they’ve made progress over the course of the year.

“They’re not as big as the players we have in Scotland but they’re quick, with good hands, and would hold their own somewhere in the middle of our national leagues.

“At the end of the week there was a sevens festival in our honour. It was fascinating watching the commitment, enthusiasm and no little skill of all the players on what was a difficult playing surface. It was full contact all the way but thankfully they reigned in the aggression on the more dangerous areas of the pitch!”

The coaching visit by Hadden, Brett and Penguins manager Craig Brown capped a remarkable year for Rwandan rugby that began with the Silverbacks – named after the country’s signature mountain gorillas – travelling to Hong Kong for their first ever overseas tour.

They finished as Plate runners-up in the inProjects Kowloon RugbyFest, a 10-a-side tournament featuring 14 teams from around the world. South African rugby great Bob Skinstad was among the impressed spectators and immediately gave them an open invitation to play in the Cape Town Tens, the tournament he co-founded last year.

The Silverbacks also trained with two elite touring teams, Aliens from New Zealand and Penguins from the UK, while Penguins staff put them through a first-level IRB coaching course.

The team then attended the world famous Hong Kong Sevens courtesy of the HKRFU, who waived the cost of tickets.

In addition, HKRFU director of development Ruth Mitchell organised a hugely successful kit collection, meaning the players returned home with more than 40 bin bags packed with unused team strips donated by the likes of Hong Kong Football Club, DeA Tigers and Valley.

The result of all this activity is that rugby in Rwanda is booming, with youngsters taking up the sport in impressive numbers while more and more women players are also participating.

“The Penguins Coaching Academy’s visit generated huge excitement and gave the game another massive boost,” said Hong Kong-born rugby enthusiast and Rwanda volunteer worker Dave Hughes, organiser of the Silverbacks’ Hong Kong tour.

“We’re obviously extremely grateful to the Penguins and to Frank, Colin and Craig for their time, effort and expertise. Their trip to Rwanda and the impact they made will be remembered for a long, long time.”

Hughes is now focusing on the Silverbacks’ return to Hong Kong for the next Kowloon RugbyFest on 23 March.

“We’re getting a lot of corporate interest and once again the rugby community is banding together to help make it happen,” he revealed.

“The players were delighted to reach the Plate final last March but, after what they’ve learned from the Penguins, they’re looking to do even better next time.

”

Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as Moon Festival or Lantern Festival falls on Wednesday 22 September (today) this year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries including Hong Kong.

Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date.

Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

* Putting pomelo rinds on one’s head (popular activity at kindergartens)

* Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns

* Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang’e (Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng’é)

* Planting Mid-Autumn trees

* Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members

* Fire Dragon Dances

* (my favourite) In Taiwan barbecuing meat outdoors

(Source: wikipedia)

Here in Hong Kong, while today is the official Mid-Autumn Festival, tomorrow is known as the-day-after-Mid-Autumn-Festival and is a public holiday.

Major international websites such as Google and Yahoo also have special page decorations to celebrate the day.

Google.com’s special page header today

As a avid jazz fan, I am pleased to feature this year’s Hong Kong International Jazz Festival right here on Howzit-HongKong.com

Known as the most stunning jazz gathering in town, the Hong Kong International Jazz Festival will once again thrill jazz aficionados and young jazz enthusiasts with world class music this autumn. In its third edition, the Festival will run from 3 to 9 October, offering an exciting range of programme featuring concerts and workshops by some of the world’s most gifted performers and groups.

“The Old, the New and the Chosen Few” is the theme of this year and with a mix of high calibre Chinese and Asian young talents and internationally renowned musicians who will set the stage for a diverse and captivating jazz experience. More than 10 jazz groups performing in 6 concerts promise to bring a unique experience to jazz lovers.

As an aficionado of the so-called “old-school” jazz scene, I am particularly pleased that Stanley Jordan will feature on this year’s program.

Stanley Jordan is one of the most distinctive guitarists from USA. Born in Chicago and raised in California, Jordan started his classical piano lessons at age six and picked up the guitar when guitar heroes were becoming household names. Names like Jimi Hendrix. At the age of 15, he had the idea to bring the flexibility of piano to the guitar.

