MONSOON WINTER SERIES 2022 RACE 6

Like the previous Saturday, dark clouds greeted the competitors as they ventured out into Port Shelter for Race 6 of the Monsoon Winter Series 2022 but this time there was plenty of wind. Up to 12 knots coming from the north, or from 350 degrees to be more precise.

During the midday race management briefing on Saturday, the 3 December, there had been talk of various island courses such as 92, 95 and 101 but, in the end, race officer Rob Allen decided to wait until a wind reading had been made off Steep Island so he could make a final decision.

Hebe One set off from the Hebe Haven Yacht Club at 1230 and, about halfway across Port Shelter, circled for a while before dropping anchor in 17.3 metres of water. Again, to be precise, the exact position of the committee boat was N 22° 20.244’ E 114° 17.461’.

Wind reports began coming in from the support boats and the RO was able to make his decision on where the two divisions and one class would be sailing : Course 59 for the faster boats and Course 33 for HKPN and the J/80s.

The somewhat depleted IRC division–from five entries to two – consisted of Talkinghead and X-Terminator. They would sail around a Club Mark, Bluff Island, Steep Island, a Ma Tsai Pai Mark and Table Island, with a finish off Little Palm Beach. A support boat was sent to Steep to lay a mark and the E flag was raised on the committee boat, together with a green flag indicating that the mark should be passed to starboard. Distance for Course 59 is 13 nautical miles and the RO anticipated both IRC contenders would be home in two hours.

在 12 月 3 日（星期六）中午進行 的賽事管理簡報會中，大家談及 到 92、95 及 101 號等多條島嶼賽 道。但最終賽事官 Rob Allen 決定 待青洲的風勢讀數減低之時，再 作最後決定。

會船於 12:30 自白沙灣遊艇會出 發，於牛尾海的中段位置，在 17.3 米深的水域中盤旋了一會才 拋錨。同樣，準確地說，會船的 確切位置為 N 22° 20.244’ E 114° 17.461’。

風勢報告由輔助船出發出，RO 能決定兩個分組及一個級別的船 隻航行位置了。59號賽道為較快

Course 33 for the 14 HKPN boats and three J/80s took in Bluff Island, an Inner Port Shelter Mark, Trio, Ma Tsai Pai and a finish at Little Palm Beach. With a distance of approximately 11 nautical miles, the ‘slower’ boats were expected to complete their racing in just over two hours.

At 1345, VHF Channel 27 crackled into life with the RO welcoming all yachts and announcing the courses for Day 4 of the Monsoon Winter Series. He pointed out that there would only be one start, a change from the usual two starts for the two divisions. A windward mark was laid in the direction of Sai Kung town and, at 300 metres distant, would provide a challenging beat before the boats headed out of Port Shelter in 10 knots of breeze.

At 1350, the orange flag was raised and, at 1355, the countdown began. At 1400, the fleet crossed the line, apart from Happy King which had issues, ending up trailing the others and, ultimately, being scored NSC (Not Sailed Course) and earning itself the sobriquet, Unhappy King!

Zoe, with its colourful hull graphics, did well around the windward mark but then had kite problems and went off in the direction of the University. Eventually, the crew got themselves together and the new Hanse 370 re-joined the fleet, finishing 11th on handicap at 16:43:09

Under grey and overcast skies, the competitors enjoyed good sailing with one or two soft spots. But, for most of the time, it was 10 knots and there was no need to shorten course. On station off Little Palm Beach, Hebe One gave line honours winner, Minnie the Moocher a horn for taking one hour, 49 minutes and 21 seconds to complete its course. On corrected in HKPN, Minnie the Moocher placed 3rd behind Coral Harbour and No One Else Jibulai – this time with a crew – finished 4th while newcomer, Adagio, was last home in fading light at 17:22:49.

The J/80s were won by Alex Chan and crew in Jelik 6, with Baring Asia 1 in 2nd and Jive, 3rd.

There was some doubt whether the two IRC boats had rounded the Steep mark correctly and X-Terminator protested. But it turned out that X-Terminator was actually in the wrong and, realizing its error, did the decent thing and retired. Thus, Talkinghead took line and handicap honours in the IRC division.

With Day 5 of the Monsoon Winter Series 2022 approaching, and after six races in the eight-race series, Talkinghead has an unassailable lead in IRC. Races 7 & 8 will decide the hotly contested J/80 class, while the top five places in HKPN are up for grabs – AmaZe, Ichiban, Bucephalus, Minnie the Moocher and Mo Han are the ones to watch!

