Monsoon Winter Series 2021, Races 7 & 8

Kite trimming on Good Vibrations (Monsoon Winter Series 2021, Race 7)

MONSOON WINTER SERIES

2021, RACES 7 & 8 冬季系列賽第七及第八場

Heading into choppy water just outside Hebe Haven, the committee boat, Hebe One, soon dropped anchor on 11 December, to prepare for the final two races of the Monsoon Winter Series 2021. The series began on 23 October 2021 and forms part of the Monsoon Series 2021-2022. This, in turn, consists of the Winter Series, Spring Cup and Spring Series—a total of 12 days of islands races and windward / leewards.

Working from a rolling deck, Race Officer (RO) Rob Allen, made the call for Course 2 for all four divisions and the management team set about laying the A1 mark at 0.8 nautical miles, the A2 mark at 0.6 nautical miles and the C mark in front of Hebe One.

The breeze was a good 10 knots from 120 degrees but the movement of Hebe One was having an effect on volunteers. A flopper stopper soon solved that problem and, at 1340, Nick Avery welcomed all competitors in English and the Club’s sailing administrator, Queenie Ho, did the same in Cantonese. Everyone was wished a Merry Christmas and a reminder was given about the prize-giving that evening in the Garden Bar for the eight-race series.

在12月11日（星期六），白沙灣遊艇會外的海浪顯得份外波濤洶 湧，會船 Hebe One 很快便在此拋錨，為2021年度冬季系列賽中 的最後兩場比賽作準備。該系列賽於2021年10月23日舉行，亦是 2021/22年季風系列賽的一部分。而這次又包括季冬季系列賽、 春季杯和春季系列賽總共十二天的島嶼賽和迎風/逆風賽。

賽事主任Rob Allen在滾動的甲板上工作，為所有在2號賽道的四 個組別作出最後召集，與此同時，管理團隊亦開始分別在距離 0.8海里的地方設置A1標，以及距離0.6 海里的地方設置A2標，並 在會船前面設置C標。

此時於120度角的風速為10節，狀況良好，但Hebe One的移動卻 對義工產生了影響。然而在使用擋板的情況下，這個問題很快便 得以解決。時間來到下午1時40分，Nick Avery正用著英語致詞歡 迎著所有參賽者，而本會的航海管理員Queenie Ho，則以廣東話 歡迎各位的來臨。祝願在場的每人能渡過一個快樂的聖誕節，以 及提示著將在晚上，於Garden Bar舉行的第八場賽事頒獎典禮。

At 1355, the countdown began for the five IRC entries and eight Sportsboats. Overenthusiasm got the better of Ricochet, Phoenix and CarterUSM and all were called OCS. Despite a horn for individual recalls, none of them returned. Talkinghead and Goddess, meanwhile, were having a tussle at the committee boat but were soon heading up to the black mark near the mouth of Port Shelter.

Then it was the turn of the J/80 and HKPN divisions and, once again, the competitive spirit was a little too much for Jive. But realizing the horn meant he was OCS, helm Alex Chan quickly came about and restarted while the other 10 boats made for the orange mark.

As the RO had planned, it was a quick two laps for all 24 boats as they ran past the C mark to a finish line on the starboard beam of Hebe One. Talkinghead took line and handicap honours in IRC and Serendipity likewise in Sportsboats. In the two-boat J/80 division, Baring Asia 2 won with Jive in 2nd.

As soon as the last boat in HKPN, Ma Cherie 2e, had rounded the A2 mark, the RO had the support boats move the top marks in a little to 0.6 and 0.5 nautical miles. This, he estimated, would allow for a quicker, yet no less competitive, race and gave crews time to make it ashore and prepare for the evening’s celebrations.

At 1520, the IRC and Sportsboats were sent off and five minutes later so, too, were the J/80s and HKPN entries.

The Sportsboat, Hot Wired, made the best of the easing conditions and finished in a remarkable 39 minutes and 8 seconds with IRC favourite, Talkinghead, crossing seconds later. On handicap, Talkinghead won IRC with Goddess in 2nd and Outrageous 3rd.

Taking line honours in HKPN, Bits & Pieces also won on handicap with Lazy Piggy 2nd, and veteran campaigner, Temujin, 3rd. This time, Jive improved its performance and won the J/80 division with Baring Asia 2 in 2nd. Despite finishing at 16:33:37, Ma Cherie 2e stuck it out and finished in an elapsed time of one hour, eight minutes and 37 seconds.

From the racecourse, the boats headed back to the Club to collect their prizes and have some well-earned fun.

下午1時55分，五艘IRC的參賽船和八 艘Sportsboat的帆船正進入倒數時 刻。Ricochet、Phoenix 和Carter USM因 過度熱情以致他們都成為OCS。儘管使 用喇叭召回他們，亦沒有任何一個回來。 與此同時，Talkinghead 和Goddess在會 船那邊起了爭執，但很快便向牛尾海口 岸附近的黑標駛去。

隨後，時間來到J/80和HKPN的組別進行 比賽，而再一次，Jive想要競爭的心實在 太大了，但當留意到喇叭聲及，意味著他 是OCS時，舵手Alex Chan很快便改變了 方向，在其他十艘船正向著橙標駛去時 重新起航。

正如賽事主任預期的一樣，24艘船均越 過C標並在 Hebe One 的右舷到達了終點， 飛快地完成了兩圈比賽。Talkinghead獲 得了IRC組別中線路賽和障礙賽的冠軍， 而Serendipity亦同樣地在Sportsboats 組別的兩組賽事中取勝。另外在只有兩 艘船的J/80組別中，Baring Asia 2略勝 一籌取得冠軍，Jive則排名第二。

當HKPN組別的最後一艘船，Ma Cherie 2e繞過A2標後，賽事主任隨即讓支援的 船隻將最高的標誌移至0.6和0.5海里。而 他估計，這將使比賽的節奏更快速，同時 又不減箇中的競爭力，亦能給予船員們有 更寬裕的時間上岸，以為晚上的慶祝活 動作準備。

下午3時20分，IRC和Sportsboats的船 隻均被派出，而五分鐘後，同樣地J/80和 HKPN船隻也被派出了。

Sportsboat Hot Wired, 它充分利用了 寬鬆的條件下，以39分8秒的成績完賽， 而IRC中最有望獲勝的Talkinghead， 則在數秒後完成比賽。另一方面在IRC 的障礙賽中，Talkinghead亦獲得了冠 軍，Goddess和 Outrageous 則分別獲取 了第二和第三名。

在HKPN組別中，Bits & Pieces 並不止在 線路賽中奪冠，同時在障礙賽中亦同樣 取得第一名，Lazy Piggy緊隨其後取得第 二，而已是老將的Temujin則獲得了第三 名。這一次Jive的表現有所提高，贏得了 J/80組別中的冠軍，Baring Asia 2則排名 第二。儘管Ma Cherie 2e 在下午4時33分 37秒才完成比賽，但它仍堅持下來，最終 以1小時8分37秒的成績跑完全程。

離開賽道後，各船亦徐徐回到白沙灣遊 艇會以領取他們的獎品，並享受著他們 應得的樂趣。

Lazy Piggy in HKPN countdown (Monsoon Winter Series 2021, Race 7)

Goddess pushed up by Talkinghead (Monsoon Winter Series 2021, Race 7)