Stanley Jordan grabbed the music world by the ears when he arrived in New York in 1984. The release of his 1985 debut album “Magic Touch” placed him at the forefront of re-launching legendary Blue Note Records into a contemporary entity in jazz and beyond. The album went on the top of Billboard’s jazz chart for a stunning 51 weeks !

Key to Jordan’s fast-track acclaim was his mastery of a special “tapping” technique on the guitar’s fret board, using both hands to tap the fingerboard like a pianist. It allows him to play chords, melodies, and bass lines simultaneously. Musicians and critics alike were blown away. Never before had anyone been as innovative with the concept as Jordan. He was said to take tapping into another level. Up to now his technique has been widely adapted by guitarist all over the world.

Stanley Jordan is not all about jazz.  Here he is playing that classic Led Zeppelin hit, Stairway to Heaven:

Catch all the news, schedule, booking information and highlights from the 2010 HK International Jazz Festival by clicking here

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival (traditional Chinese: 中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which this year falls on September 22.

Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos.

When we lived in Taiwan, as South Africans Moon Festival-time was extra special because for the Taiwanese, having an outdoor braai (barbecue) with friends and family was part of the celebration.  The braais would often take place in large parks and public courtyards of high-rise buildings and is quite a spectacle with all the fires, smoke and smell of cooking meat.  We used to think of Moon Festival as our own National Braai Day celebration!  Sadly, Hong Kongers do not celebrate Moon Festival in this way.

Another tradition is the giving of moon cakes to family, friends and colleagues.  Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

These days mooncakes come is all kinds of designs, flavours and fillings ranging from marshmallow to even ice-cream.

One of my favourite local stores is G.O.D. or Goods Of Desire, so named because G.O.D. is the phonetic sound of the Cantonese slang “to live better.”  Typical of G.O.D, their stores here in Hong Kong are pushing the boundaries of modernising the traditional Chinese moon cake with their very own “Cheeky Moon Cakes.”

G.O.D.’s Cheeky Moon Cakes are available at HK$65 (buy 10, get 1 free)  Orders can be placed at any G.O.D. store.

Summer is upon us here in Hong Kong and if you are looking to wet your toes in the Hong Kong waters after a long week at the office, why not head to Lamma Island’s Tai Wan To (Power Station) Beach this Sunday for the Laracy & Co Lamma International Dragon Boat Festival 2010. 

Organiser Mark Burns, who sometimes wears his other hat as the Tournament Director of the successful Hong Kong Cricket Sixes (won by South Africa last year) tells us that forty teams, including the athletic Boracay Bumshells team from the Philippines have entered this weekend’s Festival.

“It’s a fantastic line up of teams.” said Race Director Brad Tarr. “With strong teams such as defending champions the Island Paddle Club, plus the likes of the Boracay Bumshells, Stormy Dragons and the Lamma Dragons it’s going to be another really competitive Festival.”

First staged in 2007 this is the fourth annual Festival, also known as the “Lamma 500” due to its international race standard 500m course length. 

“The Lamma 500 is one of the most exciting, colourful and friendly sports events in Hong Kong but with a real competitive edge,” said Mr Damien Laracy, Principal at title sponsors Laracy & Company. “We’re delighted to continue our support for the event. “

The Lamma 500 is one of the most challenging and competitive races on the Hong Kong dragon boat calendar with deep, fast water on a course set against the incredible backdrop of one of the territory’s highest peaks, Mount Stenhouse, and the dramatic industrial landscape of the Hong Kong Electric Power Station. 

Securing its reputation as one of the most challenging races of the season, the Festival also features the only 1,000 metre dragon boat race to be held in Hong Kong. A record number of teams are expected to compete in this extreme race.

The Make A Wish Foundation children’s charity is the Official Charity of the Lamma 500 and will be organizing activities during the event to raise funds for their activities. 

The Laracy & Company Lamma 500 will take place from 9am to 6pm on May 16th 2010 and will be followed by the popular Lamma 500 Beach Party.

Entry for spectators is free and refreshments are available at the beach.

I heard that the coldest beer in Hong Kong can be found at Tai Wan To Beach on Sunday so I’ll be taking the kids to Lamma this weekend.  Hope to see you there!

