While some of the world’s top golfers were dueling at the 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open in Sheung Shui yesterday, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club hosted their Zoke Around the Island race.

Hong Kong’s largest and most inclusive sailing event got underway in the morning, featuring a packed start line of over 200 boats, a record 15 Outrigger Canoes and one Offshore Rowing Boat.

The sailboat fleet featured all types of sailing boats, with the largest classes being the 29 IRC Cruisers, 45 HKPN Cruisers and 17 Hobie 16’s, with a notable fleet of 14 Impala heading the list of one-design keelboats.

Mr Lui Rui Jin, Chairman of ZOKE, fired the 0825hrs warning signal to get the start sequences underway on both inner and outer start lines, with start sequences culminating with the F18 fleet at 0950hrs.

The sight of over 200 sailboats heading East to Lei Yue Mun never fails to impress, even in a slight haze, however the paddlers mounted an impressive display to reach the Convention Centre in Victoria Harbour by the time the boats had disappeared to the East.

The RHKYC’s Around the Island Race (Pic: ZOKE / Fragrant Harbour)

In the Mixed Division, Hong Kong Outrigger Canoe Club (HKOCC) won in 4hrs 08m 45s, while in the Women’s Division, Hong Kong Island Paddling Club (HKIPC) took the title in 4 hrs 30m 23s. The blue riband event saw the Men’s trophy lifted by HKIPC ‘A’ crew in 3hrs 44m 40s.

Meanwhile, back on the race track, 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 breeze fluctuated between 0 – 6 knots all afternoon in the area between Cyberport and Sheung Wan.

There was a close-run finish on the water, with Mark Thornburrow taking the line honours gun in 3h 42m 32s with his F18 Hobie Tiger, just ahead of the Isler/Taylor owned Mills 41 ‘Ambush’, who took monohull line honours.

It was definitely a day to suit the Dinghies, with the Flying Fifteens taking the first four places on corrected time, ahead of 470, Ruffian and Etchells. Provisional results show that at the poolside Prizegiving tomorrow night (Monday) the La Cigale Trophy for the overall winner will be lifted by David Chow, with Hillary King receiving the Lady Godiva Trophy for first lady helm.

Top 5 on Elapsed Time [Provisional Results]

(Class, Sail Number, Boat Name, Skipper) 

 F18 2225 — (Mark Thornburrow)

 Cruiser HKG2208 Ambush (Joachim Isler/Drew Taylor)

 SBR HKG028 Fly By Wire (Frank Van Kempen)

 F18 1891 I Am No Angel (JC Broyelle)

 SBR ’064 Merlin (Steve Bourne)

Top 10  on corrected time [Provisional Results]

(Class, Sail Number, Boat Name, Skipper) 

 FF15 HKG3701 Puff ‘N Stuff (David Chow)

 FF15 HKG3830 Squiffy (Howard Williams)

 FF15 HKG3500 Fatal Attraction (Tom Sheppard)

 FF15 HKG3722 Noisy Forefather (Sam Chan)

 470 HKG88 Little Dragon (Mike Halkes)

 Ruffian HKG515 Victory 9 (Li Fook Hing)

 Etchells GBR1333 Swedish Blue (Ante Razmilovic)

 J/80 HKG2235 J Chi (Jonny Hodgson)

Dragon HKG46 Davinloong (Lowell Chang)

 FF15 HKG3882 — (Jin Ogawa)

The RHKYC’s Around the Island Race (Pic: ZOKE / Fragrant Harbour)

Despite news that tropical storm Fanapi may affect the Hong Kong weather, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s first race of the Autumn sailing season kicked off in Victoria Harbour yesterday.

The Club’s Autumn opener  is traditionally held in September, a month when it is impossible to predict if the event will enjoy the north east monsoon of autumn, or the tail end of the summer south westerlies. It is not unknown for the entire Regatta to be scuppered by a passing typhoon.

However, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen on Day 1 took a glass-half-full view of the available breeze for Race 1, getting the 110 starters in 11 classes underway in 35 degree heat, 5 knots of Westerly breeze and blazing sunshine, with all the fleets selecting Course 71, which kept the fleets in sight of the Club for the afternoon.

After light winds on Day 1, Day 2 delivered on the promised lift in breeze, with an 8-10 knot westerly blowing for the start of Race 2.

Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen once again gave the bar crowd a treat, sending the fleets away from a Club start on a course using the western end of the race area. While the short course suited most of the fleets, Jelik 3 was left hanging around waiting for Race 3 for longer than she was racing, however this did not seem to dampen her spirits.

The Sunday turnout of 90 boats enjoyed up to 16 knots for their final race, taking in the eastern end of the race area. After a weekend of varied conditions (and varied sailing) just one protest was taken to the room before a lively Prizegiving was hosted on RHKYC Main Lawn.

Star Ferries steams past Hung Hom as Victoria Harbour fills with sails (Pic: Mike Jansen)

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) is one of the oldest sports clubs in Hong Kong and is committed to promoting sailing and rowing in the community.

The Club’s mission, however, is not limited to their sport.  It is a caring organisation and plays a vital role in the upliftment of the broader community.  Club members and staff are keen and regularly take part in community and charity activities, such as the Oxfam Trialwalker, McDonald’s House, Hebe Heaven Yacht Club 24-hour Charity Dinghy Race, Operation Santa Claus, etc.

This year, members and staff of the Club were delighted to be able to share the festive joy with several disadvantaged groups. 

The RHKYC’s Charity Fund(comprising money raised from members and staff) donated $20,000 each to the Fresh Fish Traders’ School, and the Worldwide Fund Hong Kong’s Marine Detective Programme. 