升起，倒計時於

開始。船隊在 14:00 越過終點線，只有

出現了問題並最終落後於其他參賽者，記為

Minnie the Moocher 吹響了 號角，表揚它以 1 小時 49 分 21 秒的時間完成賽事。在 HKPN 修正成績後，Minnie 排行 第 3 位，落後於 Coral Harbour 及 No One Else。Jibulai ——今次帶上了一名船員——獲 得了第 4 名，而新來的 Adagio 在微弱的光線下以 17:22:49 時間成為最後一名回來的參 賽者。 J/80 賽事由 Alex Chan 與船員行駛的 Jelik 6 勝出，Baring Asia 1 獲得第 2 名，Jive 排名第 3。 對於兩艘IRC是否正確地繞過青州的標記的疑問，X-Terminator表示抗議。但事 實證明X-Terminator錯了，而當意識到出錯時，它選擇了體面地退出賽事。因 此，Talkinghead 在 IRC 分組獲得路線賽和障礙賽的冠軍。 隨著冬季系列賽 2022 第 5 天賽事臨近，在 8 場系列賽中的 6 場賽事後，Talkinghead 在 IRC 中擁有不可動搖的領先優勢。第 7 場和第 8 場賽事將為競爭激烈的 J/80 級別分出 勝負，而 HKPN 的前 5 名也勢將龍爭虎鬥——AmaZe、Ichiban、Bucephalus、Minnie 和 Mo Han 實在值得關注！

by Nigel Slattery JNR

In late November, HHYC Sailing Centre Staff took up residence at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Pattaya for the RYA Senior Instructor, training programme.

Lily, Yani, Mason and I flew to Thailand on the 21 November to complete our RYA Senior Instructor course. We took a taxi from the airport directly to The Royal Varuna Yacht Club, about an hour and a half travel time, costing 1,500 Thai baht. On arrival at the Club, I was shocked to see how simple the facilities and services were. With “Royal” in the title I was expecting a RHKYC experience, but it reminded me of Hebe Haven in the 00s when the Clear Water Bay Sailing Club was a few dinghies in the corner and one safety boat, very simple services, no boat lifts no pontoons no cranes just a winch for safety boats and man power for dinghies.

Upon checking in we were given our room keys and a guest membership for us to use whilst we were completing our course. The Membership could top up via reception to purchase Food and beverages at the Club. The menu covered a wide variety of nationality’s and was a daily challenge to choose what to have as it all delivered on taste and value (chefs recommendation go for the homemade pies).

The Club itself sits on the edge of a beach with facility’s built above the grass rigging area, there is the main club house which includes, reception, open restaurant, two meeting/conference rooms a beach bar and a junior sailor’s classroom, a massive shed for storage of members boats, maintenance shed and the boat boy house.

Accommodation was basic but served its purpose of our stay, rooms were clearly designed for larger groups with most rooms having a double bed and a bunkbed, the accommodation area consists of three buildings each with approximately 8 to 10 rooms per building surrounded by a grass area, which was transformed into a volleyball court on our last day in preparation for weekend activities.

Royal Varuna Yacht Club has a very active membership and all are based around sailing, ninety percent of the boats stored at the Club are membership owned and members could be seen sailing all week.

Overall, I was very pleased with the course and facility’s at Royal Varuna Yacht Club. HHYC members also have reciprocal signing rights at Royal Varuna.

Lily、Yani、Mason 和我於 11 月 21 日飛往泰國，完成我 們的 RYA 高級講師課程。我們乘坐的士由機場出發直達 Royal Varuna 遊艇會，用時約 1 個半小時，花了 1,500 泰 銖。抵達遊艇會時，我為當地的設施和服務如此簡單而 感到驚訝。名字中的「Royal」(皇家)字樣，讓我原本預 期會得到如白沙灣遊艇會一樣的體驗，但這裡讓我回憶 起 2000 年的白沙灣遊艇會。當時清水灣遊艇會的角落 只有幾艘小艇和一艘安全船，提供的服務非常簡要，沒 有升降機，沒有浮橋，亦沒有起重機，只有為安全船而 設的絞車和人力移動小艇。

登記入住後，我們得到了房間鎖匙和客席會員卡，讓 我們開展課程時使用。我們可於前台增值會籍，用以 購買遊艇會內的食物和飲品。菜單涵蓋多國美食，每 天點餐時選擇吃甚麼亦是一個挑戰，因為每款餐點都 味超所值 (大廚推薦自製的餡餅)。