Here is some footage from last year’s Lamma 500:

(Additional picture from RoyalX Team)

With all due respect to the fact that Hong Kong successfully staged the 2008 Olympic Games Equestrian events as well as the East-Asian Games, but the 1 week countdown to Hong Kong’s BIGGEST sporting week starts in a couple of days!

Here is what the week looks like so far:

Wednesday March 24, 2010  Kowloon Rugby Fest 2010

Venue: Kings Park Sports Ground, Wylie Road, Kowloon

Wednesday & Thursday March 24-25, 2010 GHF HKFC Tens

Venue: HK Football Club, Happy Valley

Friday March 26, 2010 Cable & Wireless Worldwide HK Women’s Rugby Sevens

Venue: HK Football Club/HK Stadium (Cup Final)

Friday – Sunday, March 26-28, 2010 Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens

Venue: HK Stadium, So Kon Po

Other rugby-related events:

SAAHK Sevens Dinner

The Southern African Association in Hong Kong’s annual Sevens Dinner takes place at the HKFC on Wednesday  March 24.  This year’s guest speaker is the popular TV commentator Hugh Bladen, also known as the voice of SA rugby.  The Springbok Sevens Team will of course also be in attendance.

Hugh will probably also have several other speaking engagements around the city and we’ll bring you news about that as it becomes available.

Tens Dinner

The Ten’s Dinner will this year be open to the public.  It takes place at the HKFC on Thursday evening (March 25)  Fee: HK$300

More information about these and other events will be updates as they become available.

If you enjoyed the recent Hong Kong Cricket Sixes at the Kowloon Cricket Club, or even if you missed it, you’ll be glad to know that yet another “long weekend” of action packed Cricket Sixes is coming to Hong Kong.

The Asian Cricket Sixes Tour (ACST) comprises a series of action packed “long weekend” cricket sixes tournaments attracting club teams, players, officials and suporters from the Asia Pacific region and around the world.  It  includes tournaments in Phuket, the Philippines, China, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Eighth Hong Kong Cricket Festival, organised by the Lamma Cricket Club is part of this Sixes Tour and this year the Hong Kong leg will be held at the Mission Road Cricket Ground, Tin Kwong Road, Kowloon from 4 – 6th December.  The weekend’s action will feature up to eighteen teams including local sides as well as clubs flying into Hong Kong from around the Asia Pacific region to compete in the three day tournament in Men’s and Women’s Divisions.

Teams sign up for the camaraderie, the competition, the opportunity to play with cricket legends and also, the full schedule of leisure and hospitality activities in fantastic locations around the Asia Pacific region.

Organisers of the Hong Kong Cricket Festival today also announced that Private Capital Ltd, a leading investment advisory firm, will be the new headline sponsors of the local tournament.

“We’re thrilled that Private Capital Ltd have come on board as headline sponsors of this year’s Festival,” said Tournament Director Brad Tarr of organisers Lamma Cricket Club.

“This is the eighth year of the tournament and with over ten clubs flying into Hong Kong to compete in the event, including women’s teams, it’s going to be another superb weekend of cricket camaraderie,” Mr Tarr continued.

Mr Rick Adkinson, MD at Private Capital Ltd said, “We were delighted when approached to support the 8th Hong Kong Cricket Festival. The tournament, with its mix of local and international participants and emphasis on the ‘spirit of cricket’ is an ideal fit for our business and we’re really looking forward to an excellent weekend both on and off the field.”

Cricket with a Heart

The tournaments that make up the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour have a heart too. A highlight for many participants is the knowledge that the ACST also supports the communities in which the tournaments are held, by supporting local charities and by helping develop youth cricket. 

The tournaments in the ACST Series have been recognised for their positive contributions to cricket development with a number of prestigious awards received from the International Cricket Council and Asian Cricket Council.

The 2008 Hong Kong Cricket Festival (Pic: HKCF FaceBook page)

Festival Fact Sheet of The Private Capital Hong Kong Cricket Festival 2009

Dates: 4 – 6th December 2009

Venue: Mission Road Cricket Ground, Tin Kwong Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Times: 9am – 5pm daily

Entry: free for all spectators

Organisers: Lamma Cricket Club