In addition to the monetary donation to the Fresh Fish Traders’ School, RHKYC invited 43 of their students to the Club for a memorable Christmas experience where they had the chance to create their own chocolate Yule Log as well as hearing a brief introduction to dinghy sailing. The Club hopes that this can help to enhance the students’ scope and self-confidence.

Continuing with the Club’s tradition of sharing during the festive season, RHKYC’s annual collection of new toys from members and staff resulted in two groups of children receiving gift; the first were children of the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service’s ‘Standby U Programme’ and the second group were students from Lok Sin Tong Leung Kau Kui Primary School (Branch). 

Well done Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club! May you continue your good work in the new year.

There is no doubt that Hong Kong (SAR) has become a premier destination for major international sporting events. 

Early in the year, rugby (and party) fans enjoyed world-class Rugby Sevens action at the Hong Kong Stadium.  The Hong Kong leg of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens World Series is arguably the most exciting on the 8-leg World Series.

At the beginning of November, the Kowloon Cricket Club hosted yet another very successful Hong Kong Cricket Sixeswhich was won for the third time, in a dramatic Cup Final by South Africa.  The Sixes was launched in 1992 and has quickly evolved into a world-class event.  The tournament was afforded the prestigious “M-Mark” by the Hong Kong government, which denotes it’s status as one of the territory’s very important Major Events. 

This was closely followed by the Hong Kong Golf Open, held at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fan Ling a week ago.  Frenchman Gregory Bourdy sealed his invitation to the season-ending Dubai World Championship with a well-deserved victory in front of a packed gallery on the infamous Composite Course 18th hole.

The F1 of international sailing

As one of two exciting finales to a year of fantastic sporting events (Hong Kong also hosts the East Asian Games in December), the SAR will play host to the first round of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia which starts in Victoria Harbour tomorrow.

 Six teams will race in the heart of Victoria Harbour just metres from the shoreline, bringing a vast array of sailing talent to the city including four Olympic gold medallists and numerous world champions. 

Supported by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the five day event will run from 20-24 November 2009 and include a media day, youth sailing programme and four days of high-octane racing on these 40-ft catamarans. The event is scheduled to coincide with the Yacht Club’s annual ‘Around the Island Race’ on the 22 November when the six Extreme 40s will compete alongside hundreds of other sailboats in the prestigious annual regatta.

The Extreme Sailing Series Asia is being brought to the region by organisers OC Events for the first time to demonstrate to VIPs and the media the potential of what a full scale public event could bring in future years. This comes after the spectacular success of its European counterpart that has changed the way sailing is seen, quickly gaining a reputation as the Formula 1 of sailing – it’s fast and exciting with high-tech catamarans driven by some of the world’s best sailors. 

2009 Formula One Grand Prix winners led by Brawn F1 boss, Nick Fry, commented:

“This is very similar to Formula 1, in that it combines high technology, great team work and accessible entertainment for the fans. This type of sailing also provides a great commercial platform for companies who like to participate in high quality sport and want to encourage people from all backgrounds to see the benefit that sport provides.”

Mark Turner , CEO of OC Group, the parent company of event organisers OC Events said,

“The European Circuit has been running very successfully for three years now and the Extreme Sailing Series Asia is the next step in the evolution of this exciting sailing format – a format which has become a benchmark in terms of changing the way sailing is seen. 

“Our aim is to build this series each year on the same foundations on which the European iShares Cup has been built – a comprehensive sailing entertainment event that packages the sport to appeal to the public, media and provide experiential VIP client hospitality. 

“For this inaugural series in Asia we won’t be focused on the public side directly, instead we will work hard on the VIP and media aspects, as we did in the early iShares Cup years. But, of course, our aspiration is to build this circuit up over the coming years to match the award-winning iShares Cup format including a strong public element.” 

Double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson, who finished fifth overall in the European series, will skipper one of the Extreme 40s in Hong Kong:

“Every time I go to Asia I stop off in HongKong and love sailing there. These boats are amazing and it will be awesome to race them against such a spectacular backdrop – right up there with the European tour opener in Venice . Hong Kong has such a strong sporting heritage and the racecourse will create an incredible amphitheatre, I’m looking forward to it already. It’s a lot of fun racing these boats but we are all really competitive when on the water so watch out for some pretty close-quarter racing!” 

The Extreme catamarans can race at over 40mph and “fly” a hull in just 8 knots of wind. They are also totally unique in the sport of sailing in that every boat races witha fifth man onboard – a VIP guest or member of the media, who sits in the heart of the action. Shirley Robertson describes it as “like racing shotgun with Lewis Hamilton”! 

Recent Extreme Sailing action from Europe (Pic: ExtremeSailingSeriesEurope.com)

 Warwick Downes, Commodore of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, declared:

“We’re delighted to welcome the Extreme Sailing Series Asia to Hong Kong and the Yacht Club is thrilled to be supporting OC Events as together we open a new chapter in yacht racing in Hong Kong. The event will deliver spectacular racing and promote Grand Prix sailing to a whole new audience. The Extreme Sailing Series Asia is set to become a fixture on the Asian sailing calendar.” 

After the spectacular finale of the six-stage European circuit just three weeks ago in Almería, Andalucía ( Spain ), six of the boats were packed up and shipped directly to Hong Kong .

Soon after the Hong Kong event, the boats will be shipped straight down to Singapore (11-15 December) with the Extreme Sailing Series Asia Champions being decided in Muscat , Oman (1-5 February).